Cynthiacetus Whale Fossil

This image is of a Cynthiacetus maxwelli whale fossil on display at Mace Brown Museum of Natural History (August 2017). It dates to the Eocene Epoch (about 38-34 million years ago), Paleogene Period. The fossil is a composite of material found at various sites: Harleyville, South Carolina USA, Hinds County Mississippi USA, and Paracas Bay, Peru (Cynthiacetus peruvianus).

The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History is located at the College of Charleston, 202 Calhoun Street, 2nd Floor, Charleston, South Carolina 29424.

Learn more at their blog: http://blogs.cofc.edu/macebrownmuseum/

Cretaceous Turritella Fossil

Gastropod fossil called Turritella sp. from the Cretaceous Period (about 70 million years ago). It was found near Tupelo, Mississippi.

Exogyra Pelecypod Fossil

This fossil appears to be a Exogyra cancellata pelecypod fossil found in the Coon Creek Formation of Mississippi or Tennessee, USA. The animal lived in the Cretaceous Period along with mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Thanks to Mary Ann for finding the fossil and to Kenny who is prepping the fossil.

Dakoticancer Crab Fossils

This fossil appears to be a Dakoticancer crab fossil found in the Coon Creek Formation of Mississippi or Tennessee, USA. The animals lived in the Cretaceous Period along with mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Thanks to Mary Ann for finding these fossils and to Kenny who is prepping the fossils. There are 3 different specimens shown in the following pictures.

Upper Cretaceous Foraminifera

Pictures are of foraminifera fossils from Starksville, Mississippi. Recovered from the Prairie Bluff Formation that contain fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Period. This first fossil might be an Anomalina sp. Images were photographed at 100x with a microscope thus need to be stacked but I am not quite ready to climb that incline.  My images do not show the divots and bumps that appear on the surface of some of these fossils.

I used A Preliminary Report of the Foraminifera of Tennessee by Joseph A. Cushman (1931) as an identification guide (plates 11 and 12).  It contains a number of specimens from the Upper Cretaceous.  Thanks to Herb for the material.  It is fossil rich!

This next fossil I cannot even guess at an identification.

This fossil might be a Globigerina sp.

Last fossil could be a Globigerinella sp.

Index Fossils of North America lists a number of Upper Cretaceous foraminifera that can be found in Mississippi: Palmula (6-14), Frondicularia (6-17), Kyphopyxa (6-18), Guttulina (7-1), Pseudopolymorphina (7-3), Gumbelitria (8-2), Gumbelina (8-1), Rentilabrella (8-4, 8-5), Bolivinoides (8-6), Pseudouvigerina (8-11), Siphogenerinoides (8-12), Buliminella (8-13), Neobulimina (8-16), Loxostoma (8-18), Lamarckina (9-2), Globigerina (11-1), and Globotruncana (11-9).