Tag Archives: Pleistocene

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bits of a bamboo coral from the Lower Pleistocene of Sicily

Mark Wilson October 27, 2013 1:09 am

Earlier this summer I participated on a pre-conference field trip of the International Bryozoology Association throughout Sicily. We had an excellent time and saw many wondrous things. At one stop on the western side of the Milazzo Peninsula in the … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: An ancient predator/prey system from the Lower Pleistocene of Sicily

Mark Wilson September 15, 2013 1:07 am

The above fossils were collected from a Lower Pleistocene silty marl exposed near the Megara archaeological site east of Augusta, Sicily, Italy. I was on that epic International Bryozoology Association field trip this summer I’ve been blogging about. The shells … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A foraminiferal ooze from the Pleistocene of Italy

Mark Wilson August 18, 2013 1:29 am

On a recent field trip to Sicily, our paleontological party visited outcrops at Cala Sant’Antonino on the western side of the Milazzo Peninsula in the northwestern part of the island. We saw there an Early Pleistocene sedimentary unit informally called … Continue reading →

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Limestones, basalts, the wine-dark sea and the brooding volcano

Mark Wilson June 16, 2013 3:51 pm

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–Today we had our last field trip associated with the 2013 International Bryozoology Conference. We traveled to the east coast of Sicily at Castelluccio, which is south of Catania and north of Syracuse. The weather could not have … Continue reading →

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A shelly bonanza from the Pleistocene of Sicily

Mark Wilson 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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Sicilian fossils at last!

Mark Wilson 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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Products of an angry giant

Mark Wilson June 4, 2013 3:59 pm

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–They may look like impressive sea stacks to you, but it turns out these are three huge stones thrown by the aggrieved and wounded cyclops Polyphemus at Odysseus as he escaped that infernal cave. Who knew? This morning … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Cast of a lower jawbone of the largest ape ever (Pleistocene, southern China)

Mark Wilson March 17, 2013 1:42 am

The above is one of my favorite “fossils”, a commercially-available cast of the lower jawbone of Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant extinct ape. It was produced from an actual Pleistocene fossil found in a cave near Liucheng, Guangxi, in southern China. … Continue reading →

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

Mark Wilson 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 mastodon tusk (Late Pleistocene of Holmes County, Ohio)

Mark Wilson June 24, 2012 1:00 am

This long and weathered tusk sits in a display case outside my office. It is from the American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) and was found many decades ago in Holmes County, just south of Wooster. A tooth found with it was … Continue reading →

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