MAPS 32nd Fossil Expo

The Mid-America Paleontology Society (MAPS) fossil expo is coming up March 26-28, 2010.  This society is one of the few who focus just on fossils.  Click on the logo above to visit their very nice website.  I like their color scheme and images.

Dr. Robert Frey of Ohio will give the talk The Age of Nautiloids in the American Midwest: The Platteville Fauna in Illinois and Wisconsin on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 7 PM.

Don "The Fossil Guy" Johnson will discuss Laura the Hypacrosaurus and Other Duck-billed Dinosaurs on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10 AM.

 MAPS member Bill Desmarais on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 11 AM will present a program about dinosaur research expeditions in Alberta, Canada.

University of Iowa professor Charles Newsom will help visitors with their fossil identification at 2 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Curator of University of Iowa Geoscience Repository will talk about storing, organizing, protecting, and documenting a fossil collection at 3 PM on Saturday, March 27, 2010.

It looks like a great expo to attend if you can!

Cornulites

Cornulite worm tubes found in the Kope Formation. These small creatures existed in the Ordovician Period. Typically, I find them attached to brachiopod shells specifically in the ridges. So it was change to find them by themselves in the gravel I was screening for scolecodonts. Fossils found in Carroll County, Kentucky.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

Kope Formation Scolecodont

Okay, I have been a little off on the scoledont identifications recently but this one I am pretty sure of. It is the only jet black fossil I found have viewing tablespoon after tablespoon of gravel.  It is from the Kope Formation of Carroll County, Kentucky.  This creature existed in the Ordovician Period.

Looking through all the Kope Formation material I did find over 15 Cornulites tubes.  I will post images of the smaller ones soon. 

The jaw appears to be broken off at both ends. Image taken with microscope set to 40x.