Tag Archives: Fossil of the Week

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A mysterious sponge (Late Ordovician of Ohio)

I’ve been collecting and studying fossils from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region for three decades now, but I’ve never seen another specimen like the one pictured above. An amateur collector, Howard Freeland, generously donated this rock to Wooster … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A syringoporid coral (Lower Carboniferous of Arkansas)

This specimen was collected from the Boone Limestone (Lower Carboniferous) near Hiwasse, Arkansas. It is a species of Syringopora Goldfuss 1826, sometimes known as the organ-pipe coral (but not the real organ pipe coral!). Syringoporids are tabulate corals, a group … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Marrella splendens (Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia)

The first story about this iconic fossil is the trouble I went through to get the photograph above. Our specimen of Marrella splendens is preserved in the common Burgess Shale fashion as a thin dark film on a black piece … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scale tree (Late Carboniferous of Ohio)

We haven’t had a plant fossil in this blog for awhile. Lepidodendron Sternberg 1820, pictured above, is one of the most common fossils brought to me in Wooster by amateur collectors. It is abundant in the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) sandstones, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A Tully Monster! (Late Carboniferous of Illinois)

We have several examples of one of the strangest fossils known: Tullimonstrum gregarium Richardson 1966 — otherwise affectionately known as the Tully Monster. The above specimen is from the Francis Creek Shale Member (Carbondale Formation) at Mazon Creek near Chicago, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a siliquariid gastropod (Eocene of Alabama)

It is hard to believe that this twisty tube is a snail, but it is. Tenagodus vitis (Conrad, 1835) is the scientific name for this worm-like gastropod from the Claiborne Sand (Eocene) of Alabama. It was originally named by Conrad … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A cornulitid (Late Ordovician of Indiana)

This may look like just another wormtube on a shell — a recurring theme on this blog — but it is special, of course. This is the common Paleozoic genus Cornulites Schlotheim 1820, specifically Cornulites flexuosus (Hall 1847). It was … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Eurypterids (Late Silurian of New York)

Few fossils are more dramatic than the long-extinct eurypterids. Above is one of Wooster’s best fossils: Eurypterus remipes De Kay 1825 from the Bertie Waterlime (Upper Silurian) of New York. (Thanks to Roy Plotnick for help with the identification.) As … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A new microconchid genus and species (Permian of Texas)

Two years ago I was invited to Texas by Tom Yancey (Texas A&M) to look at some curious wiggly tubular fossils in the Lower Permian (about 280 million years old). They form small reefs a meter or so across and … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: an orthid brachiopod (Upper Ordovician of Indiana)

This beautiful brachiopod is Vinlandostrophia ponderosa (Foerste, 1909), an orthid brachiopod from the Maysvillian (Upper Ordovician) of southern Indiana. Until recently it had been traditionally known as Platystrophia ponderosa until a critical paper by Zuykov and Harper (2007) investigated the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment