Devil's Toenails (was RE: SVP Preview)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> longrich@alumni.princeton.edu
>
> I picked up some
> "devil's toenails" (Mancos Shale oysters of genus... hell, I'm a vert
> guy, I'm happy just to know its a mollusk)

Pycnodonte newberyii, one of the gryphaeids (or "coiled oysters").

Incidentally, check out the following concerning preservation of color
banding in these guys:
http://pbisotopes.ess.sunysb.edu/lig/Conferences/abstracts-01/bennington/ben
nigton_abstr.html


                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796