Fossils

There are 55 entries matching this topic. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

Acanthodian Fossils: Acanthodians were among the earliest fishes with jaws and are found in Silurian through Permian rocks. Their fragmentary remains are found in Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian rocks in Ohio. . . .
Agnathan Fossils: The earliest known fish-like animals appeared in the Cambrian Period. By the Ordovician Period, a diverse fauna of jawless, bottom-feeding, armored fishes were present in nearshore marine environments. These fishes belonged to a group known as Agnatha (jawless). . . .
Algae Plant Fossils: Remains of aquatic, marine algae are found in Ohio’s Paleozoic rocks but often these fossils are difficult to recognize and identify. . . .
Amphibian Fossils: Amphibians, familiar to most people as frogs, toads, and salamanders, first appeared at the end of the Devonian Period. None have been found in Devonian or Mississippian rocks in Ohio, primarily because these rocks are marine. . . .
Angiosperm Plant Fossils: Angiosperms are flowering plants that have protected seeds and are the dominant and familiar plants of today. . . .
Arthropod Fossils: Arthopods (Phylum Arthropoda) are perhaps the most successful group of multicellular animals and include insects, spiders and scorpions, centipedes and millipedes, lobsters, crabs, crayfish, ostracodes and barnacles, and trilobites. . . .
Bird Fossils: Birds first appeared during the Mesozoic and are derived from dinosaurs. However, as Ohio does not have rocks from the Mesozoic, nor from the Paleogene and Neogene Periods of the Cenozoic Era, fossils of birds are known in the state from sediments deposited during the latter part of the Pleistocene Ice Age. . . .
Bison Fossils: One specimen of the giant-horned bison, Bison latifrons, is known from southwestern Ohio. The horns of this specimen measure about six feet from tip to tip. Specimens of modern bison, Bison bison, have been reported from presumed Pleistocene deposits. . . .
Blastoid Fossils: Blastoids were echinoderms with a hickory-nut sized and shaped body attached to a long stalk, similar to that of a crinoid. . . .
Bony Fish Fossils: Bony fishes (Osteichthyes) include most of the fishes living today and are divided into the ray-finned fishes, lobe-finned fishes, and lungfishes. Remains of all three groups are represented by fossils in Ohio Paleozoic rocks. . . .
Brachiopod Fossils: Brachiopods (Phylum Brachiopoda) are bottom-dwelling marine organisms with two shells, or valves, made of calcium carbonate. But, unlike clams, the shells differ in shape, and sometimes size. . . .
Bryozoan Fossils: Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa) are colonial, filter-feeding animals that are mostly marine but a few live in freshwater. . . .
Carnivore Fossils: Fossil remains of large carnivores are generally less common than remains of herbivores because of lesser abundance of the predators. . . .
Cephalopod Fossils: Cephalopods (Class Cephalopoda) are probably familiar to most people as the octopus and the squid. However, in the fossil record, shelled cephalopods known as nautiloids and ammonoids were the dominant forms. . . .
Clam Fossils: Clams, sometimes called pelycopods (Class Pelecypoda) are filter-feeding animals with two identical shell halves. . . .
Conifer Plant Fossils: Conifers are gynosperms that bear seeds in cones (“pine cones”) and have leaves that are short and needle-like. . . .
Conodont Fossils: Conodonts (Phylum Conodonta) were worm-like marine animals that are best known from their microscopic, phosphatic tooth-like jaw elements that occur in considerable abundance in many marine rocks. . . .
Conularid Fossils: Conularids (Phylum Conulariida) are conical-shaped, extinct marine invertebrates that have been placed, after much debate, in their own phylum. . . .
Coral Fossils: Corals (Phylum Cnidaria, formerly called Coelenterata) are solitary or colonial, filter-feeding and predatory animals that build a skeleton of calcium carbonate. . . .
Cordaites Plant Fossils: These seed plants (gymnosperms) appeared in the Late Mississippian and persisted into the Triassic, when they became extinct. . . .
Deer and Elk Fossils: Specimens of deer (Odocoileus virginianus), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), and elk (Cervus elaphus). Have been found in deposits that are late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Two fairly complete elk skeletons from Ohio have been radiocarbon dated to about 9,000 years old, suggesting that elk, which survived in Ohio until historic times, may have been an early migrant into the state after extinction of the megafauna. . . .
Dinosaur Fossils: Without question, the best-known and most popular fossil organisms are the dinosaurs. Many people wonder if dinosaurs have been found in Ohio or lived in Ohio. During the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs and other reptiles were the dominant forms of life, Ohio was above sea level as an upland land mass. . . .
Echinoderm Fossils: Echinoderms are a diverse group of marine organisms with radial symmetry that first appeared in the Cambrian Period. . . .
Edrioasteroid Fossils: Among several groups of rare echinoderms known from Ohio are edrioasteroids, which are small, circular animals with starfish-like arms on the dorsal surface. . . .
Fossil Collecting in Ohio: Fossils are abundant in some beds of all Paleozoic rocks in Ohio and collecting, identifying, and preparing specimens has long been a gratifying and educational hobby for many Ohioans of all ages. . . .
Giant Beaver Fossils: The giant beaver, Castoroides ohioensis, is comparatively well known from Ohio’s Pleistocene sediments, with 15 specimens recorded. This black-bear sized rodent looked similar to modern beaver, Castor canadensis, but was much larger. . . .
Graptolite Fossils: Graptolites (Phylum Hemichordata, Class Graptolithina) were colonial marine organisms that are most common in rocks that represent deposition in deep water. . . .
Ground Sloth Fossils: A large and bizarre animal that inhabited Ohio during the Pleistocene and became extinct at the end was the ground sloth. These ox-sized animals migrated northward from South America during the Ice Age and are occasionally found in bog deposits in Ohio. . . .
Horse and Tapir Fossils: Remains of horses, mostly isolated teeth and jaws, that lived in Ohio during the Pleistocene have been found occasionally. Remains of a tapir, another southern migrant, have also been found. . . .
Horsetail Plant Fossils: Horsetails are tall, comparatively thin spore-producing plants that are characterized by a stem that is divided into segments by periodic constrictions from which whorls of leaves emerged. . . .
Insect Fossils: Fossil insect remains are known from Pennsylvanian rocks in eastern Ohio. Although they are rare fossils, some of them are spectacular because of their large size and preservation. . . .
Invertebrate Fossils: Arthopods (Phylum Arthropoda) are perhaps the most successful group of multicellular animals and include insects, spiders and scorpions, centipedes and millipedes, lobsters, crabs, crayfish, ostracodes and barnacles, and trilobites. . . .
Lycopod Plant Fossils: By the Devonian Period, vascular plants had colonized the land and large, tree-like forms appeared along with smaller plants. . . .
Mammal Fossils: Mammals first appeared during the Triassic Period and lived with dinosaurs during the Mesozoc Era. At the beginning of the Cenozoic Era, after extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago, mammals flourished and diversified. However, similar to the Mesozoic Era, Ohio was an upland land mass and erosion removed large quantities of rock. . . .
Mastodon and Mammoth Fossils: Without question the most significant and well-known extinct Ice Age animal found in Ohio was the American mastodon, Mammut americanum. Although most specimens consist of isolated teeth or tusks, a number of nearly complete specimens have been found. . . .
Millipede Fossils: Millipedes are segmented, terrestrial arthropods with a long, cylindrical body. Each body segment has two pairs of legs, thus leading to the name “thousand-leggers” for modern species. . . .
Mollusk Fossils: Mollusks exist in a lot of sizes and shapes. Living forms today range from 60-foot Giant Squids and 500 pound clams to tiny species that are almost microscopic. Most mollusks have complete digestive, circulatory, respiratory, excretory, nervous, muscular and reproductive systems. Many have shells. . . .
Musk Ox Fossils: Two species of musk ox lived in Ohio during the Ice Age, although fossils of either species are uncommon. Bootherium bombifrons is an extinct species. Ovibos moschatus still survives in northern climates. . . .
Peccary Fossils: Bones of an extinct, pig-like peccary species, Platyogonus compressus, have been reported from several sites in Ohio, including nearly complete specimens. Excavations at Indian Trail Caverns in Wyandot County, produced remains of at least 39 individual peccaries. . . .
Phyllocarid Fossils: Phyllocarids are crustaceans with a two-part shell and a tail. Some reached two or more inches in length and they are found in marine rocks in Ohio ranging from Devonian through Pennsylvanian age. . . .
Placoderm Fossils: Placoderms were armored fishes and among the early jawed fishes. They were a diverse group and some reached very large sizes, perhaps nearly 20 feet in length. They first appeared in the Silurian and were extinct by the end of the Devonian. Remains of placoderms are well known from some Devonian rocks in Ohio. . . .
Plant Fossils: Plants in the form of algae and phytoplankton appeared early in the Precambrian. Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) were the dominant life form for much of the Precambrian and built sediment-trapping moundlike structures, some quite large, known as stromatolites. . . .
Reptile Fossils: Reptile remains in Ohio’s Upper Paleozoic rocks are very rare and generally poorly preserved. The Linton locality (see Amphibians), despite more than a century and a half of collecting, has produced only three species of reptiles represented by a total of 10 specimens. A few fragmentary remains have been reported from Upper Pennsylvanian rocks in eastern Ohio. . . .
Rostrochonch Fossils: Rostrochonchs are a class of mollusks that until fairly recently were classified as clams, which they resemble. . . .
Seed Fern Plant Fossils: Seed ferns were a now extinct group of plants (gymnosperms) that reproduced by seeds. . . .
Shark Fossils: Sharks are fishes with cartilaginous skeletons and are only rarely are they completely preserved. Most often, their teeth, fin spines, and microscopic scales are found. Shark remains are present in Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian marine rocks, and remains of freshwater sharks are found in Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks. . . .
Snail Fossils: Snails (Class Gastropoda), or gastropods, are familiar to most everyone who has collected shells along a seashore or observed a terrestrial snail in the garden. . . .
Sponge Fossils: Sponges (Phylum Porifera) are simple, filter-feeding animals that range from Precambrian to Recent. They are mostly marine but some forms live in freshwater. . . .
Stag-moose Fossils: Cervalces scotti, sometimes called the stag-moose or elk-moose, is known from several specimens from Ohio. A nearly complete specimen was collected in Stark County and is on display at the Ohio Historical Society. These animals were similar in size and characteristics to the modern moose but their antlers differed. . . .
Starfish Fossils: Starfish (asteroids) and brittle stars (ophiuroids) are known from Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian rocks of Ohio. . . .
Tentaculitoid Fossils: Tentaculitoids are a poorly known group of invertebrates that had a calcium carbonate, conical shell, that is has horizontal ribs. . . .
Trace Fossils: Trace fossils (ichnofossils) consist of burrows, trails, track borings, and footprints found in marine and nonmarine rocks. . . .
Trilobite Fossils: Trilobites were an exclusively marine group of arthropods that appeared in the Cambrian Period and persisted throughout the Paleozoic, eventually becoming eztinct in the Permian Period. Most were small, bottom-dwelling organisms that fed on organic matter in sediment on the sea bottom. . . .
True Fern Plant Fossils: True ferns first appeared in the Devonian but looked very different from the familiar ferns of today. . . .
Vertebrate Fossils: Fossil vertebrates (Phylum Chordata) are relatively rare fossils, although diligent searching can turn up highly prized specimens. Many fossil vertebrate remains are so rare, and scientifically important, that it is recommended that collectors contact the nearest university geology department, museum, or the Ohio Historical Society. . . .