MikeR Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 This week, work carried me to South Florida once again and as the winter temperatures were a chilly 70oF, an opportunity to do some weekend collecting at one of my favorite quarries. Unlike the famous shell pits in Sarasota where the Pinecrest Member of Tamiami exposes extensive beds of Pliocene shell, this quarry lying within the coral facies (Golden Gate Member) of the Tamiami is composed of not only shell but limestone, sand and corals. I am constantly confounded with this locality's geology as certain faunal elements suggest Lower Pleistocene Caloosahatchee Formation. Published reports however, state that the Caloosahatchee is not found this far south, but a more lengthy explanation will have to wait until the day I get around to updating my Pliocene Project blog entry. Among the picture finds below is the best example of size, color and gloss of the rare shell Liochlamys bulbosa that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, it was found by my collecting partner although my day was not a bust as among other finds, I found a very large complete Strombus and many Siphocypraea (not pictured). 18 "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Lovely shells and decent sized coral colonies too. Nice. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neanderthal Shaman Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 Nice shells, I like the glossy texture on those Liochlamys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historianmichael Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Those are some big gastropod shells. Great finds! Follow me on Instagram (@fossil_mike) to check out my personal collection of fossils collected and acquired over more than 15 years of fossil hunting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Gotta live those Florida shells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 16 hours ago, MikeR said: This week, work carried me to South Florida once again and as the winter temperatures were a chilly 70oF, an opportunity to do some weekend collecting at one of my favorite quarries. Thanks, Mike for sharing the adventure !!! Not only the corals and shells, but I love the scenery. It must be the joy of finding at similar sites in my memory.. The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traveltip1 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Nice site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazee Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Great gastropods! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyo Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Nice corals. Dichocoenia behind the great gasteropod ???. Siderastrea over the screwdriver ???. In the last photo there are many corals among bivalves and gastropods. Siderastrea again, Manicina, Stylophora, Antillophyllia ???. It seems like an entertaining place for coral lovers. Most people saw gastropods and bivalves but there is always some crazy person who sees the coral. Mmmmmm .... nobody´s perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 1 hour ago, oyo said: Most people saw gastropods and bivalves but there is always some crazy person who sees the coral. Mmmmmm .... nobody´s perfect. I like your sense of humor! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 3 hours ago, oyo said: It seems like an entertaining place for coral lovers. Most people saw gastropods and bivalves but there is always some crazy person who sees the coral. Mmmmmm .... nobody´s perfect. The Golden Gate Member is known for it's amazing diversity of corals. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 22 hours ago, oyo said: Nice corals. Dichocoenia behind the great gasteropod ???. Siderastrea over the screwdriver ???. In the last photo there are many corals among bivalves and gastropods. Siderastrea again, Manicina, Stylophora, Antillophyllia ???. It seems like an entertaining place for coral lovers. Most people saw gastropods and bivalves but there is always some crazy person who sees the coral. Mmmmmm .... nobody´s perfect. Corals in the pictures are Dichocoenia caloosahatcheensis Siderastrea dalli Manicina areolata Placocyathus costatus Trachyphyllia bilobata As Don mentions, the Golden Gate Member of the Tamiami is very rich in corals, representing a typical coral reef community including reef crest, reef platform, back reef and reef lagoon. Over the years between both the Golden Gate and the Pinecrest Members I have accumulate a large number of different species of corals from some that are found in the Caribbean to others which are extinct. From my fauna list as follows: Phylum Cnidaria Class Hydrozoa Order Anthothecata Family Milleporidae Millepora alcicornis Linne, 1758 Class Anthozoa Order Scleractinia Family Acroporidae Acropora cervicornis (Lamarck, 1816) Family Agariciidae Agaricia lamarcki Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1851 Family Astrocoeniidae Stephanocoenia intersepta (Lamarck, 1816) Stephanocoenia spongiformis (Duncan, 1864) Family Caryophyllidae Paracyathus cf. pulchellus (Philippi, 1842) Phyllangia americana Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1849 Placocyathus alveolus Duncan, 1863 Placocyathus barrette Duncan, 1863 Placocyathus costatus Duncan, 1863 Family Faviidae Diploria sarasotana Weisbord, 1974 Isophyllia desotoensis Weisbord, 1974 Manicina areolata (Linne, 1758) Manicina areolata (Linne, 1758) var. Manicina grandis (Duncan, 1864) Manicina pliocenica Gane, 1895 Manicina puntagordensis Weisbord, 1968 Montastrea cavernosa (Linne, 1758) Mussismilia aff. harti (Verrill, 1868) Mussismilia hispida (Verrill, 1901) Pseudodiploria clivosa (Dana, 1846) Pseudodiploria strigosa (Dana, 1846) Scolymia cubensis (Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1849) Thysanus excentricusDuncan, 1863 Family Meandrinidae Dichocoenia caloosahatcheensis Weisbord, 1974 Dichocoenia eminens Weisbord, 1974 Dichocoenia stokesi Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848 Dichocoenia stokesi f.stellaris Milne-Edwards & Haime, 1848 Eusmilia fastigata (Pallas, 1766) Meandrina meandrites (Linne, 1767) Trachyphyllia bilobata (Duncan, 1864) Family Oculinidae Oculina sarasotana Weisbord, 1974 Family Pocilloporidae Madracis deactis (Lyman, 1859) Stylophora affinis Duncan, 1863 Stylophora granulate Duncan, 1864 Family Poritidae Goniopora hilli Vaughan, 1919 Goniopora imperatoris Vaughan, 1919 Porites porites (Pallas, 1766) Family Rhizangiidae Astrangia leonensis Weisbord, 1974 Septastrea marylandica (Conrad, 1837) Septastrea crassa (Holmes, 1858) Family Siderastreidae Siderastrea dalli Vaughn, 1919 Siderastrea pliocenica Vaughan, 1919 Family Incertae sedis Antillia dentata Duncan, 1864 Solenastrea bouroni Edwards & Haime, 1849 Solenastrea hyades (Dana, 1846) 4 "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyo Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 And that ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 1 minute ago, oyo said: And that ????? Good eye! I missed that one. It is hard to tell in the picture, but if I had to guess, maybe Stylophora granulata. "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyo Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Oh yes, it is a very trained eye. Many hours looking at branchy coral poupourris. Stylophora, yes, that had seemed to me. I will take the opportunity to ask your opinion about a sample that came to me many years ago in an exchange. It came to me as Antillophyllia but clearly it is not. I think it is Scolomya but I do not dominate your grounds to say much more about it. Location: Sarasota County, Florida. It is attached to a fragment of oyster shell and has numerous small holes. Maybe you could complete the specimen file to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Wow! That looks like quite the place for Pliocene marine mollusks and coral and you must have had quite the time picking up those specimens. Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 On 2/6/2021 at 11:16 AM, oyo said: Oh yes, it is a very trained eye. Many hours looking at branchy coral poupourris. Stylophora, yes, that had seemed to me. I will take the opportunity to ask your opinion about a sample that came to me many years ago in an exchange. It came to me as Antillophyllia but clearly it is not. I think it is Scolomya but I do not dominate your grounds to say much more about it. Location: Sarasota County, Florida. It is attached to a fragment of oyster shell and has numerous small holes. Maybe you could complete the specimen file to me. Definitely Scolomya. I am thinking Scolomya lacera which has been reported from the Tamiami by Budd, Klaus, Meeder and others along with two undescribed species. I have in my list Scolomya cubensis which they do not list so I will need to research that a little more to make sure it is correct. "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyo Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 Scolomya lacera was the species that I thought for that specimen but could not find citations in Florida. Can you indicate the title and full reference of that publication to which you refer? Some authors consider Scolomya cubensis and Scolomya wellsi as a subspecies of Scolomya lacera and refer to them as Scolomya lacera lacera forma cubensis and Scolomya lacera wellsi. Source Zlatarski and Martínez Estalella 1982 Les Scleractinaires de Cuba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (3): 465-529. I tried to attach the PDF, however it is too large, but a free download can be found here LINK Mike "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted February 6, 2021 Author Share Posted February 6, 2021 I have attached work from Jim Klaus specific to Tamiami corals as well as his supplemental which lists taxa to Meeder's localities. Global&PlanetaryChange152_27-37 Tamiami Reefs.pdf Tamiami-Supplemental.xlsx "A problem solved is a problem caused"--Karl Pilkington "I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit." -- Mark Twain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyo Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 5 minutes ago, MikeR said: I have attached work from Jim Klaus specific to Tamiami corals as well as his supplemental which lists taxa to Meeder's localities. Global&PlanetaryChange152_27-37 Tamiami Reefs.pdf Tamiami-Supplemental.xlsx 10 minutes ago, MikeR said: Budd AF, Fukami H, Smith ND, Knowlton N. (2012). Taxonomic classification of the reef coral family Mussidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 166 (3): 465-529. I tried to attach the PDF, however it is too large, but a free download can be found here LINK Mike Thanks Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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