Tag: Eocene
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ScienceNews: The first cicada concert was 47 million years ago
ScienceNews has a story about the first cicada concert. Fossil cicadas from Messel Pit in Germany suggests the first singing cicadas date to the Eocene some 47 million years ago. The fossil of Eoplatypleura messelensis, was collected around 1986 and identified as a cicada in 1988. Unfortunately, the researchers didn’t realize it was the oldest singing…
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Fossil Friday #268: Metasequoia Cone From Stonerose in Washington
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #268. 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 submission comes from Jim…
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Video for ESCONI June 2024 General Meeting – “A North American fossil primate called Ekgmowechashala”
The June 2024 General Meeting was held on June 14th, 2024 via Zoom. Kathleen Rust of the University of Kansas spoke about Ekgmowechashala, a primate known only from the late early Oligocene of western North America. “I am planning on presenting findings from my most recent publication describing a new primate species from the late…
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ESCONI June 2024 General Meeting – June 14th, 2024 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “A North American fossil primate called Ekgmowechashala”
The June 2024 General Meeting will be held on June 14th, 2024 via Zoom. The presentation is by Kathleen Rust of the University of Kansas. She will be speaking about Ekgmowechashala, a primate known only from the late early Oligocene of western North America. I am planning on presenting findings from my most recent publication…
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Courtship cut short for termites trapped in 38 million-year-old amber fossil
LiveScience has a story about insect fossils in amber. Discovered in a Russian mine, two mating termites in amber preserves behavior that is rarely seen in the fossil record. The amber dates to the Eocene about 38 million years ago. The fossil was purchased by A Czech scientist in an online fossil shop. The specimen…
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Fossil of Tiny, Extinct Whale Discovered in Egypt, Named for King Tut
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of a new whale species. The new whale, Tutcetus rayanensis, is named for the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. It lived about 41 million years ago. The team of Egyptian research discovered the fossil about 25 miles from the Wadi Al-Hitan World Heritage Site in Egypt, an area rich…
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Fossil Friday #168: Ivy Leaf from the Green River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #168. 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! Something different today… How about a fossil…
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PBS Eons: That Time the American West Blew Up
PBS Eons has a new video on Youtube. This one is about volcanism in North America during the Eocene Epoch some 50 million years ago. Why didn't these supervolcanoes produce extinction? How is it possible to have cataclysmic eruptions without any real cataclysm?
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Throwback Thursday #97: Fishing the Eocene Age
This is Throwback Thursday #97. 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! An article from FRIENDS magazine entitled “Fishing the Eocene Age” appeared back in the January 1972 edition of…
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Nature: Ancient Pine Cone Trapped in Amber Shows a Super-Rare Form of Plant ‘Parenting’
Nature ScienceAlert has a story about a pine cone preserved in amber. The fossil, which dates to about 40 million years ago during the Eocene, shows a rare form of parental care in plants. The seeds in the pine cone can be seen to be germinating and sprouting greenery before the cone has fallen to…
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Fossil Friday #49: Insects from the Eocene, Green River Formation, Colorado
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #49. 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 interesting contribution comes from ESCONI 1st…
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PBS Eons: The Pandemic That Lasted 15 Million Years
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is very relevant as it’s about a fossil genes left from an ancient pandemic during the Eocene. Our DNA holds evidence of a huge, ancient pandemic, one that touched many different species, spanned the globe, and lasted for more than 15 million years. The paper we…
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Fossil Friday #4: Green River Fish
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #4. 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 we visit the Green River…
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NYT: Fossil Shows Cold-Blooded Frogs Lived on Warm Antarctica
The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about the discovery of fossil frogs on Antarctica. The frog lived about 40 million years ago in what is now Seymour Island, which sits on the Antarctic Peninsula roughly 700 miles south of Tierra Del Fuego on South America. The specimen was found in 2015 by…
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New Eocene-Period Whale Unearthed in Egypt
SciNews has a story about a recently discovered whale from the Eocene of Egypt. Called Aegicetus gehennae, this ancient mammal give important clues in the evolution of whale locomotion. A team of paleontologists, including Professor Philip Gingerich of the University of Michigan, published the details in a recent paper in the journal PLoS ONE. Protocetidae (protocetids)…
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Paleontologists Find Fossils of Six New Dragonfly Species
Sci-News has a post about the discovery of 6 new species of fossil dragonflies. These animals lived about 50 million years ago during the Eocene epoch. The fossils were found in the Okanagan Highlands, whih is an elevated hilly plateau area in British Columbia, Canada and the state of Washington. All the details are in…
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PBS Eons: When Antarctica Was Green
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one discusses when Antarctica was green and had a population of animals. Before the start of the Eocene Epoch about 56 million years ago–Antarctica was still joined to both Australia and South America. And it turns out that a lot of what we recognize about the southern hemisphere…
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PBS Eons: The Croc That Ran on Hooves
PBS Eons has an episode about an interesting crocodile. In the Eocene Epoch, there was a reptile that had teeth equipped for biting through flesh, its hind legs were a lot longer than its front legs and instead of claws, its toes were each capped with hooves. How did this living nightmare come to…
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34 million year old carnivore named after the Egyptian god of the Underworld
PLOS Paleo’s Blog has an article about a newly described canine-like fossil from Egypt. Masrasector nananubis, or little “Anubis”, was a dog-like creature that lived during the late Eocene about 34 million years ago. The researchers that authored the open access paper are Matthew Borths from Ohio University and Erik Seiffert from the University of…
