Punctospirifer depressus

The Punctospirifer depressus brachiopod fossil found in the state of Illinois.  This small animal existed in the Pennsylvanian Period.

Tyrannosaurus Postage Stamp

Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and it only took a 25 cent stamp to mail a letter in the United States.  Ahhh, now both such creatures are extinct.

Rummaging around in my stamp collection I found this cancelled stamp collected over 20 years ago.  It was part of set of 4 dinosaur/reptile stamps the U.S. Postal Service released in 1989.  The animals they selected were the Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brontosaurus (Apatosaurus shown on stamp).  The fourth animal on the stamps was the Pteranodon which is not a dinosaur but a flying reptile.

UPDATE: I originally grouped the Pteranodon in with the dinosaurs but an observant reader pointed out that it is really a reptile in the pterosaur genera.  To quote the Pteranodon entry on Wikipedia: "Pteranodon was a reptile, but not a dinosaur. By definition, all dinosaurs belong to the groups Saurischia and Ornithischia, which excludes pterosaurs. Nevertheless, Pteranodon is frequently featured in dinosaur books and is strongly associated with dinosaurs by the general public."

$150000 Canadian Ammonite

From time to time I visit the web site of an Internet fossil dealer at indiana9fossils.com to look at the expensive and exotic fossils for sale.  Listed on April 8, 2011 were a group of ammonite fossils from the Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta, Canada.  An approximate 28 inch diameter fossil is the Placenticeras meeki from the Cretaceous Period is one fossil in this group on display.  The specimen labeled "Canada Ammonite M3" sold for $150000!  As of this writing two other smaller specimens are for sale for $6000 and $25000.

See pictures of the fossils at this web page: http://www.indiana9fossils.com/Ammonites/Ammolite-Ammonites.htm

Wow, that is one expensive invertebrate fossil!

What makes the fossil so valuable is that it is composed of a organic gem like material ammolite. Ammolite is a biogenic gemstone like pearl and amber. The material comes from the ancient shells of cephalopods.  The creature swam in what was known as the Western Interior Seaway which stretched from today's Arctic Ocean, through western Canada and United States and down to the Gulf of Mexico.