dirtdauber Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Just an update on a couple of little crabs that I posted about a year or two ago on the Crabs Fever topic. Alex (MB) correctly identified one as Costacopluma sp. and the other as a hexapodid crab. Later, Dr. Roger Portell of the Florida Museum of Natural History, expressed interest in the crabs, so I donated all that I had at the time to the museum for study. Roger and colleagues R. Feldmann and C. Schweitzer identified the one crab as Costacopluma grayi and the smaller crab as a new species -- Stevea martini. The C. grayi represents the first report of its' occurrence in the Paleocene of Alabama. The S. martini, sp. nov. represents the only fossil species of Stevea to-date. The crabs pictured below were collected recently. The crabs were collected from a roadcut through the Pine Barrens Mbr., Clayton Formation, lower Paleocene (Danian) in Lowndes Co., AL. (photo attached). A paper 'Crabs (Decapoda, Brachyura) from the lower Paleocene of Alabama, USA' by R.M. Feldmann, C.E. Schweitzer, & R.W. Portell, describing the crabs was recently published in the on-line journal Scripta Geologica, vol. 147, 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Awesome little crabs, George! Congratulations, sir. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Congratulations George !!! http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Well done, Sir! Congratulations. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 very cool. i don't get out there often, but i believe i know that road cut. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Congrats, George. It's good to know the paper is out, I just downloaded it. When I first saw the name Stevia martini I thought it might have been a play on "Steve Martin", but now I see it was named for you. Actually, it is a cute "double play". Do you know if it was intended that way? It is great to see your efforts recognized, after all your other donations that didn't get properly followed up. Cheers, Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Really nice crab specimens. Are you finding these crabs surface collecting or bulk sampling the formation (I'm not seeing a scale bar or size anywhere so I don't know how large the specimens are.)? Are you finding shark, ray, fish, crocodile, turtle etc. specimens in the formation also? I have collected the Paleocene of VA/MD for years and am curious what else you are finding. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 JohnJ, Alex, Tim -- Thanks for the kind words. I love finding the little crabs. George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 Dan -- I visit this site 3-4 times per year, usually after heavy rains, but I often see footprints or other signs of fossil hunters. Some could have been yours. If you visited this site, did you find any crabs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Hey Don -- Thanks for the kind words. Got lucky on the quick publication of the paper, since I happened to contact Roger just when he and colleagues were looking for something to publish in honor of their colleague, Pal Muller. And no, not a play on words ( ). Roger Portell was kind enough to name the little crab after me. BTW, I visited the site after your last excursion and found 2 additional specimens of the Stevea and 1 C. grayi. Very uncommon to find multiple Stevea on one trip! Sent them to Roger to bolster his FLMNH collection. Also was contacted by George Phillips of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science a few weeks ago and sent a few specimens of C. grayi to him for use in an on-going study that he and colleagues are working on. Take care. George Edited October 24, 2014 by dirtdauber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 Marco -- Thanks. The C. grayi specimens I've collected range in width from about 5 to 11 mm and the S. martini specimens from 3 to 10 mm in width. All were surface collected. I wet-screened about 12 gallons of matrix and found 1 broken shark tooth (not productive, to say the least). I continue to visit this site to collect a representative sample of the varied fauna and typically find something new-to-me on each trip. Vertebrate remains, other than shark teeth, are uncommon, but I have found a crocodilian vertebrae and 1 tooth, a partial turtle plastron and fragments of bone, a bird bone, and what I think is a shark fin spine. Also have collected many shark teeth, but haven't tried to ID them yet. Ray teeth are very rare, but have found a few and a partial plate. Have not found any echinoids, but have collected a few small urchin spines. Also find many crab or shrimp claw tips and occasional callianassid claw fragments. Clams, gastropods, and other mollusks are the most common finds. Attached is a photo showing examples of finds at the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Congrats on the great donation and the crab named in your honor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 Just a footnote, George, Pál Müller is from Hungary http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Marco -- Thanks. The C. grayi specimens I've collected range in width from about 5 to 11 mm and the S. martini specimens from 3 to 10 mm in width. All were surface collected. I wet-screened about 12 gallons of matrix and found 1 broken shark tooth (not productive, to say the least). I continue to visit this site to collect a representative sample of the varied fauna and typically find something new-to-me on each trip. Vertebrate remains, other than shark teeth, are uncommon, but I have found a crocodilian vertebrae and 1 tooth, a partial turtle plastron and fragments of bone, a bird bone, and what I think is a shark fin spine. Also have collected many shark teeth, but haven't tried to ID them yet. Ray teeth are very rare, but have found a few and a partial plate. Have not found any echinoids, but have collected a few small urchin spines. Also find many crab or shrimp claw tips and occasional callianassid claw fragments. Clams, gastropods, and other mollusks are the most common finds. Attached is a photo showing examples of finds at the site. Wow, you must have great eyesight. I really need to have my face to the ground to see 3mm or even 5mm specimens. Thank you for posting the other specimens. It looks like they are in great condition. It is too bad that wet screening wasn't productive but unless you can find a lense where the teeth concentrated you usually won't find much. I haven't found a good lense in the MD/VA Paleocene formations that I look through. I have to look through a good amount of formation usually to find a few teeth. It is much more productive to take river gravel, many more teeth concentrated in the gravel, but the condition can range from pristine to badly damaged/water worn. There are some very small ray and shark teeth in Paleocene formations, although most get caught by window screen. I occasionally use a .5mm sieve just to find the smaller stuff in the river gravel. Marco Sr. "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Fantastic crabs and congratulations, George! That first one is speaking to me. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 Thanks, all for the kind comments. And Alex, I appreciate the correction. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Congrats, George. It's good to know the paper is out, I just downloaded it. When I first saw the name Stevia martini I thought it might have been a play on "Steve Martin", but now I see it was named for you. Actually, it is a cute "double play". Do you know if it was intended that way? It is great to see your efforts recognized, after all your other donations that didn't get properly followed up. Cheers, Don arrow through the carapace??? Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Dan -- I visit this site 3-4 times per year, usually after heavy rains, but I often see footprints or other signs of fossil hunters. Some could have been yours. If you visited this site, did you find any crabs? not my prints...i was in such a hurry last time that i only did a drive by. and btw, yall are spoiled by rain out that way! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Very cool! Congrats on the finds and paper! ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triceratops Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Great fossils! I probably wouldn't even have noticed them! -Lyall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm.Spillman Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 For anyone interested, an update on George Martin's Alabama Stevea and Costacopluma... We now have Stevea martini from the lower Danian of Arkansas (one specimen), which Rodney Feldmann currently has in his possession. The comprehensive Costacopluma project (incl. George's Alabama material) is now in press and will appear in the next issue of South American Journal of Earth Sciences (Martinez-Diaz, Phillips, Nyborg, etc.). From one George to another--Thanks again for all your help, George! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtdauber Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Thank you, George! Glad to hear that you collected an S. martini in Arkansas. I collected another one in AL a couple of weeks ago (first since 2014) and will deliver it to you next time we meet. Take care. -- George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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