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 not either, nor do I plan on attempting a formal education. Driving past any exposed rock outcrop without rubbernecking over the layers is difficult.
Fossils are easy to find where I live; the Brush Creek limestone crops out in my backyard. I’ve explored only a few collecting locations: the Brush Creek limestone here, the Pine Creek limestone in Kittanning, and the Portersville and Ames Limestone in West Virginia. I’ve written half a book about fossils from at least two of these locations, and I want to publish it in some form in the future. The problem has been finding time to write, and I’m still seeing so much new material that it dates much of what I’ve presented.
In August 2024, Tom Yancey published a significant revision of Late Paleozoic Pinnids that included a new genus with a type species named after me. I had hoped for a mention in the acknowledgments; I didn’t know he would honor me with a name. I discovered Allopinna godleskya Yancey 2024 in my local Brush Creek limestone, and one can dig up new specimens of this species right where I live. I collected 100+ specimens for Tom to study. He selected the twenty best to study at his lab, and we donated the type specimens to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History after his research concluded. Months before publication, the long-serving Fossil Invertebrate Section collection manager Albert Kollar passed away, a man I had met several times (through the ever-helpful John Harper) and who helped arrange the type specimen donations.
I’ve also met another scientist who sadly passed away, Robert L. Peck. We communicated over email often. I’ll never forget his saying:
When I get money, I buy books. If I have any left, I buy food and clothing. Chuckle.
Robert L. Peck, May 2019
Robert (Bob) was very encouraging over email, and I missed out on getting a large fossil cabinet he offered me. I just lacked the time to drive a U-Haul 400+ miles to pick it up. Unfortunately, like the life turned to fossils I have enjoyed studying, the professionals who have helped me are not immune to the march of time.
Taking a Paleontology Break
Sometime over the Summer of 2024, I drove to the West Virginia outcrop a few times and collected more interesting fossils. I spent several nights in the Spring photographing fossils for the online fossil catalog. I often took up to four hours to fetch the fossils, coat each with ammonium chloride, focus stack photograph each through a microscope, and process on my laptop. I spent a lot of time finishing the new Brachiopod sections for my book. I was lucky enough to catch a few hours with Ben Neuman (a brachiopod lover and database) on a cloudy, hot Summer day to collect fossils from the Pine Creek outcrop in Kittanning.
I then spent about three weeks remodeling a porch in the 90-degree Pennsylvania humid heat and just snapped out of paleo work. I haven’t spent too much time working on new fossils. I’ve collected a few times and written a few short things, but for the most part, I’ve significantly reduced my time and effort. And it’s temporary.
Invertebrate paleontology is not a highly celebrated field in 2025. There is a ton of work, but most of the focus and funding goes to vertebrates, namely dinosaurs. Many folks will tell you that most genera and species have been “sorted out,” but we know that isn’t true. Yancey’s publication is proof of that, more than doubling the Paleozoic pinnids known to people.
It’s been difficult for me to publish papers because most of the community wants scientific research that provides not only new knowledge but also new species or new fundamental phylogenic knowledge. For me, I want to report on what I’ve found. Ninety percent or more pages in the book I plan to write will be first-time reports of particular species from particular places. There are no reported finds from these locations. I’ve become more of an archivist, where I want to publish and report on new places to find things. I’ll likely leave most of the new species writing to seasoned biologists.
