Sunday, November 6, 2022

Greererpeton burkemorani Fossil


This cast of a fossil was displayed on August 2022, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. An extinct tetrapod fossil is called Greererpeton burkemorani (Romer, 1969). The cast made of the specimen that was found at Greer Quarry, Decker's Creek Monongalia County West Virginia USA. It dates to the Mississippian Period. Genus first described by Alfred S. Romer in 1969. The species appears to be named after a Cleveland Museum of Natural History paleontologists John J. Burke and William E. Moran who uncovered fossils like this at Greer Quarry (the type locality).

https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/guid/MCZ:VP:VPRA-4348 its record shows collector as CMNH which I suppose means Cleveland Museum of Natural History. So this might be a cast of one of their fossils. Visiting their web site, I found a 3D model of a different specimen CMNH 11093 from the same West Virginia locality.

 

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Gastropod Fossils at Boston Public Library McKim Building

 

When I visited the Boston Public Library's McKim Building in August 2022, I found it to be an artistic and geological wonder. So many gastropod fossils embedded in the polished limestone floor tiles. The complex is known as the Central Library in Copley Square of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The building completed in 1895 with the chief architect being Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909).


When visiting The Abbey Room, after viewing artist Edwin Austin Abbey's (1852-1911) depiction of Sir Galahad's Quest for the Holy Grail composed of 15 panels, look at the checkerboard pattern on the floor. It consists of Istrian limestone (Croatia) and red Verona marble (Italy).


Learn more about the stone used in the McKim Building at this web site: 

https://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ia/ia-structures.html

 

 While at the library check out the 1881 portrait of American journalist/lecturer Kate Field (1838-1896) painted by Francis Davis Millet (1846-1912). Millet died on April 15, 1912 when the RMS Titanic sank in the north Atlantic ocean.

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Naseus rectifrons Fish Fossil

This fossil was displayed on August 2022, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. This fish fossil is called Naseus rectifrons (Agassiz, 1842). This specimen was found at Monte Bolca near Veona, Italy. It dates to the Eocene Epoch, Paleogene Period.

 

https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/guid/MCZ:VP:VPF-5378