jkfoam Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Way back in 1975-78 I made several collecting trips to Clarke County, Alabama where I collected in some Gosport Sand Formation, Claiborne Group, Eocene exposures. In sorting and cleaning the fossils I collected I save all cleaning debris to go through at a later time to pick out the micro fossils. While I did pick through and concentrate this bulk micro material I did not go through it very thoroughly and set the material aside for a number of years. So a number of years later (like 2008) I rediscovered this quart jar containing the concentrate and started again to pick through it under the microscope. This is when I discovered a small brachiopod in the material. I was never able at the time to identify my brachiopod so I just labeled it as "brachiopod, unknown" and placed it in my collection of other Gosport Sand Fossils. Recently, on this Forum a thread was started titled "Tertiary Brachiopods" by Nala, on February 24, 2012, in Members Collection. This thread rekindled my interest in my brachiopod so I responded and joined this tread requesting help in ID'ing my brachiopod. Others participating in the thread obviously had more knowledge about Tertiary brachiopods than I have so I posted pictures of my small, 2mm, brachiopod. Several thread participants responded giving me several ID suggestions and more importantly provided me with several valuble literature references. After researching the references suggested I still could not ID my specimen so I decided to contact several Universities and museums that I felt would have good Gosport Sand Formation fossil collections. One of the institutions I opened communications with was the University of Alabama, Alabama Museum of Natural History. In e-mails with Dr. Alberto-Perez Huerto (Curator of Invertebrate Fossils) he informed me that my specimen was a Rhynchonellid brachiopod (consistant with the opinion of several Forum members) and further that after furnishing several colleagues photos of my fossil that I sent to him he said that his friends, who were world experts in Tertiary brachiopods, had never seen anything like my specimen in the Eocene. He felt my specimen would be a new species and maybe even a new genus. At this point I concluded my brachiopod was too important and rare to be sitting in my collection so I offered it to his museum. Dr. Huerto put me in contact with their Collections Manager. Now, after executing a "Deed of Gift" to the museum I have forwarded the brachiopod to the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The fossil is now part of their permanent collection available to paleontologist for study at some point in the future. Hence, after some 35 years that tiny brachiopod has a new home and will not be lost to science, at least by me. Shown below are several photo's of the brachiopod (approximately 2.5 mm in length). Jim The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 That's a long and winding road for a little shell...good on ya' for installing it in an institution ! "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...
MarleysGh0st Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Congratulations on your discovery! Will you get the naming rights for the new species? Or if one of the professors get that right, will they honor you for finding it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 A classic story from a gentleman with a lot of class. Congratulations on your research and documentation, Jim. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Congratulations on your discovery! Will you get the naming rights for the new species? Or if one of the professors get that right, will they honor you for finding it? Thank you. When I gifted the fossil to the museum I did so without reservation or future expectation. Personally, I think the naming of the species of a fossil should be the sole right of the worker writing the description of the fossil, but thats just me. Also, I like to see species names that reflect a geographical association to the fossil, or a morphological feature of the fossil, etc. I would be extremely happy just to know that some paleontologist has decided to pick up a study of Claiborne brachiopods that might include the fossil I found. But I don't see that happening unless another find is made that includes a larger population of similiar brachiopods. A study of a single Rhynchonellid brachiopod is problematic because you need to examine the internal structure of the brachiopod to complete the taxonomic classification. Jim Jim The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opisthotriton Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Great story! I know it can take several years of study and writing before this little guy will finally make it into a publication, but just imagine the honor when you're holding that reprint in your hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Very exciting, Jim! Congratulations! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Great story... thanks to share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Much congratulations! Thank you for sharing this, and being my initial inspiration to dabble in the micro world. Steve Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Wow, Great story and with a happy ending! -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 A somewhat hidden part of the story is that the documentation survived 30+ years too; without it, what good would the fossil have been to a researcher? "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...
BobWill Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Thank you. When I gifted the fossil to the museum I did so without reservation or future expectation. Personally, I think the naming of the species of a fossil should be the sole right of the worker writing the description of the fossil, but thats just me. Also, I like to see species names that reflect a geographical association to the fossil, or a morphological feature of the fossil, etc. I would be extremely happy just to know that some paleontologist has decided to pick up a study of Claiborne brachiopods that might include the fossil I found. But I don't see that happening unless another find is made that includes a larger population of similiar brachiopods. A study of a single Rhynchonellid brachiopod is problematic because you need to examine the internal structure of the brachiopod to complete the taxonomic classification. Jim Jim Well come on folks! Let's get out there and find that larger population! Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 A study of a single Rhynchonellid brachiopod is problematic because you need to examine the internal structure of the brachiopod to complete the taxonomic classification. Jim Jim There are high resolution scans now available to study internal structure in a nondestructive fasion http://www.digimorph.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Congratulations on setting an excellent example of being a good paleontological citizen. One thing I wonder about your specimen is if it might be a Paleozoic specimen that got washed into the Gosport sea back in the Eocene. Does the preservation match the Eocene shells from the same site? It almost looks silicified to me. I have been to a couple of stream sites in Greene and Perry counties, which are not too far to the north of Clarke, where occasional cobbles with Paleozoic fossils are mixed in with much more abundant Cretaceous fossils in the stream gravels. I believe these came from the Pleistocene aged sediments, which have a lot of rounded pebbles and cobbles derived from the southern end of the Appalachians to the north, that overlie the marine Cretaceous chalks that yield the shark teeth and Exogyras. Those mountains would have been higher, so more elevation difference and rivers might have had more energy to carry things farther, back in the Eocene. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkfoam Posted April 15, 2012 Author Share Posted April 15, 2012 Don, Thank you for your kind comment. Let me address your question. L.D. Toulmin, in his Monograph 13, published by the Geological Survey of Alabama, described the Gosport Sand as consisting of glauconic quartz sand packed with shells of pelecypods and gastropods. He stated that a few solidary corals and bryozoans are present, but fossils other than mollusks are rare. The brachiopod that I found appeared consistant in appearance and preservation to the other fossils present. It did not appear to be silicified to me. Most of the micro material I recovered for examination was taken from the internals of larger fossil snails from the site. Also, I do not recall finding any pebbles or cobbles (placer gravels) intermixed in the Gosport Sand. Jim The Eocene is my favorite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Sounds as if an out-of-place Paleozoic brach can be excluded then. Glad to hear it, a truly novel find is much more exciting. I still need to get to some of those Gosport sites. I know some of them are no longer accessible, but at least a few can be collected, especially if one has a boat. Which accounts for the inflatable boat (Zodiac) on my wish list. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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