Tag Archives: fossils

A Sicilian rocky coast

mwilson June 5, 2013 11:55 pm

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–Our last stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association field trip was on the southeastern coast of Sicily just north of Syracuse at Scala Greca. There are several very small bays here which have been used … Continue reading →

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A shelly bonanza from the Pleistocene of Sicily

mwilson June 5, 2013 11:45 pm

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–Our second stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association field trip was in an unimpressive ditch (above) near Megara. But, of course, there is paleontological gold here: an assemblage of extremely well-preserved marine fossils. Colleague Andrej … Continue reading →

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Spectacular shrimp burrows from the Miocene of Sicily

mwilson June 5, 2013 10:14 pm

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–The first stop on our International Bryozoology Association field trip today was a newly-opened quarry near Cugni di Rio in the dry southeastern countryside of Sicily, a view of which is above. New quarries are always interesting to … Continue reading →

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Sicilian fossils at last!

mwilson June 4, 2013 4:14 pm

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–After lunch our International Bryozoology Association field trip actually collected fossil bryozoans. We visited a quarry exposure of Lower Pleistocene cemented marls rich in the bryozoan Celleporaria palmata (Michelin), along with many other species. These were apparently from … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A shrimp from the Upper Jurassic of Bavaria, Germany

mwilson June 2, 2013 1:18 am

The beautiful fossil shrimp above is Aeger tipularis (Schlotheim, 1822), and it comes from one of the most famous rock units: the Solnhofen Plattenkalk (Tithonian, Upper Jurassic) of Germany. (The Solnhofen is well known for its extraordinary fossils, including the … Continue reading →

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A visit to the Natural History Museum of Utah

mwilson May 29, 2013 7:01 pm

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH–On the last full day of our Utah trip, we toured the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. It is in a spectacular place against the red rocks of the Wasatch Mountains and looking … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Mackerel shark teeth from the Eocene of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco

mwilson May 26, 2013 1:30 am

This week we highlight another gift to the Wooster Geology Department from George Chambers (’79). Among the many fossils that arrived in three delightful boxes were these shark teeth. They are from the extinct Mackerel Shark Otodus obliquus Agassiz, 1843. … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An amphibian from the Permian of Germany

mwilson May 19, 2013 1:41 am

The above skeleton is of the salamander-like Apateon pedestris von Meyer 1840 from the Lower Permian of Odernhelm, Germany. There are just enough of these tiny little bones to show the ghostly outline of this freshwater amphibian. It is our … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Embedded cornulitids from the Lower Silurian of Estonia

mwilson May 12, 2013 1:57 am

At first specimen this looks like a series of holes drilled into a small, smooth substrate (like Trypanites), but then you notice that the substrate has grown up around the holes, and on the far left you can make out … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An asaphid trilobite from the Middle Ordovician of the Leningrad Region, Russia

mwilson May 5, 2013 1:28 am

This weathered trilobite is nothing like the gorgeous specimens of this genus you can buy at various rock shops around the world and on the web, but it has sentimental value to me. I collected it on an epic field … Continue reading →

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