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GMS Field Trip
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Crab!
GMS Field Trip
Late Cretaceous Fossils in Mississippi
Sunday, May 24, 2015
The last day and final stop on the epic trip was a fossil location in Mississippi. Thanks to GMS member Al Klatt who introduced us to George Phillips, Paleontology Curator at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, we got permission to collect at a borrow pit. Decapods were the prizes that day from tiny crabs to spiny lobsters. Most of the crabs were just the carapaces, though there were some specimens with a few appendages attached, and there were several species found. Roger and his son were on hand again to help direct us to the best places to search and to identify our finds. Delicate gastropods plus sea pen fossils were abundant. Mickey McClain found a complete spiny lobster. New member John Crown even found some crab coprolites!
Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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Click here for more information about the May 2015 epic trip
Photo by Lori Carter
Why did the...
...chicken cross the road?
To get to the epic field trip! (or maybe just McDonald's)
Photo by Lori Carter
Lots of excited rockhounds
Photo by Lori Carter
Roger Lambert brought some samples to show us
Crab labels (top, left to right): Tetracarcinus subquadratus, Dakoticancer australis, Avitelmessus grapsoideus
Lobster Labels (bottom, left to right): Hoploparia tennesseensis, Linuparus canadensis
Dakoticancer australis crab fossils
Labels (top, left to right): Paguristes witteni (crab), Cristipluma mississippiensis (crab), Prehepatus harrisi (crab)
Labels (middle, left to right): Crab Coprolites, Ophiomorpha ghost shrimp burrow filling, Crushing claw fragment of unidentified lobster, Notopocorystes testacea (crab)
Labels (bottom, left to right): Protocallianassa mortoni (ghost shrimp), Branchiocarcinus flecta (crab), Raninella tridens (crab)
Top Middle Label: Turtle costa bone - bones that run from the neural ridge (center) and extend outward to the peripherals (outer edge). The ribs are attached to the costals
Top Right Label: Turtle vertbra - Backbone
Middle Left Label: Turtle marginal bone - Bones that make up the outer edge of the shell and jojin the carapace to the plastron
Middle Right Label: Turtle neural bone - Bones that run along the mid ridge of the shell
Bottom Left Label: Turtle costal bone - Notice the rib attached
Bottom Right Label: Turtle bones
Center Paper: Toxochelys peritresius - Toxochelys is an extinct species of small to medium sized turtle measuring up to 6-ft in length that lived during the Cretaceous. This turtle was similar in outward appearance to modern leatherback (Green Sea turtle pictured above) but is not closely related. Common fossils include shell, limb, and skull material.
Center Label: Coprolite, Fossilized "poop"
Bottom Left Label: Anomoeodus latidens - Pycnodont fish
Bottom Middle Label: Pharyngeal teeth of Hadrodus
Bottom Right Label: Cimolichthys sp.
Bottom Left Label: Enchodus Sp. - Jaw bone w/ tooth fragments
Bottom Middle Left Label: Bony fish bone fragments, Hyomandibula (jaw bone), Operculum (gill flap)
Bottom Middle Right Label: Bony Fish Vertebrae
Bottom Right Label: Fish Tail Vertebra
Center Paper: Enchodus petrosus (From Goody, 1976) 10 cm
Top Left Label: Shark Sp. Vertebrae
Top Right Label: Carcharias Sp.
Middle Label: Cretalamna Sp.
Middle Right Label: Serratolomna Sp.
Bottom Right Label: Squalicorax Sp.
Top Right Label: Mosasaurus sp.
Middle Left Label: Ray Sp. Vertebrae
Bottom Left Label: Ischyrhiza mira - Sawfish rostral denticle
Photo by Lori Carter
Roger explaining the samples he brought
Photo by Lori Carter
And off they go!
Photo by Lori Carter
Plenty of material to peruse
Photo by Lori Carter
You have to get your "decapod" eyes on to see the crab here
Photo by Lori Carter
Nice crab fossil viewed from the underside
Photo by Lori Carter
A tiny crab carapace
Photo by Lori Carter
A couple of crabs
Photo by Lori Carter
Another crab
Photo by Lori Carter
This crab still has some partial appendages
Photo by Lori Carter
Not sure what this is
Photo by Lori Carter
A junior showing us a shell she found
Photo by Lori Carter
Happy fossil-hound
Photo by Lori Carter
Part of a spiny lobster?
Photo by Lori Carter
Multiple fossils inside a crab carapace...
...lobster claw...
...crab coprolites
Photo by Lori Carter
Working hard
Photo by Lori Carter
Keep digging
Photo by Lori Carter
Daniel Miller dug up this shark tooth (Squalicorax)
Photo by Lori Carter
Lizabeth McClain found crab bits and sea pens (long thin bits)
Photo by Lori Carter
Crab with partial appendages
Photo by Lori Carter
Bone, but whose?
Photo by Lori Carter
A junior found these
Photo by Lori Carter
Well preserved crab carapace from the underside
Photo by Lori Carter
Everyone was having fun looking for fossils
Photo by Lori Carter
Great day for fossiling
Photo by Lori Carter
Gastropod
Photo by Lori Carter
Consulting with Roger
Photo by Lori Carter
They look almost like they are on a beach...I suppose if it were still the late Cretaceous, they would be!
Photo by Lori Carter
Another nice crab
Photo by Lori Carter
Roger found this crab and used it to show people what to look for
Photo by Lori Carter
Lizabeth found this frog crab
Another view of the frog crab
Photo by FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute
Frog crab (image from FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)
Photos by David Braswell
David Braswell's found a variety of superb fossils including crab, lobster, various shells, and sharks' teeth
Gastropods
Sharks' teeth
Decapods including crabs and lobsters
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