It’s Official…I Am An Addict…

As an American who has never self-collected in Europe (except for finding a fossil cerith along the streets of Paris back in 2001), do I really need 61 different specimens of Pterynotus (s.s.) crenulatus and all its different variants??!!  The sad thing is, I know I have even more specimens than this laying around my house that I just haven’t uncovered yet…

 

Looking for Shells That Aren’t Really There: Pterynotus rogersi

Looking for fossil muricids in shell form is one thing; looking for fossil muricids where they don’t really exist is quite another. In the Eocene Ocala Lmestone at the Haile Quarry near Newberry, Florida, very few true shells can be found. Instead, one hunts for “voids” — holes in the rock where the shell used to be. Or external molds, if you prefer.

 

Monster Shells, Part 1 – Pterynotus hoerlei and Pterynotus lamarcki

Sometimes it’s hard to believe your eyes, as today’s post indicates. The reef-dwelling Pterynotus (s.s.) hoerlei E. H. Vokes, 1970 is my favorite muricid from the Chipola Formation (early Miocene) of north Florida. It is also extremely rare, and adults in good condition are especially so. Based on the size of the adult holotype figured by Emily Vokes in 1970, and fragmentary specimens discovered since that time, one might assume that the species didn’t grow much larger than 60-65 mm. In fact, my adult specimen, figured after the jump (2nd from left; 57 mm), is roughly equivalent to the holotype in size.