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Would anyone have access to Gastropods Upper Pliocene Pinecrest Beds.pdf Bivalves Upper Pliocene Pinecrest Beds.pdf I have just returned from Florida and need to begin IDing my finds. These would likely be helpful!

Hi everyone, I am hoping to be able to grab someone's attention with a couple of questions. I am a fairly new fossil hunter, (2 years now) and try to identify the fossils I find by comparing them to other images through the forum, or from some of the internet images, such as from the Florida Museum of Paleontology. Sometimes I am successful, often I find two or three differently named fossils that look alike, so my next step to to see where they come from and if my were from the same geologic layer or time. From my latest trip I found wonderful scallops and find myself with a few questions which I am hoping someone will be kind enough to answer. 1. When the ears of a scallop or bivalve are unequal, is the longer one always to the left when looking at the shell surface, and is that always the bottom half? 2. Is there an easy visual way to tell a pecten from a chlamys? or does it have to do with interior structure? 3. Can the differences between a Carolinapecten, a Chesapeakepecten, a Christinapecten be easily discerned? 4. What is up with those unusually named fossils, in my case I am wondering about the Dimarzipecten crocus? Thanks to you bivalve and scallop experts out there for aiding me. Rod

I was about to throw out a broken 2 inch shell when I noticed a dark object lodged inside. It is about 1/2 inch square. dark black/brown, opaque and hard. I had hoped it was amber but too hard. Won't scratch with a dental pick and sinks in salted water. Shell came from piles to be used to pave parking lot @ Bradenton Beach, FL (See Bradenton beach Fossil shells) I am reasonably certain that there is no mixing of any recent material. Have any SMR Pinecrest collectors ever seen this material? Any help in ID or other steps I could take to identify it would be appreciated. will attach pictures. Thanks

On a business trip to Tampa this week, I came across a shell pile containing typical Upper Pliocene fossil mollusks which probably originated from SMR. Since SMR is no longer in production it might be a good opportunity for someone to start a nice little collection if you never had the opportunity to collect in the Sarasota quarries. Since it is slated for road fill it won't be there long so if you are interested PM me and I will give you locality details. Mike