Cam Muskelly (Explorer of Deep Time ⏰ ⚒️)
@cambriancam
I am a science communicator and self-taught paleontologist/geologist located in Georgia. Future Invertebrate Paleontologist. I collect and study fossils from the Appalachian Basin. Paleo Nerd 🦖🪨 ⚒️
Welcome back to #fossilfriday #sharkweek Here is a tooth from the shark Deltoptychinus. Deltoptychinus belongs to the group of Cartilaginous fish known as the Holocephalians. This specimen comes from the Upper Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Indian Springs Shale in Crawford County, Indiana.
We are back on our #sharkweek posts! Here are two teeth from the extinct Lamniforme shark Squalicorax kaupi. I collected these two specimens back in 2019 from the Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) Demopolis Formation in Belden, Mississippi.
Don't go into the ocean. Why? Because it's Shark Week, baby! We are starting off strong with of course the biggest prehistoric shark of them all, the Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon. This is the largest example I have in my collection. It comes from off the shores of South Carolina.
Welcome back to #MineralMonday! Here are beautiful crystals from the mineral Scheelite (Calcium tungstate) on a Quartz matrix from Hunan Province, China.
Welcome back to another #fossilfriday Here is a large heart urchin known as Macraster sp. from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Fort Worth Formation in Tarrant County, Texas. These were burrowing in the sands on the seafloor in the Western Interior Seaway about ~112 million years ago.
Welcome back to #trilobitetuesday Here is a classic. This is Elrathia antiquata from the Middle Cambrian (Miaolingian Series/Durumian) Conasauga Formation from Floyd County, Georgia.
Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday Here is a nice specimen of Calymene celebra from the Middle Silurian (Wenlock) Cedarville Dolomite member of the Lockport Group from southwestern, Ohio.
Words can't not express how much will miss Sam Neil. You wore so hats including the one you wore as Dr. Alan Grant. Rest easy.
Welcome back to #trilobitetuesday Here we have the positive and negative counterparts of the trilobite Hokaspis yahuari. This specimen comes from the Middle Ordovician (Darriwillian) San Lucas Ocuri Formation in Bolivia.
Welcome back to #trilobitetuesday Here is the pyigiudm (tail) of a Calymenid trilobite I collected from the Lower Silurian Rockwood (Red Mountain) Formation in Chattanooga, Tennessee last week.
Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday Here is an enrolled Greenops boothi trilobite preserved in an Iron Pyrite nodule. This specimen comes from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Window Shale in New York state.
Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is the shell from the clam Crassatella vadosus. I found this from the Late Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian) Coon Creek Tongue of the Ripley Formation in Blue Springs, Mississippi. The original Aragonitic shell is still preserved and both valves are still attached.
Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is a chunk of limestone with the cross sections of an Archaeocyathan sponge reef. This specimen comes from the Lower Cambrian Lower Poleta Formation from the White-Inyo Mountains in California.
Welcome back to #trilobitetuesday Here is the section of the Asaphid Anataphurs vigilans that I collected from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) Maquoketa Shale in Frankford, Missouri.
Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is a tooth from a shell crushing shark known as Ptychodus mortoni. This comes from the Smokey Hill Chalk in western Kansas.
It is all Chert. The Copper Ridge Dolomite (Lower part of the Knox Group) has a lot of Chert in it. These rocks are on the Late Cambrian/Ordovician boundary and marine so no plants. You can however find Stromatolites within the Knox Group like this one I found a few months ago.
Do you have a kid in your family who loves dinosaurs? Well this event will be perfect for them! I will be giving a talk about Dinosaurs at the Gwinnett County Public library (Duluth, Georgia location) this Saturday from 2:00pm-3:00pm. I'll of both real and replica fossils to look at and touch.
Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is a well preserved Carneyella pilea Edrioasterioid on a Rafinesquina brachiopod. This specimen comes from the Upper Ordovician (Maysvillian) Correyville Formation from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Welcome back to #Fossilfriday Here is a "sea scorpion" or the Eurypterid Eurypterus remipes. This specimen comes from the Upper Silurian Fiddler Green Formation in Herkimer Co, New York. This happen to be the state fossil of New York. Some such as the Pterygotids could reach enormous sizes!
Welcome back to #trilobitetuesday Here is a slab of shale with trilobites Olenellus chiefensis. This comes from the Lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 3) Combined Metals Member in the Pioche Shale in Lincoln County, Nevada.
Welcome back to #mineralmonday! Here is a beautiful octahedral Fluorite crystal from the Xianghualing Mine in Hunan, China.
Welcome back to #FossilFriday I've got a special one today! These are beautiful silicified Productid brachiopods from the Lower Permain Word Formation (Willis Ranch Member) from the Glass Mountains of southwestern, Texas.
Yesterday marked 6 years since I made my first appearance of TV. Dinosaur Apocalypse aired on NOVA/PBS in on May 11th of 2021. I was extremely nervous but it ended up being an awesome experience. I would say it was probably one of the coolest opportunities I've had.
Welcome back to #mineralmonday This was one of my purchases from the rock and gem show yesterday. This is a large specimen of Calcite from Lawrence County, Bedford Indiana
Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is a section of Crinoidal Limestone Lower Carboniferous (Lower Mississippian) Fort Payne Formation from Dale Hollow Lake, in Tennessee. When crinoids die, their bodies disarticulate and get swept along the sea floor and sometimes get compacted into rock.
