Uncle Siphuncle Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 The note below was an email I got today from the professor describing the Permian reptile skull I found and donated a few years ago in the Dolese Richard's Spur quarry near Lawton, OK. Read closely - there is a cool, unexpected, and significant twist....ENJOY! Dear Dan, after a long silence, I am writing to let you know that we are almost ready to submit a paper based on your material. I will keep in touch and let you know how things are progressing. What is really interesting about your material is that we discovered some insect fragments stuck on the teeth of your specimen, and this would be the earliest evidence of insectivory in the fossil record. The delay in publishing on your material is caused by a taxonomic problem because a small fragment of an animal very similar to yours was named 40 years ago as Delorhynchus. This fragment is really a small part of a maxilla, but we had to work out how to get around the problem of naming your animal. I am attaching for your enjoyment a couple of recent papers on Dolese materials, just to show you that we are working on the stuff, with many more still to come. I am also flying to Dallas in early January and planning to drive up to Norman and to Tulsa, where I will talk about the Dolese fauna. Any way to meet up with you? I would like to visit you, perhaps see your collection, help you identify interesting specimens from Dolese? Regards, Robert Robert R. Reisz Professor and Chair Senior Editor JVP Department of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga 3359 Mississauga Rd.N, Mississauga,L5L 1C6, ON, Canada Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Looks like you are fixing to become Royalty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG....Congratulations :applause: From the looks of things I'd say you name will be cemented into the paleontology portal from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bone digger Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 WOW, way to go , I think it's every fossil hunters dream to find something totally new to science and have it named after them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 "we discovered some insect fragments stuck on the teeth of your specimen, and this would be the earliest evidence of insectivory in the fossil record". Or the earliest evidence of motorcycle riding without a face shield Seriously, congratulations. Any pictures of the specimen in question? I'd love to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 holy coprolite batman!!! thats awsome dude, have we seen this fossil before or is it new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grampa dino Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Good ON YOU: let us know on the final out come OK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Dan, Very nice. I especially liked that part about the insects. JKFoam The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Dan, that is fantastic! You really are a Rock Star! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Very cool!!! Wonder if we'll ever find some Neanderthal with parsley stuck between his teeth?..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryland Mike Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Kudos and Congratulations! Carpe Diem, Carpe Somnium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Great, it is always cool to get something of your's published. It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 "we discovered some insect fragments stuck on the teeth of your specimen, and this would be the earliest evidence of insectivory in the fossil record". Or the earliest evidence of motorcycle riding without a face shield Seriously, congratulations. Any pictures of the specimen in question? I'd love to see it. AKA Jim Carrey on the scooter in Dumb and Dumber??? Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Now how cool is that? Hope you keep everything updated on here as would really like to hear the latest as it happens............ I think I have seen that quarry, maybe not, but was in OK, not too far from here. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 If ya get to meet Robert R. Reisz try to convince him to let some paleo groups (DPS?) BACK into the Dolese quarries. It's my understanding it's one person with exclusive rights to collect there now. The DPS got shafted on that Dolese thing I hear. The story I heard is the person who was charged with watching the group(s) didn't do his job and let people go where they were NOT supposed to go (quarry face, etc). The quarry manager saw this and was enraged and the group(s) was banned. The watcher of course shifted blame to the group. Another thing is that some people had sold material on Ebay and the quarry assumed it was freshly found stuff by the groups, actually it was OLD material NOT found by the groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 :applause: Major kudos, that is awesome. Please keep us up dated on this and would love to see some pics!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenixflood Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Very cool! The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makoken Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 The note below was an email I got today from the professor describing the Permian reptile skull I found and donated a few years ago in the Dolese Richard's Spur quarry near Lawton, OK. Read closely - there is a cool, unexpected, and significant twist....ENJOY!Dear Dan, after a long silence, I am writing to let you know that we are almost ready to submit a paper based on your material. I will keep in touch and let you know how things are progressing. What is really interesting about your material is that we discovered some insect fragments stuck on the teeth of your specimen, and this would be the earliest evidence of insectivory in the fossil record. The delay in publishing on your material is caused by a taxonomic problem because a small fragment of an animal very similar to yours was named 40 years ago as Delorhynchus. This fragment is really a small part of a maxilla, but we had to work out how to get around the problem of naming your animal. I am attaching for your enjoyment a couple of recent papers on Dolese materials, just to show you that we are working on the stuff, with many more still to come. I am also flying to Dallas in early January and planning to drive up to Norman and to Tulsa, where I will talk about the Dolese fauna. Any way to meet up with you? I would like to visit you, perhaps see your collection, help you identify interesting specimens from Dolese? Regards, Robert Robert R. Reisz Professor and Chair Senior Editor JVP Department of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga 3359 Mississauga Rd.N, Mississauga,L5L 1C6, ON, Canada Excellent!!!! That is awesome ! Very exciting. Congrats !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Congrats Dan; I'm guessing that email was more exciting than finding your elusive mammoth tooth. We need to remedy that, too. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 If this thing passes muster the new taxon will be Acroleter woehri, Acro, mountain, leter, hunter in Greek (brief etymology lesson). Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 DUDE that fossil is wicked! you deseve all the credit, for all your efforts, spending any free time collecting, seeking out new spots and scoring big time! but not only that, you share everything, the fossils and the stories... CONGRATULATIONS!! "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megaselachus13 Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 A precious skull, must be a dream to find something like that. Both for its quality and the fact that it's a new species that has your surname. Truely great, congratulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metopocetus Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Awesome! Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Good Job Dan, That would be a hard one to donate!!! Ramo For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 I found one of the more common Captorhinus aguti skulls too plus hundreds of maxillary and post cranial elements in pristine condition, many encrusted with calcite and pyrite. Pieces of Eryops, Cardiocephalus, Captorhinus, and other beasts came to hand en masse for everyone in attendance. It was truly a day of landmark collecting. Greed resulted in a law suit that shut down collecting for years, then as far as I know things opened up briefly for 3 club trips before it all shut down again supposedly due to sale of specimens despite us all signing waivers stating that we wouldn't. Now for a tidbit of truth....this was nothing short of dumb luck for me. A buddy had an invite to this quarry through a club and was able to get me in. I had never heard of the place nor did I know the significance of this fauna going in. Right place, right time, right connections.........And the guy that got me in was smart enough to bulk sample enough to load the back of his truck. Everyone laughed at him....until he ended up with 20 skulls including 3 new species.... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommabetts Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 I found one of the more common Captorhinus aguti skulls too plus hundreds of maxillary and post cranial elements in pristine condition, many encrusted with calcite and pyrite. Pieces of Eryops, Cardiocephalus, Captorhinus, and other beasts came to hand en masse for everyone in attendance. It was truly a day of landmark collecting. Greed resulted in a law suit that shut down collecting for years, then as far as I know things opened up briefly for 3 club trips before it all shut down again supposedly due to sale of specimens despite us all signing waivers stating that we wouldn't. Now for a tidbit of truth....this was nothing short of dumb luck for me. A buddy had an invite to this quarry through a club and was able to get me in. I had never heard of the place nor did I know the significance of this fauna going in. Right place, right time, right connections.........And the guy that got me in was smart enough to bulk sample enough to load the back of his truck. Everyone laughed at him....until he ended up with 20 skulls including 3 new species.... Wow that sounds like an awewsomw trip. I bet no one makes fun of that guy taking bulk samples any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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