Tag: MazonMonday
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Mazon Monday #229: Pit 11 Field Trip in September 1976
This is Mazon Monday post #229. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. —————————————————– The hills of Pit 11 have changed quite a bit over the years. Pit 11 was and active mine until 1974, so these photos are from just two years afterwards. Notice the lack of vegetation! If you’ve been…
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Mazon Monday #228: Eubleptus danielsi
This is Mazon Monday post #228. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Eubleptus danielsi belongs to the Palaeodictyoptera an extinct order of medium-sized to very large, primitive Palaeozoic paleopterous insects. Palaeodictyoptera give many clues to the evolution of wings in insects. E. danielsi was described by Anton Handlirsch in 1906. Handlirsch (1865…
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Mazon Monday #227: Ode to a Blob
This is Mazon Monday post #227. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The poem below is about Essexella asherae, the iconic Mazon Creek cnidarian (see Mazon Monday #14). E. Asherae was named for Helen Asher (see Fossil Friday #158) by Merrill W. Foster in 1979 in “Soft-bodied coelenterates in the Pennsylvanian…
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Mazon Monday #226: Historic Collectors – Jerry Herdina
This is Mazon Monday post #226. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In January 1975 edition of the Field Museum Bulletin, there was a small blurb about the donation of a “Huge Coal Age Fossil Collection” to the Field Museum. It was vastly understated. Jerry Herdina (1905-1974) was a retired construction…
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Mazon Monday #225: Lepidostrobus foliaceus
This is Mazon Monday post #225. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Lepidostrobus foliaceus is one of the rarer forms of Lepidostrobus, which is the cone structure from a lepidodendron tree. L. foliaceus was named by Leo Lesquereux in 1870. Lesquereux (1806-1889) was a Swiss-born bryologist and a pioneer of American…
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Mazon Monday #224: Holmacanthus keithi
This is Mazon Monday post #224. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In keeping with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, we have a Mazon Creek shark… Holmacanthus keithi for this week’s Mazon Monday. Holmacanthus keithi was named for Keith Holm, who found the holotype in Pit 11 in the early…
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Mazon Monday #223: NAPC at Braceville!
This is Mazon Monday post #223. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The first NAPC conference was held in 1969 at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL (see Mazon Monday #221). ESCONI participated by displaying many nice Mazon Creek fossils. NAPC 2024 was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan the week of…
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Mazon Monday #222: Violetta Whitfield’s Insects
This is Mazon Monday post #222. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Robert and Violetta Wihitfield collected fossils with George Langford (Mazon Monday #220) in the 1940s and 1950s. Langford curated the Mazon Creek fossils he donated to the Field Museum, working there from 1948 until 1961. Both Robert and Violetta…
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Mazon Monday #221: Mazon Creek and ESCONI at NAPC 1969
This is Mazon Monday post #221. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The very first North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC) was held 55 years ago on September 5th, 6th, and 7th, 1969. The conference was hosted by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL. ESCONI and Mazon Creek played…
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Mazon Monday #220: George Langford
This is Mazon Monday post #220. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Jim Konecny wrote this piece for the June 1994 edition of the ESCONI Earth Science News. This year marks the 60th anniversary of George’s death. He was a interesting man. His contributions were many… to Mazon Creek, science, ESCONI,…
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Mazon Monday #219: Acantherpestes and Myriacantherpestes
This is Mazon Monday post #219. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Last Friday (Fossil Friday #215), we highlighted a stunning millipede from the Pennsylvanian of Kansas. That’s wasn’t the first millipede from Kansas that made it to Fossil Friday, as Fossil Friday #134 was about the same genus of millipede, Myriacantherpestes. …
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Mazon Monday #218: Braceville Field Trip Report for Spring 2024
This is Mazon Monday post #218. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. A few weeks ago, ESCONI held the Spring 2024 edition of the Braceville Field Trip to collect Mazon Creek concretions. The weather was nice, no rain this time. Saturday, May 4th was hot, with highs in the mid to…
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Mazon Monday #217: Douglassarachne acanthopoda
This is Mazon Monday post #217. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The world has a brand new Mazon Creek spider. Douglassarachne acanthopoda was originally found in the Pit 15 locality by Bob Masek in the 1980s. Bob (Earth Magazine article) has been a premier fossil preparator for many years, working…
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Mazon Monday #216: Syringodendron Bark
This is Mazon Monday post #216. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Syringodendron sp. is the inner bark of a undetermined Sigillaria. It’s considered rare in Mazon Creek. Syringodendron is thought to be Sigillaria trunk before fossilization. The impressions that run vertically are called Parichnos scars. When there are double impressions…
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Mazon Monday #215 – Field Trip Report for the Danville Spoil Pile
This is Mazon Monday post #215. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Despite the morning storm and intermittent rain on the way down, about 20 ESCONI members braved the weather and showed up for a very successful day of collecting Pennsylvanian fossils. Trips to this locality have been very popular, most…
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Mazon Monday #214: Rhabdoderma exiguum
This is Mazon Monday post #214. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Rhabdoderma exiguum is a species of Mazon Creek coelacanth. Coelacanths are lobe-finned fish, thought extinct since the Cretaceous. The first living coelacanth was discovered in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. There are now two known living species.…
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Fossil Friday #210: Rhabdoderma exiguum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #210. 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 a…
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Mazon Monday #213: Postcards from Mazon Creek
This is Mazon Monday post #213. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Deltiology is the study and collection of postcards. The name comes from Greek, δελτίον, deltion, diminutive of δÎλτος, deltos, “writing tablet, letter”; and -λογία, -logia. Deltiology is a very popular type of collecting. People all around the world collect and trade both vintage and…
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Mazon Monday #212: Aphlebia crispa
This is Mazon Monday post #212. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We have a very rare plant for this week’s post. Aphlebia crispa is a leafy plant that was lettuce-like in appearance. It had wide distribution as it’s found in fossil deposits throughout England, Europe, and North America. Aphlebia is…
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Mazon Monday #211: Mariopteris wilmingtonense
This is Mazon Monday post #211. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Mariopteris wilmingtonense is a rare and beautiful variety of Mariopteris found only in Mazon Creek. It was described by George Langford Sr. in 1958 in his first Mazon Creek book “The Wilmington Coal Flora From a Pennsylvanian Deposit in…
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Mazon Monday #210: Alethopteris gibsonii
This is Mazon Monday post #210. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Alethopteris gibbsonii is an extinct seed-fern from the Pennsylvanian Period. It is not as common as its sister taxa Alethopteris serlii and Alethopteris sullivantii. It was named by Leo Lesquereux (1806-1889) in 1870. Lesquereux was a Swiss-born bryologist and a…
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Mazon Monday #209: Walter’s Spider
This is Mazon Monday post #209. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Today, we have another post about the “Richardson’s Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek”. This one addresses the amazing spider on the book’s jacket. That beautiful specimen was generously donated to the Mazon Creek Project by Rita…
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Mazon Monday #208: A Very Special Book
This is Mazon Monday post #208. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. —————————————————– We ran across another great post over on Facebook by Steve Pavelsky in the “Illinois Mazon Creek, and Carboniferous Fossils of the World” group. If you’re on Facebook and a fan of Mazon Creek, this is one of…
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Mazon Monday #207: Spiropteris sp.
This is Mazon Monday post #207. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Spiropteris sp. are immature fern fronds. They are also called fiddleheads. The name Spiropteris was established in 1869 by Wilhelm Philippe Schimper (1808-1880), who was an Alsatian botanist. From 1862 until 1879, he was a professor of geology and…
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Mazon Monday #206: Pseudomariopteris cordato-ovata
This is Mazon Monday post #206. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We are looking at another rare Mazon Creek plant fossil, Pseudomariopteris cordato-ovata, which is thought to have grown vine-like. It belongs to the callistophytalean pteridosperms, a group of small, scrambling to climbing forms (Krings and Kerp, 2000). Complete pinnae…
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Mazon Monday #205: Cyathocarpus hemitelioides
This is Mazon Monday post #205. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Cyathocarpus hemitelioides is one of the rarer ferns from the Mazon Creek biota. C. hemitelioides was named in 1834 by Adolphe-Theodore Brongniart (1801 – 1876), who was a French paleontologist, considered by many to be the father of paleobotany.…
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Mazon Monday #204: Caulopteris sp.
This is Mazon Monday post #204. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Caulopteris sp. are the branch scars of the tree fern Psaronius. Psaronius is an extinct genus of marattialean tree fern. The genus Psaronius is used to describe both the tree trunk and the whole plant. Psaronius tree fern fossils…
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Mazon Monday #203: Creature Corner – Fossil Jackpot
This is Mazon Monday post #203. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Andy Hay was a long time ESCONI member. He joined in 1976 and was a member to the very end. For many years, he wrote the Creature Corner column for the ESCONI newsletter. Many of those articles were compiled into…
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Mazon Monday #202: Lepidostrobus
This is Mazon Monday post #202. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Lepidostrobus is a cone from lepidodendron tree. It was named in 1828 by Adolphe-Theodore Brongniart (1801 – 1876), who was a French paleontologist, considered by many to be the father of paleobotany. He also named Lepidostrobophyllum which are the…
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Mazon Monday #201: Annularia latifolia
This is Mazon Monday post #201. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Annularia latifolia is one of the rarer forms of Annularia. It was named in 1862 by John William Dawson (1820-1899), a Canadian geologist. He was a professor of Geology at McGill University in Montreal. He described fossil plants from…
