Return to the Pliocene at Altavilla Milicia, Sicily

Our last stop of the day on the IBA field trip was to a classic fossil locality on the north coast of Sicily about an hour east of Palermo. These are fine sandstones and marls preserving a diverse array of mollusks from the Pliocene, including the bivalves shown below. Over 130 bryozoan species have been recorded from this site since 1921. The most interesting features to me were the numerous sclerobionts, including shallow worm and barnacle borings and encrusting bryozoans and barnacles.
From here it was a long drive to the beautiful and ancient city of Milazzo to prepare for our last day of the field trip.