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A Seldom Seen Fossil


jkfoam

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Shown below is a photo of a seldom seen fossil and not just because it is very small. At first glance it looks like a small ammonite but it is not. It is a Pteropod (wing foot). A Pteropod is in the Phylum Mollusca and in the Class Gastropod. It is not a snail but is in the Order Thecosomata, Suborder Euthecosomata and Family Limacinidae. The Pteropod shown below is about 2mm in diameter and comes from the Claiborne Bluff on the Alabama, River, in Alabama. It is Skaptotion nitens.

I don't think Pteropods are especially rare in Cenozoic exposures but often the shells are rather fragile and they are generally quite small. They come in a vatiety of shapes usually coiled and resembling snails except they are coiled sinistrally (the opposite of snails). They are generally smoothed shells without much ornimentation.

JKFoam

post-1-1191662866_thumb.jpg

The Eocene is my favorite

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Neat picture. How do you go about identifying all your invertebrate microfossils to the species level? Is there a good internet resource or book you use?

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Very nice, your micro's are starting to call to me JK I may just have to get a microscope sooner than I wanted.

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Emtilt,

You have posed a very good question and I hope more people than just me respond.  There are more ways than one to skin a cat as they say.

What I have to say applies to fossils in general and not just microfossils. 

First you have to identify the fossil as best you can as to Phylum, Class and/or Order if possible.  Also you have to identify the age /formation that the fossil came from.  To identify Phylum/Class/Order use any good invertebrate paleontology book.  I use "Invertebrate Fossils" by Moore, Lalicker, and Fischer.  Most city libraries will have some kind of fossil reference book.  The fossil age (Cambrian, Jurrasic, etc.) and formation can generally be found using Geologic maps of the region where you found the fossil.  Geologic maps are available on-line for many regions.  Google USGS (U S Geological Survey).

There are a lot of ID resources on the web that you can use.  It is fast and can be done at home as opposed to visiting a major University library.  For example, lets say you found a fossil coral in Tennessee.  I would first Google "Tennessee Fossils" to see what is available.  You can refine your search by including more info, ie., Google "Tennessee Fossils + corals + cretaceous + Coon Creek formation".  You may get lucky and find your fossil pictured on a site  and identified to species.

Failing a successful on-line ID you have to do it the old fassion way.  Lets use the Tennessee coral example.  I go to my book "Invertebrate Fossils", then go to the end of the chapter on corals and study the included "Reference List".  The reference list will list the major articles published about corals including the article name, author, year published, and publication.  For this example the Reference List included an article "Corals of the Cretaceous of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plains and Western Interior of the United States", by J.H. Wells, (1932), Bulletins of American Paleontology, Vol 18, pages 85-288, Plates 14-28.  Now you go to a major university library, find the publication, look up the article and hopefully you will find your fossil.  If you dont then you check the Reference List/Bibliography contained in this article to see if it lists a more appropriate article to your search.  You go from there to the next article.  While you are at the library you do a search for coral Bibliographies and Coon Creek Formation bibliographies.  Also while at the library you look at the "Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology, Volume on Coelenterata (includes corals).  It may show your fossil but if not it will have a very comprehensive bibliography for you to check. 

While you are at the University library visit the Geology department and meet the Paleontology professors.  They all have areas of speciality but they will usually take a little time to help steer you in a right direction in your ID search, especially if you show that you are serious in your search.

If you don't live near a major university (one that has a Geology department), then you have to see if your local library can borrow the books you need freom the other libraries.

Also, go on-line and visit the Tennessee Universities websites to see if they have published any articles on Tennessee corals or fossils from Coon Creek Formation.  The odds are they have. 

Currently there is no comprehensive fossil photographic library on-line.  Most all major Universities are dilligently working to photograph there fossil collections and put them on-line.  However, I fear that the availability of such photographic collections is still years away.  It is a monumental task and expense for the Universities and Museums to do this work. 

Emtilt, I hope this has helped some.  ID'ing fossils can seem a daunting task.  For some it is not enjoyable, but for many people it is the most fun part of fossil collecting.  Always remember that fossil collecting is a hobby and as such it should be fun.  If its not fun then why are we doing it.  ID'ing fossils is like a lot of things, the more you do it the better you get at it.  For me, I work at ID'ing a fossil until I get frustrated, then I quit, label it as best I can and move on to something else.

Incidently, the ID of the fossil pictured in this thread was found in "Bulletins of American Paleontology", Vol 103, Number 341, 1992, "Eocene Euthecosomatous Pteeropoda (Gastropoda) of the Gulf and Eastern Coasts of North America" by K.A. Hodgkinson, C.L. Garvie and A.W.H. Be.

JKFoam

The Eocene is my favorite

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  • 4 weeks later...

I too use the U.S.G.S. to locate lithic types to ID point materials . 8) ;)

It's my bone!!!

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  • 2 months later...

Roz,

Yes, I did find it. That particular pteropod came from the Claiborne Bluff on the Alabama River. They are not uncommon. I have also collected them at several Eocene exposures here in Texas.

JKFoam

The Eocene is my favorite

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Roz,

Yes, I did find it. That particular pteropod came from the Claiborne Bluff on the Alabama River. They are not uncommon. I have also collected them at several Eocene exposures here in Texas.

JKFoam

JKFoam,

Have you ever found a mammoth tooth in Texas?

Welcome to the forum!

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Roz,

No, I have never found a mammoth tooth in Texas. I have seen some that others have found here in Texas but I have never found one. I have never spent much time looking for pleistocene vertebrate fossils. I guess I never got past my facination with the invertebrates. Um, that doesn't mean I won't pick up every fish tooth or shark tooth I come across.

My main problem with vertebrate fossils is that I'm not worth a tinkers darn at comparative anatomy.

JKFoam

The Eocene is my favorite

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