You will probably see a lot of new entries on my “Recent Additions and Updates” page over the next few days. I have not only been adding type locality information to my database, but I have also been updating generic assignments for species that are not in my personal collection, etc. There’s a lot of work left to do (months, probably…), so I won’t be posting notices every time I make changes to the database, as I normally do after I have added a batch of new photos.
Tag Archives: species checklist
Website Updates — Type Localities Added for Western Atlantic Typhinae
In the interests of slowly getting my fossil Muricidae database up to date, I have gone through Gertman, 1969 (“Cenozoic Typhinae of the Western Atlantic Region”), and updated the type localities and type geology for all of the fossil species discussed in that work. I’ll start working my way through the remaining Tulane volumes, covering other subfamilies in the Western Atlantic, soon!
Beta Version of New Keyword Search is Now Available!
The beta version of my new keyword search of my fossil Muricidae database is now up and running. You can visit the page directly, or get to it from my main Fossil Muricidae page.
The following database fields are automatically included in all keyword searches:
- Subfamily
- Genus
- Subgenus
- Species (including subspecies and variants)
- Author / Date
- Geographic range (result list may not be complete)
- Geologic range (result list may not be complete)
- Type locality and geology
- Figured specimen locality, country, formation, and geology
Please note the following:
- You may enter any word, phrase, or part of a word in the search field.
- Unlike my existing taxonomic and geologic search pages, this page will return species that are not in my personal collection!
- As always, I currently only display photos of species that are in my personal collection!
- Duplicate records will appear for a given species if I have it from more than one country, state, or geologic epoch.
- The comment and literature reference fields in my database are currently not searched or displayed.
Now I just have to get the database completely updated (with all type localities, etc.)….. 🙂
Eventually, I plan to make this wildcard search page more sophisticated, but I hope you will find it helpful for now!
Latest Website Updates — 6/9/2010
I’ve added several new photos to my Fossil Muricidae website. You can view a summary of the latest updates here.
Latest Website Updates – 5/26/2010
I’ve been down with a bad cold, so I haven’t been able to post much. However, I have added a number of new photos to my Fossil Muricidae website. You may view a list of all database updates since May 23rd here.
Latest Website Updates – 5/23/2010
I have added a couple of species (from the genus Cymia) to my Comprehensive Fossil Muricidae Species List, and have also uploaded several new / improved photos of specimens in my collection. You can view a summary of all the updates here.
Javascript Issues with Firefox — Affecting Image Pop-Up Windows
OK, I finally figured out why the pop-up windows that display larger images of the shells in my collection on my Fossil Muricidae website were taking up to a minute or longer to open up when using Firefox. It seems that many people have been having problems with the new version of Firefox not working properly when you are on a website that uses Javascript. My image windows do in fact run on Javascript, as do other parts of my species list website.
After visiting this website that discusses the problem, I followed the suggestion by “Special_kaye” (second page, posted April 30th, 2010), and disabled a number of my Firefox add-ons that did not seem to be critical for surfing the Web. I then restarted Firefox, opened up my species list page, and all the pop-up windows are running properly again.
So if you happen to run into the same problem when browsing through photos on my taxonomic or geologic listing pages, or on any other websites you use regularly that run Javascript, you might want to give this a try!
New Photos Posted – 5/15/2010
The following photos have been added to my Fossil Muricidae website (the pop-up window script that runs when you click to view a photo on my collection list seems to be running extremely slow tonight; must be a problem with the Earthlink server):
- Ergalataxinae: Morula (Habromorula) spinosa (Subfossil, Philippines)
- Ocenebrinae: Jaton festiva (Pleistocene, USA – California)
- Rapaninae: Drupella rugosa (Subfossil, Philippines)
New Photos Posted – 5/6/2010
The following photos have been added to my Fossil Muricidae website:
- Muricinae: Chicoreus (Triplex) insularum (Subfossil of USA – Hawaii)
- Muricopsinae: Favartia (s.s.) incisa excisa (Miocene of France), Muricopsis (s.s.) oxytata (Plio-Pleistocene of USA – Florida), Muricopsis (s.s.) quisqueyensis (Pliocene of Dominican Republic)
- Ocenebrinae: Jsowerbya depauperata (Eocene of France)
- Rapaninae: Thais sp. “A” (Miocene of Bulgaria), Thais sp. “B” (Miocene of Bulgaria), Thais sp. “C” (Miocene of Bulgaria)
- Trophoninae: Trophon kernensis (Miocene of USA – California), Trophonopsis? peregra (Oligocene of France)
New Photos Posted – 4/23/2010
It’s been two full years, but I’ve finally started posting some new photos on my Fossil Muricidae website. Here is a list of the latest additions:
- Coralliophilinae: Coralliophila (Hirtomurex) sp. (Australia)
- Ergalataxinae: Ergalatax contracta (Japan)
- Muricinae: Chicoreus (Triplex) setionoi (Indonesia), Chicoreus (s.s.) sp. (Poland), Hexaplex (s.s.) gavardensis (France), Poirieria (s.s.) zelandica (New Zealand), Poirieria (Flexopteron) sp. (Bulgaria), Poirieria (s.s.) subcoronata (England), Pterynotus (s.s.) crenulatus tricarinatus (England), Pterynotus (s.s.) perlongus (France), Pterynotus (s.s.) tripteroides (England), Pterynotus (s.s.) sp. (Italy)
- Muricopsinae: Homalocantha sp. (Bulgaria), Murexsul amphilogos (Costa Rica), Muricopsis (?) defossus (England), Muricopsis (s.s.) sp. (Bulgaria)
- Ocenebrinae: Eupleura kissimmiensis (USA – Florida), Jaton sp. (Austria), Nucella (s.s.) lamellosa sensu lato (Japan), Nucella (s.s.) lapillus (England), Nucella (s.s.) lapillus imbricata (England), Nucella (s.s.) lapillus oakleyensis (England), Ocenebra erinacea (England), Ocinebrina (s.s.) dertonensis (Bulgaria), Trossulasalpinx subsidus (USA – Florida), Urosalpinx perrugatus (USA – Florida), Urosalpinx rushi (Uruguay), Vokesinotus lepidotus (USA – Florida), Vokesinotus tribaka (USA – Florida)
- Rapaninae: Ecphora (s.s.) gardnerae (USA – Maryland), Ecphora (s.s.) sp. (USA – Virginia), Ecphora (Latecphora) bradleyae (South Carolina), Trisecphora (s.s.) eccentrica (USA – Maryland)
- Trophoninae: Boreotrophon (Pagodula) echinatus (Italy), Boreotrophon clathratus (England), Boreotrophon truncatus (England), Trophonopsis (s.s.) muricatus (England)
- Typhinae: Lyrotyphis (s.s.) schlotheimi (England), Siphonochelus (Laevityphis) muticus (England)
Fossil Website Updates – 4/4/2010
I have finally gotten back to updating the Access database that serves as the foundation for my Comprehensive Worldwide Fossil Muricidae Species Checklist, as well as the interactive Taxonomic and Geologic / Geographic listings of the species in my own personal collection.
These are the first updates that I have done in a full TWO YEARS!! I apologize for the delays, but I don’t have much time to play with my fossil collection these days (and I also lost my digital camera, so I haven’t been able to take any new / improved photos).
My new-found motivation for getting the lists back up-to-date has primarily been due to visiting the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. a couple of times in the past month. David and I got reader registration cards, and spent a Saturday in the Science / Business Reading Room, and then another Saturday in the Main Reading Room (yes, the one in the “National Treasure” movies), requesting, reading, and photocopying books. As a consequence, I now have access to literature on fossil muricids from countries / continents of the world that I lacked before. The only problem is finding enough time to travel to D.C. and review it all!
Speaking of the Library of Congress, it is an incredibly cool place, and it is amazing that you can get a library card simply by filling out a very simple web-based form on-site. If you have a card and know that you are going to be visiting D.C. on a particular day, you can request the books that you want online the day before, and they will hold them until you arrive. (This is by far the recommended approach to requesting books, because if you request them after you arrive at the library, you may end up waiting an hour or two for them to be delivered to you!) The coolest thing I requested on our last visit was Lamarck’s multi-volume botanical encyclopedia, which was written beginning in the late 1700s. The illustrations are phenomenal, and the 18th-century paper is incredibly interesting to touch and examine. Perhaps the most annoying thing about visiting the Library of Congress is that they very carefully control what you can bring with you into the Main Reading Room — laptops are OK, but the carrying case is not. Everything you bring into the room must fit in a clear plastic bag that they give you in the cloakroom. There is also not any food in that building, so if you plan to spend a day there, plan on eating heavily before going in or else taking a break partway through the day to go out on the street and look for food.
BTW, I have found the following websites to be very helpful in tracking the occurrence of fossil muricids around the world, as well as for determining updated generic assignments:
- Paleobiology Database
- World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- Biological Library (BioLib)
- Gastropods.com
- Digital Murex
Another benefit of living in the electronic age is that so many paleontological publications are now available for free online, through sites such as Google Books, the US Geological Survey Publications Warehouse, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
With any luck, I will be able to get all of my IS-related research out of the way quickly, and spend a few weeks this summer working on both continued maintenance of the species list and photographs!
The Fossil Murex Blog 