This is the “Fossil Friday” post #324. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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It’s not exactly fireworks, but this week’s beautiful Acanthotelson stimpsoni will leave you speechless. A. stimpsoni is a syncarid shrimp and one of the most common shrimp found amongst the fauna of Mazon Creek. Syncarida is a superorder of crustaceans. It consists of two extant orders Anaaspidacea and Bathynellacea, and one extinct order Paleocaridacea, to which Acanthotelson belongs.

A. stimpsoni was described in 1865 by F.B. Meek and A. H. Worthen. It was named for William Stimpson, who worked at the Smithsonian Institution and was later the director of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.

Georgiean Benson showed me this fossil at the ESCONI show in March and I was amazed! This specimen is very nicely preserved with fine detail. It’s huge, about 2 inches long and takes up most of the space of the 2.5 inch concretion. Without a doubt, the finest specimen of Acanthotelson stimpsoni, I’ve ever seen. Thanks for sharing this beauty, Georgiean!