tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.comments2024-03-15T03:20:54.442-04:00Fossils and Other Living ThingsTony Edgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-52525292823904030842018-03-23T16:59:37.896-04:002018-03-23T16:59:37.896-04:00Thank you for your arrival! I just found one of th...Thank you for your arrival! I just found one of these today at calvert cliffs, 4 ribs and was wondering what it was!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08333911933107980296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-39489846217920873062017-11-27T22:23:06.734-05:002017-11-27T22:23:06.734-05:00Thanks, that link confirms what the specimens foun...Thanks, that link confirms what the specimens found in Guam are.Michael Popphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16741723962997816729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-8895892451112566322017-11-19T16:59:05.906-05:002017-11-19T16:59:05.906-05:00Interesting post. The book you mention On Growth a...Interesting post. The book you mention <i>On Growth and Form</i> might have helped me identify some marine specimens I got from Guam. Thanks! See http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2013/02/guam-micro-samples.htmlMichael Popphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16741723962997816729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-26709772332391774602017-10-16T22:41:29.678-04:002017-10-16T22:41:29.678-04:00Michael:
Thank you for your comment which provides...Michael:<br />Thank you for your comment which provides some very interesting background to this whole topic. By the way, I added a "later edit" to this post showing the 1955 U.S. stamp honoring Charles Willson Peale and his museum. This stamp does feature fossil bones. Your great website put me on to that stamp.<br />Best,<br />TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-33664262748988805802017-10-16T04:14:26.144-04:002017-10-16T04:14:26.144-04:00You are basically right in your observations. Ther...<br /><br />You are basically right in your observations. There are indeed much more stamps with reconstruction of prehistoric animals rather ten their fossils. I guess it is because that it fascinates a general public much more than fossils. <br />You are also right when says that most of dinosaur stamps are from African and Asian countries. As poor a country is as more stamps they produced in order to gain some $ from collectors. Most of African countries are outsource their stamps production to some philatelic agencies and give them a green light to produce as many stamps as they like at all possible themes. It results in many hundreds, sometimes even thousands different stamps produced by the name of these countries per year. Nowadays two biggest stamp agencies are Stamprerija and IGPC. Personally, I avoid such stamps from my collection, because it design usually have nothing to do with the issuing country and have very poor design.<br />There are indeed not many artists who put their attention for details and correct representation of prehistoric creatures they draw on stamps.<br />It worth to mention: Peter Trusler from Australia, James Gurney from USA, Julius Csotonyi from Canada, Sergey Krasovskiy from Ukraine, who created very beautiful stamps of prehistoric animals. <br />The American stamp you show above is one of the first dinosaur stamps and shows part of "The Age of Reptiles" mural, that covers the entire east wall of the Yale Peabody Museum's Great Hall, painted by Rudoph Zallinger between 1943–1947.<br /><br />P.S. many thanks for good worlds about my website, glad to see it is usefull for fossil lovers. As I don't have a forum there I use facebook group (Paleophilately) to communicate with my fans: https://www.facebook.com/groups/889825297731726/<br /><br />best regards,<br />Michael Kogan (Paleophilatelist)<br />PaleoPhilatelisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12459518498080850155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-49269964447018201182017-09-26T18:22:37.611-04:002017-09-26T18:22:37.611-04:00I'm not sure what specifically in Bryson's...I'm not sure what specifically in Bryson's end notes you want me to look at or that I somehow missed. I don't find anything in them regarding the heights of people back then, how small door might have reduced heat loss, or the presence of cabinets of curiosities. Help me out here, please. TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-41567179152955271202017-09-26T02:53:16.455-04:002017-09-26T02:53:16.455-04:00You may find it worth your time to look at the sou...You may find it worth your time to look at the source notes for A Short History of Private Life.<br /><br />https://www.penguin.co.uk/content/dam/prh-consumer/penguin/articles/book-talk/reading%20guide/2016/jun/original_athome_source_notes.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-55571537238722654962017-07-29T21:20:57.076-04:002017-07-29T21:20:57.076-04:00The shape, size, and age of these teeth makes it r...The shape, size, and age of these teeth makes it rather unlikely that they are from frogs or salamanders.<br />Best, TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-45399391384333508482017-07-29T02:31:28.561-04:002017-07-29T02:31:28.561-04:00I believe I have proof that these edestus fossils...I believe I have proof that these edestus fossils are not sharks, rather a frog or salamander perhaps. Notice the blood vein where the jaw would probably connect. Would not that be the primitive ear. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-41559978160248779902017-04-15T10:54:42.065-04:002017-04-15T10:54:42.065-04:00The date you suggest certainly is plausible. It w...The date you suggest certainly is plausible. It would mean that Jarvis took these stereoview photographs very shortly after this cast was acquired by the Smithsonian which makes sense. Thanks, TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-25705902641626378392017-04-14T16:55:07.978-04:002017-04-14T16:55:07.978-04:00FYI: I recently purchased this same Jarvis stereov...FYI: I recently purchased this same Jarvis stereoview and penciled on the back is the faded date Oct. 1st, 1876. If the date is accurate (and I think it is) that would place the time of Jarvis taking the photo at sometime before that.rynocerashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11639526445617269796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-85828899638041860332017-01-05T15:47:06.623-05:002017-01-05T15:47:06.623-05:00Howard:
Thanks for the comment which shaped some ...Howard:<br /><br />Thanks for the comment which shaped some further reading of mine. As you note, the reality on the ground is complicated, belying the notion that deciduous angiosperms hold (and held) the upper hand because of the effects of the impact winter at the end of the Cretaceous.<br /><br />Your example of the Eocene boreal forests is a very interesting one, offering a most complex reality. Though those forests were populated by a broad mix of angiosperms and gymnosperms, they were apparently dominated by the Dawn Redwood, a deciduous gymnosperm (Metasequoia). Other deciduous conifers in those forests included Swamp Cypress, Larch, and Ginko. But, significantly, there were also evergreen gymnosperms living there, including Fir, Spruce, Pine and Hemlock. And, among the deciduous angiosperms, were Maple, Birch, Hickory and Beech, constituting a “rich angiosperm understory.” A nice overview of the Eocene forests is provided by A. Hope Jahren’s piece titled The Artic Forest of the Middle Eocene, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 2007. The rich diversity of species and mixture of leaf habits in the Eocene boreal forests challenge the notion that some how all of this can be ascribed to the lingering effects of an asteroid impact. Perhaps too much diversity, too many potential variables.<br /><br />Further, recent research seems to be calling into question some of the assumptions used in the past to argue that evergreen gymnosperms were (are) at some serious disadvantage, compared to deciduous angiosperms, under the light and temperature conditions of high northern latitudes. See, for instance, C.P. Osborne, et al., Adaptive Role of Leaf Habit in Extinct Polar Forests, International Forestry Review, 2004. This article does a wonderful job of showing how scientists shaped their view of reality to accommodate untested preconceptions.<br /><br />Thanks again,<br />~Tony<br />Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-62291563763109752192017-01-01T17:39:07.322-05:002017-01-01T17:39:07.322-05:00I won't be much help. I love the melody but p...I won't be much help. I love the melody but perhaps because it seems to be such an Americana standard. I don't have a take on the meaning of the words, having wrestled particularly with the final stanza which may be at the heart of it. I also suspect the line "I set these tiresome codes down where you lay" is critical. But I've largely punted. Sorry.Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-44828378138421832922016-12-31T14:41:17.753-05:002016-12-31T14:41:17.753-05:00Any thoughts on the meaning of "OMGCD"? ...Any thoughts on the meaning of "OMGCD"? The song is my favorite on the album.June Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723016934182800437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-75290832239974706822016-12-30T12:11:21.871-05:002016-12-30T12:11:21.871-05:00Tony—
I share your bemusement over this topic. Fo...Tony—<br /><br />I share your bemusement over this topic. For one thing, I find it hard to reconcile the idea that a bolide impact—presumably creating short-term selection pressures of cooler, darker conditions—should favour deciduous angiosperms, with the fact that the current vast expanses of boreal forest, right up to the arctic tree-line (northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Scandinavia)--undeniably cooler, darker conditions--are dominated by evergreen gymnosperms.<br /><br />Another data point to consider, much more recent than the Glossopteris flora cited from Australia, is the Eocene arctic forests (just Google “eocene arctic forest”), which included both deciduous angiosperms and evergreen gymnosperms living as far north as Ellesmere Island in the Canadian arctic. Here, length of daylight (i.e. months of continual darkness), would have been a much more significant selection pressure than annual temperature, which was relatively equable--no worse than your modern New England climate, and probably warmer overall. It would appear that variables other than temperature and daylight are important in the modern distribution of deciduous angiosperms.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />--HowardAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-87748866468356829532016-12-13T09:30:17.410-05:002016-12-13T09:30:17.410-05:00Check out Stephen McLoughlin's great article t...Check out Stephen McLoughlin's great article titled Glossopteris - Insights into the Architecture and Relationships of an Iconic Permian Gondwanan Plant (Journal of the Botanical Society of Bengal, 2011 - available on researchgate.net or academia.edu) which gives a detailed overview of various aspects of the Glossopteris, including the immediate environment in which it lived (swampy, boggy areas at extreme southern latitudes) and thoughts about its extinction (climate change associated with the end of the Permian dried out those same mire areas and raised temperatures beyond what the Glossopteris could handle). Significantly, he also discusses its deciduousness as part of an ecological strategy for dealing with many months of little or no sunlight in what were then ice-free southern latitudes. The End-Permian extinction period was apparently too long-lasting and extreme for the Glossopteris to make it through (save perhaps for a few isolated, short-lived stands). Good stuff.Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-11445916852830223592016-12-12T12:04:38.513-05:002016-12-12T12:04:38.513-05:00I appreciate your comment. The interpretative cha...I appreciate your comment. The interpretative challenges that glossopterids pose in a whole variety of areas are quite significant. You've raised an interesting question with regard to the success or failure of deciduousness as a ecological strategy for those gymnosperms that practiced and practice it (ginkos are among other deciduous gymnosperms). It should still be a indication of short-term rapid growth and ability to deal with unstable environments. Beyond that, I'd need to look at the research literature.<br />Best,<br />TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-28479660417524798572016-12-11T20:19:27.709-05:002016-12-11T20:19:27.709-05:00I know it's dangerous to put too much weight o...I know it's dangerous to put too much weight on popular science programs like Nova, but Richard Smith's "Australia: The First Four Billion Years" special had an interesting riff on Glossopteris trees possibly being deciduous. "When scientists looked closely at these coal seams [under the area around Sydney], they found something not seen in the forests growing so far above me today. The fossil leaves they encountered were found in alternating, repeated layers. Every autumn, it seems, these now blackened Permian coal forests." He goes on to talk about glossopeteris trees and how they "encas[ed] their embryo in a seedy shell." Googling about I've found references to possible abscission zones on some fossil glossopteris leaves. Glossopterids were gymnosperms, not angiosperms, and despite being incredibly successful in the Permian, they died out in the Triassic. <br /><br />I don't know whether it would be useful to compare possibly-deciduous glossopterids with modern deciduous trees, since it seems like a case of convergent evolution. But there might be some parallels to draw, or some hints about survival strategies considering that the glossopterids *did* get outcompeted. (And I wonder whether it was conifers or newly-evolved angiosperms that put the kibosh on their long reign of Gondwana.) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-57875835239674750042016-10-06T14:19:22.651-04:002016-10-06T14:19:22.651-04:00Thanks for the correction.Thanks for the correction.Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-5898436463010524842016-10-06T13:06:08.079-04:002016-10-06T13:06:08.079-04:00One small error. I have never been a member of the...One small error. I have never been a member of the MGS. The word about this place got out when I told a few collectors who told other till it seems everyone knew about it. The shame was that some of them really tore the place up. Also the locals built a dam on the up stream part of the creek it covered over the best part of the site.Richard Brezinanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-82140433364027956352016-06-18T18:26:19.075-04:002016-06-18T18:26:19.075-04:00I enjoyed this, learned something, too. Interestin...I enjoyed this, learned something, too. Interesting that the internet preserves so many things, unchanging, fossilized almost.ReaderThinkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00843921662893708861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-55762978434215199552016-06-03T17:41:30.722-04:002016-06-03T17:41:30.722-04:00Tony, I'm persuaded by the zigzag commissure (...Tony, I'm persuaded by the zigzag commissure (on left side of specimen as viewed in the photo) above all. In that interpretation, this is an off-center view of a bilaterally symmetric but complex form. A similarly off-center view of another rhynchonellide can be found here: http://www.primitiveworlds.com/uploads/3/7/1/3/37135051/5016549_orig.jpg?163 But that's the exterior, whereas the DC specimen is the interior -- even more disorienting!<br /><br />As you say, ribbing in pelecypods like Lima makes for an undulating commissure, but nothing like the acute zigzag typical of rhynchonellides. Acute zigzag commissures do show up in oysters in the Mesozoic, but at the cm scale, not mm scale. Other than that, I'm unaware of other occurrences of this feature. Rhynchonellides rock.Carbon Freezehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16335526752663951327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-73549735182766027272016-06-02T13:05:38.863-04:002016-06-02T13:05:38.863-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-51421384211625945422016-06-02T13:05:30.627-04:002016-06-02T13:05:30.627-04:00My apologies. You made the case about this partic...My apologies. You made the case about this particular fossil in a previous comment more than four years ago and it simply didn't register. I am persuaded by the argument you made then and will change the ID.<br /><br />TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5500247109010734075.post-80058913193102321082016-05-31T18:21:31.215-04:002016-05-31T18:21:31.215-04:00I was originally persuaded it was a pelecypod by t...I was originally persuaded it was a pelecypod by the asymmetry of the valve (the ribs seems to arch to one side). There certainly are Mississippian pelecypods that, to my eye, resemble the one featured in the picture (e.g., Lima). But I'm certainly open to the counterargument, so, let me have it.<br /><br />Best,<br />TonyTony Edgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636818323982123697noreply@blogger.com