Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Ursus spelaeus Skeleton


This cave bear skeleton was on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City in July 2018. The specimen was named Ursus spelaeus (Rosenmüller, 1794). It was found in the Cave of Mokrau at Moravia, Czechoslovakia and dates to the Pleistocene Epoch (14,000 years ago). Accession number is AMNH 39416 and gifted to Columbia University in 1945. 

Learn more about the museum at https://www.amnh.org/

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Diadectes phaseolinus Reptiliomorpha Fossil


This reptiliomorpha fossil was on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City in July 2018. The fossil was named Diadectes phaseolinus (Cope, 1880). According to GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), the accepted name for this fossil is Diadectes sideropelicus (Cope, 1878). The name means "crosswise biter". It was found in 1906 at Godlin Creek, Archer County Texas USA and dates to the early Permian Period (280 million years ago). Accession number is AMNH 4684. 

E.C. Case mentions this specimen in his 1910 Article XVII New or Little Known Reptiles and Amphibians from the Permian (?) of Texas pp. 163-181 in Bulletin American Museum of Natural History Vol. XXVIII.

Learn more about the museum at https://www.amnh.org/

Monday, August 2, 2021

Amnigenia catkillensis Pelecypod Fossils

 


This post documents a scan of large insert found in New York State Museum Bulletin 49 published December 1901. The paper is listed as Value of Amnigenia as an Indicator of Fresh-Water Deposits of New York, Ireland, and the Rhineland by John M. Clarke (pages 199-203; plate 11).

These pelecypods are listed as Amnigenia catkillensis (Hall, 1885) which were originally described by Vanuxem in 1842 as Cypricardites catskillensis. Researchgate web site lists genus renamed by Weir in 1969 to Archanodon. Fossils date to the Devonian Period.

Image is from plate 11 described as "a slab of limestone bearing 33 individuals of this species all with closed valves and buried in the mud at various angles across the lines of sedimentation." It was found in the Oneonta sandstone of Clarke Quarry at Oxford, New York, USA. The specimen was presented to the New York State Museum by E.E. Davis, esq. of Norwich, New York. The plate is sized at approximately 14 by 10 inches (35.5 x 25.4 cm)