MikeR's Fossil Gastropods

[MikeR]

I have been photographing my collection of Pliocene gastropods from the Southeastern US, but I realize that I will never be able to completely picture every specimen within my collection.  On a Facebook page about fossil crabs, @MB has been showing individual drawers within his collection.  I like what he is doing so I thought I would do something similar here with drawers within my collection of fossil gastropods.

 

My display collection is organized chronologically, the first seven drawers being Pleistocene.  Since many of the formations within the southeast share species and I have limited room within my drawers, I display the two best specimens from any formation within the group so there should be no duplicates unless the same species from different formations demonstrate noticeable variation.  Within my Pleistocene drawers, the following formations are represented:

 

Upper Pleistocene

Fort Thompson (Florida)

Flanner Beach (North Carolina)

 

Chibania (Middle)

Bermont Formation (Florida)

 

Calabrian (Lower)

Caloosahatchee (Florida)

Nashua (Florida)

Waccamaw (North and South Carolina)

James City (North Carolina)

 

Gelasian (Lowest)

Chowan River (North Carolina)

 

Pleistocene Drawer 1 contains the Families Fissurellidae, Calliostomidae, Turbinidae, Epitoniidae, Eulimidae, Cerithiidae, Potamididae, Turrritellidae, and Vermetidae.  Quarter for scale.

 

[Shellseeker]

Thanks , @MikeR

How do you arrange or order specimens within a drawer?

 

For explanatory purposes:  Why  Pyrazisinus scalatus  2 from Florida Formations, are the specimens different on the 2 coasts?

Thanks for the ID on the Argopecten in the other thread...

Jack

[MikeR]

23 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Thanks , @MikeR

How do you arrange or order specimens within a drawer?

 

For explanatory purposes:  Why  Pyrazisinus scalatus  2 from Florida Formations, are the specimens different on the 2 coasts?

Thanks for the ID on the Argopecten in the other thread...

Jack

 

One lot is very large for the species, but are imperfect, while the shells in the other lot are near pristine.  I arrange the specimens by families to fit in the drawers.  Typically in technical publications authors begin with families which are considered "older" such as Fissurrellidae, Turbinidae, etc. which were once classified in the order Archaeogastropoda, followed by Orders Littorinomorpha, Neogastropoda and then the other orders.  I try to follow the same sequence in my drawers, but sometimes I have to change that up to make the most out of space.

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 2: Strombidae, Naticidae, and Cassidae.

[MB]

nice

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 3. Calyptraeidae, Cypraeidae, Triviidae, and Muricidae.

 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Siphocypraea on bottom left, the colored one is fossil or recent ?

 

Do you only keep one or two copies per species ? Or is it your reference collection and you have some elsewhere ? I’m surprised to see so little in a box.

I have shells of the basal Pliocene (very lower) from home and for some species I have hundreds. But for now I have not put anything in collection, I have to sort the best...

 

I like your drawers !

 

Coco

[PaleoNoel]

Nice! I have some gastropods from Sanibel, FL, do you know how old they might be? While I kept a few from the beach, I also kept some older looking ones from my aunt's backyard. Many of the smaller roads on the island are paved with shells.

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 4. Ficidae, Buccinidae, Melongenidae, Pisaniidae.

 

[FossilNerd]

I have recently been enamored with gastropods. Trying to ID some of my finds has turned into learning all about them. Of course, I have viewed your other posted collections. Wow, are they amazing! This one does not disappoint either. Thanks for sharing!  

[MikeR]

On 5/4/2020 at 10:25 AM, Coco said:

Hi,

 

Siphocypraea on bottom left, the colored one is fossil or recent ?

 

Do you only keep one or two copies per species ? Or is it your reference collection and you have some elsewhere ? I’m surprised to see so little in a box.

I have shells of the basal Pliocene (very lower) from home and for some species I have hundreds. But for now I have not put anything in collection, I have to sort the best...

 

I like your drawers !

 

Coco

 

Hi Coco

 

Siphocypraea is not found past the Early Pleistocene and if one is lucky, those in the Caloosahatchee formation can be spectacular.

 

 

Yes, what I am featuring is my display/reference collection which is organized chronologically by epoch.  The main part of the collection is kept in my garage and organized by Families.  Pictured below are my Plio-Pleistocene gastropods, bivalves, corals, barnacles, and echnoids that are not residing in the drawers.

 

 

Mike

[MikeR]

16 hours ago, PaleoNoel said:

Nice! I have some gastropods from Sanibel, FL, do you know how old they might be? While I kept a few from the beach, I also kept some older looking ones from my aunt's backyard. Many of the smaller roads on the island are paved with shells.

 

Probably the yard shells are Upper Pliocene Tamiami Formation from SMR Aggregates.  The shell beds were mined extensively for road, driveway and construction projects for many years until recently.  It was the last of the great Sarasota mines.

 

Mike

[PaleoNoel]

1 hour ago, MikeR said:

 

Probably the yard shells are Upper Pliocene Tamiami Formation from SMR Aggregates.  The shell beds were mined extensively for road, driveway and construction projects for many years until recently.  It was the last of the great Sarasota mines.

 

Mike

Thanks! That's very interesting. Up here in New Hampshire it's hard to imagine a road paved with fossils when we barely have any fossils at all.

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 5, Fasciolariidae,Nassariidae, and Columbellidae.

 

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 6, Turbinellidae, Harpidae, Olividae, Cancellariidae, and Volutidae.

 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Mike, is there a reason some of the labels are being flipped?

I like your drawers! (And especially what’s in them...).

 

Coco

[MikeR]

1 hour ago, Coco said:

Mike, is there a reason some of the labels are being flipped?

 

Hi Coco

 

Labels are flipped on specimens that I need to re-identify.  My galley is composed of Pliocene gastropods, so I have spent more time deep diving correct identification as I post images.  The flipped labels are more of a reminder to look at the species at some future date.

 

Mike

[Coco]

Thanks for this information.

 

Coco

[MikeR]

Pleistocene Drawer 7. Conidae, Terebridae, Drillidae/Turridae/Allied Families, Bullidae, Architechtonicidae, freshwater gastropods and micros.

 

[ClearLake]

That is an awesome collection so far!  Thanks for sharing!

[MikeR]

In my collection, there are more drawers, eleven, devoted to the Pliocene of the Southeastern US, mostly due to widespread deposits during the Late Pliocene.  In all, probably less than 5% of the gastropods within the drawers are from the Lower Pliocene.  The Early Pliocene in this part of the country is geographically limited and at the time with cold temperate water temps whereas the Upper Pliocene deposits were subtropical to tropical and therefore more diverse particularly in Florida.  Represented in the collection are the following formations:

 

Piacenzian (Upper)

Zone 2 Yorktown (Virginia and North Carolina)

Duplin (North and South Carolina)

Jackson Bluff (Florida Panhandle)

Tamiami (South Florida)

 

Zanclean (Lower)

Zone 1 Yorktown (Virginia and North Carolina)

 

Pliocene Drawer 1 contains the Families of Fissurellidae, Turbinidae, Trochidae, Calliostomidae, Epitoniidae, Cerithiidae, and Potamididae.

 

[Coco]

For the moment it does not seem to me to have seen Ovulidae. Are there not some in these formations ?

 

Coco

[MikeR]

Pliocene Drawer 2. Calyptraeidae, Naticidae, Vermetidae, Ficidae, and Cassidae.

 

[MikeR]

17 hours ago, Coco said:

For the moment it does not seem to me to have seen Ovulidae. Are there not some in these formations ?

 

Coco

Hi Coco

 

Yes there are Ovulidae within the Florida Plio-Pleistocene, but none within my collection.  Found although rarely are Cyphoma and related genera as well as Jenneria.  All are on my bucket list so maybe one day.  I do have Eocene Ovulidae that I will be posting later, such as internal casts of Sulcocypraea.

 

Mike

[MikeR]

Pliocene Drawer 3, Turritellidae, Cypraeidae, and Triviidae.