Favosites Corals

Kentucky coral fossils found in Louisville (Jefferson County).   These corals are from the Devonian Period.  This first coral appears to be some sort of Favosites.  Named by J.B. Lamarck in 1816 in Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertebre.

I went looking for a coral called Pleurodictyum and found this specimen.  It is two different corals: the bottom one is Favosites turbinatus (knee cap coral) and the coral growing on top of it might be a Pleurodictyum or Favosites hamiltoniae.  These corals are found in the Beechwood and Jeffersonville Limestones.

 

Here are three specimens I pulled from the cleaning rack.  The one the far left is the one shown above.  It is appears to be two different corals.  The middle specimen is some sort of Favosites and the right side coral appears to be Favosites "Emmonsia" tuberosa.

 

Dinosaurs:The Big Picture

A temporary exhibit called Dinosaurs: The Big Picture is on display at the Community Arts Center located in Danville, Kentucky.  The dinosaur collection belongs Jack Hankla, a local dentist and his son John.  They have two ranches in Wyoming where some of the dinosaur fossils are found.  According to The Courier-Journal article about it from January 11, 2010 there is a Conchoraptor gracillis from Mongolia, Bambiraptor from Montana, and Tyrannosaurus rex from South Dakota.  These animals exited in the Cretaceous Period (165 to 145 million years ago).

Their quarry is called the Hankla Quarry and they have found more than 1,000 bones of maybe a herd of duckbill dinosaurs.  They speculate they might drowned in a flash flood which then attracted scavengers like the T. rex.

A companion exhibit called "Fluorescent Minerals: The Settles Collection" consists of 75 minerals found by Boyle County's Danny Settles.

The exhibit will be there till February 25, 2010.  The Community Arts Center is located at 401 W. Main St., Danville, Kentucky.  The hours are Wednesday-Fridays 10 AM-5 PM, Thursdays 10 AM-3 PM, Saturdays 1-3 PM, and 1-5 PM Sundays.  Cost is tickets are $6, $5 seniors, $4 children, & $2.50 members of field trips.  More information call (859) 236-4054 or www.communityartscenter.net