Odontopteris aequalis Mazon Creek Fern Fossil

 

Above is an image of a seed fern plant fossil called Odontopteris aequalis. This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA. Like most fossils found at this locality, it was inside a nodule.

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP31097. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

The Field Museum produced a visual PDF of some of the fossils found at Mazon Creek. It can be found at this link:

https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/sites/default/files/rapid-color-guides-pdfs/534_usa-age_fossils.pdf

Mariopteris nervosa Fern Fossil From Mazon Creek

 

Above is an image of a seed fern plant fossil called Mariopteris nervosa (Brongniart) Zeiller. This plant fossil dates to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. It was found Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA and appears to be made of chocolate (only kidding). 

The fossil was on display in the Evolving Planet section of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is PP46034. They have quite an extensive collection of Mazon Creek fossils at the exhibit.

Reference:

https://www.academia.edu/5989500/Mariopteris_Dicksonites_and_Fortopteris_from_the_Dobrudzha_Coalfield_Bulgaria

Early Paleontology & The Crystal Park

 

YouTube is a great place to learn new things and one channel I look for videos to inform me is call The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. They published a video on October 9, 2020 called The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and Early Paleontology.

The video covers the origins of paleontology in Europe. He then covers dinosaur (and other ancient creatures) exhibits at The Crystal Park (moved from the 1851 The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations) at Bromley, London, England in 1854.The park still exists today though parts are in disrepair. A group called the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs exists to help protect and restore this piece of history.

University College London produces a series called Lunch Hour Lectures. They hosted Professor Joe Cain in June 2013 discussing the park and it's dinosaurs models. Video link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPhm4Lw538U&feature=emb_logo

Image at beginning of post taken from Guide to the Crystal Palace and Park by Samuel Phillips (1814-1854) 4th Ed. Illustrated by Philip Henry Delamotte(1821-1889), published by Bradbury and Evans, London 1855. The sculptures on the island were created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807-1894).