Note: This will likely be out of date within a year or two of my writing it. This was my take in September of 2026. Writing manuscripts on paleontological subjects, especially Pennsylvanian-aged invertebrates, is not easy. The field is underfunded, and the age of discovery has long passed for today’sRead More →
When I started this website in 2019, I was spending a lot of time learning new things about paleontology and geology. The two contain a mountain (no pun intended) of information to absorb, and it took at least four years to understand most general concepts. My full-time profession is notRead More →
This is a short post to report specimens of Schistoceras from the Portersville Limestone in nearby West Virginia. The 1997 volume Pennsylvanian Cephalopods of Ohio reported only 21 nautiloid and bactritoid specimens from the Portersville in Ohio and no Schistoceras from that unit; in Ohio the genus is known onlyRead More →
For 2023, I produced a twelve-month calendar featuring twelve genera of gastropods collected from rocks in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. The calendar wasn’t a big seller, I sold it at cost via LuLu and gifted several copies to friends in the paleontology community. Calendar Back Panel Text The Glenshaw Formation inRead More →
The coiled cephalopod Tainoceras (Hyatt, 1883) has eluded me for years. They are missing for a good reason: the rocks I pull specimens from are too old to have them. Most coiled cephalopods I pull out of the rocks are from the genus Metacoceras (Hyatt, 1883), which compete with PseudorthocerasRead More →
A recent discovery of a site with abundant roughly preserved Strobeus shells has piqued my curiosity for cutting them open to see the internal structure. The site occasionally preserves material with intact shells, but they are brittle and can shatter easily. During regular mashing of the limestone, they become disconnected,Read More →
Peripristis is a monotypic genus of fish known from Carboniferous rocks, belonging to the Pristodontidae Woodward, 1889. It could be called a form genus, as only isolated teeth are known today. The species semicircularis derives from its curved nature, which represents a portion of a circle. Ginter (2010) and LundRead More →
I started my research thinking this fossil was Mahoningoceras Murphy 1974, then later thought it was smashed, had straight flank sutures, and was a Millkoninckioceras Kummel 1963. I reversed this decision again after comparing it to Millkoninckioceras and refocused on Mahoningoceras. Yet, I received a photo of the holotype fromRead More →
The gastropod Bellerophon nodocarinatus (=Euphemites nodocarinatus) was named by Hall in 1858 in a geological report of Iowa. The name means knotty/lumpy kneels (or carina), characterized by the dual lumpy ridges visible from the anterior margin across the shell. Members of Euphemites have spiral lirae that appear in the aperture and extend toward theRead More →
The Vestigastropoda is a subclass of gastropods that live only in marine environments and have a nacreous layer. The group includes members of the superfamily Pleurotomarioidea, known for shells featuring a selenizone. The selenizone is a slit feature on shells that the living creature uses to aim its exhalant current.Read More →
