Cephalopods were mollusks, like gastropods, scaphopods, chitons, and bivalves. Like many mollusks they had shells made of calcium carbonate and processed food with a toothed, tongue-like radula. Cephalopods are still alive today, and include the nautilus, squid, cuttlefish, octopuses, and others. Cephalopods found at Seven Stars Agoniatites vanuxemi VERY RARE Bactrites aciculum UNCOMMON Michelinoceras telamonContinue reading “Cephalopods”
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Trilobites
Trilobites were enormously successful arthropods that lived throughout the Paleozoic (2). They are thought to have been most closely related to living horseshoe crabs, but are themselves not chelicerates (3). Four species of trilobites have been found at Seven Stars, but as usual only their hard exoskeletons are preserved. Trilobites found at Seven Stars DipleuraContinue reading “Trilobites”
Bivalves
Bivalvia is the group that includes clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops. They are still enormously successful today, living in both salt and fresh water. Bivalves are mollusks, like cephalopods, gastropods, scaphopods, and chitons. While not as common as brachiopods at Seven Stars, they are not too hard to find. Bivalves found at Seven Stars ActinodesmaContinue reading “Bivalves”
Brachiopods
Brachiopods are one of the most common fossils found at Seven Stars. They were lophophorates, meaning that like Bryozoans, Tentaculitids, Phoronid worms, and Hyolithids, they used an organ called a lophophore to filter plankton and other food from the water(1,2,3,4,5). Some Brachiopods are still alive today, but in much diminished numbers – less than 5%Continue reading “Brachiopods”
Bringing Invertebrates to Life: Lenisicaris pennsylvanica
After both my previous posts in this series are nautiloid cephalopods, I thought it was time for an arthropod. Not just any arthropod, though. One that was mysterious. One that is misunderstood. A relative of a famous arthropod frequently portrayed in paleoart, but most of the time, inaccurately. This time, we’ll take a closer lookContinue reading “Bringing Invertebrates to Life: Lenisicaris pennsylvanica”
How to Tell Michelinoceras From Orthoceras
A Summary of the Giant Devonian Scorpion Praearcturus; Its Ecology, Fossils, and Size
Publications
This is a list of all my publications. They are not peer-reviewed, but all works and resources used to make them are cited. Please do not copy any part of them, without citing me. How To Tell Michelinoceras From Orthoceras February 8, 2022 This paper is meant to show you you don’t have Orthoceras, youContinue reading “Publications”
Bringing Invertebrates to Life: Michelinoceras
A second post, another cephalopod, though this time a fast predator capable of swimming efficiently. Michelinoceras was an orthocone, a cephalopod with a straight shell. It was extraordinarily successful, living for roughly 250 million years, and can be found all over the world. Many fossils of its close relative, Orthoceras, have been identified as Michelinoceras;Continue reading “Bringing Invertebrates to Life: Michelinoceras”
Bringing Invertebrates to Life
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you may have noticed that I love Invertebrate Paleontology. And if you love Invertebrate paleontology, too, you may have noticed that many reconstructions of ancient invertebrates are inaccurate. That’s where why I made Bringing Invertebrates to Life. This series is specifically designed for invertebrate-loving paleoartists who areContinue reading “Bringing Invertebrates to Life”