Fossil "Hunting" Trip to the FLMNH

[digit]

I'd like to post a trip report for a different kind of fossil hunting adventure. A few weeks ago my wife and I made a trip to Gainesville to celebrate our anniversary. Yes, fellas--if you marry well you can get away with a fossil hunting trip instead of buying a bouquet of roses. We met-up with TFF member Kara (Khyssa) on Saturday to collect some micro-matrix in Rattlesnake Creek. On Sunday we returned to the creek for a little bit to top-off our bucket of micro-matrix and then did some sightseeing in the Gainesville area. The Devil's Millhopper is an interesting geological feature well worth the short drive. On Monday we planned a trip to the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) to briefly meet with Alex Kittle and Dr. Richard Hulbert for a quick tour of the invertebrate and vertebrate collections (respectively) at the museum. For those of you who think I forced my wife into doing something this geeky on our anniversary--she chose this among several options (and we did make it back home in time for a romantic dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants--complete with cheesecake ).

We found parking in one of the larger lots on campus (parking is a nightmare at the University of Florida and we had no desire to be ticketed or towed). The weather was gorgeous outside and the short walk over to Dickinson Hall was pleasant in the slightly chilly morning temps (a tad bit cooler than South Florida). After signing-in and receiving our visitor's badges at the reception desk, we were met by Alex. We got another chance to talk with Alex on the following weekend when we made a second road trip north for the field-trip/meeting of the Florida Paleontological Society (FPS) for which Alex is the Membership Secretary. Alex escorted us down to the working area of the museum. Dickinson Hall has named after Joshua "J.C." Dickenson, Jr. a former director of the museum in the 1960s and under his management the museum's collections, research and education grew impressively. The Seagle Building in which the museum was located quickly became too cramped and Dickinson spearheaded a drive for a new building. In 1970 Dickinson Hall was completed and the collections were moved to the new building with the top floor housing educational programs and public exhibits. Continued growth over the years lead to the need for yet another expansion. This time a new facility, a couple miles west of Dickinson Hall, called Powell Hall was built and the public exhibits moved to the new facility which opened to the public in 1998. I was previously unaware of the history of growth of the FLMNH and thought the research collection was held someplace behind the scenes at Powell Hall. I quickly came up to speed as we walked down to the lower level of Dickinson where the scientists do their work and the research collections are stored.

As Alex brought us into the invertebrate portion of the museum's collection we were first shown into an office area where numerous boxes of a variety of invert specimens were being reorganized and records checked and updated. It was a splendid sight to see boxes of fossils of all types covering just about every horizontal surface. It kind of reminded me of the tables of fossils you might see at a rock and fossil show except that each box had accession numbers instead of prices. Just behind one of the tables were an aggregation of suitcases. These held some of the specimens from a collecting trip to Panama which had just returned. You may have heard about the recent project to enlarge the Panama Canal to allow larger container ships to traverse the isthmus. The new excavations have been of interest to the museum as it cuts through some fossil bearing layers. As I've dragged 80 pound roll-on suitcases full of Green River fish plates through airport security so I know how much fun these must have been to get home.

I asked Alex if he could provide a clue as to the identity of the silicified fossil corals I had collected with TFF member John (Sacha) and Jim (coralhead) last year on the Withlacoochee River in southern Georgia. Alex took us back to his desk and looked through a bookshelf till he found a pamphlet from 1973 from the Bureau of Geology entitled "New and Little-known Corals from the Tampa Formation of Florida". There we found photos of the coral I had described to him. I mentioned that, from what little polyp structure remained on the pieces I collected, it appeared to me to be similar to extant corals I'm familiar with in the genus Siderastrea (specifically S. siderea). I was moderately pleased with myself when Alex found the plates he was looking for which he knew to be found in the Withlacoochee--Siderastrea silecensis (a perfect name for my silicified coral). A link provided here for those interested: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00000252/00001

While I waited for Alex to locate this pamphlet I was intrigued by a collection of fossilized cowries (Cypraeidae) that he was trying to key-out using the latest diagnostic texts. There are relatively few features on these smooth shells and so it is quite the challenge.

-Ken

[digit]

The tour continued to the collection room. One of the first things that Alex pointed out were some micros arranged in slide-like mounts. They were a collection of microscopic copepods from the Lebanon Quarry (dolomitic limestone) in Levy County, FL (southwest of Gainesville). It was cool to see so many type specimens of these tiny planktonic crustaceans from the Avon Park Formation of the Middle Eocene. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avon_Park_Formation

Talk about tiny--I enjoy sorting through micro-matrix looking for the small and often overlooked micro-fossils but these verge on being nano-fossils.

From the truly tiny to the large--Alex then took us to where they store the large and oversized specimens that don't fit in small boxes in cabinets full of drawers. When entering the large specimen store area one of the first items that begs your attention is a large trace fossil plate (ichnofossil). This Silurian age plate with the feeding burrows of Arthrophycus alleghaniensis was donated to the museum by the family of Robert and Elizabeth Moser, This plate was purchased by the family and on display in their home before being donated to the museum. There was also a pretty cool piece of petrified wood. Now wood really can't be considered an "invertebrate" (though technically it is in a way) but the reason it was in this collection is that it is completely riddled with burrows of shipworms. Shipworms, of course, are not true worms but clams (bivalve molluscs) that bore into wood eventually destroying structures like ships, docks and piers earning themselves the name "termites of the sea". We also got to see a really cool crab fossil that, while the body was not well preserved, its claws were in excellent shape and nearly lifelike in their appearance. We dreamed of finding a fossil crab this well preserved on the following weekend during our field-trip to the Haile Quarry (though we only found a small fragment of one claw).

-Ken

[jcbshark]

Thanks for the story and pics Ken, that crab would've been awesome if whole: )

[digit]

Most of the items in the large specimen store area were held on rows of strong shelving units. Most of the collection is stored in banks of high-density movable shelf units on tracks. These storage units allow the rows to be compressed together with space left for only a single aisle which may be repositioned to access any particular bank of shelving by cranking a handle that moves entire banks of shelves on a track. You may have seen high-density storage systems like this in large libraries called 'the stacks'. Unlike those rows of cabinets containing trays of individual specimen boxes safely secured behind closed door panels, the large specimens are on display and are a marvel to behold.

Many of the specimens on this shelf unit were corals and mollusk shells. It was kind of fun to try to identify some of the coral genera which look much the same today as when these fossilized corals were building reefs. There was a collection of what at first looked to me to be similar to the worm-rock reefs that I've seen off the shore near where I live in South Florida. Those reefs, however, are constructed of the agglutinated sand burrows of the tube-dwelling Sabellariid worms of the genus Phragmatopoma. These interesting fossils, pulled from limestone quarries, were in fact calcareous mollusk tubes packed tightly in dense colonies. I don't recall the name of the species but it is likely that someone on this forum is well acquainted with these. They look like batches of extruded pastas gone terribly wrong.

My wife Tammy was fascinated by the collection of large shells on display. We frequently turn up mollusk shells while digging in the sandy soil of our backyard (several times a shallow sea over Florida's history). Usually they are small bivalves in the genus Chione but occasionally we get conchs and whelks. She was quite impressed by the fist-size gastropod shells in a variety of shapes, most excellently preserved. One of the shells intrigued particularly as it was peppered with Lacy Swiss Cheese style holes all over it (and a few small solitary cup corals growing on it). As a kid I can remember making the occasional vacation trip to a beach and seeing recent shells riddled with these holes so I expect whatever was boring into this fossil shell is still around today.

-Ken

[digit]

We concluded the tour of the invertebrate collection by looking at some of the smaller items stored in the condensed shelving units. Alex showed us a stunning cluster of ammonite shells, some with pearlescent shell material still attached. I believe he said this came from a private collection that was donated to the museum. Tammy has quite an affection for ammonites (though we haven't had the opportunity to collect any of our own yet). This one sent her over the top. I bet she had all to do to keep from slipping this specimen into her pocket (just kidding ). We mentioned that we hoped one day to fossil hunt somewhere where we might collect our own ammonites and Alex said he had something to show us. It took him less than a minute to find the correct bank of storage shelves and to locate the specimen he was looking for. He had remembered that we collected silicified fossil corals on the Withlacoochee and showed us some nodules that had been found there. When the nodules were cracked open they revealed the unmistakable pattern of a chambered cephalopod phragmocone. I've got something else to look for next time I visit that river.

Alex mentioned that all sorts of interesting things could be found in concretions and showed us some crab concretions from coastal Florida. These concretions appeared to be in encased in some sort of sandstone rather than limestone. He said they could occasionally be found by beachcombers. That would certainly be a red letter day for a beachcomber.

We got to talking about Panama again and the fact that many Pacific species left relatives over in the Caribbean side after the Isthmus of Panama closed some 12-15 mya. He asked if I was familiar with the sun stars in the genus Heliaster (which I was). I'd seen these sea stars, that have up to 50 arms rather than the usual 5, in some of my diving in the Pacific. Alex found a specimen of a recent Heliaster and showed us specimens found from quarries in Florida proving this genus once had a wider range than it does now. There is no telling why these sea stars, which resemble kid's drawings of the sun with their profusion of arms, no longer inhabit our waters on this side of Central America but quite obviously they once did.

I hope you've enjoyed this brief photo tour of a part of the collection at the FLMNH that the general public does not usually get to see. I'll post some more photos soon from the continuation of this tour with Dr. Richard Hulbert in the vertebrate collection.

Cheers.

-Ken

[Ludwigia]

Thanks very much for the glimpse behind the scenes. I really enjoyed this!

[digit]

Glad you enjoyed your tour of the FLMNH without need of a passport (or a tedious overseas flight). Will try to put up part 2 soon.

Cheers.

-Ken

[jpc]

Great report... Thanks.

[JustPlainPetrified]

Well done! Looking forward to part 2.

[MikeR]

Great pictures and tour. I should ask Alex for a view next time I'm in Gainesville. FYI the worm tube gastropod is Vermicularia recta related to Turritella (family Turritellidae) and the holes on the large murex are made by burrowing sponges from the genus Cliona.

Mike

[Plantguy]

Yep good stuff Ken. Especially enjoyed the Vermicularia examples and Cliona damage that Mike noted above. I've learned a great deal from Mike and Earl regarding some of these critters around here and their traces! Looks like you had a great time.

Thanks for showing us all the fun stuff.

Regards, Chris

[digit]

Thanks for the info. Yup, it was Vermicularia that I couldn't remember--and worm-like they are indeed. I'm surprised that clionid sponges are known to attach sea shells. I'm very familiar with the bioerosion effect that they have on corals but didn't realize that they uncrusted and bored into shells as well. Always fun to learn new things.

Now a continuation of our tour of the FLMNH--this time the vertebrate collection.

Dr. Richard Hulbert had just returned from a conference in Dallas, TX. That's where the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology had their 75th annual meeting. I suspect more than a few TFF members probably attended that meeting. Richard emailed me that he would be able to meet up with us on Monday but that we wouldn't be in early that day. His flight from Dallas arrived the night before in Jacksonville at around 11 pm and wasn't going to make it back home before 12:30-1:00 am so we were lucky to meet up with him at all (I'd have taken the day off). Once Richard tended to some morning activities, Alex handed us over to Richard for a view of a different side of the collection stored at FLMNH.

I showed the unidentified tooth Tammy had found that Saturday when we were sifting on Rattlesnake Creek with Kara (Khyssa). Though odontoceti are not Richard's specialty, he quickly identified it as some sort of tooth from a large dolphin/small whale. I asked if we could see other whale teeth from the collection and that is where we started the tour. Richard quickly located the cabinet that contained toothed whale remnants from the Gainesville area and we pulled a few teeth out to compare. No exact matches were found (not that we really expected to) but we did see several very similar teeth which impressed on us the variation in teeth such as this. Dr. Hulbert mentioned that the entire row of cabinets that we were standing in front of contained vertebrate fossils from the greater Gainesville area. He showed us a drawer of 3-toed horse teeth that came from the area's creeks as wellas the Devil's Millhopper site.

Of special interest to us among the fossils that originated from this area in Central Florida is a small mandible that holds a special place in my heart. Some members may recall that during the spring 2014 volunteer dig at the Thomas Farm site near High Springs, my wife and I were supremely lucky enough to have an interesting fossil lying hidden in the square meter of the site we were assigned to excavate. I won't repeat that (long) saga here but will include the link for those who may have missed it:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/45220-thomas-farm-volunteer-dig-spring-2014/

The Leptarctus ancipidens mandible, expertly prepped, now resides in a small box in a tray of other fossils from mustelids (members of the otter/badger/weasel family). Dr. Hulbert mentioned that all of the cabinets to the end of the row represented fossils pulled from the Thomas Farm site with the overwhelming majority being from 3-toed horse species that must have been incredibly common (or incredibly clumsy to end up in the sinkhole). This single drawer in one cabinet is all that the museum has in its collection for this family of small carnivores. The mandible we found (pictured in the lower left box in the first image) was a substantial addition to the museum's collection for which I am rather proud (even though I did little but get lucky enough to be assigned to that location to dig--and didn't mess it up while excavating it). It was (of course) smaller than we had remembered it--probably as my eyes were much closer to it while working on it. This was the first time I was able to hold the specimen and see if in person from both sides. Last time I saw the specimen it was embedded in a heavy jacketed block of sand and clay. This was one of the stated purposes for visiting the collection (like I needed an excuse to geek-out in the museum) and it was a real high point of the tour.

After carefully placing our mustelid mandible back in its proper place in the collection we continued over to see the prep lab. On our way we passed more rows of cabinets with some pretty cool casts of specimens lying around on top like an eerie trophy room. My wife was particularly taken by the saber-toothed cat cast from a specimen found in La Brea.

-Ken

[digit]

The prep room was an interesting place to visit. There were several grad students busily working away on removing specimens from their jackets or adding the final bits of consolidant and doing touch-ups on completed preparations. This was the very location that Kristen MacKenzie (since moved on to the Denver Museum of Natural History) prepared the mandible we were just reacquainted with in the collection. If I lived closer to the museum I'd love to volunteer to put in time in the prep lab (assuming it would even be allowed). Removing specimens bit by bit from their plaster jackets would be as fun as doing the volunteer dig in the field--with the added advantage that you know there is a good prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box. This student was putting the finishing touches on a nice 3-toed horse jaw from the Thomas Farm site.

It seems that one of the most important tools used during these long preparations is an mp3 player and a pair of headphones. There was also a cluster of 3-toed horse mandible pieces from the same spring 2014 dig for which we volunteered. Still some final work to remove these from their positions in the jacket so the backsides (the tops) can be cleaned and consolidated. Some pieces need lots more help than this like this jumble of puzzle pieces from the previous year's Thomas Farm dig.

-Ken

[digit]

Elsewhere in the large prep lab we saw a very compressed specimen of a sea turtle that was being prepped by removing it from the surrounding matrix and re-assembling into something approximating its original inflated form. They had a modern skeleton of a similar sea turtle (bagged in plastic) on hand to help understand the anatomy as the fossil was being prepped. The carapace of a softshell turtle was attempting to be re-assembled from small fragments. I believe the relatively intact carapace to the right is from another specimen and was acting as the box top example to this jigsaw puzzle. Now that's dedication to try to match and assemble something from fragments like this. I've seen people do it from ancient pottery sherds to good effect but this looks like it should come with a bottle of aspirin.

If my memory serves me correctly (which it does less and less these days) I think I remember Dr. Hulbert saying this was the cranium of a dugong that came from an excavation in Panama. You can see Richard holding the snout of this piece in place--it will be attached later in the process after more preparation. It's pretty well on its way but much more internal matrix needed to be removed. You can see the tools being used at this point--dental picks and brushes. Fossil preparation can be a time-consuming business.

When we volunteered at the Thomas Farm dig the weather was pretty sloppy. It had rained the previous weekend (when we were originally scheduled to dig) and much of the intervening week. Usually, they try to do some micro-matrix sifting of the clay/sand matrix collected at the dig site. Since the relative humidity was at or near 100% they decided that washed and screened micro-matrix wouldn't dry properly so we didn't get a chance to do that in the field. Dr. Hulbert says he prefers to do it in the controlled environment of the lab anyway. Each sandbag contains a label enclosed in a zip-top bag identifying the location (the coded square meter mapped out at the site and the 10 cm depth range below the stratum). This way they can roughly place any micro-fossils found in the matrix to a location within the dig site. They cart back some of the bags of matrix and wash them in huge oversized sinks (sorry, neglected to take a photo of the Herculean sinks). The matrix is then sifted in a set of graduated sifting boxes down to sub-millimeter coarseness. The screens with their now graded and washed matrix are air dried in large vertical drying cabinets. I wish I had a setup like this at home.

-Ken

[digit]

We concluded the tour of the collection back out in the large specimen area which held some sturdy shelves to house some spectacular pieces that I could only dream of finding out in the field. There was a really cool gomphothere holotype labeled Rhynchotherium edense from the Bone Valley Formation (Nichols Mine) in 1934. It included a couple chunks of the shovel tusks and the teeth were a highly contrasting black against the mud brown of the rest of the specimen.

Since I was lucky enough to come across a Colombian Mammoth tooth last year in the Peace River, this species has held special interest for me. We saw a great looking specimen which showed one set of teeth that were worn down to just a few plates with the following molars slowly advancing behind them. This specimen was found and donated to the museum by Mark Renz who got me started collecting fossils in Florida on a cold April morning back in 2007. Mark is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and it was really special to see a specimen that he had donated to the collection. There were also some enviable tusks in the collection. I've only found pieces just large enough to detect the curvature and patterning to enable a positive ID.

Still in a high spot on my Florida fossil bucket list is anything positively identifiable as rhino. The most characteristic and identifiable part to a novice like me would be able to find would be a tooth since random (large) bone fragments could never be positively identified as rhino. Florida rhinos have the same added level of interest as do proboscidean fossils in that it would be fun to tell someone you found a rhino fossil since this family is so associated with the African continent these days.

Rounding out the large specimens in this row was a nice skull fragment of a mastodon with some teeth that were so white they looked completely fresh. There was also a bin of associated vertebrae from a giant sloth that were found in the Haile Quarry where I'd be going the following weekend (no I didn't find any sloth bits when I was there).

-Ken

[PA Fossil Finder]

Alex mentioned that all sorts of interesting things could be found in concretions and showed us some crab concretions from coastal Florida. These concretions appeared to be in encased in some sort of sandstone rather than limestone. He said they could occasionally be found by beachcombers. That would certainly be a red letter day for a beachcomber.

PA190037.JPG PA190038.JPG PA190039.JPG

I've heard of these before as well. Apparently they mostly erode out of the Anastasia Formation, and they can be found on certain beaches.

Roger W. Portell, Richard L. Turner, and John L. Beerensson. (2003). Occurrence of the Atlantic Ghost Crab Ocypode quadrata from the Upper Pleistocene to Holocene Anastasia Formation of Florida. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 23(3): pgs. 712-722.

Also in The Drifting Seed, Vol. 7, No. 1. Pg. 3.

[digit]

We'll wrap-up this tour of the vertebrate collection at FLMNH with a few other drool-worthy specimens.

Over the years I've found a few worn glypto (Glyptotherium floridanum) scutes from its bony carapace. Most have been river worn and as they are usually not found in situ but somewhere downstream in a gravel bed in the river, my chances of finding multiple associated scutes is pretty slim. This large set of associated scutes came from a locality called Catalina Gardens somewhere near St. Petersburg, FL and there is a note that there is more: '* remainder of specimen in cabinet' Also on display next to this carapace is the partial carapace of a Holmesina septentrionalis that puts my few scutes to shame.

Lastly, there were some interesting casts of Hexameryx simpsoni, the Six-horned Pronghorn Antelope, and what possibly appears to be a reconstruction the protoceratid Kyproceras amatorum. Next to that in the same space was a mammoth mandible that was also donated by Mark Renz (in 2003). This came from the famous La Belle Highway Pit that Mark wrote about in his book Giants in the Storm. It is interesting in that the wear on the molars was off (wearing the tooth down more on one side than the other). Dr. Hulbert says it may be from an individual who had a broken and misaligned jaw. The last image is a really cool rhino mandible from Aphelops malacorhinus with a great set of dentition from a locality called Tyner Farm.

I hope you've enjoyed this little virtual tour of the vertebrate paleontology collection at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Again, a big thanks goes out to both Alex Kittle and Dr. Richard Hulbert from FLMNH for making our anniversary something special (and a rather unique one too). They were gracious with their time and by allowing me to take a bunch of photos to try to share the experience here with the rest of the TFF members.

Cheers.

-Ken

[digit]

I've heard of these before as well. Apparently they mostly erode out of the Anastasia Formation, and they can be found on certain beaches.

Roger W. Portell, Richard L. Turner, and John L. Beerensson. (2003). Occurrence of the Atlantic Ghost Crab Ocypode quadrata from the Upper Pleistocene to Holocene Anastasia Formation of Florida. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 23(3): pgs. 712-722.

Thanks for the reference. Something else fun to read. I did a quick perusal and I noted on page 3 of the paper from the Journal of Crustacean Biology (cited above) that right there in Figure 2 is a recognizable specimen. The crab specimen pictured in Fig. 2B (UF48195) with one claw uncovered was one of the ones we saw. The photo wasnt quite focused properly and was a bit soft in the important areas so I didn't included it before.

Cheers.

-Ken

[Auspex]

Bloody outstanding field trip; you got me out of the shop for a while.

[Foshunter]

I have never been disappoited with what is on display, extremely well done. I could only imagine what is behind the closed doors, thanks for the look at the treasures that are there

Tom

[digit]

Glad you enjoyed this peek behind the curtain. It was a fun trip to see the working (and normally non-public) side of the museum. I was happy to be able to take the TFF members along for the ride.

I know several scientists at the Field Museum of Natural History (though no in the paleontological department). I wonder if I can use my connections to get a tour of their collection?....

Cheers.

-Ken

[Al Dente]

We mentioned that we hoped one day to fossil hunt somewhere where we might collect our own ammonites and Alex said he had something to show us. It took him less than a minute to find the correct bank of storage shelves and to locate the specimen he was looking for. He had remembered that we collected silicified fossil corals on the Withlacoochee and showed us some nodules that had been found there. When the nodules were cracked open they revealed the unmistakable pattern of a chambered cephalopod phragmocone. I've got something else to look for next time I visit that river.

We've seen this fossil before. Worthy 55 posted it with another nice Aturia in this thread: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/42553-the-withlacoochee-river-finds-that-were-never-id/

[digit]

Wow! What a great flashback a couple of years to when it was found, identified, and donated to the museum. Alex Kittle had mentioned that the nautiloid was found on the Withlacoochee (because I had earlier mention that name as where I had collected the silicified fossil corals--Siderastrea silicensis). Alex had mentioned that these silicified nodules were found in the river which confused me a little as all of the silicified rocks in the Withlacoochee in southern Georgia (near Clyattville) all seemed to have once been coral. In fact, the entire river bottom is pretty much all sand and these coral cobbles with virtually nothing else. I had wondered if these nautiloids had come from the "other" Withlacoochee River further south in Florida (which empties out near Yankeetown) but I see from the collection information on the pictured specimen from Worthy 55 that it came from Hamilton County which is just south of the GA-FL state line and adjoins the northern Withlacoochee (Crooked) River. You know that the next time I have the opportunity to go back out on the (northern) Withlacoochee that I'll be tapping any round concretions with my rock hammer.

Thanks for connecting the dots Al Dente.

Cheers.

-Ken

[Grimlock]

That is so cool. You must have been like a kid in a candy store. I would love to get in there and check out all of the stuff. Amazing!

[old bones]

Ken, that was a wonderful virtual tour! Thanks for sharing that trip with all of us.