Fossil Huntress — Palaeo Sommelier5 Joulu 2020

The Fossil Record: McAbee Fossil Beds

The McAbee Fossil Beds are known for their incredible abundance, diversity and quality of fossils including lovely plant, insect and fish species that lived in an old lake bed setting 52-53 million years ago.

The fossils are preserved here as impressions and carbonaceous films. We see gymnosperm (16 species); a variety of conifers (14 species to my knowledge); two species of ginkgo, a large variety of angiosperm (67 species); a variety of insects and fish remains, the rare feather and a boatload of mashed deciduous material. Nuts and cupules are also found from the dicotyledonous Fagus and Ulmus and members of the Betulaceae, including Betula and Alnus.

We see many species that look very similar to those growing in the Pacific Northwest today. Specifically, cypress, dawn redwood, fir, spruce, pine, larch, hemlock, alder, birch, dogwood, beech, sassafras, cottonwood, maple, elm and grape. If we look at the pollen data, we see over a hundred highly probable species from the site. Though rare, McAbee has also produced spiders, birds (and lovely individual feathers) along with multiple specimens of the freshwater crayfish, Aenigmastacus crandalli.

For insects, we see dragonflies, damselflies, cockroaches, termites, earwigs, aphids, leafhoppers, spittlebugs, lacewings, a variety of beetles, gnats, ants, hornets, stick insects, water striders, weevils, wasps and March flies. The insects are particularly well-preserved. Missing are the tropical Sabal (palm), seen at Princeton and the impressive Ensete (banana) and Zamiaceae (cycad) found at Eocene sites in Republic and Chuckanut, Washington.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(121)

What Killed the Dinosaurs?

Today on the show, we travel back in time to the Late Cretaceous, some 66 million years ago, when death fell from the sky.

9 Huhti 7min

Ammonoids & Conodonts: Triassic Exposures of Nevada

Step into the sunbaked folds of West Union Canyon, just beyond Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in Nevada, and you are quite literally walking along one of North America’s most important geological fault...

9 Huhti 7min

Descendants of the Cambrian: Sea Anemones

At first glance, anemones look like soft blossoms anchored to rock, their tentacles swaying with the tide. But look a little closer and you’ll see a skilled predator at work. Each of those delicate ar...

8 Huhti 3min

Hawai'i: Islands Born of Fire

Long, long ago—millions of years before you or me, before the canoes of the Polynesian voyagers, before the first birds ever touched these shores—there was only ocean. A vast blue desert stretching fa...

27 Syys 20256min

Dinosaurs, Ammonites, Trilobites: What is Paleontology

Join in the exploration of the fascinating science of paleontology — that lens that examines ancient animals, plants & ecosystems from wee single-celled organisms to big & mighty dinosaurs.

22 Huhti 20256min

Stone, Bone & Water: Cretaceous Capilano Fossil Field Trip

Cretaceous Capilano Fossil Field Trip — From downtown Vancouver, drive north through Stanley Park and over the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Take the North Vancouver exit toward the ferries. Turn right onto Tay...

12 Huhti 20257min

Woolly Mammoths: Trumpeting Through the Tundra

Woolly Mammoths – Picture a towering, shaggy titan lumbering across a frozen expanse, as winds howl through its dense, draping fur. This is the Woolly Mammoth—an Ice Age icon that could stand up to 11...

7 Huhti 202511min

Theropods of a Feather: Living Dinosaurs, the Birds

Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast. Today on the show we’re talking about living dinosaurs—our avian friends, the birds. From the tiniest hummingbird to the towering ostrich, these feathered creat...

1 Huhti 20258min