Hemiaster heberti Echinoid Fossils

This image is of Hemiaster heberti echinoid fossils. These animals existed in the Cretaceous Period. Fossils were found in Thebaid, Egypt.

Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2019.

Echinoid Spine Fossils in Crinoid Hash Plate

This fossil hash plate was found in the creek in Harrison County, Indiana USA. The fossils date to the Mississippian Period. What caught my attention was the two echinoid spines. One is about 3 cm in length.

 

Archaeocidaris? Echinoid Fossil

 

These fossil fragments might have once been an Archaeocidaris (McCoy, 1844) echinoid. It lived a Mississippian Period sea in what is now Washington County, Indiana USA. Note the hexagonal plates and spines.

Thanks to Kenny for the picture.

Darwin's Fossil Sand Dollar at Harvard

 

After watching more videos from the The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) YouTube channel. I found another interesting one to highlight. It was created 2019 for the Specimen Spotlight Wednesday presentation May 25-31 meeting. The presenter was Jessica D. Cundiff of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Echinarachnius juliensis (Desor, 1847) was collected in Port St. Julien, Patagonia, Argentina during the HMS Beagle voyage (1831-1836) by Charles Darwin in 1834. Darwin sent the echinoid to Swiss biologist Louis Agassiz who also started the MCZ in 1859..  Described by Pierre Jean Édouard Desor in France Geological Society Bulletin vol. 4, number 2, pp. 287-288 in 1847. It appears this fossil is from the Neogene Period (aka Late Tertiary).

Learn the more about this story by watching the video in the player below or go to the YouTube link.

Link to video is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhOOU3eqyG8

Images used for this post:

Portrait of Charles Darwin by George Richmond (1809-1896) water-colour from 1840. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Darwin_by_G._Richmond.jpg

Image of Louis Agassiz circa 1870 from Schweizerischer Beobachter,14/2011, p. 36This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Louis_Agassiz_1870.jpg

Image of Pierre Jean Édouard Desor from 1863. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or fewer. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre_Jean_%C3%89douard_Desor.jpg

Melonechinus Sea Urchin Fossil

This fossil was seen at the New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library in June 2020. It was identified as a Melonechinus sp. (Meek & Worthen, 1861, p. 396) from St. Louis Limestone. The fossil dates to Mississippian Period (340-330 million years ago) in the Meramecian series. Limestone named by George Engelmann in Remarks on the St. Louis Limestone: American Journal of Science, series 2, volume 3, pages 119-120 (published 1847). Specimen accession number WMI 310.4.

There appears to be a second echinoid fossil on display as well but was not labeled. This one was more intact. The case label read "Mr. James Sampson, 1806-1890, was a saddler, a storekeeper and McClure agent. When he retired in 1858, he followed his fancy for collecting things, natural history mainly along the Wabash River and cut off river." The case is full of nice fossils but almost none of them are labeled. The fossil looked to be about the size of a grapefruit.

Hemiaster heberti Fossils

This image is of Hemiaster heberti echinoid fossils. These animals existed in the Cretaceous Period. Fossils were found in Thebaid, Egypt.

Picture taken at Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Florence Italy (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in August 2019.

Tripneustes parkinsoni Sand Dollar Fossil

Tripneustes parkinsoni echinoid fossil on display at The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (Milan Natural History Museum), Italy as of August 2019. The fossil was found in France. It dates to the lower Miocene Epoch (20 million years ago).

Aran Island Microscopic Sea Creature Remains

 Continuing with yesterday's posting about microscopic sea creature remains found near Killagoola, Aran Islands, Ireland. The first image is of an unidentified echinoid spine and the 2nd image is an unidentified yet colorful gastropod. Thanks to Kenny for the images. Neither specimen appears to be a fossil yet.

Fossils at Obelisk in Central Park

If you visit New York City's famed Central Park, consider stopping by the Egyptian obelisk located behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The white limestone base the granite obelisk rests on contains a lot of visible fossils. The obelisk (known as Cleopatra's Needle) were created to celebrate the 30 year reign of pharaoh Thutmosis III (1479-1425 B.C).

Their original location was at the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, Egypt. They were constructed from pink granite at the quarries in Aswan. Roman Emperor Augustus had them moved to the temple Caesarium around 12 B.C.

The Khedive Ismail Pasha of Egypt exchanged this obelisk for economic aid from the City of New York, United States in 1881. Earlier, it's twin obelisk was transferred to London, England in 1878.


The Romans added an Egyptian limestone base and steps plus 4 bronze crabs to stabilize the obelisk on its new base. Only two of the crabs partially survived when the obelisk was being made ready for transfer to the United States. Once it arrived, Brooklyn Navy Yard workers forged four new 418 kg metal crabs in about 10 days. Molten lead was used to secure the crabs to the obelisk thus re-enforcing the broken corners. The claws are inscribed in English telling of who replaced them.

The remains of the two original Roman bronze crabs are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Temple of Dendur exhibit. It looks like they were mostly plundered for their metal or as souvenirs by long ago visitors. The claw has a Greek inscription on the outside stating Roman prefect Barbarus and architect Pontius erected the obelisk in the 18th year of an emperor (Augustus?). The original metal crabs were donated by Lt. Commander Henry H. Gorringe who transferred the obelisk to New York in 1880-1881.

When I first encountered the base I was not sure what type of fossils it was covered with at first I thought they might be pelecypods or brachiopods. Now I am convinced they are foraminiferan Nummulites fossils.

The fossils are somewhat worn, but the picture on the right with two orange arrows showing two Nummulites with their tops or bottoms cross sectioned.

The base and steps appear to be composed of an Eocene limestone from Egypt. This type of limestone was used to construct ancient Egyptian structures so they contain these fossils as well. Learn more at Wikipedia.

Most of the fossils I saw appeared to be Nummulites stacked on top of one another but picture on the left looks like a gastropod or ammonite whorl.

The picture on the right has an orange arrow pointing to what appears to be a fossil with some sort of spines. It might be a spiny brachiopod or some sort of echinoid.

So if you get a chance to visit New York City's Central Park, allot some time and visit the oldest man-made object in the park.

Learn more about this obelisk and its connection to New York City at Google Books site for The New York Obelisk or How Cleopatra's Needle Came to New York and What Happened When It Got Here by Martina D'Alton from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring 1993).

Hemicidaris intermedia Sea Urchin Fossil

This image of an echinoid identified as Hemicidaris intermedia Fleming. It was found in the Corallian Beds Coral Rag Calne Wilts. England. The fossil dates to the Mesozoic Era, Jurassic Period, Upper/Late Oxfordian stage.

Fossil was on display at the British Natural History Museum in London, England on August 2016.

Paracidaris florigemma Spine Fossils

This image of two echinoid spines identified as Paracidaris florigemma (Phillips). They were found in the Corallian Beds Coral Rag Calne Wilts. England. The fossils date to the Mesozoic Era, Jurassic Period, Upper/Late Oxfordian stage.

Fossils were on display at the British Natural History Museum in London, England on August 2016.

Clypeus plotii Echinoid Fossil

While visiting the Gallery of Natural History at the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (1300 N. College Ave, Tempe Arizona 85281) I saw fossil specimen (AHS-NH#9854) Clypeus plotii (Leske, 1778) sea urchin fossil. This creature existed in the Jurassic Period (Bajocian to Oxfordian). They were found in what is now Europe and North Africa.

Images of museum specimen taken October 2014.

Source to refer to:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/echinoid-directory/taxa/taxon.jsp?id=557

Petalobrissus rawdahensis Sea Urchin Fossil

This picture is of the Petalobrissus rawdahensis (Smith, 1995) sea urchin fossil. It existed in the Upper Cretaceous Period (Maastrichtian) and was found in Omán (Jebel Rawdah). Specimen is about 1.5 cm in diameter.

Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Faujasia eccentripora Sea Urchin Fossil

This picture is of the Faujasia eccentripora (Lees, 1928) sea urchin fossil. It existed in the Upper Cretaceous Period (Maastrichtian) and was found in Omán (Jebel Rawdah). Specimen is about 2 cm in diameter.

Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Salenia prestensis Sea Urchin Fossils

This picture is of several Salenia prestensis (Desor) sea urchin fossils. They existed in the Cretaceous Period and was found in Spain (Morella or Castellón). Specimens range in size to about 75 mm to 2 cm in diameter.

Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Echinlampas leymeriei Echinoid Fossil

This picture is of the Echinlampas leymeriei (Cotteau, 1863) sea urchin fossil. It existed in the Eocene Period and was found in Spain (Huesca). Specimen is about 3.5 cm long.

Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Pliotoxaster paquieiri Echinoid Fossil

This picture is of the Pliotoxaster paquieiri (Lamber, 1919) sea urchin fossil. It existed in the Cretaceous Period and was found in Spain (Allepuz [Teruel]). Specimen is about 3.1 cm wide.

Thanks to Herb for letting me photograph it.

Echinocorys sulcatus Echinoid Fossil

This fossil might be the first one I ever posted from Denmark. The label that came with it listed Dalbyover, Denmark. It appears be an Echinocorys sulcatus from the Paleocene (Danian). See the Fossils of NJ web site for more information: fossilsofnj.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?pid=39

Thank you to Dieter Ketelsen of Hamburg, Germany for this specimen. Much appreciated! Thanks to Michael at foraminifera.eu for transporting the specimen and the identification link.

Prepped Echinoid from Chalk Matrix

This unidentified echinoid appears to be from the Cretaceous of Texas.  It was extracted from a chalk matrix by me and sand abrasive cleaned by my cousin Kenny.

The chalk like matrix breaks off in chunks pretty easily with the engraver.  The soft matrix was removed relatively easy with the abrasive cleaning.

It belongs to Dave over at Views of the Mahontango blog and he later may provide more info about it.

This little creature would pop up from time to time while the fossil was being engraved out of the chalk matrix.  It had an amazing blue tail which I could catch a photograph of.

Next three images show matrix on fossil before it was abrasively cleaned.