Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Shark teeth! (Upper Cretaceous of Israel)

mwilson December 2, 2012 1:37 am

This week’s set of exquisite fossils is presented in honor of Andrew Retzler (’11) who has just had his Senior Independent Study thesis at Wooster published in the journal Cretaceous Research: “Chondrichthyans from the Menuha Formation (Late Cretaceous: Santonian–Early Campanian) … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A gumdrop bryozoan (Middle Ordovician of eastern Iowa)

mwilson November 25, 2012 1:03 am

This simple, rounded fossil with tiny holes on its surface is the trepostome bryozoan Prasopora falesi (James, 1884) from the Middle Ordovician Galena Group of eastern Iowa. It was collected with dozens of others on an Independent Study field trip … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A crab from the Pleistocene of northern Australia

mwilson November 18, 2012 1:32 am

Isn’t this amazing preservation? This fossil crab, which we received as a donation a few years ago, is Macrophthalmus latreillei (Desmarest, 1822) from the Pleistocene of northern Australia. It is virtually identical to its modern counterpart of the same species, … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A new crinoid species from the Middle Jurassic of southern Israel

mwilson November 11, 2012 1:29 am

About a year ago I showed my good friend Bill Ausich (The Ohio State University) hundreds of crinoid pieces from the Matmor Formation (Jurassic, Callovian) exposed in Hamakhtesh Hagadol, southern Israel. We knew the crinoid represented by all these pieces … Continue reading →

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Presenting a Jurassic echinoid story on the last day of GSA 2012

mwilson November 7, 2012 9:42 pm

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA–The last day of a scientific meeting is always less frantic. About half the attendees have left for home, the exhibitors start to give away merchandise so they don’t have to ship it home, and the speakers are … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Birch wood with beetle borings (Oligocene of Oregon)

mwilson November 4, 2012 1:31 am

We may be at the Geological Society of America annual meeting today, but that doesn’t stop Fossil of the Week! This week’s fossil is a beautifully-detailed piece of petrified birch wood (Betula) with tree rings and insect borings throughout. It … Continue reading →

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First GSA Event: The Paleontological Society Short Course — “Reconstructing Earth’s Deep-Time Climate”

mwilson November 3, 2012 5:21 pm

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA–This iPhone snapshot of a dark lecture room may record the time and place, but it hardly does justice to the event, so let’s see an image of the colorful special volume printed for this year’s Paleontological Society … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bivalve Borings (Upper Miocene of Spain)

mwilson October 28, 2012 1:50 am

This beautiful object has a complex history. In the center is a gray limestone cobble that eroded from an underwater ridge and rolled free on a shallow coral reef in an area now near Abanilla, southeastern Spain. It was encrusted … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Silicified sclerobionts (Middle Permian of southwestern Texas)

mwilson October 21, 2012 1:57 am

During my work at the National Museum of Natural History last week, I had my research desk amongst the many cabinets housing the famous Permian brachiopod collection made by the eminent paleontologist Richard E. Grant (1927–1995). Most of these specimens … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists at the Smithsonian

mwilson October 15, 2012 7:03 pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is Fall Break at the College of Wooster, so some of the geologists have taken the opportunity to get out of town. Dr. Meagen Pollock is under the bright blue skies of the gorgeous state of … Continue reading →

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