Amazing hunt at the Banjaard

[Max-fossils]

37) Ocenebra erinaceus, Eemian

[Max-fossils]

38) A fantastic Boreotrophon clathratus, Eemian

[Max-fossils]

39) Boreotrophon truncatus, Eemian

[Max-fossils]

40) Propebela turricula, Eemian. These were incredibly abundant in those Lacuna beds!

[Max-fossils]

41) Turritella incrassata, Pliocene

[Max-fossils]

42) Lacuna crassior, Eemian. The bigger counterpart of Lacuna vincta, of which those beds were mainly composed of. L. crassior is also very common in the Lacuna beds.

[Max-fossils]

43) And finally, my favorite gastropod find of the day, of which I found 3, Trivia monacha!!! These are also Eemian. Quite rare so far I know, and always gorgeous shells. I'm so happy to have found these! (I say T. monacha, but there's also another Eemian Trivia species and the two can only be distinguished by 3 colored spots on the back, which usually (not always) go away during fossilization. Seeing that these are fossilized it's gonna be essentially impossible to distinguish between the two, but T. monacha is the slightly more common species. In my collection they'll go down as Trivia sp.)

[belemniten]

Great finds and documentation Max (as always)  I especially like that Trivia.  In the last I found many of them at a beach near the "Zwarte Polder".

By the way do you know if you can still search and find something in Massvlakte? 

[Max-fossils]

And that's it! An absolutely bestial amount of 43 different shell species found in a couple hours at a single location! (It should actually be 45, if you count Lacuna vincta and Spisula solida (which I didn't collect this time because I already have too many)). Then again, it is true that there are lots of different ages present at this location. The Eemian sediments are the most important, but as you can see there's also quite a lot of Pliocene (typical for the beaches of Zeeland), some different Pleistocenes, and even some Eocene. So when there are different ages put together then obviously you find more species. Still, I think that's a really impressive number, especially considering that there are more species that I've found too on other hunts, and that I still have many to find!

Thanks for taking a look at this huge collection of photos of my wide array of finds, I hope you enjoyed it!

Let me know which shell species you like best  

Max

[Max-fossils]

1 hour ago, Coco said:

E. catena is on the top of the pic, in the middle

 

Coco

That's a modern one. There are many other modern ones too in the picture, but you have to find the fossil one! Try again  

[Max-fossils]

1 hour ago, Coco said:

North - North West of the bigger gatropod, half hidden, whose apex is all we can see ?

 

Coco

Do you maybe have a photo-editing app to circle which one you mean?

(I could do it for you but that would be giving the answer away )

[Max-fossils]

36 minutes ago, digit said:

Thanks, Max!

 

Spectacular to see such a different (and productive) hunting area. You've put a lot of effort into not only collecting but identifying a vast diversity of fossil shell species. You must have quite the collection going.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Thanks for the very kind comment Ken! I appreciate it  

When you're such an avid shell collector as me, you naturally spend a lot of time in the books trying to identify as much as you can, so that you know what there still is out there for you to collect further. Many people here do this with shark teeth species; I do it with shells  

I'll tell you though, it can get really tricky sometimes. Species are constantly moving around from one genus to the other, the scientists never agree on anything, and also many of the shells look a crazy lot alike even when they're completely unrelated. Plus, most of the time you only find incomplete and/or badly worn shells, sometimes taking away the distinctive features. I've got a lot of shells in my collection that are sitting down as sp. or indet., and it's very frustrating!

Oh well... it's still a whole load of fun and if I didn't enjoy it I wouldn't be doing it. Just like everyone else on this awesome forum  

[Max-fossils]

9 minutes ago, belemniten said:

Great finds and documentation Max (as always)  I especially like that Trivia.  In the last I found many of them at a beach near the "Zwarte Polder".

By the way do you know if you can still search and find something in Massvlakte? 

Thanks Sebastian! Yeah I heard that this genus is often found grouped in small groups, and if you're lucky you find a lot of them at once. You must have found a real honey-hole! Zwarte Polder has more Pliocene though, right? You might have found some of the Pliocene species then. 

The Maasvlakte itself is (since a long time) no longer accessible, but the Maasvlakte 2 is still open so far that I know. Haven't heard much from it though recently. But yeah, normally you can still find some good stuff there. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

What a lot of very different and interesting species. 

Love the Epitononium, Flexopecten and Trivia, among others. 

I shall be using this as an identification key, I guess. 

(Max has kindly sent me a bag of this matrix, with lots of the tiny, recent Lacuna vincta gastropods to sift through and try to find some fossils. Last night I got my digital microscope up and running, so after practising on bits off fluff and my fingernails - ewwwwwwwwwwwww- I am ready to go through this matrix this evening.Thanks, Max.)

 

[Max-fossils]

1 minute ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

What a lot of very different and interesting species. 

Love the Epitononium, Flexopecten and Trivia, among others. 

I shall be using this as an identification key, I guess. 

(Max has kindly sent me a bag of this matrix, with lots of the tiny, recent Lacuna vincta gastropods to sift through and try to find some fossils. Last night I got my digital microscope up and running, so after practising on bits off fluff and my fingernails - ewwwwwwwwwwwww- I am ready to go through this matrix this evening.Thanks, Max.)

 

Thanks Adam! Good luck with that micro-matrix!  

[jpc]

I think your two bones are bird bones.  The second being a humerus.  

[Max-fossils]

2 minutes ago, jpc said:

I think your two bones are bird bones.  The second being a humerus.  

Ah thanks. Here's a closer look:

 

[Coco]

Max, I am impressed by the number of species that you have found, but also by the fact of sharing between current and fossil species. You mention a lot of Emsian species that still exist today. I wonder how you can make a difference.

 

The species that I prefer are Epitonium clathrum (which I like very much also in current) and Trivia.

 

About this pic, I think it is in red circle 

 

And in this second pic, I thought it was in red circle, but perhaps it is in the yellow one...

 

Coco

[Max-fossils]

22 hours ago, Coco said:

Max, I am impressed by the number of species that you have found, but also by the fact of sharing between current and fossil species. You mention a lot of Emsian species that still exist today. I wonder how you can make a difference.

Thanks Coco! You are right, a lot of the species are still (locally) alive today. Making a distinction between the fossil and modern specimens is not easy, but the more you do it the more it comes naturally to you. There are some signs though:

• Fossil specimens do not have the same coloration (and are often much more dull in color, in the greys and browns)
• Usually, the fossil specimens here do not let light shine through them while modern species do (not applicable to all species)
• The fossil specimens are a little bit thicker and feel more like stone
• The fossil specimens never have any periostracum ('skin') preserved, and are never attached to their counterpart valve (bivalves) or their operculum (gastropod)

These are some of the criteria that apply to fossil shells from the Banjaard (they could be different for other locations!). At first it's quite difficult, but the more you find and compare fossil and modern shells from this location the easier it becomes to determine whether a shell is fossil or not. In some cases it can become really hard to say why you think a shell is fossil, even if you are convinced it is one, but that can simply be 'because you have a really strong feeling' it is. I know that this really doesn't sound scientific at all, but it just so happens to be the case. There are also still numerous cases where I'm completely unsure which one of the two my specimen is. So, essentially, there is no easy answer to your question, but knowing what the criteria are and just having experience (the more the better) is what comes in for the judgement. Obviously, for species that are exclusive to the fossil record (ie extinct or locally extinct) it's very easy. But for many species that doesn't apply. 

 

Anyways, for the little search thing, the yellow circle is correct, that's the little fossil Littorina littorea!

But you didn't find the Natica crassa yet... it's a small one  

 

PS: these shells are from the Eemian, and not the Emsian! The Emsian was 400 million years ago  

[Scylla]

21 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

43) And finally, my favorite gastropod find of the day, of which I found 3, Trivia monacha!!! These are also Eemian. Quite rare so far I know, and always gorgeous shells. I'm so happy to have found these! (I say T. monacha, but there's also another Eemian Trivia species and the two can only be distinguished by 3 colored spots on the back, which usually (not always) go away during fossilization. Seeing that these are fossilized it's gonna be essentially impossible to distinguish between the two, but T. monacha is the slightly more common species. In my collection they'll go down as Trivia sp.)

Sometimes with fossil shells from Florida, I have found that color patterns can be discovered using different wavelengths of light such as UVA or UVB. Worth a shot as it is not destructive.

[Monica]

Hey Max!

 

Great finds, as usual!  That last gastropod (Trivia sp.) is particularly nice - I love the ribbing!

 

By the way - you've been finding so many gastropods lately that perhaps you should be the "Bivalve AND Gastropod Afficionado" 

[Coco]

1 hour ago, Scylla said:

Sometimes with fossil shells from Florida, I have found that color patterns can be discovered using different wavelengths of light such as UVA or UVB. Worth a shot as it is not destructive.

Jean-Michel Pacaud, a french scientist (Museum Histoire Naturelle - Paris) has written several publication about the fluorescence after passing some fossil shells in bleach and then under a UV lamp, which revealed colors.

 

http://olivirv.myspecies.info/sites/olivirv.myspecies.info/files/Les mollusques eocenes se devoilent sous ultraviolets Saint Martin%2C J.-P. (Jean-Paul) %26 Pacaud%2C Jean-Michel.pdf

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259762640_Les_motifs_colores_residuels_des_coquilles_lutetiennes_du_bassin_de_Paris

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259672247_Contribution_des_motifs_residuels_de_couleur_dans_la_discrimination_des_especes_d'Athletinae_Mollusca_Gastropoda_de_l'Eocene_du_bassin_de_Paris

 

In this one, the color is only with UV lamp :

https://www.geoecomar.ro/website/docs/VolumFranta2010/03_Caze.pdf

 

Hope this help.

 

Coco

[Max-fossils]

3 hours ago, Scylla said:

Sometimes with fossil shells from Florida, I have found that color patterns can be discovered using different wavelengths of light such as UVA or UVB. Worth a shot as it is not destructive.

Oh yeah I saw that. I don't know if it will work with mine too but I'll test it out. I first need to find a UV lamp somewhere... 

Good idea either way, thanks  

 

2 hours ago, Monica said:

Hey Max!

 

Great finds, as usual!  That last gastropod (Trivia sp.) is particularly nice - I love the ribbing!

 

By the way - you've been finding so many gastropods lately that perhaps you should be the "Bivalve AND Gastropod Afficionado" 

Thanks Monica! Yeah, those Trivia are always really special  

And you're right, maybe I should reconsider my name a little... I'll think of something!

 

@Coco that looks like some good stuff, I'll have to check it out! Thanks for the links!

[digit]

15 minutes ago, Max-fossils said:

I first need to find a UV lamp somewhere... 

Check and see what band of UV light the studies used for revealing evidence of past markings. It likely makes a difference as the latent pigments would likely be selective. Don't know about the availability of bulbs in your area but I suspect some searching on the internet will reveal some sources.

 

The UV spectrum has a wavelength from 100 and 400 nanometers. UV-A is the longest (320nm to 400nm), UV-B is a narrow band in the middle (290nm to 320nm), UV-C is the shortest (100nm to 290nm). UV-A bulbs are likely the most commonly available and are referred to as "blacklights" which are known for lighting up fluorescent posters (possibly the best choice for your experiment), UV-B bulbs tend to be used as reptile warming lamps (they also cause sunburns in humans), UV-C bulbs tend to be used for germicidal sterilization.

 

There's more information than the average human needs about UV.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

P.S.: We want photos if your experiments reveal markings on your fossil shells.

[Max-fossils]

@digit ah cool, thanks a lot for the good info Ken!

If I get to do anything cool with it I'll definitely post some pictures!