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Strange Animals That Lived Before the Dinosaurs Reveal the Evolutionary Origin of Tusks
Read more: Strange Animals That Lived Before the Dinosaurs Reveal the Evolutionary Origin of TusksSciTechDaily has a story about animal tusks. Throughout history, many animals have sported tusks, from modern day elephants to the dicynodonts of the Permian. A new paper in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B looks at the evolutionary history of tusks. A wide variety of animals have tusks, from elephants and walruses to five-pound, guinea pig-looking critters called hyraxes. But one thing tusked animals have in common is that they’re all mammals — there are no known fish, reptiles, or birds with tusks. In a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, paleontologists traced the first tusks back to ancient mammal…
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ESCONI Events November 2021
Read more: ESCONI Events November 2021Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Friday, Nov 12th ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom – Topic: Yellowstone Volcanology and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory by Stacy Henderson from Montana State. Zoom link Saturday, Nov 13th ESCONI Junior Meeting 7:00 PM Zoom – Topic: “More on Identifying Rocks and Minerals” Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. Contact Scott to get the Zoom link to attend the virtual meeting and find out how to join the Juniors Club. Saturday, Nov 20th ESCONI Paleontology Meeting – Topic: “The Linton Ohio Coal Mine; a…
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Mazon Monday #84: Chowder Flats
Read more: Mazon Monday #84: Chowder FlatsThis is Mazon Monday post #84. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. During the ESCONI Sale back in October, a member noticed a booklet called “A Guide to the Coal Fossils of Chowder Flats, Morris, Illinois”. It was written by Robert J. Reich in 1982, who was advisor to the Botany Learning Club at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. If anyone has information about Mr. Reich or the Botany Learning Club, please send it along, as unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything about Mr. Reich or the Botany Learning Club available online. The ESCONI library…
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The Oldest Airborne Vertebrate Animal Was a Reptile With ‘Weird’ Wings
Read more: The Oldest Airborne Vertebrate Animal Was a Reptile With ‘Weird’ WingsSmithsonian Magazine has a story about the first flying vertebrate. The fossil of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli was found in 1992 in Germany. It lived during the Permian Period over 250 million years ago. A new full analysis of the specimen was recently published in the journal PeerJ. Where the researchers theorize that the bony rods supported winglike membranes for gliding, similar to some modern day squirrels. Interestingly, his species was first described in 1930 with other specimens known from England, Russia, and Madagascar. The fossil hunter found the strange skeleton by splitting pieces of shale, cracking the fossil into two slabs. One…
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PBS Eons: How Dinosaurs Coupled Up
Read more: PBS Eons: How Dinosaurs Coupled UpThere’s a new episode of PBS Eons. Birds do it… bees do it, even dinosaurs do it! Remember birds are dinosaurs, so…. Dinosaur mating behavior has been the subject of a lot of speculation, but what can we actually say about it from the fossil record?
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Fossil Friday #80: Mazon Creek Diorama
Read more: Fossil Friday #80: Mazon Creek DioramaThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #80. 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 have something a little different this week, but still Mazon Creek It’s not exactly a fossil, but very fossil related. You may remember James Alann with his eye popping Arthrolycosa danielsi in Fossil Friday #71 and his breathtaking euryperid in Fossil Friday #75. Now, he’s back with a beautiful museum quality…
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Throwback Thursday #82: Fossils by Ogden Nash
Read more: Throwback Thursday #82: Fossils by Ogden NashThis is Throwback Thursday #82. 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! Ogden Nash‘s poem “Fossils” is our throwback post for this week. Known for his light style of prose, Nash (1902 – 1971) was an Ameican poet who used pun-like rhyming in his work. Sometimes, he even misspelled words for effect. He published numerous collections of poems. During the early and middle 20th century, he wrote many pieces that were used in clever advertisements.…
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These 125 million-year-old fossils may hold dinosaur DNA
Read more: These 125 million-year-old fossils may hold dinosaur DNALiveScience has an article about the potential discovery of the remnants of dinosaur DNA. A study published in the journal Communications Biology looked at fossilized cartilage from a Caudipteryx, which was a feathered, peacock-like dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago in what is now China. The study’s researchers found what appears to be fossilized cell nucleus structures. These claims are often controversial, because it can be hard to distinguish a fossilized nucleus from a random blob of mineralization created during the fossilization process. In the new study, published Sept. 24 in the journal Communications Biology, researchers compared fossilized cartilage from…
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Ancient dog-size sea scorpion unearthed in China
Read more: Ancient dog-size sea scorpion unearthed in ChinaLiveScience has a story about the recent discovery of a Euryperid. Eurypterids were the apex predators of their time. This one, Terropterus xiushanensis, lived about 435 million years ago during the lower Silurian in what is now modern-day China. It was described in a paper in the journal Science Bulletin.
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Mazon Monday #83: George Langford at the Illinois State Museum
Read more: Mazon Monday #83: George Langford at the Illinois State MuseumThis is Mazon Monday post #83. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. As part of the trip to the 2021 MAPS Expo in Springfield, IL this past weekend, a few ESCONI members took the opportunity to visit the Mazon Creek exhibit at the Illinois State Museum. George Langford donated a large and especially fine collection of Mazon Creek fossils to the Illlinois State Museum in the late 1930’s. That collection is a large part of the current display which fills a good sized room on the ground floor of the museum. As with most museums, only…
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ESCONI at MAPS 2021
Read more: ESCONI at MAPS 2021MAP Expo 2021 was held in Springfield, IL this year. The hotel show started midweek with the official show being held from Friday to Sunday, October 22nd – 24th, 2021. Here are some pictures of ESCONI members at MAP 2021.
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PBS Eons: How Ancient Whales May Have Changed the Deep Ocean
Read more: PBS Eons: How Ancient Whales May Have Changed the Deep OceanPBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about how whales changed the ocean. It looks like the evolution of ocean-going whales like Borealodon may have affected communities found in the deep ocean, like the ones found around geothermal vents. And it turns out that when a whale dies, that’s just the beginning of the story.
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Fossil Friday #79: Triple Annularia and Macroneuropteris
Read more: Fossil Friday #79: Triple Annularia and MacroneuropterisThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #79. 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! All right, we have a real nice treat for you today! This specimen (maybe specimens?) comes from Ralph Jewell. If you’ve been at any of our Braceville field trips in the last 4 to 5 years, you’ve met Ralph or at the least you’ve had the opportunity to collect from the very…
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Throwback Thursday #81: Wisconsin Dells Field Trip October 19th, 1952
Read more: Throwback Thursday #81: Wisconsin Dells Field Trip October 19th, 1952This is Throwback Thursday #81. 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! For this week, we are looking back at a field trip to the Wisconsin Dells back on October 19th, 1952. It’s always interesting to look back at a different time. For this one, the Wisconsin Dells were beautiful with Fall colors. There are some of the same attractions I remember as a kid… like the leaping dog at Stand Rock. Here is a…
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Newfound ‘chief dragon’ dinosaur species was actually the size of a chicken
Read more: Newfound ‘chief dragon’ dinosaur species was actually the size of a chickenLiveScience has an article about a newly discovered “dragon”. This animal’s name, Pendraig milnerae, means “chief dragon”, but in reality it was about the size of a chicken. It lived about 215 million years ago during the late Triassic Period in what is now modern day Wales and is one of the oldest known dinosaurs from the UK. The description of this new species appeared in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
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MAPS 2021 – October 22-24, 2021, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, IL
Read more: MAPS 2021 – October 22-24, 2021, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, ILThe Mid-American Paleontology Society (MAPS) is holding their 2021 Fossil Expo this weekend Friday October 22nd, Saturday October 23rd, and Sunday October 24th at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, IL. The topic for the show is “The Ordovician”. All the information you need is on their website. The MAPS show is moving to October 22nd to 24th, 2021 in Springfield, IL. DATES: October 22-24, 2021. LOCATION: EXPO XLII will be held at the Orr Building located on the Illinois State Fairgrounds, 801 E Sangamon Ave., Springfield, Illinois (see Map p. 5). This facility has approx. 39,000 sq ft of…
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Mazon Monday #82: Peachocaris strongi
Read more: Mazon Monday #82: Peachocaris strongiThis is Mazon Monday post #82. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We’ve already looked at a few shrimp species from the Mazon Creek biota – Today, we are going to look at yet another… Peachocaris strongi. It was initially described in 1962 by H.K. Brooks and placed in the genus Anthracophausia. The genus was renamed to Peachocaris by Frederick Schram in 1974. Frederick Schram is an absolute giant in fossil crustaceans having written over 200 papers on the subject. He described many of the newer Mazon Creek shrimp species, including Kallidecthes, Essoidia, and more recently…
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Report: ESCONI Fall Sale Saturday, October 16th, 2021
Read more: Report: ESCONI Fall Sale Saturday, October 16th, 2021The ESCONII 2021 Fall Sale was very well attended yesterday. We sold bulk material, held live and silent auctions, and had a junior and book tables. It was a great time! We enjoyed visiting with old friends and even made some new ones. We hope everyone had a great time and came away with some nice treats. The silent auction had an assortment of minerals and fossil from varying localities. For the live auction, Mazon Creek ferns were the most common with an assortment of beautiful minerals. Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you in March 2022…
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PBS Eons: Fossil Feud: Eons vs SciShow!
Read more: PBS Eons: Fossil Feud: Eons vs SciShow!There's a new episode of PBS Eons. It's a quiz show content with their take on Family Feud… PBS Eons vs SciShow! This is their celebration of National Fossil Day. You’ve heard of Family Feud… but how about Fossil Feud? Join us for a National Fossil Day livestream to watch the Eons team compete against some of our friends from SciShow! Gabriel-Philip Santos from the Alf Museum of Paleontology will be our host. Kallie Moore, Blake de Pastino and Michelle Barboza-Ramirez will be up against SciShow's Sarah Suta, Stefan Chin, and Savannah Geary. Let’s see which team will be crowned…
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ESCONI Fall Sale Saturday, October 16th, 2021
Read more: ESCONI Fall Sale Saturday, October 16th, 2021Today is the day! All are welcome! We’ve posted a few previews over the last few weeks. There is much, much, more! See you later today! E S C O N I Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois Mineral and Fossil SaleSaturday, October 16, 202110 AM to 5 PMDuPage County FairgroundsWheaton, ILActivities include:Minerals and fossils for sale, silent and live auctions,geode splitting, kid’s activities, book sales,demonstrators and displays.For more information seewww.esconi.org Location – Admission and Parking are free!
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- PBS Terra: The Cascadia Megaquake Is Inevitable. And It Will Reshape America Forever
PBS Terra has an interesting new video. This one covers the history, science, and future of the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Pacific Northwest.
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Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!
| Friday, April 10th | General Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom. Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” |
| Saturday, April 11th | Junior Study Group Meeting – 2:00 PM, in person at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038A (Map). Katherine Howard will present on Sand and Sediment Collecting. Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. |
| Saturday, April 18th | Paleontology Study Group – 7:30 PM via Zoom and in person at the College of DuPage, TEC, Room 1038B (Map). Keith Robitschek will present “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation.” |
| Friday, April 24th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Saturday, April 25th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Sunday, April 26th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| No meeting this month | Mineralogy Study Group |