Tag: Pennsylvanian
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Fossil Friday #290: Cyclopteris orbicularis
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #290. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post 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 Cyclopteris orbicularis from Knob Noster for…
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Mazon Monday #294: Montceau-les-Mines
This is Mazon Monday post #294. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Montceau-les-Mines is a commune located in the Saône-et-Loire department of the Bourgogne–Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It lies southwest of the city of Dijon and today has a population of just under 20,000 people. The town was officially established on…
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Fossil Friday #289: Asolanus camptotaenia bark from the Mazon River
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #289. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post 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! Recently, George Witaszek sent us photos of a rare Mazon…
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Mazon Monday #293: Mazon Creek Project Slides
This is Mazon Monday post #293. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Mazon Creek Project was a program sponsored by Northeastern Illinois University. Founded in the 1960s, by the late Eugene Richardson Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum in Chicago Illinois. It was originally an attempt to encourage more…
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Fossil Friday #288: Danville Roachoid Wing
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #288. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post 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! Andrew Young sent us photos of a beautiful Roachoid wing…
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Mazon Monday #292: Mazon Creek Fossil Day 2025
This is Mazon Monday post #292. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. We had a nice turnout at the Mazon Creek Fossil Day event in the Coal City library a few weeks ago. There were multiple displays by members and people brought in some of their finds for identification. Last week’s Fossil…
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Fossil Friday #287: Palaeoxyris multiplicatum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #287. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post 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! Hunter Nettles brought an absolutely breathtaking specimen of Palaeoxyris multiplicatum…
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Mazon Monday #291: Dithyrocaris sp.
This is Mazon Monday post #291. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Dithyrocaris sp. is a genus of crustacean from the Carboniferous. The Mazon Creek fossil biota includes one undescribed species, although there are other described species from other fossil localities – Bear Gulch, Montana (Dithyrocaris rolfei). Danville, IL (Dithyrocaris carbonarius), Cane…
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Fossil Friday #286: Rhabdoderma exiguum
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #286. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post 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! For this week’s Fossil Friday, we have a Rhabdoderma exiguum.…
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Reminder: 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 #290: Danville Spoil Pile Trip Report for September 2025
This is Mazon Monday post #290. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. There was lots of fun on the field trip to the Danville Spoil Pile on Saturday, September 27th, 2025. The day was hot and dry with a clear sky and temperatures in the 80s… summer like weather in late September…
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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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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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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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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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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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Throwback Thursday #282: Field Museum Postcard
I found this old Field Museum postcard at the recent ESCONI Rock Swap. It’s a photo of the coal forest in the Evolving Planet exhibit. This exhibit was originally in the Ernest R. Graham Hall in the Field Museum. The postcard is from the middle 20th century.
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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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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…
