From the Pam Platt Collection

Home , Chesapecten, Ecphora gardnerae, Otodontidae

The ECPHORA The Newsletter of the Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club Volume 34  Number 2 June 2019

Features  Croc Tooth From the Pam Platt Collection  President’s Column  Smithsonian Paleontology Gallery Set to Open  Meg-Bitten Rib from SC

Inside  New Colored Ecphora  Coprolite-Filled Burrow  Large Miocene Croc Scute  Shark-Bitten Whale Bone  Loch Ness Monster  Miocene Rhino Tibia  Burrowed Clam Shell  Curious Concretion  Serrated “C. hastalis”  Cephalopod Shell Stacks  Scored Coprolite  And more…

Next Club Meeting. Saturday, September 14th, 2019. 2:30 pm Harms Gallery at the Calvert Marine Museum. Dr. Lucy Edward will present a public lecture entitled: “Favorite Fossils and the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure.”

This croc tooth from along Calvert Cliffs is from the Pam Platt Collection. It is the largest Thecachampsa tooth that I have ever seen. Its maximum diameter is 29.5 mm (1.16 inches) with a length of 77.5 mm (3 inches). Hand by M. Baughman, photo by S. Godfrey. ☼

CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM www.calvertmarinemuseum.com

2 The Ecphora June 2019

President’s Column New Colored Ecphora

Well another winter and spring are behind us. Seems like we went right from winter directly to pollen overload and now to 90° and thunderstorms! Time just keeps moving.... I was very impressed by the large turnout we had for our last meeting featuring Dr. Eshelman's lecture on land mammals from the Cliffs and it was awesome to have the family of Martin Tolley come in and share their 30+ years worth of Chesapeake Bay dredge finds. What a great one-two punch of Paleo knowledge and fun! However, the meeting was dampened by a missing fossil sturgeon scute from one of our club members show & tell displays. I hope this never happens again! I am open for suggestions on how the club can take steps to ensure member’s finds are protected. Being able to show and share finds is one of the basic tenets of what our club is all about. I am also wondering if there is any interest in This new color-enhanced illustration of the iconic a new position of a club social chair. That person Miocene muricid shell Ecphora gardnerae, the state would make sure the club recognizes and celebrates fossil for Maryland, will now grace our newsletter people and occasions and coordinates resources cover byline. The color pencil drawing was drafted by accordingly. Let me know if anyone is interested in Stephen Godfrey as part of a series of four fossil shell this. illustrations for the Calvert Marine Museum Store. In other club business, we are looking at ideas to fundraise in order to assist the Paleo Department as Large Panopea Pearl well as redesigning a fossil club ruler. In addition to these items, I have begun reaching out to the club members who own property along the cliffs to see if they are receptive to hosting a club trip. I hope that between our field trip coordinator and my pestering existing members that we will have a few trips along the cliffs before the end of the year. If anyone is willing to host a trip, please let me know.

Stay Safe & Happy Hunting!

Paul R Murdoch Jr.

CMMFC member Mike Ellwood found this nice Panopea pearl still in the shell from the Choptank Formation along Calvert Cliffs. Photo submitted by M. Ellwood. ☼ Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 3 The Ecphora June 2019

Smithsonian Paleontology Gallery Set to Open

Above: Tyrannosaurus rex tearing through a Triceratops… centerpiece of the dinosaur hall. Mount by Research Casting International.

Left: Moving mechanical model of an early tetrapod to show linked movements between its limbs and vertebral column.

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Monster Megalodon Model

Paleo-artist Gary Staab (https://www.staabstudios.com/) has outdone himself with this life-restoration of megalodon! It hangs in an atrium adjacent to the food court. The megalodon faces an elevated pedestrian walkway that will allow you to gaze into its massive maw sporting multiple rows of exposed teeth. It is difficult to appreciate its full size even seeing it in person. There is so much content in the new paleontology gallery that a few photos here do not even begin to capture what is in store for paleo-enthusiasts! Photos by S. Godfrey.

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Above: Brightly illuminated original-bone mastodon towers above wide-eyed visitors. Left: Genuine specimen of the early horse Protorohippus from the Green River Formation. Dr. Matt Carrano and all of the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian are to be congratulated for this monumental achievement! ☼

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Pam Platt Collection Shark-Bitten Whale Bone

Earlier this year, CMMFC member Pam Platt Pam Platt also found this whale carpal (wrist) bone donated hundreds of fossils to the Calvert Marine that was heavily scored by shark bite marks. The kind Museum. This is part of one drawer of her of shark that scored the bone remains unknown. Hand collection…other specific fossils are featured in this by M. Baughman. Photos by S. Godfrey. ☼ issue of The Ecphora. ☼ The Loch Ness Monster Has Landed Large Miocene Croc Scute

CMMFC member Mike Ellwood snapped this shot of a life-restoration of a plesiosaur at the visitor’s center Pam Platt found this impreessive Thecachampsa in Loch Ness, Scotland. Too bad the real monster was scute along Calvert Cliffs. It is 113.5 mm wide. ☼ hiding. Photo by M. Ellwood. ☼

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Miocene Juvenile Rhino Tibia Heavily Gnawed Modern Bone

Keith Harden found this piece of heavily gnawed modern bone on one of the northern beaches along Calvert Cliffs. The gnawing organism is not known, but canid comes to mind. A study in taphonomy. ☼

Heavily Burrowed Clam

A tibia of a subadult Miocene rhinoceras found by Sponge-bored clamshells are common along Calvert Pam Platt along Calvert Cliffs. We know that it was Cliffs, but this partial shell was particularly showy. not fully mature because the end-capping epiphyses Cliona celata is apparently the species of demosponge had not fused to the bone, and consequently were not responsible for the borings. Specimen found by preserved with it. Hand by M. Baughman. Stephen Godfrey. Photos by S. Godfrey. ☼ Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 8 The Ecphora June 2019

Artist Unknown Mystery Bone…Help!

Paul Matthew Blomgren found two of these mystery modern bones along Calvert Cliffs. One of them is figured here in several different views. The object is indeed a bone it is not a seed. If you know what bone this is, please email your identification to the Editor ([email protected]) and he’ll An unknown artist drew this Otodus shark tooth in an include plausible identifications in the next issue online copy of Sir Richard Owen’s History of British (alien bones won’t be included ). Hand by M. Fossil Birds and Mammals. Why a shark is in a Baughman, photos by S. Godfrey. ☼ bird/mammal summary book I have no idea? Image and text submitted by R. E. Eshelman. ☼

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Curious Concretion Ammonite Pendant

While visiting with Fred Basgier (opposite column), I discovered that he prepares, manufactures, and sells gem and fossil jewelry. One of his wrapped Fred Basgier found this curious concretion (above ammonites is featured here. ☼ and below) along Calvert Cliffs and donated it to CMM. It appears to have fossilized material within Meg-Maw but how best to prepare it is a puzzle. Perhaps CT scanning it would provide some clues.

Smithsonian megalodon. Photos by S. Godfrey. ☼ Hands by M. Baughman. ☼

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Serrated Carcharodon hastalis At Stratford Hall

Ian Hoppe found this serrated “C. hastalis” tooth at Stratford Hall, Virginia (above and two images to the right). The tooth is about 1 5/8" on the long side. Although found as float on the beach, it probably originated from within the Eastover Formation. Serrated C. hastalis teeth are essentially Carcharodon carcharias (the living great white shark) teeth. Fossil teeth of the living great white shark have not yet been conclusively found in Miocene formations older than the Eastover. This tooth is now in the collection at Stratford Hall, VA. Photos submitted by S. Groff. ☼ Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 11 The Ecphora June 2019

Metal Mosaic T. rex Humpback Whale Tattoo

While vacationing in Scotland, CMMFC member Mike Ellwood spotted this metal Tyrannosaurus rex skull. Photos submitted by M. Ellwood. ☼ CMMFC member Jillian Mosser sports this new tattoo…something about a love for humpback whales.  ☼ Great White Sharks Flee Killer Whales GSA Memorial to Lincoln Dryden

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04 http://geosociety.org/documents/gsa/memorials/v09/ /great-white-sharks-flee-killer- Dryden-L.pdf whales/587563/?utm_source=pocket-newtab=

Submitted by R. E. Eshelman. ☼ Submitted by R. E. Eshelman. ☼

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Nance and Reese CMM Paleontology volunteer Rich Smith has been sorting and extracting tiny vertebrate fossils from Hit the Big Times screen-washed matrix from Muddy Creek, VA. Thank you for your time and expertise! Photo by S. Godfrey. ☼

When in Angels Camp, California

CMM Paleo Collections Manager John Nance and Colin Reese (son of CMM graphic designer Rachel Reese) are featured in the caption for the Megalodon model at the Smithsonian (see page 4). For the caption, they were photographed collecting fossils along Calvert Cliffs. Photo by R. Reese. ☼

Rick Smith Sorting Muddy Creek

While on vacation in Angels Camp, California, CMM Store clerk Kim Zabiegalski visited a rock and fossil shop named “Stories in Stone”. Nice fossil shark composite dentitions. https://www.gocalaveras.com/travel- directory/stories-in-stones/

Photo submitted by K. Zabiegalski. ☼

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Stephen’s Number 1 Silicified Wood from Delaware

I just want to comment on the note about the field trip to Delaware to collect the silicated wood. The State of Delaware identifies the silicated wood as being of Pleistocene in age. The same fossil wood is found also in New Jersey. In New Jersey different people have placed the wood as being Miocene or Pleistocene. I tend to go with Miocene for the New Jersey material by where it is found coinciding with the edge of the outcrop of the Kirkwood Formation. If it was Pleistocene, I would think it would be in many places throughout Southern New Jersey not just along a thin band. Earl Manning's interpretation of the wood originating out of the Cretaceous or Paleocene sediments is incorrect. There is a larger piece of the wood at the NJ State Museum. I can't remember if they have it labeled as Miocene or Pleistocene. There is another piece in

the Camden County Library in Voorhees, NJ. This Skip Edwards, former member of the CMM Exhibits piece is labeled as "Sangamon interglacial". I have Department, gave me (SG) this lovely gift to let me never found a piece of this wood in situ with any know that I am Number 1. Yes, it’s a mummified Cretaceous or Paleocene formations. Large pieces of turkey foot. And yes, I’m the luckiest guy alive wood have been found in sand quarries right at the because even a dead turkey will give me the finger. Kirkwood outcrop in Camden and Gloucester Photo by S. Godfrey. ☼ Counties. I have also found pieces of the silicated wood in a blocks of "Cohansey Creek Quartzite" a siltcrete which formed in the Kirkwood Formation down in Cumberland County, NJ. Bill on the Beach Regards, Ned

Submitted by Ned Gilmore Collection Manager Department of Vertebrate Zoology Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia

A Limerick in Honor of CMM’s Paleo Volunteers

There once were some paleo volunteers, Who were covered in dirt and muddy smears -

But when they sniffed the prep glue, While out along the Calvert Cliffs, I spotted this They shouted yahoo! disembodied duck-bill. I don’t know the back-story, The high of which lasted for years. but obviously, it didn’t end well for the duck. Photo by S. Godfrey. ☼ Submitted by S. Godfrey. ☼ Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 14 The Ecphora June 2019

Shell Stacks at Calvert Cliffs: are concave-up and 42% are concave-down (n = 155). Silty fine sand matrix support occurs throughout most Evidence for Cephalopod Midden of the bed. Valves are mostly unbroken and are Construction predominantly concave-up (58%). Unusual stacks of shells, with shells mostly concave-up, occur at

isolated points throughout the bed. The stacks seem to MCMENAMIN, Mark A.S.1, LAPIC, Whitney A.1, be paucispecific (typically either Mercenaria or RABINOW, Sophie A.1, CURTIS-HILL, Aurora B.1, Chesapecten, respectively, but one stack shows an RIVERS, Haley Lynn1 and LAPIC, Stephen M.2, abrupt transition from non-scallop bivalves to (1)Geology and Geography, Mount Holyoke College, scallops halfway up the stack). These odd stacks South Hadley, MA 01075, (2)Brentwood Industries, might be attributed to sediment compaction, 500 Springridge Drive, Reading, PA 19610 dewatering, burrower disturbance, self-organized

stack formation, or other factors. However, such factors cannot explain the stand-alone stacks of shells at Kenwood Beach, particularly considering that the Calvert Formation shell stacks are segregated according to bivalve type. We propose here that the stacks of shells are formed by octopodes. (Bold emphasis added by the Editor). The cephalopods created middens that included stacks of shells placed like stacked plates or bowls. Such stacking behaviors (involving flame scallops [Lima scabra], coconut half-shells, etc.) have been documented in modern octopodes. This observation provides an explanation for the otherwise puzzling stacks of shells in the Plum Point Marl Member shell bed at Kenwood Beach, and implies that there is a cephalopod midden component in the Calvert Formation. The unique clam-to-scallop transition stack noted above may record a change in octopod prey selectivity or feeding preference, as the stack changes abruptly from a paucispecific stack of clams to a paucispecific stack of scallops. Bone beds and shell beds interpreted as intrinsic biogenic concentrations (resulting from the behavior of the creatures preserved in the bed) are in some cases Lower half of photo. A cephalopod created midden better interpreted as extrinsic biogenic concentrations that includes a stack of shells placed like stacked (resulting from collecting activities of other plates or bowls. Such stacking behaviors (involving creatures). Octopodes likely served as agents of flame scallops [Lima scabra], coconut half-shells, extrinsic biogenic concentration at Kenwood Beach. etc.) have been documented in modern octopodes.

Scale bar is in centimeters. Photo by M. McMenamin. Text and photo submitted by M. McMenamin. ☼

Miocene strata of the Calvert Formation, Plum Point Marl Member, Bed 14, Kenwood Beach, Port Republic, Maryland host a 40-50 cm shell bed that contains Mercenaria spp., Glossus spp. and similar bivalves (65%), Chesapecten spp. (33%), and gastropods (3%; n = 138). Most of the bivalves are disarticulated, and of the disarticulated valves, 58% Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 15 The Ecphora June 2019

Okay, Just One More… habits of the extinct mega-tooth shark, Carcharocles megalodon (Otodontidae) (Purdy, 1996; Renz, 2002; Godfrey and Altman, 2005; Aguilera et al., 2008; Carrillo-Briceño et al., 2016; Collareta et al., 2017; Godfrey et al., 2018). Considered to have been the Neogene marine apex predator (Gottfried et al., 1996; Aguilera et al., 2008; Ehret, 2010; Pimiento and Balk, 2015; Kent, 2018; Perez et al., 2019), increasingly, fossils are being described that show trophic interactions between megalodon and contemporary marine mammals. Here, we describe a fossilized single partial rib (Figs. 1-4) that shows bite marks made by two adjacent megalodon teeth cutting deeply into opposite sides of the bone. The specimen is presently in the private collection of the senior author and will be made available to qualified researchers upon request.

GEOLOGIC AND GEOGRAPHIC SETTINGS

MEGALODON-BITTEN WHALE The rib was found during a night dive at a RIB FROM SOUTH CAROLINA depth of 40 feet in the Morgan River and it was lying out between the sand skips. Although the specimen Jordan S. Mierzwiak1 and Stephen J. Godfrey2 was not found in situ, it is thought to have come out of the Miocene Hawthorn Formation (Larry Martin, 1Scott Mierzwiak [[email protected]] pers. comm., May 30, 2019). It was found by Stephen Boselowitz between 2005 and 2010. 2Stephen J. Godfrey [[email protected]] DESCRIPTION Department of Paleontology, Calvert Marine Museum, PO Box 97, Solomons, Maryland, 20688, The single partial rib (Figure 1) is U.S.A. approximately 22 cm (8.6 inches) long and 5 cm (2 inches) wide. Both sides of the bilaterally compressed INTRODUCTION rib show prominent V-shaped gouges. From the shape and position of the tooth marks, the tips of the Many cetacean bones exhibit shark bite traces megalodon teeth approached the bone from its inner (Deméré and Cerutti, 1982; Bianucci et al., 1990; curved side of the rib. In Figure 3, the megalodon Cigala Fulgosi, 1990; Purdy, 1996; Renz, 2002; tooth first contacted the bone along the side of the cut Uhen, 2004; Godfrey and Altman, 2005; Aguilera et marked by the number 1. The megalodon tooth al., 2008; Ehret et al., 2009; Bianucci et al., 2010; stopped cutting into the rib along the deep line Bianucci and Gingerich, 2011; Kallal et al., 2012; adjacent to the number 2. In Figure 3, the ragged edge Takakuwa, 2014; Carrillo-Briceño et al., 2016; adjacent to the number 2 appears to represent Collareta et al., 2017; Godfrey et al., 2018). Only a breakage to the bone as the tooth pulled away from small number of these can be attributed to the feeding the rib.

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Figure 1 A & B. A cetacean rib showing that both sides of the rib were heavily scored by strikes from two Carcharocles megalodon teeth.

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DISCUSSION marked by large Carcharocles spp. teeth when the vertebrae became wedged between two adjacent It appears that the deep cuts occurred when the teeth. Many other shark-tooth-marked bones are rib became wedged between two adjacent megalodon known but, to our knowledge, this rib and the teeth. It is also noteworthy that the cuts originated aforementioned peduncular vertebrae are the only fromthe inside curvature of the rib and consequently known bones marked from having been wedged from the inside of the rib cage outward. This would between two adjacent megalodon teeth. suggest that the deep gouges were made when the The surface of the rib presents no suggestion abdominal cavity was being dismembered, when the of healing. The whale was dead, or very nearly so at abdominal cavity had already been breached. the time these deep cuts were made into the rib. Godfrey et al. (2018) described three Unfortunately, we do not know if the tooth traces peduncular odontocete vertebrae that had been result from scavenging or active predation.

Figure 2. An enlarged view of Figure 1A showing the scoring marks left as the serrations on the C. megalodon tooth cut into the bone.

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Figure 3. An enlarged view of Figure 1B showing the scoring marks left as the serrations on the C. megalodon tooth cut into the bone. The megalodon tooth first contacted the bone along the side of the cut marked by the number 1. The megalodon tooth stopped cutting into the rib along the deep line adjacent to the number 2.

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Figure 4. A large C. megalodon tooth placed within the depth of the cut bone. The rib may well have been cut into by a megalodon tooth of this size.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Bianucci, G., and Gingerich, P.D. 2011. Aegyptocetus The fossil rib was found by diver Stephen tarfa, n. gen. et sp. (Mammalia, Cetacea), Boselowitz in the Morgan River, SC. The 6 3/8" from the middle Eocene of Egypt: megalodon tooth was found by diver Bill Eberlein off clinorhynchy, olfaction, and hearing in a Savannah, GA. Funding of this note came from the protocetid whale. Journal of Vertebrate citizens of Calvert County and the Calvert County Paleontology 31: 1173–1188. Board of County Commissioners. Bianucci, G., Sorce, B., Storai, T., and Landini, W. 2010. Killing in the Pliocene: shark attack on REFERENCES a dolphin from Italy. Palaeontology 53: 457– Aguilera, O.A, García, L., and Cozzuol, M.A. 2008. 470. Giant-toothed white sharks and cetacean Carrillo-Briceño, J.D., Aguilera, O.A., De Gracia, C., trophic interaction from the Pliocene Aguirre-Fernández, G., Kindlimann, R., and Caribbean Paraguaná Formation. Sánchez- Villagra, M.R. 2016. An early Paläontologische Zeitschrift 82: 204–208. Neogene elasmobranch fauna from the

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southern Caribbean (Western Venezuela). event. International Journal of Palaeontologia Electronica 19: 27A. Osteoarchaeology 22: 253–260. Cigala Fulgosi, F. 1990 Predation (or possible Kent, B.W. 2018. The cartilaginous fishes scavenging) by a great white shark on an (chimaeras, sharks and rays) of Calvert Cliffs, extinct species of bottlenosed dolphin in the Maryland, USA. In: S.J. Godfrey (ed.), Italian Pliocene. Tertiary Research 12: 17–36. Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Collareta, A., Lambert, O., Landini, W., Di Celma, C., Calvert Cliffs. Smithsonian Contributions to Malinverno, E., Varas-Malca, R., Urbina, M., Paleobiology 100. Smithsonian Institution and Bianucci, G. 2017. Did the giant extinct Press: Washington, DC., p. 45–160. shark Carcharocles megalodon target small Perez, V., Godfrey, S.J., Kent, B., Weems, R., and prey? Bite marks on marine mammal remains Nance, J. 2019. The transition between from the late Miocene of Peru. Carcharocles chubutensis and Carcharocles Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, megalodon (Otodontidae, Chondrichthyes); Palaeoecology 469: 84-91. lateral cusplet loss through time. Journal of Deméré, T.A., and Cerutti, R.A. 1982. A Pliocene Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: shark attack on a cethotheriid whale. Journal 10.1080/02724634.2018.1546732 of Paleontology 56: 1480–1482. Pimiento, C. and Balk, M.A. 2015. Body-size trends Ehret, D.J. 2010. Paleobiology and taxonomy of of the extinct giant shark Carcharocles extinct lamnid and otodontid sharks megalodon: a deep-time perspective on (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii, marine apex predators. Paleobiology 41(3): Lamniformes). PhD Thesis. University of 479–490. doi:10.1017/pab.2015.16. Florida, Gainesville. Purdy, R.W. 1996. Paleoecology of fossil white Ehret, D.J., MacFadden, B.J., Jones, D.S., DeVries, sharks. In: A.P. Klimley, and D.G. Ainley T.J., and Salas-Gismondi, R. 2009. Caught in (eds.), Great white sharks: the biology of the act: trophic interactions between a 4- Carcharodon carcharias, 67–78. Academic million-year-old white shark (Carcharodon) Press, San Diego. and mysticete whale from Peru. Palaios 24: Renz, M. 2002. Megalodon, hunting the hunter. 329–333. PaleoPress, Lehigh Acres, FL., 159 pp. Godfrey, S.J., and Altman, J. 2005. A Miocene Takakuwa, Y. 2014. A dense occurrence of teeth of cetacean vertebra showing a partially healed fossil "mako" shark ("Isurus" hastalis: compression fracture, the result of Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes), associated convulsions or failed predation by the Giant with a balaenopterid-whale skeleton of the White Shark, Carcharodon megalodon. Late Miocene Pisco Formation, Peru, South Jeffersoniana 16: 1–12. America. Bulletin of the Gunma Museum of Godfrey, S.J., Ellwood, M., Groff, S., and Verdin, M. Natural History 18: 77–86. S. 2018. Carcharocles-bitten odontocete Uhen, M.D. 2004. Form, function, and anatomy of caudal vertebrae from the Coastal Eastern Dorudon atrox (Mammalia, Cetacea): an United States. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica archaeocete from the Middle to Late Eocene 63(3): 463–468. of Egypt. University of Michigan Papers on Gottfried, M.D., Compagno, L.J.V., and Bowman, Paleontology 34: 1–222. S.C. 1996. Size and skeletal anatomy of the ☼ giant megatooth shark Carcharodon megalodon. In: A.P. Klimley, and D.G. Ainley (eds.), Great white sharks: the biology of Carcharodon carcharias, 55–89. Academic Press, San Diego. Kallal, R.J., Godfrey, S.J., and Ortner, D.J. 2012. Bone reactions on a Pliocene cetacean rib indicate short‐ term survival of predation Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 21 The Ecphora June 2019

Fossil Spider Crab Found

Two views of one infilled burrow showing the rectangular fecal pellets from the crab that inhabited the burrow. This nice specimen was found by Keith Harden along Calvert Cliffs. ☼

Scored Coprolite

CMM Paleo Department summer intern Stephen Groff found and prepared this wonderful Miocene fossil spider crab. Photos submitted by S. Groff show the crab in dorsal and ventral views respectively.

Coprolite-Filled Crab Burrow

This is one of the many fossils that CMMFC Life Member, Sandy Roberts donated to the Calvert Marine Museum. The origin/cause of the two parallel- line score marks at the bottom of the photograph remain unknown. Hand by M. Baughman, photos by S. Godfrey. ☼

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Iron Oxidation in Clay Walrus Tusk

This section of clayey sediment from Calvert Cliffs shows a sharp line separating the upper oxidized clay from the lower un-oxidized sediment. ☼

Nassa Mud Snail in Ferecrete

While visiting the Natural History Society of Maryland facility in Baltimore, Curator Adrien Darrin Lowery found this walrus tusk on Cedar Malick brought this nice fossil and unusual mode of Island, Virginia.. Photos by S. Godfrey. ☼ preservation to my attention. The tiny mud snail in the center of the photograph is preserved in the ironstone. Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 23 The Ecphora June 2019

CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM Mystery Marked Baleen Whale

FOSSIL CLUB EVENTS Partial Lower Jaw

Saturday, September 14th, 2019. Club meeting and Public Lecture at the Calvert Marine Museum. Dr. Lucy Edward will present a public lecture entitled: “Favorite Fossils and the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure.”

Dr. Lucy E Edwards (above) focuses her research on the stratigraphy of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. Her specialty is dinoflagellates (a type of algae), and she studies their fossil cysts for what they reveal about the time and environment of deposition and how they came to be preserved in the fossil record. She also specializes in stratigraphic nomenclature and methods of stratigraphic correlation. (Courtesy USGS).

Raised circular patches, some of which are Saturday, November 16th, 2019. Annual potluck overlapping, mark this section of baleen whale lower Club meeting and Lecture. Luncheon and lecture jaw. Whatever was covering the circular areas will be held in the Harms Gallery at the Calvert (perhaps large barnacles) was seemingly protecting Marine Museum. The public lecture will be given by the bone from being eroded or metabolized by Dr. Buck Ward on Evolution of Ecphora—Oligocene bacteria or other bone-etching organisms. to the Pliocene. ☼ Unfortunately, the bone was found in our Education Department with no collecting or locality data associated with it. Photo by S. Godfrey. ☼ Newsletter website: http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/204/The-Ecphora-Newsletter 24 The Ecphora June 2019

CMMFC P.O. Box 97 Solomons, MD 20688

OR CURRENT RESIDENT

The Ecphora is published four times a year and is the official newsletter of the Calvert Marine 2017 Names Email Museum Fossil Club. The Editor welcomes Elected contributions for possible inclusion in the Officers & newsletter from any source. Submit articles, news Volunteers* reports of interest to club members, field trip President Paul [email protected] reports, and/or noteworthy discoveries. All Murdoch opinions expressed in the newsletter are strictly those Vice- Grenda [email protected] of the authors and do not reflect the views of the club President Dennis or the museum as a whole. Copyright on items or Treasurer Christa [email protected] articles published in The Ecphora is held by Conant originating authors and may only be reproduced with Secretary Lori [email protected] the written permission of the editor or of the author(s) Lindholm of any article contained within. Membership Christa [email protected] Chairperson Conant Editor’s Address: Editor* Stephen [email protected] Stephen Godfrey Ph.D. Godfrey Curator of Paleontology Fall Trip Robert [email protected] Calvert Marine Museum Leader* Ertman P.O. Box 97 Spring Trip Robert [email protected] Solomons, MD 20688 Leader* Ertman [email protected]

Many thanks to Mike Ellwood, and John Nance for proofreading this edition.

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