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Trilobite Tuesday #29: Enrolled Isotelus
Read more: Trilobite Tuesday #29: Enrolled Isotelus“Fossil Friday” post #29 is about an enrolled Isotelus. For this Fossil Friday, we are highlighting a specimen of Isotelus . Isotelus is a genus of asaphid trilobites that lived during the middle and upper Ordovician period. This little guy is enrolled and hails from the state of Ohio, where this species, Isotelus maximus, is the state fossil. One of the telltale characteristics to distinguish Isotelus maximus from Isotelus gigus, is the presence of genial spines. I. maximus has them and I. gigus doesn’t. Sharing it here for trilobite fans.
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Fossil Friday #29: Enrolled Isotelus
Read more: Fossil Friday #29: Enrolled IsotelusThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #29. 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 Fossil Friday, we are highlighting a specimen of Isotelus . Isotelus is a genus of asaphid trilobites that lived during the middle and upper Ordovician period. This little guy is an enrolled and hails from the state of Ohio, where his species, Isotelus maximus, is the state fossil. One of…
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Throwback Thursday #31: The Nanotyrannus Find on the Burpee 2002 Montana Expedition
Read more: Throwback Thursday #31: The Nanotyrannus Find on the Burpee 2002 Montana ExpeditionThis is Throwback Thursday #31. 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! Jane was discovered during the Burpee Museum’s paleontology expedition to Montana’s Hell Creek Formation back in 2001. The current thinking is she’s a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. Although, when she was first presented, it was as a Nanotyrannus lancensis. Dave Carlson, who’s currently our 1st Vice President, was the speaker at the ESCONI November 2002 Paleontology Study Group Meeting. Here is the how it…
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ESCONI Events November 2020
Read more: ESCONI Events November 2020Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, Nov 13th ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom – Topic: “New Tetrapod Discoveries from Mazon Creek” by Arjan Mann from Harvard University. Zoom link Sat, Nov 14th ESCONI Junior Meeting 7:00 PM Zoom – Topic: “It looks like wood, but it’s actually rock.” Zoom link will be provided. Sat, Nov 21st ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 PM Zoom – Topic: “What I Did On My Trilobite Vacation to Utah” by ESCONI member Rich Holm. Zoom link.
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ESCONI November 2020 General Meeting – November 13th, 2020 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “New Tetrapod Discoveries from Mazon Creek”
Read more: ESCONI November 2020 General Meeting – November 13th, 2020 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “New Tetrapod Discoveries from Mazon Creek”Our speaker via Zoom in November is Dr. Arjan Mann. Arjan recently received his PhD from Carleton University in Toronto. He is transitioning to a postdoc position at Harvard. Arjan co-authored articles naming two new species of microsaurs called Diabloroter and Infernovenator. The title of his talk is “New Tetrapod Discoveries from Mazon Creek”. Here’s a link to some information about him:https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/filling-fossil-record/ Hell hunter and devil digger. When Arjan Mann names a species, he doesn’t mess around. As part of his PhD research into carboniferous period creatures, the Carleton Earth Sciences student identified two new species. The two species date from about…
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Mazon Monday #31: Fanworms
Read more: Mazon Monday #31: FanwormsThis is Mazon Monday post #31. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Today, we are highlighting Fanworms. Mazon Creek fanworms were soft bodied animals and are thought to be polychaetes. They were and currently are filter feeders, which live in the ocean. Some are free swimming and some others live in tubes they construct on the ocean floor. All of the specimens shown here were found at the Braceville spoil pile, although they have been found in other Essex localities. Here is the text about fanworms from Creature Corner. It was first published December 1990. Fanworms…
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Video: ESCONI General Meeting, September 2020 – “Carboniferous Fossils Reveal How Fishes Evolve, and How They Don’t”
Read more: Video: ESCONI General Meeting, September 2020 – “Carboniferous Fossils Reveal How Fishes Evolve, and How They Don’t”“Carboniferous Fossils Reveal How Fishes Evolve, and How They Don’t” The speaker at our September 11th, 2020 general meeting was Dr. Lauren Sallan from the University of Pennsylvania. Her presentation was done via Zoom and started at 8:00 PM. Dr. Sallan received her PhD from the University of Chicago in 2012. She was a co-author of the 2017 article that determined that the Tully Monster was not a vertebrate. She also works on Paleozoic ray-finned fishes and sharks. Here’s a link to her lab webpage, which includes links to her TED Talks: http://www.laurensallan.com/
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SciNews: New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in China
Read more: SciNews: New Pterosaur Species Unearthed in ChinaSci-News has a story about a new pterosaur discovery in China. This new species is called Ordosipteris planignathus. It lived about 110 -120 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period in what is now Inner Mongolia, China. A paper describing this animal appeared the journal China Geology.
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Fossil Friday #28: Petosky Stones
Read more: Fossil Friday #28: Petosky StonesThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #28. 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 Fossil Friday this week, we are going to highlight Petosky Stones, which are found around the towns of Petosky and Traverse City along Lake Michigan in the state of Michigan. They were named the state stone of Michigan in 1965. The stones are actually a fossilized rugose coral, Hexagonaria percarinata, which…
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Throwback Thursday #30: Winter’s Field Trip
Read more: Throwback Thursday #30: Winter’s Field TripThis is Throwback Thursday #30. 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! In the past, many of the issues of our newsletter Earth Science News ended with a poem from a member. You might recall that we’ve run a few in our previous Flashbacks and Throwbacks. There was a poem about a collecting trip in November 1950, Diamond in the Rough from Jun 1952, Ode to a Blob in 2002, and even the ESCONI Class…
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LiveScience: 1st of their kind baby tyrannosaur fossils unearthed
Read more: LiveScience: 1st of their kind baby tyrannosaur fossils unearthedLiveScience has a story about the first baby tyrannosaur ever discovered. These new fossils, which may be a tyrannosaur embryo, were discovered in Montana in 1983. They were reexamined due to research into a toe claw of a baby tyrannosaur that was found in Alberta Canada in 2017. The research, which is not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, was presented online Tuesday (Oct. 13) at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s annual conference, which is virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The teensy, 1.1-inch-long (2.9 centimeters) tyrannosaur jawbone still sports eight little teeth. Because it was stuck in the…
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Trilobite Tuesday #27: 10 Terrific Facts About Trilobites
Read more: Trilobite Tuesday #27: 10 Terrific Facts About TrilobitesMental Floss has a post about trilobites. Here are some highlights. Check out the details here!
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Mazon Monday #30: The Diamond Mine Disaster At Braidwood
Read more: Mazon Monday #30: The Diamond Mine Disaster At BraidwoodThis is Mazon Monday post #30. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. This week’s Mazon Monday isn’t about fossils… we are recalling a coal mine disaster in Diamond, IL on February 16th, 1883. ESCONI had a great lecture about this event back in June 2019 by Michele Micetich, of the Carbon Hill School Museum in Carbon Hill, IL. If you get a chance, catch her informative lecture held every year on the anniversary at the Coal City Library. You can visit memorial marker in Diamond, IL to commemorate the event and honor the 69 men who died…
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NPS.gov: Sharks, Fossils, and Caves: Secrets Revealed at Mammoth Cave
Read more: NPS.gov: Sharks, Fossils, and Caves: Secrets Revealed at Mammoth CaveNPS.gov has a story about some remarkable new fossil discoveries in Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The fossils date to the Mississippian Period about 325 million years ago and reveal a very diverse shark fauna. There are 40 species of shark, which includes six new species. The painting above and new information are being presented as part of National Fossil Day 2020. A team of paleontologists, cave specialists, and park rangers at Mammoth Cave National Park have discovered a trove of fossil treasures that has yielded one of the most diverse Mississippian shark faunas in North America. At least 40 different…
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PBS Eons: How Ankylosaurs Got Their Clubs
Read more: PBS Eons: How Ankylosaurs Got Their ClubsPBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about Ankylosaurs and how they got their clubs. While clubs are practically synonymous with ankylosaurs, we’ve only started to get to the bottom of how they worked and how this unusual anatomy developed in the first place.
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Fossil Friday #27: Alethopteris serlii from the Mazon River
Read more: Fossil Friday #27: Alethopteris serlii from the Mazon RiverThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #27. 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! Maybe it’s the size or the 3 dimensional preservation, but this is at least the second Alethopteris serlii specimen that has made it onto Fossil Friday. This awesome fossil was found by Brandon Bergsten at the I&M Canal Corridor Mazon River Fossil Trip back in August 2020. It only took a few…
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Throwback Thursday #29: Best Fossil 2015
Read more: Throwback Thursday #29: Best Fossil 2015This is Throwback Thursday #29. 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 a few years, the Paleontology Study Group held a Best Fossil contest for National Fossil Day. The first one was back in 2015. We had some awesome specimens. Here are some photo highlights from that day. Wow! Having fun in person! Nice Mazon Creek fern… Crenulopteris. An amazing crinoid! An enrolled Isotelus and another Crenulopteris. An unbelievable shark egg case! Look closely,…
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Happy National Fossil Day 2020!!!
Read more: Happy National Fossil Day 2020!!!Happy National Fossil Day 2020!!! National Fossil Day is run by the National Park Service as part of Earth Science Week. Details for NFD are here, while you can find more about Earth Science Week here. During 2020 we celebrate the 11th Anniversary of National Fossil Day! Join paleontologists, educators, and students in fossil-related events and activities across the country in parks, classrooms, and online during National Fossil Day. National Fossil Day is an annual celebration held to highlight the scientific and educational value of paleontology and the importance of preserving fossils for future generations.
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Video: ESCONI General Meeting, June 2020 – “Dino-Sores: Injury and Behavior in Cretaceous Dinosaurs”
Read more: Video: ESCONI General Meeting, June 2020 – “Dino-Sores: Injury and Behavior in Cretaceous Dinosaurs”We are pleased to present to you the video of our first zoom general meeting. It was held on June 12th, 2020. We had a remote speaker. He was Dr. Joe Peterson from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Joe earned a BS Geology at SIU-C and an MS/PhD Geology from NIU. Since, then, he worked and volunteered at Burpee for many years. The title of his program is “Dino-Sores: Injury and Behavior in Cretaceous Dinosaurs”.
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- ESCONI April 2026 General Meeting via Zoom – “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes”
The April 2026 General Meeting will be held on April 10th, 2026 at 8:00 via Zoom. At the meeting, Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” The Devonian Period was a crucial moment in the history of life. In this presentation, Jessica Hull will bring fossils to life by describing how they would have lived based on the most up to date research. Dunkleosteus fans won’t want to miss this!
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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 |