Sunday, September 22, 2024

Pileopsis tribolatus

 


This image is of Pileopsis tribolatus gastropod fossil. It was found in Italy.


Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

Monday, September 16, 2024

Shell Fossils at Florence Italy Mineral Museum


Here are some pictures from a mineral museum of calcite specimen found in the state of Florida of the United States. Fossils are probably the Giant Venus Clam fossil (aka Mercenaria permagna) of the Fort Drum Member, Nashua Formation of Ruck's Pit in Okeechobee County, Florida, USA. This animal lived in the Calabrian Stage (780,000 years ago to 1.8 million years ago) of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period.

Specimen was on display at the la Specola Museo Di Zoologia Ceropastica e Mineralogia (Florence, Italy) (August 2024).



Sunday, September 15, 2024

Cephalopod Fossil at Basilica di Santa Croce

Here is a picture of a rare straight shelled cephalopod fossil found at Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. I see a lot of coiled ammonoids in this material but not so many straight shelled cephalopods.

This building material is a iron enriched (red) limestone also known as Red Verona marble or Rosso Verona marble used in a lot of churches including this one. The material dates to the Upper Jurassic Period of the Rosso Ammonitico Formation, Oxfordian Stage, Verona Province, Venetia Region of Italy. Pictures taken August 2024.
 Look in the reddish square shapes in front of the tomb of Neri Corsini (1614-1678). Here is map.

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Ammonite Fossil at Basilica di Santa Croce

 

Here is a picture of an ammonoid fossil found at Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. This building material is a iron enriched (red) limestone also known as Red Verona marble or Rosso Verona marble used in a lot of churches including this one. The material dates to the Upper Jurassic Period of the Rosso Ammonitico Formation, Oxfordian Stage, Verona Province, Venetia Region of Italy. Pictures taken August 2024.
 
Look in the reddish square shapes in front of the tomb of Neri Corsini (1614-1678). Here is map.




Friday, September 13, 2024

Diploria flexuosissima

 


These images are of Diploria flexuosissima (d'Achiardi, 1868) scleractinian coral fossil. They were found in Montecchio Maggiore, Veneto, Italy and dates to the Paleogene Period.

Pictures taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

Monday, September 9, 2024

Septatraea geometrica Coral Fossil


 

This image is of Septatraea geometrica coral fossil. It was found in Italy and dates to the Miocene Epoch.


Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

 

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Auracarites rotzanus Plant Fossil

 


This image is of the Auracarites rotzanus plant fossil. 

 
Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Annularia longifolia Plant Fossil

 


This image is of the Annularia longifolia plant fossil. The plant existed in the Carboniferous Period.

Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Homotherium crenatidens Tiger Fossil

 



This image is of the cranium and mandible of a Homotherium crenatidens saber-tooth tiger fossil. The animal existed in the Pleistocene Epoch. Fossil was discovered in 1870 near Sammerzzano, Upper Valdarno, Italy.


Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2024.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homotherium

Monday, September 2, 2024

New Finds of Myelodactylus convolutus

 My cousin Kenny has found two new Myelodactylus convolutus (Hall, 1852) fossils in the last month. This criniod is somewhat unique as it is usually found coiled with its small calyx hidden inside the coil. They remind one of a modern millipede. Both specimens were found from Waldron Shale at the same quarry in Clark County, Indiana, USA. These fossils date to the Silurian Period.




Sunday, September 1, 2024

Return To the Fossils of the Vatican


Last month, I returned to  St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City near Rome, Italy. On September 3, 2019 I posted a blog entry about finding ammonite fossils in some of the floor slabs on a visit there. This building material is a iron enriched (red) limestone also known as Red Verona marble or Rosso Verona marble used in a lot of churches including this one. I now know to look for fossils when I see the reddish-pink stone in floors. The material dates to the Upper Jurassic Period of the Rosso Ammonitico Formation, Oxfordian Stage, Verona Province, Venetia Region of Italy.

 




On this visit, I investigated some of the slabs in more obscure locations like the corners along walls and found some very nicely preserved ammonoid fossils. It appears the stone mason might have intentional put some of these slabs with fossils there and they have held up well since people are not walking on that surface.