These are a Few of our Favorite Things

Welcome back to The Intern Report. This week, everyone is in good spirits and we are blazing through our targets. We are seeing the wide range of specimen in this fascinating collection, and we are appreciating the significance our work will have for future paleontological studies. The illustrious Dr. Royal Mapes has compiled a truly extensive collection, in which we have come across Triassic Treasures, Desmoinesian Delights, and Missourian Marvels, and although my alliteration abilities end here the Mapes Collection does not. Working on this collection has exposed us to fossils from a range of stages, and throughout the weeks we have adopted favorites in the collection, fossils that we like to believe would induce a pang of jealousy in any invertebrate paleontologist. 

I have compiled a list of specimen that exemplify the beauty of this collection. Readers, I give you this week’s Fantastic Fossils.

 A heteromorph ammonoid from the Cretaceous, collected in Japan

An ammonoid from the Virgilian stage, collected in Texas

A very pretty Permian ammonoid

Scaphites sp. from the Pierre Shale, South Dakota

Gaudryceras sp. from the Cretaceous, collected in Hokkaido

If you haven’t already, be sure to read last week’s post for details on the collection’s lagerstätte from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry, Oklahoma.

This week’s Wednesday adventure took us from the extinct to the extant, as we got the chance to visit the Invertebrate Zoology Department. The Department has a range of species, including butterflies, termites, spiders, and mollusks. We were given an up-close view of a giant squid, saw spectacular wasp nests, and were shown an array of pinned specimen.

The storage container for the giant squid (Architeuthis kirkii) is bigger than my apartment (featuring Ashley for scale)

Actually, the giant squid is bigger than my apartment

  *sings* We are Family (Belostomatidae)

Back in Mapes HQ we are continuing on our quest of cataloging and rehousing the specimen. Each day we are becoming more efficient and proficient, getting closer to our goal of cataloguing ‘em all. I will end this week’s post with a photograph of Spencer and the giant squid recreating a scene from ET.