Tag: Wyoming
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ESCONI April 2026 Paleontology Meeting via Zoom and in-person – “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation”
The April 2026 Paleontology Study Group Meeting will feature Keith Robitschek and his presentation “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation”. You can attend in-person at the College of DuPage, TEC, Room 1038B (Map). The meeting will also be available via Zoom.
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Fossil Friday #311: Dung Beetle Balls from the Oligocene
Today’s contribution comes from our old friend Ralph Jewell. Back in the 1990s, Ralph was interested in the Oligocene fossils of the Brule Formation, which dates to 34-40 million years ago. This region is sometimes referred to as the White River as the Brule Formation is a member of the White River Group.
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2026 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #35: Priscacara, sp. from the Green River Formation in Wyoming
What fossil show is complete without a Green River fish? Here is a nice Priscacara, sp. These fish date to the Eocene, about 50 million years ago. We have other Green River fish, come on out and see them!
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ESCONI January 2026 Paleontology Meeting – February 21st, 2026 at 7:30 PM – “Death to Discovery: Taphonomy of the Fossil Lake Lagerstatten”
Arvid Aase , Head Curator at Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming, will present “Death to Discovery: Taphonomy of the Fossil Lake Lagerstatten (Green River Group).” Lakes are divided into three types: overfilled, balance-filled, and under-filled. The characteristics of a balance filled lake create the greatest opportunity for conditions conducive to fossil preservation. Fossil Lake…
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Video for ESCONI January 2026 General Meeting – “Fossil Birds of Wyoming”
Jean-Pierre Cavigelli, of Casper College in Casper, WY, presented “Fossil Birds of Wyoming”. Wyoming’s fossil bird record spans much of the Late Cretaceous through the Cenozoic, though its completeness varies widely through time. The state’s oldest known bird fossils come from the late Cretaceous Mesa Verde Formation and Pierre Shale, dating to about 79 million…
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ESCONI January 2026 General Meeting – January 9th, 2026 at 8:00 PM – “Fossil Birds of Wyoming”
Jean-Pierre Cavigelli, of Casper College in Casper, WY, will present “Fossil Birds of Wyoming”. Wyoming is well known for its fossils of all kinds. Dinosaurs are probably the most famous. They were first discovered here in the late 1800’s and are still being uncovered and studied nowadays. Fossil fishes from the southwest corner of the…
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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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34-Million-Year-Old Snake Discovered in Wyoming Changes Our Understanding of Evolution
The fossilized skeleton of the newly discovered snake species Hibernophis breithaupti, which lived 34 million years ago in what is now western Wyoming, reveals insights into the evolution and social behavior of its modern descendants. Credit: Jasmine Croghan SciTechDaily has a story about a newly discovered fossil snake species. Hibernophis breithaupti, was discovered in western Wyoming.…
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Dinosaur World Thrilled Over Allosaurus Found In Wyoming’s Jurassic Mile
Cowboy State Daily has a story about the discovery of an Allosaurs. Paleontologists from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis have been digging in the Jurassic Mile near Shell, WY since 2017. Back in 2020, while clearing overburden from a quarry that had bones from two giant long-necked sauropods, they discovered a chunk of dinosaur bone…
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Wyoming Couple Finds Forest of Gigantic 60 Million-Year-Old Petrified Trees
Examples of metasequoia trees similar to the petrified specimen found by a Wyoming couple recently on their property. (Photo by Erik Herman, Harvard.edu) Cowboy State Daily has a story about the discovery of some gigantic petrified trees near Buffalo, Wyoming. The fossil tree trunks were found while building an RV park. The fossils date to…
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Smithsonian: Paleontologists Discover 52-Million-Year-Old Bat
Smithsonian Magazine has a story about a fossil bat from Wyoming. Bats are underrepresented in the fossil record due their small size and even smaller bones. Unfortunately, they also live in areas that don’t usually form fossils. The Green River Formation in Wyoming, which dates to the Eocene about 52 million years ago, has yield…
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New Species of Rhynchosaur Unearthed in Wyoming
SciNews has a story about a the discovery of a new species of Rhynchosaur. The animal, Beesiiwo cooowuse, lived around 230 million years ago during the Triassic Period. It was found in the Popo Agie Formation in central Wyoming, in the United States. Rhynchosaurs are archosaurs, which makes it a cousin to dinosaurs. This new…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #21!
This is the preview post #21 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here.…
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Plesiosaur unearthed in 1995 found to have been long-necked marine reptile
Phys.org has a story about a recently described plesiosaur. Discovered back in 1995, Serpentisuchops pfisterae, which means roughly “creature with a snaky crocface”, has been described as a plesiosaur. Plesiosaurs generally come in two varieties, those with a long, snake-like neck and a small head, and those with a shorter neck and a head with…
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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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Dinosaur Cowboys Are Hunting for the Next $32 Million T. Rex
Bloomberg has a story about the Dinosaur Cowboy. Known for discovering the “Dueling Dinosaurs”, Clayton Phipps is a rancher and an amateur paleontologist. The story does a great job describing the controversy around the commercial exploitation of fossils, mainly dinosaurs. On a sunny, 99-degree day in northern Montana, Clayton Phipps grabs a backpack and heads…
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Video: ESCONI October 2020 General Meeting – “The Blue Forest of Ancient Lake Gosiute”
At the October 2020 General Meeting, we had Mike Viney speak about the petrified wood of the Blue Forest in Wyoming. The Zoom meeting video has been processed and is now available for viewing. After the presentation, Mike sent a pdf with many of his slides (RBlueForestOfAncientLakeGosiute). Mike is a Teacher in Residence at…
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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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Jurassic dig uncovering hundreds of dinosaurs in Wyoming
Buckrail has a post about a massive dinosaur dig in north-central Wyoming. Called “Mission Jurassic”, the effort has become a collaboration between paleontologists across the US and the UK. The site itself is huge and may hold hundreds of dinosaurs, including four mighty sauropods that have already been identified. Geologists have long known about…
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SciNews: New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Wyoming
SciNews has an article about the discovery of a new bird-like dinosaur in Wyoming. The animal, Hesperornithoides miessleri, lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. It has been nicknamed Lori and was about the size of a chicken. Its contemporaries were giant dinosaurs like Stegaoaurus, Diplodocus, and Allosaurus. The description appeared in…
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Smithsonian: Discovery of Raptor-Like Dinosaur Adds a New Wrinkle to the Origin of Birds
Smithsonian has a story about the discovery of a small dinosaur that sheds light on the origin of birds. While excavating a Supersaurus nicknamed “Jimbo”, Wyoming Dinosaur Center paleontologist spotted some small bones amongst the enormous bones. Named Hesperornithoides miessleri, the animal lived about 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic. The specimen is referred…
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Dinosaur Bone Hunting: Excavating Fossils With Paleo Prospectors
By Mary Fairchild (2011, private ranch near New Castle, Wyoming.) To collect, conserve, curate and display extraordinary geological and natural history specimens that have the power to educate, enlighten, and excite people about the wonders of the natural world.–The Black Hills Museum of Natural History’s mission statement When dinosaurs walked the earth, a vast inland…
