Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A geopetal structure in a boring from the Middle Jurassic of Israel

mwilson June 15, 2014 1:25 am

We have a very simple trace and body fossil combination this week that provides a stratigraphic and structural geologic tool. Above is a bit of scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of Makhtesh Gadol in southern Israel. … Continue reading →

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The last presentations of the 2014 Larwood Meeting, including a sober reminder for paleontologists

mwilson June 13, 2014 2:33 pm

SOPOT, POLAND — This morning we had the final set of talks at Larwood 2014. Out of all the presentations, the one that struck me the most was by Paul Taylor and Andrea Waeschenbach entitled “Molecular phylogeny and the adequacy … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist on the Baltic Coast

mwilson June 11, 2014 11:19 am

SOPOT, POLAND — Yes, that’s a view from my hotel window. I’ve suddenly found myself in an old resort town on the Baltic coast of Poland near the cities of Gdansk and Gydnia. Another one of those astonishing geographic transformations … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A fragment of an asteroid (the sea star kind) from the Upper Cretaceous of Israel

mwilson June 8, 2014 1:07 am

This is not an important fossil — there is not enough preserved to put a name on it beyond Family Goniasteridae Forbes, 1841 (thanks, Dan Blake) — but it was a fun one to find. It also photographs well. This is … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: My favorite part of a crinoid (Middle Jurassic of Israel)

mwilson June 1, 2014 1:14 am

In April of this year I completed my 11th trip to southern Israel for fieldwork in the Mesozoic. My heart warmed every time I saw these robust plates of the crinoid Apiocrinities negevensis, which was reviewed in a previous blog … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A fly in amber

mwilson May 25, 2014 1:24 am

A classic fossil this week. I wish I could say more about it. The specimen lost its label years ago, so I don’t know where it is from or its age (although a good guess is Neogene). I also can’t … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: “Star-rock” crinoids from the Middle Jurassic of Utah

mwilson May 18, 2014 1:53 am

This little slab of crinoid stem fragments comes from the Co-op Creek Member of the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) exposed in northwestern Kane County, Utah. I collected it with my friend Carol Tang as we explored a beautiful encrinite (a … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: One sick crinoid from the Middle Jurassic of Israel

mwilson May 11, 2014 1:01 am

My first thought on seeing this distorted fossil was how much it evoked one of those Palaeolithic “Venus figurines“. It is certainly difficult to deduce that this is actually a crinoid column (or stem). It was found during my last … Continue reading →

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Last work of Team Israel, Matmor Division

mwilson May 5, 2014 6:11 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–Steph Bosch (’14) and Lizzie Reinthal (’14) volunteered to examine the Matmor Formation fossils I collected last month in Israel. Each fossil, most of which are crinoid ossicles, must be scanned under a microscope for tiny encrusters (especially bryozoans), … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scolecodont from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region

mwilson May 4, 2014 1:15 am

This tiny but fearsome jaw is known as a scolecodont, and they are fairly common in the Cincinnatian rocks (Upper Ordovician) in the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The label on this particular specimen does not indicate the … Continue reading →

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