Strombus alatus? (Gremlin, 1791) also known as a "fighting conch" found in Hendry County, Florida. Fossil is thought to be from the Eocene.
A nice blog about these creatures with related website/Twitter feed is the Fossil Murex by Greta Polites. The thread about the Strombus on Fossil Forum with some nice research by the user MikeR makes for good reading.
Thanks to Herb for the fossil. Pictures are all of the same specimen.
Your site is absolutely incredible!! Very well done! It is an inspiration for what I would do if I had more time. I am a professional geologist, but would consider myself more of an advanced ameteur paleontogist-specializing in Eocene to Pleistocene gastropods.
ReplyDeleteAs you do more research you will likely find that the Strombus is late pliocene or pleistocene, from either outcrops on the Caloosahatchee river or from a pit near Clewiston, FL. Most likely from the Caloosahatchee Fm, but possibly younger. To my knowledge no Eocene fossils occur in Hendry County. Also, Florida Eocene mollusc fossils are generally not that well preserved. A few more usefull links for FL fossils- one is a fossil dealer site with nice pics and the other is a museum site with pics:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/invertpaleo/galleries.htm
http://www.shelleffects.com/gastropods-id.html
Thank you for the comments.
ReplyDeleteWhile researching the name of this fossil, I was starting to wonder if this fossil was from the Eocene or not. Thanks for the information and links.