Naming And Labeling Of Fossils

[-Andy-]

Hi all, I like to put proper labels on all my fossils, and I usually do it like this

Example:

Petrified Wood

Conifer araucaria

195 mya

Madagascar

However, I 've occasionally seen labels on other fossils that go by

Fossilized Tooth

Mosasaur sp.

144 - 65 mya

Morocco

My question is with the "Mosasaur sp." part. I understand a standard labeling convention usually includes the scientific name of the species involved. However, what does Mosasaur sp. mean in this case? Is it referring to the fact that the tooth in question belongs to a mosasaur, but is not narrowed down to any one particular species.

Also, when I look at the naming of the Tyrannosaurus, it can go like this.

Dinosaur Tooth

T. rex

67 mya

North America

Why would the mosasaur naming go for "sp." while the Tyrannosaurus naming go for "T."

[Wrangellian]

The sp. is just an abbreviation of 'species', meaning the species is unknown. The T. rex thing is just laziness because they assume you know the name Tyrannosaurus.

Your "conifer araucaria" is a little ambiguous, too - you could say:

Petrified wood

Conifer

Araucaria sp.

As you learn more details of your fossils, you could get more informative with your labels, eg.

Petrified Wood

Conifer: Araucaria somethingorother

195my Such-and-such Formation / Group / Member / etc

Site, So-and-so town, Madagascar

...at least this is the basic format I use.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Wrangellian

[FossilDAWG]

What Eric said is correct.

A few other points:

Sometimes the specimen has enough features to identify it to genus, but the particular features needed to ID different species within the genus are missing. In that case the label should use "sp." (short for "species"). With regard to your example of Mosasaur sp. the features that distinguish one species from another are usually some feature of the skeleton, and it may not be possible to accurately distinguish one species from another based on tooth form. It may happen that only one species (IDed from skeletal material) occurs in the formation where your tooth was found, in which case you might infer that your tooth belongs to that species, but you should recognize the limitations of that sort of an ID.

If your specimen is very similar to some described species, but you can't be sure they are really the same, you might use a name like (for example) Mosasaurus cf hoffmanni, where the "cf" means "comparable form". This is more precise that just Mosasaurus sp, but still indicates the uncertainty in the species designation.

If you want to be really precise, the name should also include the name of the author of the name (the scientist who first used the name), and the year of publication. For example, Isorophusella incondita Billings, 1903. Sometimes the name will be in brackets, which indicates that the genus name has been changed since the species was first described. If you want to be really picky, genus and species names should always be underlined or in italics.

Incidentally there is no genus "Mosasaur", that is the colloquial name for a whole group of marine reptiles, just as "dinosaur" is the name for a group of terrestrial animals but not a valid genus name. There is a genus Mosasaurus, but there are many other genera of mosasaurs as well and distinguishing between genera based on isolated teeth is not always possible. Learning about the taxonomy of various fossils groups, and how to ID the specimens yourself (as labels from dealers are sometimes incorrect) is all part of the challenge and the fun of this hobby (obsession). I'd guess that your specimens were purchased, as both your examples (Mosasaur and Conifer) incorrectly use a group name as the genus.

Another point, when the label uses a very specific age (67 million years for your Tyrannosaurus example), how do you know the age is exactly 67 million years as opposed to 65 or 69 million, for example? It is best practice to label the specimen with the geological formation the specimen was collected from, for example "Hell Creek". The age boundaries of the formation can be obtained from the geological literature, and sometimes those age determinations are revised up or down a bit. If you want to, you could also include the age range (as in Eric's example) of the formation, recognizing that those dates might change a bit. More commonly the ages given by dealers will be the age range for the entire geological period (for example, Cretaceous) the specimen belongs to, and that range will be much larger than the range for the formation.

When writing a scientific paper, it is the convention to spell out the genus name (for example, Tyrannosaurus) the first time you use it, and abbreviate it (to "T.") after that. In this case the "T." is not ambiguous as it is defined in the paper, and after that the abbreviation saves space. It is never appropriate to use "T." in place of "Tyrannosaurus" on a label, as the "T." is ambiguous in that context. The proper name of a species includes both the genus and species names, and quite different organisms can legitimately have the same specific name as long as the genus is different. For example, the largest known trilobite was named Isotelus rex.

Hope this helps.

Don

[-Andy-]

Thanks for the information!

You got that right on both counts, FossilDAWG. Singapore has no fossils for me to dig haha, so I buy them. And yes, it's an obsession for me!

Well time to spend some time re-labeling and closely identifying my fossils then.

[-Andy-]

So what about

Stingray Mouth Plates

Phacodus punctatus var. Africanus

Maastrichtian (Cretaceous)

Khouribgha, Morocco

What does the "var." in the scientific name mean?

[Bill]

Variety. Though still a Phacodus punctatus it is a variety of it. In this case an African variety.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Bill

[erose]

Two things to add (a penny each....)

Location information is the most important information. As detailed as you can make it.

The species name is always lower case. Same for varieties.

I also make good use of quotation marks and question marks in my catalog. And my written labels are done in pencil.

[Boneman007]

My labels are usually in this format:

Genus species

suchandsuch formation

(specific formation information such as "Between marker unit X and Y) This is not always applicable.

age (time period)

County, State

For example:

Tylosaurus kansasensis

Niobrara formation

Between marker units 3 and 4

Cretaceous (Coniacian)

Gove County, KS

[-Andy-]

What about casts and replicas.

If you guys had one, would you indicate so on the labels?

[Bill]

I would think anyone serious about collecting fossils would label a cast as 'cast'

[-Andy-]

I would think anyone serious about collecting fossils would label a cast as 'cast'

I don't think museums do so.

It's not to mislead people, but more to prevent the feeling of, "Hey a triceratops skull! It- oh, just a cast? Never mind."

Edited February 11, 2012 by -Andy-

[Claw]

Is there a museum standrad of some sort?

[erose]

I don't think museums do so.

It's not to mislead people, but more to prevent the feeling of, "Hey a triceratops skull! It- oh, just a cast? Never mind."

Most museums I have visited do label casts at least when displaying individual bones or portions of specimens. Often larger assembled skeletons are not so well defined although there might be a note that says "75% complete" or something like that.

I have yet to run into a "museum industry standard." I think they are more interested in sticking with their own in-house standard if anything. The closest I have seen is when an institution's initials just get prefixed onto the catalog number.

[-Andy-]

How would you guys label pseudo fossils like dendrite plates, or fossils with unclear species such as slabs of poorly preserved crinods or cotham marble stromatolites?

Right now, I label my cotham marble as such

Stromatolite

Algae and Worms sp.

225 - 200 mya

Southwest England

[Wrangellian]

Algae and worms? I'd like to see that specimen, please post it.

It's not necessary to put "sp." after a general category like 'Algae' or Worm'. That's only if you have the genus name but not the species.

Also, I think it's better to put 'Upper Triassic' instead of (or alongside) the date 225-200my, if the info you got was "Upper Triassic". The dates might change as they refine the timescale but the stratigraphy should stay pretty much the same.

E.g:

Stromatolite

Upper Triassic (225-200m.y.)

Cotham Marble

Southwest England.

I hope you can also get more specific locality info for your fossils. The more the better. If the people you get your fossils from don't supply that info by default, ask for it.

[-Andy-]

Oh its just the normal cotham marble.

I was told the patterns were made from worms and blue-green algae.

Yeah, I am now asking people who trade me fossils for the specific location. Sadly though, many ebay sellers still do not bother to provide that, and sometimes simply ignore my pms.

[sixgill pete]

I think labeling your fossils should be done by what you want on them personally. Myself, I do not buy fossils, so I want exact collecting info on mine also.

Here is one of my labels.

M M Onslow (where found)

Carcharhinus plumbeus

Sandbar Shark

Castle Hayne Formation (Eocene)

from overlying reworked layers(Pliocene)

10-21-2011

[Wrangellian]

Yeah, I am now asking people who trade me fossils for the specific location. Sadly though, many ebay sellers still do not bother to provide that, and sometimes simply ignore my pms.

I know, that annoys me. People who don't record the data should not be allowed to sell, I say. They have all sorts of other requirements for ebay sellers, for instance no fake coins can be sold on ebay.ca, I hear.

But there are other sellers who do oblige with the data as far as they can.

[-Andy-]

If your specimen is very similar to some described species, but you can't be sure they are really the same, you might use a name like (for example) Mosasaurus cf hoffmanni, where the "cf" means "comparable form". This is more precise that just Mosasaurus sp, but still indicates the uncertainty in the species designation.

Thanks to this thread, I 've been able to label most of my fossils.

I still have another question about using the "cf" term though.

Let's say I am not even confident about the genus of my specimen, etc Conophyton algae.

Do I put cf Conophyton sp.

or

Conophyton cf sp.

[Indy]

The scientific value of the fossil increases based on the extent

of documented locality information.

Identification can be a matter of debate. However, a professional

studying the fossil with knowledge of the "Exact" collecting locality

can often render a proper identification.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Indy

[xonenine]

here are a few folks label ideas and a few simple templates that can be printed, from an older thread... FOSSIL LABELING

[Coco]

Hi,

Thanks to this thread, I 've been able to label most of my fossils.

I still have another question about using the "cf" term though.

Let's say I am not even confident about the genus of my specimen, etc Conophyton algae.

Do I put cf Conophyton sp.

or

Conophyton cf sp.

"cf" means "confer". In that case, you necessarily have to put a name of species. Thus for your fossil, you have to write "Conophyton sp."

Coco

[Regg Cato]

"cf" generally means "falls within the boundaries of"...so a specimen that you would label "cf. Conophyton sp." is one that sort of falls within the range of variation for Conophyton and is suspected to belong to that taxon. This is often a useful appelation for incomplete specimens that are likely to belong to a particular taxon but cannot be quantifiably diagnosed as such...(not sure if I'm explaining this well :S lol).

"cf" means "confer". In that case, you necessarily have to put a name of species. Thus for your fossil, you have to write "Conophyton sp."

Coco

so for example you would have

cf. Triceratops sp.

Triceratops cf. horridus

-Regg