Neuropteris inflata Fossil of Mazon Creek

 

Above is an image of part of a seed fern frond plant fossil called Neuropteris inflata (Lesquereux). This plant fossil dates to the age Moscovian/Desmoinesian of the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period between 354 and 290 million years ago. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA. Like most fossils found at this locality, it was inside a nodule. The layer to fossil was found is the Francis Creek Shale.

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is P30763. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

The Field Museum produced a visual PDF of some of the fossils found at Mazon Creek. It can be found at this link:

https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/534_usa-age_fossils.pdf

Crenulopteris acadica Tree Fern Fossil

 

Above is an image of a tree fern frond plant fossil called Crenulopteris acadica (Bell, 1962). This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period between 354 and 290 million years ago. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA. Like most fossils found at this locality, it was inside a nodule. The layer to fossil was found is the Francis Creek Shale.

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP46053. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

The Field Museum produced a visual PDF of some of the fossils found at Mazon Creek. It can be found at this link:

https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/534_usa-age_fossils.pdf

Diplazites unita Fern Fossil

 

Above is an image of a tree fern frond plant fossil called Diplazites unita (Brongniart, 1822) Cleal, 2015. This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period between 354 and 290 million years ago. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA. Like most fossils found at this locality, it was inside a nodule. The layer to fossil was found is the Francis Creek Shale.

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP1015. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

The Field Museum produced a visual PDF of some of the fossils found at Mazon Creek. It can be found at this link:

https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/534_usa-age_fossils.pdf

References:

Brongniart, A. (1822): Sur la classification et la distribution des végétaux fossiles  ‒ Mémoires du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, 8

Cleal, C. J. (2015): The generic taxonomy of Pennsylvanian age marattialean fern frond adpressions. ‒ Palaeontographica, Abteilung B, 292: 1–21. 

Odontopteris aequalis Mazon Creek Fern Fossil

 

Above is an image of a seed fern plant fossil called Odontopteris aequalis. This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA. Like most fossils found at this locality, it was inside a nodule.

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP31097. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

The Field Museum produced a visual PDF of some of the fossils found at Mazon Creek. It can be found at this link:

https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/534_usa-age_fossils.pdf

Mariopteris nervosa Fern Fossil From Mazon Creek

 

Above is an image of a seed fern plant fossil called Mariopteris nervosa (Brongniart) Zeiller. This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA and appears to be made of chocolate (only kidding). 

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP46034. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

Reference:

https://www.academia.edu/5989500/Mariopteris_Dicksonites_and_Fortopteris_from_the_Dobrudzha_Coalfield_Bulgaria

Pecopteris Fern Fossil

As of June 2020, on display at the  New Harmony Indiana USA Working Men's Institute Museum & Library was this Pecopteris fern fossil. The fossil dates to Pennsylvanian Period. Specimen accession number WMI 300.7 and is part of the James Sampson collection. Fossil found in the Bond Formation at the Rush Creek locality of Posey County, Indiana, USA.

New Harmony was named by Robert Owen in 1825 after purchasing it from the Harmony Society who founded Harmony there in 1814. A number of earlier American geologists lived in this town including William McClure, Gerard Troost, David Dale Owen, F. B. Meek, E. T. Cox, B.F. Shumard, and Richard Owen. Naturalists Thomas Say and Charles-Alexandre Lesueur also lived in New Harmony. Thomas Say is buried near the center of the town.

Alethopteris and Neuropteris Plant Fossils

These pictures are of plant fossils from St. Clair, Pennsylvania. These plants grew in the Late Carboniferous or Pennsylvanian Period and can be found in the Llewellyn Formation.

St. Clair is famous for the white appearance of their plant fossils which caused by aluminum silicate or pyrophyllite. This first image is of fossils are what appears to be Alethopteris (top) and Neuropteris (bottom).

The next image is a close up of the Neuropteris fossil.

Thanks to Dave H for this fossil specimen so many years ago.

The last image is with a ruler to show the size of these fossils.

English Fern Fossil in Nodule

This picture is an unidentified fern fossil impressions . They were found in a clay-ironstone nodule in Tipton Staffordshire England. The fossil dates to the Carboniferous Period.

It was on display at the British Natural History Museum in London on August 2016.

Merry Christmas 2014

I hope anyone reading this has a Merry Christmas. May the new year bring good health and fun fossil finds!

This year's design features three fossils. A fern fossil from Pennsylvanian Period for St. Clair Pennsylvania, a Pliocene sand dollar fossil from Mexico makes up the ornaments, and the star consists of a Cretaceous shark teeth from South Dakota.

Blog in Review- 1000th Posting

Writing this blog post marks the 1000th entry for Louisville Fossils on the Blogger system.  The journey so far has been educational as my curiosity leads me back in time to study long extinct creatures from millions to hundreds of millions of years ago.  It has provided an opportunity to improve my spelling of Latin based names of these creatures.  Also learn about other areas of the country and the world that have amazing fossils.

The blog has been some work and also fun.  Hopefully, I have helped some people with the information provided here and also with answers e-mailed to fossil questions sent to me.  The biggest surprise to me is the most popular entries in the blog were not about locally found fossils but of information about dinosaurs.  With that stated, here are links to the some of the most popular of my posts:

The January 23, 2010 images of the Louisville Zoo's Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit: CLICK HERE

Pictures of the cast of the Dracorex hogwartsia at the Indianapolis Children's Museum from November 17, 2009: CLICK HERE




A movie review of the IMAX movie Sea Rex shown at the Louisville Science Center June 14, 2010: CLICK HERE

Some fossils made it on the list as well.  My odd entry speculating I found the imprint of a Cladoselache shark fin in the New Albany Shale (July 8, 2010): CLICK HERE

St. Clair Pennsylvania fern fossils from my friend Dave at the blog Views of the Mahantango shown on April 19, 2010: CLICK HERE

A large Platystrophia ponderosa brachiopod found in the Louisville area shown February 2009: CLICK HERE

Some of the most common fossils looked for that search engines directed to the blog were: Hexagonaria, Rafinesquina, Tabulophyllum, Cryptolithus, Heliophyllum, Pleurodictyum, and Halysites.

Thanks for reading this blog and if you have any questions or what to see pictures of a particular fossil, feel free to e-mail me at louisvillefossils@gmail.com

Fern Fossil Plate

This fossil plate contains the remains of plants found at the famous St. Clair, Pennsylvania site.  This plate was collected in the early 1970s from the Llewellyn Formation.  The fossil dates to the Late Carboniferous or Pennsylvanian Period (about 310 million years ago). 

The collection this fossil was apart of is now being sold off.  If you are interested in buying check it out on eBay LINK HERE.

St. Clair Pennsylvania Fern Fossils

Pictures of fern fossils from St. Clair, Pennsylvania. These plants grew in the Late Carboniferous or Pennsylvanian Period and can be found in the Llewellyn Formation.  Fossils compliments of Shamalama.

St. Clair is famous for the white appearance of their plant fossils which caused by aluminum silicate or pyrophyllite. This first fossil is Alethopteris.

Modern fern image to use as comparison to fossil.

Seed Fern Fossil

Seed fern fossil found in Hazard County, Kentucky. It is probably an Alethopteris fern and grew in the Pennsylvanian Period.

Thanks to Herb for the fossil.