Fossil News: The Journal of Avocational Paleontology

09/10/2024

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/new-book-brings-prehistoric-mammals-to-life/?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=clk&utm_campaign=threads

After the extinction of dinosaurs came the age of mammals. A new book brings readers into this world with well-researched species profiles by Aaron Woodruff, collection manager for vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. The book also includes stunning illustrations by pale

10/09/2024

31/07/2024

https://www.popsci.com/science/new-evolution-theory/

The controversial paper suggests a proto-slime made its (failed) debut 2.1 billion years ago.

30/07/2024

https://www.sci.news/paleontology/carcinosomatoid-eurypterids-13137.html

New research suggests that early species of the scorpion-like carcinosomatoid eurypterids, with spiny limbs, fed on trilobites and later species preferred armoured fishes.

24/06/2024

24/06/2024

Delivering a dinosaur to the Boston Museum of Science, 1984, photograph by Arthur Po***ck. H/T

23/04/2024

H/T

28/03/2024

https://www.postandcourier.com/paleontologist-robert-boessenecker-college-charleston-fossils-mace-brown/article_bfff3d26-eb74-11ee-a7ef-3f5ed7101d7d.html?fbclid=IwAR3hvN55CHbgDHix1Ifmg0R36Zgf2lsUNmv3W1V0ITFt3UAvsmV28Hf6_Go

Former College of Charleston paleontologist Robert Boessenecker & his wife face criminal charges in connection in theft of rare fossils from Mace Brown Museum.

23/02/2024

https://www.facebook.com/100067332132075/posts/719203723667359/?app=fbl

David defeating the Ammonites!

17/01/2024

https://slate.com/technology/2024/01/nanotyrannus-dinosaur-debate-paleontology-fossils.html

Let me take you inside a paleontology debate and tell you why it really matters.

03/01/2024

https://phys.org/news/2024-01-giant-predator-worms-billion-years.html?fbclid=IwAR3ewgB_L6U6v5gu8CwE8MAIz7HkUEu8rZUWVwe6oKVc1M3SM6hddlkuML0

Fossils of a new group of animal predators have been located in the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland. These large worms may be some of the earliest carnivorous animals to have colonized the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past dynasty of preda...

02/01/2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/arts/t-rex-nanotyrannus-museum-gallery.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

There are a few things to read between the lines here:

1. Peter Larson isn’t a paleontologist. He’s a dinosaur dealer, a convicted felon (for unlawfully taking fossils from federal land), and an ex-con, and no one should be interviewing him as an expert about anything.
2. When Larson says “you have a group of scientists on one side and a group of scientists in the other,” he’s using a standard trick to make it seem the opinions are 50/50. They aren’t. There’s a clear majority scientific consensus AGAINST Nanotyrannus. That doesn’t mean the science won’t ever change or that a new consensus won’t ever arise.
3. Newspapers must have this article on disk: Big-ticket fossil goes to auction; the usual suspects are quoted; auction house “hopes” the specimen can be bought by a museum and be available for study, but there’s “no guarantee”; “we need more research,” someone concludes.

Private sale and ownership of fossils of this importance is wrong, but you won’t find that in any of these articles.

A dinosaur fossil for sale in London embodies one of the most heated debates in paleontology.

16/12/2023

Wow! Trilobite larva! (Nah, not really — but very cool!)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C07MyhxvNr1/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Posted • .bio4ever No, the specimen in the old microscope slide that I looked at in this video didn’t belong to a real Trilobite larva. It was a horseshoe crab (Limulus) larva! Limulus larvae are often called ‘trilobite larva’ because of their similarity to trilobites.
In the second part of the video you can see what an adult horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) looks like. Although what you actually saw in the video is the exoskeleton of a horseshoe crab that molted recently. These animals molt in order to grow. When they molt, they shed their exoskeleton so that their bodies can become bigger. Then they produce a new bigger exoskeleton. The old exoskeleton is left behind in the coastal areas where horseshoe crabs live. I found this one on the coast of Massachusetts.
By the way, horseshoe crabs are not real crabs. They are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to crabs. Horseshoe crabs are incredible creatures. They are considered living fossils as they have been around for hundreds of millions of years without evolving much. This makes them very interesting when it comes to studying the history of life on Earth as well as the evolution of arthropods.
Have you ever seen one of these creatures in the ocean? They are really amazing!!
For this video I used a Leica ZOOM 200 stereoscope and an Olympus CX31 microscope at up to 200x magnification.

13/12/2023

The Bus Test!!

Would your fossil collection pass the bus test?

https://www.facebook.com/100016500006832/posts/1452208395339147/?mibextid=EVDHJDB9vBtcBeCT

16/10/2023

https://www.army.mil/article/270763

U.S. Army technology digs into prehistoric questions - Fossil Butte, WY

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. — Usually when the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate (CMA RCMD) receives a call...

29/09/2023

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-human-bias-debate-dinosaurs-demise.html?fbclid=IwAR0mV0ULq-hMZFnG1Dm-qgjhflPExKXnPlGo3gQK4zKVsLm5m1lKDgIwvao

To help resolve the scientific debate over whether it was a giant asteroid or volcanic eruptions that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other species 66 million years ago, Dartmouth researchers tried a new approach—they removed scientists from the debate and let the computers decide.

06/08/2023

Stone Lake: An Introduction to Fossil Butte, Fossil Lake & the Kemmerer Fish Quarries: A beautifully illustrated (more than 100 color photos!) introduction to the extraordinary fossil fish, plants, insects, reptiles, and other creatures of the Eocene-era Green River Formation. ISBN: 978-1-7348050-0-0. Through FourCats Press only: $18.50.

What’s Your Paleo IQ? The Fossil News Book of Paleo Quizzes, Puzzles & Brain Teasers: Twenty-five different quizzes and puzzles challenge your knowledge of paleontology, paleo-trivia, and the history of life on earth as told by fossils. ISBN: 978-1734805031. Through FourCats Press only: $10.99.

A Sampler of European Paleontology: The Museums & Fossils of the "Old Continent": A journey through some of the famous fossil sites and natural history museums of Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and more. Lavishly illustrated. Forthcoming in Fall 2023, 150 pp.

Fossil News Books
https://tinyurl.com/fossilnewsbooks

26/05/2023

A "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery was made in Florida when a 5 million-year-old "elephant graveyard" was discovered near Gainesville.