Choristites mosquensis Brachiopod Fossil of Russia

Here is a picture of a fossil housed in a display case at the Geologia building located on the campus of Sapienza University of Rome. The case can be found on the second floor of the building. The brachiopod fossil is called Choristites mosquensis. It lived in Carboniferous Period. The specimen was found in the Russia (maybe near Moscow?). Image taken in June 2014.

Sources:
http://www.ammonit.ru/foto/5687.htm

http://www.eco-mnepu.narod.ru/fbrah.htm

Stegosaurus Dinosaur Stamp from 1965

Here is a picture of the Stegosaurus dinosaur stamp. It was issued in 1965 by the small republic of San Marino (located on the Italian peninsula). It had a value of 10 lire but the country now uses the euro as their currency. The stamp was part of collection of nine issued that year. The United States issued a stamp for this dinosaur in 1989 (see my blog post about it here).

The Stegosaurus existed in the Late Jurassic Period (155-150 mya). The fossil was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877.

San Marino is a very small country located inside of northern Italy. It is about 61 square kilometers in size with a population of about 30,000 people. One of their chief sources of income is tourism. They sell stamps and coins to tourists. More than likely these dinosaur stamps were part that income stream.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_marino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_San_Marino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus

Tetragraptus Graptolite Fossils from Australia

These pictures show a Tetragraptus fruticosus fossil specimen housed in a display case at the Geologia building located on the campus of Sapienza University of Rome. The case can be found on the second floor of the building. The fossil was found in Australia and lived during the Ordovician Period. The paleontology museum is on the 3rd floor of this building and has about 1000 fossils on display.

The university was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. In 1870, it became a public university for the state of Italy.

Sources:
http://www.uniroma1.it/ateneo/chi-siamo/la-storia