Category: Mazon Creek
-
Fossil Friday #244: A beautiful Laveiniopteris from Knob Noster
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #244. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world! The Knob Noster, Missouri…
-
Mazon Monday #247: Oligocarpia gutbierii
This is Mazon Monday post #247. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Oligocarpia gutbierii is a herbaceous fern found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. It belongs to a poorly understood group, which was an early member of the extant order Filicales. Oligocarpia gutbierii was first described in 1841 by Heinrich Göppert, a…
-
Fossil Friday #243: Eoscorpius carbonarius from Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #243. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– Eoscorpius carbonarius was described by FB.…
-
Mazon Monday #246: Stephanospermum konopeonus
This is Mazon Monday post #246. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Seeds were relatively rare in the Pennsylvanian Period. Most plants, including the true ferns, reproduced via spores. The only plants that bore seeds were the medullosan pteridosperms, or seed ferns. The most common seed found in the Mazon Creek…
-
Fossil Friday #242: Mazon Creek Roachoid
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #242. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s Fossil Friday is another Mazon…
-
Mazon Monday #245: Annularia annulariaefolius
This is Mazon Monday post #245. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Annularia annulariaefolius represents foliage from a shrub-like sphenophyte. It was described as Lycopodites annulariaefolius in 1870 by Leo Lesquereux. Lesquereux was a swiss bryologist, who lived from 1806 until 1889. In 1970, he wrote “Report on the Fossil Plants…
-
Fossil Friday #241: A Tailless Whip Scorpion from the Mazon River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #241. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Today, we have a very, very rare…
-
Mazon Monday #244: First Arthroplura Identified from Mazon Creek
This is Mazon Monday post #244. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Arthropleura cristata was described by Eurgene Richardson, Jr. in 1956 in “Pennsylvanian invertebrates of the Mazon Creek area, Illinois. Trilobitomorpha: Arthropleurida” in Fieldiana Geology 12(4): 76-76. He based this work on specimens he collected with George Langford in 1952…
-
Fossil Friday #240: Diplazites unita from Mazon Creek #fossils
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #240. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We’ve got a nice Diplazites unita from…
-
Mazon Monday #243: Radstockia kidstonii
This is Mazon Monday post #243. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Radstockia kidstonii is a very rare plant fossil from the Mazon Creek deposit. It is currently considered a true fern, as the pinnules and fertile structures are similar to the modern fern Marattia alata. It was originally named Radstockia…
-
Fossil Friday #239: Linopteris neuropteroides from Indiana
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #239. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! For this week, we have a sweet…
-
Mazon Thursday #242: Linopteris neuropteroides
This is Mazon Monday post #242. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. This is Mazon Thursday. We moved this week’s Mazon Monday to Thursday to do a Veteran’s Day post on Monday. Linopteris neuropteroides is a very rare seed fern known from Mazon Creek and other Pennsylvanian localities. It was originally…
-
Mazon Monday #241: Eucryptocaris asherorum
This is Mazon Monday post #241. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Eucryptocaris asherorum is a species of extinct shrimp-like animals from Mazon Creek. They are members on the suborder Tanaidacea, a minor group within the class Malacostraca. Extant members of Tanaidacea are mostly marine, but a few species live in…
-
Fossil Friday #237: Sphenophyllym emarginatum from Indiana
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #237. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Ths week’s Fossil Friday is a sweet…
-
Mazon Monday #240: Sphenopteris spinosa
This is Mazon Monday post #240. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Sphenopteris is a genus of seed ferns. Seed ferns, Pteridospermatphyta, as a group have a geologic range which spanned from the late Devonian to the late Cretaceous, although a few species seem to have survivied into the Eocene. Sphenopteris…
-
Fossil Friday #236: Cyathocarpus arborea from the Mazon Creek River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #236. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We looked at Cyathocarpus arborea just a few…
-
Throwback Thursday #237: Bruce Stinchcomb, Route 66, and Mazon Creek
This is Throwback Thursday #237. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! ——————————————————————————————- US Route 66 has been termed the “Mother Road” by some as it was one of the…
-
The largest arthropod to ever live finally has a head
This 3-D reconstruction of a fossilized juvenile Arthropleura reveals details of the millipede’s head (green), such as its mouthparts and antennae. Lhéritier et al/Science Advances 2024 Science News is reporting that the head of Arthropleura has finally been found! Whether it’s the largest arthropod that ever lived is debatable, but Arthropleura was a very large millipede…
-
Mazon Monday #239: Mazon Creek Fossil Day Report
This is Mazon Monday post #239. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The 2024 ESCONI Mazon Creek Fossil Day was held on October 12th at the Coal City Library. It proved to be a huge success, attracting more than 100 visitors throughout the day. Many attendees brought fossils for identification, including…
-
Fossil Friday #235: Alethopteris serlii from the Field Museum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #235. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! —————————————————– For this week’s fossil, we have…
-
Mazon Monday #238: Alethopteris lesquereuxii
This is Mazon Monday post #238. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Alethopteris lesquereuxii was originally named Callipteridium mansfieldi by Leo Lesquereux in 1879. C. mansfieldi was named for the Hon. Ira Franklin Mansfield, who was a politician and an extensive owner of coal mining interest in the middle to late…
-
Fossil Friday #234: Neuropteris ovata from the Mazon River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #234. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Today’s fossil is a sweet little Neuropteris…
-
ESCONI Mazon Creek Fossil Day – October 12th, 2024 in Coal City
ESCONI will be holding the 2024 Mazon Creek Fossil Day on October 12th, 2024 from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Coal City Public Library. Please come out and bring your Mazon Creek fossils. There will displays of Mazon Creek fossils and knowledgeable people who can identify your fossils. Coal City Public Library85 N.…
-
Mazon Monday #237: Danville Field Trip Report for Fall 2024
This is Mazon Monday post #237. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Fortunately, the threat of bad weather never materialized and we enjoyed a very nice day collecting fossils from a spoil pile just outside Danville, IL on September 28th, 2024. This was our second trip to the spoil pile in…
-
Fossil Friday #233: Diplazites unita
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #233. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Diplazites unita is one of the most…
-
Mazon Monday #236: Cyathocarpus arborea
This is Mazon Monday post #236. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Cyathocarpus arborea is one of the rarer species of fern in the Mazon Creek deposit. It was originally named as Filicites arborescens by Ernst Freiedrich, Freiherr von Schlotheim in 1820. Schlotheim was a German paleontologist and pollitician who lived…
-
Fossil Friday #232: Knob Noster Fossils
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #232. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Knob Noster is a fossil deposit contemporaneous…
-
Mazon Monday #235: Desden Lakes Field Trip June 1976
This is Mazon Monday post #235. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Dresden Lakes was productive Mazon Creek fossil locality just east of Morris, IL. It was known for large concretions with detailed fossils in dark colors, grays and blacks. Unfortunately, the dark colors can be hard to photograph. Large concretions…
-
Fossil Friday #231: Classic Essexella asherae
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #231. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Ah, the Blob! Did you see Mazon…
-
ESCONI Mazon Creek Fossil Day – October 12th, 2024 in Coal City
ESCONI will be holding the 2024 Mazon Creek Fossil Day on October 12th, 2024 from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Coal City Public Library. Please come out and bring your Mazon Creek fossils. There will displays of Mazon Creek fossils and knowledgeable people who can identify your fossils. Coal City Public Library85 N.…
