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My wife is active on facebook. I'm not. A while back I asked her to get someone fossils related off facebook for me. I guess she is watching and texted this.... Pretty neat picture. I had thought that the barbs were closer to the end of the tail.... Enjoy

Hello Everyone, Now that my time under a --- COVID-19, virtual teaching, selling my house and moving to Colorado --- rock is ending ? I can share the phase one completion of my students' VR project, Enter the Oligocene. This project was a collaboration with Matthew Gibson at The Charleston Museum, Dr. Bobby (Robert) Boessenecker @Boesse and my SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) students. Graduate and Undergraduate students participated in the 'class' and spent a little under 8 weeks to complete the Phase 01 portion of the project. A herculean effort for any artists given the circumstances. On its face the goal was to create a virtual and visual outreach project. A project that takes the fauna specifically from the Charleston area at the time of the Early/Late Oligocene and brings it to life. The star of the show ? ... Bobby's as yet described Genus-Y (now described Ankylorhiza tiedemani ! )would be the hero model and focus of the main display in the encounter. A few references for those not familiar with Bobby Boessenecker or Matthew Gibson's institutions. Mace Brown Museum of Natural History - Bobby Boessenecker - Paleontologist http://geology.cofc.edu/natural-history-museum/ The Charleston Museum - Matthew Gibson - Curator of Natural History https://www.charlestonmuseum.org/ Hopefully this has been posted and shared elsewhere on the forum ! Bobby's newly published skeleton of Ankylorhiza tiedemani and colleagues (Dr. Morgan Churchill, Dr. Emily Buchholtz, Dr. Brian Beatty, and Dr. Jonathan Geisler) Convergent Evolution of Swimming Adaptations in Modern Whales Revealed by a Large Macrophagous Dolphin from the Oligocene of South Carolina https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30828-9?fbclid=IwAR0DbqXtV_IyFhBTOH6i0263t_fFbctGblBeJilnI_ThNQks9s8LvQ024LU#articleInformation I originally imagined the backdrop for the project as an undersea 'lab' environment attached to a equally impressive museum or display structure. The player can go from the interior of the structure to the flooded exterior of the structure effortlessly. The team focused on various hero elements, one being an Otodus angustidens (my personal favorite) Genus-Y and other billfish, rays and fish common for the time period. Our inspirations were varied but the students did settle upon something more akin to Art Deco for the interior. Here are a few of the initial models/inspirations. A few of the models as Works-In-Progress To Be Continued:

I finally made it out in July to a location near Charleston I am always mentioning, but had never personally visited. After 3 dry years of no ear bone periotics they started showing up in triplicate this summer. Probably was able to discern their shape better after seeing so many examples. Not much else showed up for me that day save a few tiny teeth. But it led to my first, albeit small donation. Common or Scientific Name: Odontoceti indet. (delphinid periotic ear bone) Geologic Formation: Undetermined - ( Fossil dredge from this site typically contains Oligocene Ashley Formation, Lower Miocene Marks Head Formation, Lower Pliocene Goose Creek Limestone, and Pleistocene Wando Formation ) Geologic Age: Undetermined - Oligocene (?) But potentially Pliocene - Pleistocene Region the fossil was found: Charleston, South Carolina Museum or University that received the fossil: Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston Reason for donation: Well preserved and perfect for the fossil survey. Found and donated (July 23, 2019) to Dr. Bobby Boessenecker Dr. Bobby Boessenecker - " Ashby (Gale) and I (but mostly Ashby, since he's out more often) have been putting together a collection of riverbank ear bones from West Ashley, Johns Island, and Mount Pleasant, and this is quite a well preserved one that would go nicely into the eventual paper. "

Hi all! I've joined some time ago, but am terrible at actually posting. I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, but over Memorial Day weekend @Boesse and I traveled to Aurora, NC for the 24th annual Aurora Fossil Fest! We saw multiple collections from people in the North Carolina Fossil Club, including finds from the Lee Creek Mine. We were there representing the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History, and we wrote a blog post up on it! http://blogs.cofc.edu/macebrownmuseum/2017/06/02/friday-fossil-feature-2017-aurora-fossil-fest/ I don't know everyone's handles on this board, but I know @sixgill pete , @SailingAlongToo, @aerogrower, @Al Dente, @Jniederkorn, @Daleksec were all there! Sorry if I've missed someone, feel free to let me know handles of people I missed