This is Mazon Monday post #170.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Several species of Aphlebia and Rhacophyllum have been identified in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit, though all are considered rare—and some exceptionally so. Their classification is somewhat uncertain, with some specimens grouped with aquatic plants and others with ferns. These genera are known from numerous Pennsylvanian Period fossil sites across both Europe and the United States, including locations in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. Rhacophyllum clarkii was originally described as Hymenophyllites clarkii by Leo Lesquereux in 1866.  Noe and Langford called it…

This is Mazon Monday post #169.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Way back in Mazon Monday #47, we discussed Mazon Creek centipedes, however Mazoscolopendra richardsoni (Richardson’s Mazonian centipede) wasn’t mentioned.  M. richardsoni is the second most common centipede known from Mazon Creek, but centipedes are exceedingly rare in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit.  M. richardsoni was described by Peter Mundel of the University of Wisconsin in 1979 in “The centipedes (Chilopoda) of the Mazon Creek”, which appeared in Matthew Nitecki’s “Mazon Creek Fossils”. Jack Wittry writes about Mazoscolopendra richardsoni on page 56 of The Mazon Creek…

This is Mazon Monday post #168.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Insects are some of the most highly sought after Mazon Creek fossils.  While very common in the modern world, insects are very rare in the fossil record.  Mazon Creek has played a vital part in the understanding of insect evolution as it has produced more evidence than most other deposits.  At one time, there were nearly 150 species belonging to 30 families and 102 genera known from the concretions of the Francis Creek Shale.  That number as come down a little as more fossils…