The Gulf Under Siege...

Despite the hopeful news on CNN, the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are far from over. PRI is pleased to announce the launch of "Under Siege" - our website about the threats of the oil spill on the subsurface biota of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys. Check it out!

http://www.museumoftheearth.org/undersiege

Fossil of the Week

Our fossil for this week belonged to one of the most fearsome predators ever to swim our planet’s oceans. Carcharocles megalodon was a massive shark that likely exceeded 50 feet in length as an adult, making it the largest known shark species. It is believed that C. megalodon preyed upon other large marine animals, including whales!

Like modern sharks, C. megalodon had numerous rows of teeth to rapidly replace those that fell out of its mouth. These teeth, along with rarely found skeletal remains, have led scientists to believe that the closest living analog of C. megalodon is most likely the Great White shark (Carchardon carcharias). In fact, C. megalodon was initially placed in the same genus as the Great White and some scientists still believe that this giant should retain the genus name Carcharodon.

C. megalodon had a global distribution during its reign in the seas; fossil remains are known from localities ranging from North America to Europe, Africa, East Asia, and Australia. These deposits range in age from the Miocene epoch to the Pleistocene epoch (about 15 – 2 mya), indicating this giant lived for over 10 million years. This particular specimen comes from a locality along the Río Gurabo in the Dominican Republic’s Cibao Valley. It was discovered by Harold and Emily Vokes during their expedition to the valley in 1976. The tooth’s exact age is difficult to determine because the tooth was found in river float, meaning it was washed away from its original site of preservation. However, fossil snails found with this tooth suggest it is most likely from the Gurabo Formation, which is lower Pliocene in age, indicating this specimen is about 5 million years old. Some of the fine serrations around the edge of the tooth are beautifully preserved, and the slight bend in the tooth indicates it probably came from the right anterior section of the shark’s upper jaw. Teeth from more posterior sections become smaller and are far less symmetrical, with a pronounced curve.

Text by Steve Durham

This Weekend at the Museum of the Earth...

Got plans? No, then stop by the Museum tomorrow at noon for a great lecture in our Natural History at Noon series:

• 

  Fossil Trees, Climate Change, and Arctic Resources

  Saturday, July 24
  

  12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

  Kyle Trostle, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell University
  

  A talk about the trees and ecosystems that inhabited the Arctic during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), how they were preserved, why we should care today, and the modern day resources bequeathed to us.

You might also consider bringing the family by for Biodiversity Rocks!

Biodiversity Rocks!

Saturdays in July & August

11 a.m. to Noon

Join Museum of the Earth educators in celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity with fun hands-on activities every Saturday in July and August.

Saturday, July 24 - Lunchtime - Examine different foods and track how your lunch affects biodiversity.

We hope to see you there!

Notes from the Field...Thailand Day 3

Sampling new cuisines is one of the best parts of traveling, and that at the World Congress of Malacology in Phuket Thailand is no exception! Dr. Paula Mikkelsen and her colleagues in the Bivalve Tree of Life Project ventured out for some unusual Thai food. This is grilled mantis prawns (really a type of big shrimp) in garlic and cracked pepper. Also sampled were squid, tiger prawns, fish, and heaps of rice and noodles, some of them very spicy. Tomorrow we have a day off to see the local sights, then it's back to work on Thursday for our bivalve evolution symposium.


Here is Dr. Mikkelsen communing with an oversized model of the landsnail Amphidromus africallosa at the World Congress of Malacology in Phuket, Thailand.

Fossil of the Week

If you have ever seen a majestic whale breaking the surface of the ocean then you have very likely encountered a relative of this fossil as well. This interesting bowl-shaped specimen is a whale barnacle. These specialized barnacles attach only to whales, and once an individual whale is chosen, the barnacle will remain attached for its entire life, feeding on the same clouds of plankton that their host consumes.

All barnacles belong to the phylum Arthropoda, meaning they are related to crabs and lobsters- this may seem surprising since their lifestyle and hard shell resemble that of many sedentary mollusks. In fact though, barnacle shells are not single, solid units like mollusk shells, but instead are composed of multiple plates arranged around the soft body of the animal. In life, this barnacle would also have had two opercular valves, the shelly “doors” that cover the opening of living barnacles today, but they were not preserved in the fossil. The photograph shown here was taken above the barnacle, looking down into the cavity in which the animal lived.

The whale barnacle above belongs to the family Coronulidae. Its scientific name is Coronula macsotayi and it hails from Venezuela. It was found at an exposure of the Mare Formation on a hillside above the west bank of Quebrada Mare Abajo, about 22 miles north of the city of Caracas. This exposure is Lower Pliocene in age, meaning our fossil here lived about 3 to 5 million years ago. Coronula macsotayi was named for Oliver Macsotay, the paleontologist and stratigrapher who discovered this barnacle. Macsotay sent this specimen to Norman Weisbord at Florida State University in 1969 and in 1971 Weisbord published a manuscript in Bulletins of American Paleontology volume 60 (No. 265) describing the specimen as a new species of Coronula and discussing the stratigraphy of its locality in Venezuela. Since this specimen (PRI catalog no. 28292) was the first used to describe Coronula macsotayi it is known as the holotype for this species, making it a very important resource for scientists interested in studying this fossil species.

Text by Steve Durham

Notes from the Field...Thailand Day 2

(Meeting Program)

Dr. Paula Mikkelsen is in Phuket Thailand attending the 17th World Congress of Malacology (the study of mollusks). The WCM is hosted by the international society Unitas Malacologica. This is the first time that this group has met in Asia. 372 delegates have registered, including over 100 students. 236 papers and 120 posters will be presented. The first day included the symposium "The Last 50 years of Malacology." Paula presented her paper today on "Publishing in Malacology: Past, Present, and Future Trends," in which she compared the field of publishing in 1959 and 2009.

Notes from the Field...Thailand Day 1

En route to the World Congress of Malacology in Phuket, Thailand, Associate Director for Science Dr. Paula Mikkelsen discovered an origami museum shop in Narita Airport in Tokyo japan. These are origami dinosaurs - T Rex, 3 velociraptors, Stegosaurus, and Apatosaurus in the background. Origami is the ancient oriental art of paper folding.

"Four red Velociraptor are facing off with a Tyrannosaurus, with two little tyrannosaur babies right behind. The 'fin-backed' fellow is a Spinosaurus. All three dinosaurs lived during the Cretaceous Period, but they never would have met in reality; Velociraptor lived in Asia, Spinosaurus in Africa, and Tyrannosaurus in North America. In the case behind are two long-necked dinosaurs, called sauropods!" -- Caption courtesy of PRI's resident paleontologist and dinosaur expert Dr. Richard Kissel.

Happenings at the Museum of the Earth

Mastodons and Martinis
Friday, July 16
6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Join us at the Museum of the Earth for a fun summer evening in support of science. Explore exhibits, mingle with friends, and enjoy martinis from Felicia’s Atomic Lounge. Hors d’oeuvres by Serendipity and your first cocktail are included with your ticket. We hope you can join us for this swinging good time in support of science education at the Museum of the Earth! Social Membership* Tickets: $25. Purchase by clicking here or for more information and to purchase by phone, please contact 607.273.6623 x11.

*Social Membership includes entrance to Mastodons & Martinis on July 16, as well as advance notice of other social events at the Museum of the Earth. Entrance to this event in not included with regular Museum membership.

Natural History at Noon Series
Saturday, July 24
"Fossil Trees, Climate Change, and Arctic Resources" with Kyle Trostle, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell University


Biodiversity Rocks!
Saturdays in July & August
11 a.m. to Noon
Join Museum of the Earth educators in celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity with fun hands-on activities every Saturday in July and August. For more information on each week's topic visit our website.
July 17 - New Species Arise
July 24 - Lunchtime
July 31 - Extinction!

Support Science at the Museum of the Earth

I want to let our local or close to local readers know about a fun event that is coming up tomorrow, Friday, July 16 at the Museum of the Earth -- Mastodons and Martinis!

Join us at the Museum of the Earth on Friday, July 16 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for a fun summer evening in support of science. Explore our temporary exhibit, One Fish, Two Fish, Old Fish, New Fish*: Exploring the Evolution of Biodiversity; take a journey through time in our permanent exhibits; and enjoy martinis from Felicia’s Atomic Lounge. Hors d’oeuvres by Serendipity Catering and your first cocktail are included with purchase of a social membership ticket. We hope you can join us for this swinging good time in support of science education at the Museum of the Earth!

Social Membership Tickets**: $25

Purchase online at: Mastodons & Martinis

Purchase your social membership ticket by clicking below or for more information and to purchase by phone, please contact 607.273.6623 x11.

*ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH™ & © 1960 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

**Social Membership includes entrance to Mastodons & Martinis on July 16, as well as advance notice of other social events at the Museum of the Earth. Entrance to Martinis & Mastodons is not included with regular Museum membership. You must purchase a social membership to attend this event.

Fossil of the Week

This week’s fossil is a gastropod (snail) from the family Fasciolariidae named Fasciolaria apicina from the upper Pliocene epoch, roughly 2 million years ago, and found in localities ranging from North Carolina to Florida. This fossil species is related to the modern banded tulip snail, Fasciolaria lilium hunteria, a fierce and abundant predator in many near-shore marine ecosystems throughout the southeastern United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Their shells are also common beach comber’s treasures- see if you can find F. apicina’s younger cousin F. hunteria in your shell collection at home! Hint: look for the six to eight very thin, dark brown or black bands along the growth axis (spiral) that are its namesake.

Don’t let this plain looking shell fool you, we know from the pattern of repair scars left on the shells of many of these animals (unfortunately they are very difficult to see on this particular specimen, but look for slight jaggedness in some of the growth lines on the lowest whorl) that they, like their modern banded tulip relatives, were likely voracious predators capable of propping the two valves (shells) of a clam or oyster open using their shell lip to access the meat inside (this behavior is really impressive- think about how hard it is sometimes to open an oyster or clam to cook with!). In fact, F. apicina was probably an important predator of members of various other marine invertebrate groups as well, including other snails and even worms! However, even these hunters became the hunted on occasion. The circular hole you see in the second to last whorl of the shell is the characteristic trace left by the drilling attack of naticid snails (perhaps better known as moon snails) and tells us how this animal died- he became lunch for a large moon snail.

This fossil species was named by renowned American malacologist William Healey Dall in 1890. Our specimen shown here was figured in Palaeontographica Americana volume 3 in 1945 for a manuscript authored by Burnett Smith. It was found in Acme, North Carolina at an exposure of the Waccamaw Formation, a sandy unit (it has not yet become rock) that dates back to the upper Pliocene epoch, approximately 2 million years ago. Acme is a small town located about 25 - 30 miles northwest of the beautiful beaches of Wilmington, NC.

Text by Stephen Durham

Happenings at the Museum of the Earth...

Featured Events:

Mastodons and Martinis
Friday, July 16
6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Join us at the Museum of the Earth for a fun summer evening in support of science. Explore exhibits, mingle with friends, and enjoy martinis from Felicia’s Atomic Lounge. Hors d’oeuvres by Serendipity and your first cocktail are included with your ticket. We hope you can join us for this swinging good time in support of science education at the Museum of the Earth! Social Membership* Tickets: $25. Purchase by clicking here or for more information and to purchase by phone, please contact 607.273.6623 x11.

*Social Membership includes entrance to Mastodons & Martinis on July 16, as well as advance notice of other social events at the Museum of the Earth. Entrance to this event in not included with regular Museum membership.

Natural History at Noon Series
Saturday, July 10
"The Other 15,000: Marine Biodiversity at Risk in the Gulf of Mexico" with Dr. Paula Mikkelsen, PRI's Associate Director for Science.

Saturday, July 24
"Fossil Trees, Climate Change, and Arctic Resources" with Kyle Trostle, Ph.D. Candidate, Cornell University


Biodiversity Rocks!
Saturdays in July & August
11 a.m. to Noon
Join Museum of the Earth educators in celebrating the International Year of Biodiversity with fun hands-on activities every Saturday in July and August. For more information on each week's topic visit our website.
July 10 - Animal Adaptations
July 17 - New Species Arise
July 24 - Lunchtime
July 31 - Extinction!


Fossil Fun-Day Monday
Mondays in July & August
Bring a fossil to show the Museum and receive $1 off the cost of admission! (Offer good for up to 5 people. Not to be used with other offers.)

---

Summer Field Trips!

Spend your summer with the Museum of the Earth! Once again, we've got a great slate of programs happening this summer for you to choose from. Learn more about our Fossil Collecting Field Trips and Royal Ontario Museum Trip below. We look forward to seeing you in the field!

Fossil Collecting Field trips 2010

• July 10th: Sheds, NY
• August 7th: Morrisville, NY
• Sept 11th: Jamesville, NY (adults only)

All trips are from 11am to 2pm.

Members: Adults $10, Student/Senior $7, Youth $5
Non Members: Adults $20, Student/Senior $15, Youth $10

Register today online or by calling 607-273-6623 x13.

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) Trip
Saturday, August 14, 2010. 6am to midnight.

Travel to Toronto, Canada with our staff and join us for a special personalized tour of the newly renovated dinosaur halls and other renowned exhibits at one of the world's finest natural history museums. Book a seat today!

Members: Adults $75, Seniors $65, Youth $60
Non members: Adults $90, Seniors $80, Youth $75

Register today online or by calling 607-273-6623 x13

**Please note that due to the necessary border crossing a valid passport or enhanced driver's license will be required to participate in this trip. You can learn more about what documentation you may need here: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/edl-main.htm and http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.**

Not a member but want to become one? Choose your membership level online or give us a call at 607.273.6623 x11.

Fossil of the Week

7/7/10 - Tusk Shell

Scaphopods, or "tusk shells," are mollusks, thus related to clams, snails, squids, and octopuses. The shell is tube-shaped, open at both ends, and (as the common name implies) usually gently curved like an elephant's tusk and similarly tapered. The animal inhabits the tube, using its foot to dig at the larger (anterior) end, and bringing oxygen-laden water for respiration at the other (posterior) end. There are no gills - the scaphopod is small enough that oxygen can infuse its tissues simply by water washing over its organs. The animal eats using minute tentacles - called captacula - surrounding its foot. These probe the sand for bits of food (detritus, foraminiferans, etc.), then bring them into the shell to the mouth. Scaphopods also lack eyes and other distinct sense organs, as well as a heart and blood vessels; blood is circulated through sinuses throughout its body by the muscular actions of the foot. Scaphopods are all marine, living buried in the sand with one end of the tube at the surface to contact the water. The name "Scaphopoda" means "shovel-footed." Because of the many organs missing in scaphopods (head, eyes, heart, gills), they are difficult to compare to other mollusks to understand their evolution and relationships. Classifications have traditionally placed them near the bivalves (both have evolutionarily lost the head), however, modern molecular studies suggest that they are more closely related to the Cephalopoda (squids, octopus, Chambered Nautilus, etc.).

If you know scaphopods at all, you probably know members of the genus Dentalium, which literally looks like a small elephant tusk (though hollow and open at both ends). The genus Cadulus (represented here by the Eocene species Cadulus marginata) is less well known. Its shell is also a hollow tube open at both ends, but the shell can be unevenly tapered, often bulging in the center. This specimen is a paratype of the species, which was collected near Jackson, Mississippi, and was named by Katherine Palmer in 1947.

Scaphopods are the last molluscan class to appear in the fossil record, thus the youngest and last to evolve. The earliest known fossils are from the Middle Ordovician (460 million years ago).

Let's Take a Field Trip!

Every year the Museum of the Earth hosts a trip to a larger natural history institution. In the past we've been going to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. This year, we wanted to try something different. We wanted to keep the trip about the same distance to avoid that added costs of an overnight stay, but we also wanted to have some sort of relationship or knowledge of the institution.

With a four hour drive as our guide -- we looked at museums and institutions in Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo, Albany, and Toronto. We settled on Toronto!

Dr. Richard Kissel, Director of Teacher Programs here at PRI recently completed his PhD program in Paleontology at the University of Toronto and has first hand knowledge of the Royal Ontario Museum (R.O.M.) -- especially the dinosaur hall! If you like dinosaurs, you will love the experience that you will have as Richard leads you through the R.O.M.'s world famous exhibits.

Join us as we travel to the

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

Saturday, August 14, 2010. 6am to midnight.

Travel to Toronto, Canada with our staff and join us for a special personalized tour of the newly renovated dinosaur halls and other renowned exhibits at one of the world's finest natural history museums. Book a seat today! Trip check-in at 5:45 am from the Museum of the Earth. Bus leaves promptly at 6 am with an estimated return of 11 pm.

Members

Adults $75
Seniors $65
Youth $60

Non members

Adults $90
Seniors $80
Youth $75

Register today online or by calling 607-273-6623 x13

Please note that due to the necessary border crossing a valid passport or enhanced driver's license will be required to participate in this trip. You can learn more about what documentation you may need here: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/edl-main.htm and http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.

** Please Note: Refunds will only be given due to PRI cancellation of the trip. **

Museum of the Earth Responds to the Gulf Oil Spill

It has been just over two months since the first day of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that occurred on April 20, 2010. In addition to the surface slick and tar balls washing ashore, a deep-water oil plume, being carried by a clockwise Loop Current, now threatens the third largest coral reef and marine ecosystem in the world and endangers thousands of invertebrate species indigenous to the Gulf and Florida Keys.

Although dozens of oily pelicans have become the iconic symbol for the recent disaster to hit the Gulf, thousands of forgotten creatures such as the spiny flower coral, yellow mussel, red heart urchin and the purple sea snail are equally under siege by the immeasurable plume of dense oil and dispersants. The Museum of the Earth recognizes the severity of the spill beyond the sandy beaches and below the murky surface.

World renowned malacologist, Dr. Paula Mikkelsen, associate director for science at the Paleontological Research Institution, remarks; “Our intent is not to say that the turtles and pelicans are not important. Our intent is to spread awareness of the high levels of biodiversity in the Gulf that are at risk in this devastating disaster. I hesitate to even suggest this because it’s so grim – there’s a lot we don’t know, as researchers and a society, about what’s going to happen. But it’s a much larger story than tar washing up on the beach.” Mikkelsen has specialized her professional research around the aquatic biodiversity of these now-threatened marine organisms.

Every habitat– from intertidal oyster bars and mangroves, to shallow seagrass beds, to coral reefs, deepwater sand plains, and pelagic Sargassum algae – includes thousands of species of invertebrates (coral, barnacles, snails, clams, starfish, sea urchins, sponges, and others) that depend upon clean water to survive. The deep-water oil plume looping through the Gulf, and heading toward the Florida Keys, is severely threatening aquatic biodiversity through contamination. The relationships of these marine ecosystems could soon be impacted, starting at the most basic levels, as the oxygen quality is compromised and the organisms’ food sources are killed. Many of these species are filter feeders, sieving food particles from the water, while others graze on algae or wait to feed on the filter feeders and grazers. All of these animals “breathe water,” extracting life-giving oxygen with their delicate gills. Oil in the water or their food sources will kill them, along with the algae and marine plants that they depend upon. The devastating reality is that there are no clean up efforts or rescue excursions that can help the eastern oysters, tube coral and other marine invertebrates that could be affected by the spill. As many as 15,000 species are indigenous to the Gulf and are threatened by this disaster.

Visit the Museum of the Earth to learn more about what is happening to the marine life in these affected areas and see some of the amazing specimens from the world famous PRI collection. Seeing the immaculate shells and coral on display creates immediacy to visitors and shatters apathy for these delicate, deep-water creatures. These heart breaking yet stunning displays should be a definite addition for your weekend “to do” list. On Saturday, July 10 at noon, Dr. Mikkelsen will be giving a Natural History at Noon lecture in the Museum’s classroom entitled "The Other 15,000: Marine Biodiversity at Risk in the Gulf of Mexico." For more information on the exhibit and the Museum’s Natural History at Noon lecture series please visit the Museum of the Earth online at www.museumoftheearth.org or call 607-273-6623 x33.

Fossil of the Week

7/1/10 - Solitary Coral

This is a solitary coral, approximately 3 centimeters (1¼ inches) in diameter. You probably have learned that coral is actually a colony of thousands of soft polyps embedded in a hard calcareous skeleton. Solitary corals are similar but have just one large polyp (so a lot like an anemone), surrounded by a hard skeleton (which anemones lack). This is oversimplified slightly, but you probably get the idea. Although they form single "corallites," solitary corals often aggregate together in large populations. This is in part a product of their most common mode of reproduction - fragmentation - in which breakage results in two or more new polyps, which would naturally "land" not far from the original. The most common living solitary corals to non-specialists are the Mushroom Coral Fungia, sold dried and bleached in curio shops, and the Button Coral Scolymia, which is sold alive for the aquarium trade. The flesh of one common Scolymia species is bright florescent green.

This fossil is a paratype* (PRI 24412) of Cyclomussa concinna, described by John W. Wells** (a student of PRI's founding director, Gilbert Harris) in 1941. It is from the Lower Oligocene, Chira Formation, near Casa Saman, Chira Valley, in northern Peru. It was published in volume 26 of Bulletins of American Paleontology, PRI's monographic series. This and other specimens described in that publication were collected in Peru by another Harris student, Axel Olsson***. Part of Gilbert Harris' original intent in founding PRI was to provide a regional center where young students and professionals could interact and study - it seems that his students did just that! Many of Harris' students ultimately served on PRI's Board of Trustees or otherwise supported the institution through monetary and other donations.

PRI honors the author of this species by its student grant called the John W. Wells Grants-in-Aid of Research Program. This annual award supports collections-based research in any field of paleontology with up to $500 to assist with the student's visit to PRI to use the collections. PRI has one of the largest collections of invertebrate fossils, including corals, in North America.

*For a definition of paratype specimens, see Fossil of the Week 10/14/09 - Atrypa aperanta Crickmay.

**For more about John W. Wells, see Fossil of the Week 12/23/09 - Ichthyodorulite (Fish Spine).

***See Fossil of the Week 11/5/09 - Echinocaris punctata for more about Axel Olsson.