Tag: fossil
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‘Shockingly Beautiful’ Fossil Reveals Oldest Dome-Headed Dinosaur
The New York Times has a fascinating look at beautiful pachycephalosaur specimen from Mongolia. The animal was recently described in a paper in the journal Nature. Zavacephale rinpoche was found in the Gobi Desert by Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University. The name means “root” and “jewel” in Tibetan, which is a…
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‘Rare’ ancestor reveals how huge flightless birds made it to faraway lands
LiveScience has a story that looks a paper about flightless birds and how they may have dispersed across multiple continents. The paper “Quantitative analysis of stem-palaeognath flight capabilities sheds light on ratite dispersal and flight loss” was published in the journal Biology Letters. Ostriches, emus, rheas and other large, flightless birds (paleognaths) are closely related,…
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Fossil Friday #285: Palaeoxyris lewisi
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #285. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a beautiful Palaeoxyris lewisi shark egg case…
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Digging Wyoming: People Flock To Glenrock To Dig for Dinosaurs In The Dark
Want to dig for dinosaurs? Well… there a place near Glenrock, Wyoming that might be perfect for a vacation next year! Cowboy State Daily has a nice article about it. A plethora of paleontological discoveries continues to shed light on the world of Converse County 67 million years ago. Most of that light is coming…
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Mazon Monday #289: Ctenerpeton remex at Mazon Creek
This is Mazon Monday post #289. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. More exciting Mazon Creek research is out. Featured here is a short paper in the journal Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology (VAMP), which details the first occurrence of the urocordylid Ctenerpeton remex in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit! Arjan Mann, a…
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PBS Eons: That Time Sharks Got Weird
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the “Age of Sharks” or should it be the “Age of Weird Sharks”. Long before the rise of the great whites and hammerheads we know today, sharks and their cartilaginous relatives ruled Earth’s oceans and rivers in astonishing variety. It was the golden age of…
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Fossil Friday #284: Alethopteris lonchitica
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #285. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a very special seed fern…
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ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting – “Show and Tell”
There were some very interesting things on display at the September 2025 Paleontology Meeting. The theme of the night was “Show and Tell”. We had over 20 attendees with everything from Mazon Creek to crinoids to nautiloids to a large model of a Velociraptor. John Catalani, Paleontology Study Group chairman, gave us a preview of…
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Mazon Monday #288: Callipteridium neuropteroides
This is Mazon Monday post #288. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Callipteridium neuropteroides is one of the rarer seed ferns (Pteridospermatophyta) found in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit. Although, it is much more common in the Herrin Coal flora, if the Danville locality is truly representative of that deposit. Callipteridium jongmansi…
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ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting – 2025-09-20 at 7:30 PM – “Show and Tell” at College of DuPage
For the newcomers, the first meeting back from summer vacation has traditionally been called “Brag Night” or “Show and Tell”. Well… The ESCONI September 2025 Paleontology Meeting will be held on 2025-09-20 at 7:30 PM at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038B (Map). The topic of the meeting is “Show and…
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Fossil Friday #283: Fossundecima konecniorum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #283. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! A nice predatory polychaete worm from Mazon Creek…
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Alabama family’s fishing trip leads to 32-million-year fossil find
Yellow Hammer News has a story about an unexpected catch on a family fishing trip in Alabama. They found a 32 million year old (Oligocene) turtle in the bank of the river. It turns out the animal was not known to science and has now been named for their family, Coleman… Ueloca colemanorum. The animal’s…
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Weird Science: Eastern North Carolina dig led to great finds, including fossils from the age of dinosaurs
We received this link the other day. It’s news for Wilmington, but Wilmington North Carolina not Illinois. Still, it’s an interesting story about dinosaurs and fossil collecting. A dig in eastern North Carolina last week had a scientist up to his armpits in mud, and led to some great finds for a museum collection, including…
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Mazon Monday #287: Braceville Fall 2025 Report
This is Mazon Monday post #287. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Braceville Fall 2025 Field Trip was held on the weekend of September 6th and 7th, 2025. We had perfect weather… sunny with temperatures in the mid-70s. There was nearly 100% attendance. It was two days of fun in…
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Fossil Friday #282: Crossotheca sagittata
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #282. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Today, we have a very nice Crossotheca sagittata.…
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Mazon Monday #286: There’s a Mother Lode of Fossils in Chicago’s Backyard, and It Could Hold Clues to the Evolution of Life on Earth
This is Mazon Monday post #286. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Last week, Mazon Creek, the Field Museum, and ESCONI were back in the news! WTTW, Chicago’s public television station, ran an article highlighting Mazon Creek. The story is an excellent read, exploring the scientific importance and new research of…
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Fossil Friday #281: Dasyleptus sp.
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #281. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Dasyleptus is an extinct genus of monurian insect.…
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2025 Mazon Creek Fossil Day, October 11th, 2025 at the Coal City Library
The 2025 Mazon Creek Fossil Day will be held on October 11th, 2025 at the Coal City Library from 10 AM to 3 PM. See you there! Previous events
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Mazon Monday #285: Etacystis communis
This is Mazon Monday post #285. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. One of the more problematic animals from Mazon Creek is Etacystis communis, known as the Aitch or “H” animal by amateur collectors. It was described by Matthew Nitecki and Frederick Schram in “Etacystis communis, a fossil of uncertain affinities…
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ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, September 27th, 2025
Danville Field Trip Rules for Saturday, September 27th, 2025 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville IL Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for Saturday September 27, 2025 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once we are…
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Fossil Friday #280: Mayomyzon pieckoensis
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #280. 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 Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Mayomyzon pieckoensis is an extinct species of lamprey found…
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Mazon Monday #284: Mayomyzon pieckoensis
This is Mazon Monday post #284. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Mayomyzon pieckoensis is an extinct species of lamprey found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. Pipiscius zangerli (see Mazon Monday #253) is also a lamprey from Mazon Creek. Lampreys are a group of jawless fish known for its funnel-like sucking…
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Mazon Monday #283: Mazon Creek bromalites evidence a specialized, xiphosurid-rich diet for Pennsylvanian predators
This is Mazon Monday post #283. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Another week, another new Mazon Creek paper,.. “Mazon Creek bromalites evidence a specialized, xiphosurid-rich diet for Pennsylvanian predators” was published in the journal Palaios. It was authored by Russell Bicknell, Julien Kimming, Andew Young, Bruce Lauer, Rene’ Lauer, and…
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Mazon Monday #282: Pit 11 Shutdown in 1974
This is Mazon Monday post #282. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. For the Braidwood, Wilmington, and Coal City area, 1974 marked the end of an era with the closure of the last operating coal mine—Peabody Coal Company’s Pit 11. The mine had been in operation since 1951, originally opened by…
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Mazon Monday #281: 283,821 concretions, how do you measure the Mazon Creek?
This is Mazon Monday post #281. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. There’s quite a bit of Mazon Creek fossil research happening. Last week, we posted a paper that redescribed Palaeocampa (see Mazon Monday #280), some of our friends at the Field Museum had a paper about Sphenophyllales in June (see…
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Mazon Monday #280: Palaeocampa anthrax Redux
This is Mazon Monday post #280. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The classification of Palaeocampa anthrax has long been controversial. The animal was first described as a catepillar in 1865 by Fielding Bradford Meek (1817-1876) and Amos Henry Worthen (1813-1888) in “Notice of some new types of organic remains from the…
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Fossil Friday #275: Crenulopteris acadica
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #275. 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 some very…
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Mazon Monday #279: Prehistoric paradise hiding just outside Chicago
This is Mazon Monday post #279. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. When Arjan Mann and his lab at the Field Museum held a field trip to the Braceville spoil pile back in May 2025, he invited a ESCONI. Here is the story on Reuters. Near a riverbank in central Illinois,…
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Fossil Friday #274: Palaeoxyris prendeli from Terre Haute
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #274. 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! —————————————————– Palaeoxyris prendeli is a shark egg…
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Mazon Monday #278: Anthracomedusa turnbulli
This is Mazon Monday post #278. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Lacking hard parts, jellyfish are rare in the fossil record. Mazon Creek has a few species of them. One of the most common animal fossils found in Mazon Creek is Essexella asherae, which only recently was reclassified as a…
