Month: July 2020

Categories
Fossil Spotlight

Fossil Spotlight: Orb-Weaver Spider in Amber

Who: Pulchellaranea pedunculata
Lagerstätte: Dominican Amber
What: Pulchellaranea is an orb-weaver spider encased in amber from the Dominican Republic. Orb-weavers are the most common group of spiders who spin the wheel-shaped webs you see in your backyard, forests, and parks. Spiders are notoriously rare in the fossil record and over 90% of spider fossils are found in amber. Their rarity is due to their fragile nature and burial difficulties as their corpses tend to float on water and not sink. Spiders are more common in amber as it gently entombs them and minimizes decay. An ant, which are quite common in the Dominican Amber, joins this spider. Their proximity indicates they fell into the amber at the same time probably after a brief interaction.

Reference
-High def image from the New Yorker
-The same image can also be found in black and white along with a description of this species here
Poinar Jr, George. “Pulchellaranea pedunculata n. gen. n. sp.(Araneae: Araneidae), a new genus of spiders with a review of araneid spiders in Cenozoic Dominican amber.” Historical Biology 27.1 (2015): 103-108.

Categories
Fossil Spotlight

Fossil Spotlight: Heliobatis radians

Who: Heliobatis radians
Lagerstätte: Green River Formation
What: Heliobatis is a freshwater stingray that lived in Wyoming during the Eocene period.  At the time, Wyoming used to be much warmer and wetter than it is today (think Louisiana) and was filled with freshwater lakes.  Stingrays are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks.  As such, its rare to have complete stingrays in the fossil record as they mostly lack hard parts; usually you would fine their teeth, scales or stings if you’re lucky.  However, the Green River Formation, where Heliobatis is found, is one of two places in the entire world with complete stingray fossils (and the only site with freshwater ones).  This is because the stingray’s lakes had a salty and anoxic bottom so when they died they fell to the bottom of the lake where they’re eventually burried and preserved almost to perfection.

File:Heliobatis radians, Lincoln County, Wyoming - Natural History Museum of Utah - DSC07176.JPG

Reference
“Freshwater stingrays of the Green River Formation of Wyoming (early Eocene), with the description of a new genus and species and an analysis of its phylogenetic relationships (Chondrichthyes, Myliobatiformes),” Carvalho et al. 2004
(Link is a download pdf provided by AMNH)

Categories
Uncategorized

What’s the Fossil Bonanza logo?

The podcast’s logo was inspired by a fossil of the marine crocodile Steneosaurus bollensis.  It lived during the Jurassic Period in Europe and swam with other marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs.  The sea’s anoxic bottom minimized decomposing and shunned scavengers leaving it to be perfectly intact.  As such, mud would slowly bury the animal where it eventually fossilized and then uncovered millions of years later.  This is the basis for the Posidonia Shale Lagerstätte which has fossils of birthing ichthyosaurs and tremendously large crinoids.

macrospondylus_bollensis_holzmaden

Logo designed by https://elainebooth.com/

Categories
Uncategorized

Welcome to Fossil Bonanza

Hello everyone, my name is Andy and welcome to Fossil Bonanza! This is a website dedicated to unusual fossil sites found across the world called Fossil-Lagerstätten. If you would like to get a run down on what a Lagerstätte is I’ve already provided a description here.

The short of it is that I have loved fossils ever since I was a kid and I began to appreciate Lagerstätten when I went to college. Afterward I graduated, I even worked at one as a park ranger, Fossil Butte National Monument, which was very cool. There are many notable fossil sites around the world that are considered a Lagerstätte like La Brea Tar Pits, Burgess Shale, Dinosaur National Monument, and Messel Pit. I wanted to express my appreciation of these sites as well as highlight overlooked ones that are still incredibly awesome.

I’m in the process of producing season 1 of a podcast dedicated to Lagerstätten. I have so far written seven of the first eight episodes and I’m planning on recording the videos after I finish writing the eighth one. In the meanwhile, please come back and check this website or twitter for updates and I hope you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for stopping by!