After a variety of delays, a new paleofauna has been added for the Late Cretaceous of Mississippi; the page covers the Late Santonian - Maastrichtian and was over two years in development. It should provide a good segue for the project currently in development mode -- Early Santonian of New Mexico.

As of July 1, 2010, Curtis Ormond, Sr. officially retired after 34 years with PotashCorp (PCS). For the past 7 years, Curtis has been the PotashCorp liaison with Aurora fossil collectors. As with George Steinbrenner, he was that overshadowing personality / name that reigned over every collecting season. He worked tirelessly each spring and fall for our access to the mine and afterwards maintained close contact to insure each fossil season was a success. Curtis is also a Board member of the Aurora Fossil Museum, a position he'll continue to hold.
Curtis was the one to take the heat when visitors would break the rules and encroach on the draglines or break other mine rules -- an aspect of the job underappreciated by most. Maintaining public access to the mine was no easy task when cost-benefit analysis might default to the 'no' conclusion. It is unknown if we'll ever have that email address with whom we can communicate that appreciates the collectors' desire to access the mine's tailings.
Cutis was not only an advocate of access to the mine, but highly supportive of the annual fossil fair in Aurora and that in South Carolina as well. As an interface between collectors and the corporate world, he could be perceived as a towering figure.
Never one to loaf, Curtis plans to enjoy his retirement with two new businesses. He recently began Ormond's Concessions, selling hot dogs, snow cones and other festival goodies. He is also co-owner, with his wife, Phyllis, of Just for You Accessories, a custom embroidery business. Any free time will likely be spent playing with his new grandaughter.
We'd like to take this opportunity to say, "Thank you, Curtis, for all your help and support and we wish you much success in your new endeavors."

Time to re-label those fossils again. Underwood & Cumbaa (2010) have moved many of the teeth currently included in North America as Hybodus to Meristodonoides nov. gen. This will not be the last change of this year as the implications of Eostriatolamia, and Squalicorax species are likely to be effected by this and other papers.

Well finally, after years of lost sleep and worry, we now have National Fossil Day -- October 13th. Actually, when I read the SVP announcement I quickly checked that it wasn't April 1st. I also have no idea why it carries a trademark. Interestingly, it was scheduled to conflict with the SVP annual meeting (to insure that that group would not be involved?). Guess this means I should visit my mother and take her to dinner.

After a spring season of not fossil collecting at Aurora, the 17th annual Fossil Festival will be a welcome relief. Opening ceremonies begin Friday night, May 28th, at 6pm with the crowning of the Fossil Master. This year's recipient, chosen by the Aurora Fossil Museum, is Sandy Shelton of Salisbury, NC.
Many truckloads of fresh Pungo reject dirt are already being placed around town and at the museum. Fossil clubs will be displaying collections at the Community Center and the big tent in the field. The NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Smithsonian Institution and Virginia Museum of Natural History will offer assistance in identifying rocks, fossils and minerals. From 11am to 4pm, PotashCorp (formerly PCS) will provide free tours of their mine. There'll be a parade, carnival, petting zoo, lots of good food, music and plenty of vendors offering a wide variety of fossils for sale. At 3pm, the museum will begin its annual fossil auction (behind the Learning Center). Finish your day at the street dance beginning at 8pm!
Lectures will be held in the museum video room. This years' speakers and topics are:
10:00am - Stephen Godfrey (Calvert Marine Museum) - "Amazing Fossils from Calvert Cliffs, Maryland"
Noon - Vince Schneider (NC Musuem of Natural Sciences) - "The NC Triassic Revolution, New Discoveries in the NC Redbeds"
1:30pm - John Owen (Coastal Fossil Adventures) - "The Fossils of Coastal Northeast Florida"

Bill Heim tipped me off to a great website he came across - J-elasmo. Dr. Fumio Nakagawa (Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan) includes not only fossil teeth, but a large number (over 50) of Recent tooth-sets. Having prepared and imaged many myself, each is a time-consuming project and this selection is very useful and nicely done. The higher resolution of his images is more useful than the small (teaser) examples often found on elasmo.com.

Between February 13 and May 9th, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is hosting the exhibit, Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived. Haven't seen it myself, but if one is in the Raleigh area, it might be worth a visit.

Pieter De Schutter, a contributing author to the website, has recently co-authored with Guy Van den Eeckhaut a monograph on Lutetian (Middle Eocene) sharks from the Lede Sand Fm. in Belgium. The text (in English) includes a good overview of the site and discussion of alopiids; but otherwise minimal. It does include 22 plates covering 46 taxa with detailed attention to the odontaspidids, particularly Carcharias sp sensu CAPPETTA & NOLF. 2005 and Jaekelotodus . Castle Hayne collectors or others interested in Eocene sharks will find this a useful addition to their reference library. For ordering information click on accompanying image.
Van den Eeckhaut, G. and De Schutter, P. (2009). The Elasmobranch Fauna of the Lede Sand Formation at Oosterzele (Lutetian, Middle Eocene of Belgium). Palaeofocus, 1: 1-57, 2 figures, 2 tables, 22 plates.

An update from Curtis Ormond has revealed that PotashCorp has decided that the mine will be closed to fossil collectors this entire year. It is expected to be possible to allow collecting again in the Spring of 2011.

Six months after the projected launch, Ed Swiatovy and I have finally completed a new fauna page on the Kemp Clay (Maastrichtian, TX). Although far from the East Coast, elements of this fauna should be familiar to North Carolina collectors. This is the first of three parts which will extend the website coverage across the south - Mississippi, Texas and New Mexico.

I was pleasantly surprised today to learn the Paleontological Association awarded elasmo.com the 2009 Golden Trilobite Award for website excellence. The website has always been a collaborate project of numerous amateurs and professionals, all of whom have contributed towards this achievement - thanks, Jim

Curtis has advised there will not be a spring fossil collecting season at PCS. The mine roads continue to be extremely congested with dump truck and other equipment involved in relocating Highway 306 (which raises safety issues). PCS has not cancelled collecting permanently.