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).

Pecten Fossil

Here is an image of a Pecten fossil that is encrusted with worm tubes. It was found in Sicily, Italy. The pelecypod lived in the Quaternary Epoch. Fossil was on display at The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (Milan Natural History Museum), Italy as of August 2019.

Fish Fossils from Greenland

This picture is an unidentified fish fossils . They were found in Greenland. The fossil dates to the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period.

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

Lithothamnium Fossil

This picture shows a Lithothamnium calcareous algae fossil. It was found in Cagliari Sardinia Italy. The fossil dates to the Quaternary Period. Specimen can be seen at the Museo di Paleontologia at Sapienza University of Rome Italy.

Image taken June 2014.

Trace Fossil in the Making?

The picture shows a fresh water mussel out for a jaunt.  The U shaped trail is about 8-10 cms wide and the creature making it is about 13 cm long. 

I find the shells of this animal on local river banks and lake shores but have not seen one this size alive in its habitat.  It looks it uses its foot to move through the sediment in search of food.  Picture taken in Kentucky.

Thanks to my friend Herb for sending this image along. 

Tennessee State Museum

Visited the Tennessee State Museum over the weekend with a plan to just make a 1 hour stop.  Wow, it is quite a bit of material from the state's past (15,000 years to about the present).  Admission is FREE though I did pay to park out front using their quite modern parking system.  Once you park you go to the parking terminal and enter your parking space number and then insert a payment.  It then presents you with a receipt showing how much you paid and when your spot will expire.

The museum exists on multiple levels plus and another museum in a nearby building dedicated to the wars that Tennessee troops served in.  The museum has an impressive collection of native American artifacts which then transitions to tools of early European settlers to the area.  Next sections profiled prominent settlers and then a tribute to President Andrew Jackson.

The section on the Antebellum period (time before the American Civil War) was of special interest since I study the early American scientist Gerard Troost.  He lived during this period in Tennessee.  Things I found interesting in this section are the poster showing the Jeffersonville, Indiana to Nashville railroad and the unwrapped Egyptian mummy.

The portrait gallery was nice showing some nice painted images.  The section on schools of higher learning had a portrait of Gerard Troost, one of his state geological surveys, and a daguerreotype of him.  In a later section, a agriculture journal he helped edit is on display.  The lower section stairs access from the picture gallery led to displays of Tennessee guns and silverware.  One can then see Tennessee agriculture tools and a section showing how slavery was used for crop production and domestic help.  Off to the side is a nice quilt showcase.

The extensive American Civil War display shows weapons, attire, models, and accessories used.  A large display of Confederate money is also shown.  Reconstruction is next highlighted along with Tennessee industries.  All and all a very nice museum to visit.  Check out the museum store loaded with items made in or about Tennessee.  I bought a book about geology seen on I-40 that goes through Tennessee.

Do not forget to see the World War I memorial with its limestone columns, fountains, and amazing statue nearby the museum building.

There are no fossils on display unless you count these American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) pieces.

Arctic Sea Creatures

These creature remains were collected from the Greenland Sea near the Arctic years ago. They are not fossils and all of them are foraminifera except these first two pictures. Not sure what this is but it might spiny shellfish of some sort. All pictures taken with microscope at either 40x or 100x.

UPDATE: Thanks to Howard of Calgary for letting me know this is an ostracod (crustacean: "seed shrimp") and Arctic is spelled with two c's. :)  Now I just need to edit the captions on these pictures.

Next three pictures are of a foraminifera.

Next two images are of what I think to be a Pyrgo williamsoni foraminifera.

Last image is of what appears to be the foraminifera Rhabdammina abyssorum.

Thanks to Michael Hesemann at www.foraminifera.eu for the specimens.

Giant Venus Clam Fossil

The Giant Venus Clam fossil (Mercenaria permagna) found in the Fort Drum Member, Nashua Formation of Florida. It was described by Conrad in 1838 and can also be found in North and South Carolina.  This creature lived in the Calabrian Stage (780,000 years ago to 1.8 million years ago) of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary period.

I have not tried it but I read on the Internet that this fossil will fluorescence green-yellow when exposed to UV light.

Learn more about these fossils at Apalchee Minerals website where they do not sell this fossil cheap!

 

  

  

  

Honey colored calcite chunk from inside of a clam.

 

Mercenaria permagna Clam Fossil

The Giant Venus Clam fossil (aka Mercenaria permagna) found in the Fort Drum Member, Nashua Formation of Florida. It was described by Conrad in 1838 and can also be found in North and South Carolina.  This creature lived in the Calabrian Stage (780,000 years ago to 1.8 million years ago) of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary period..

This specimen contains calcite crystals like a geode.  Thanks to Mary Ann for the specimen.

 

 

 

These last two pictures are of the dogtooth spar calcite that occupies the inside of the fossil shell.  It is a honey colored calcite.