Fossil Club

Fossil Club Displays at Patuxent River Appreciation Days

Fossil Club Meetings

 
Meetings are scheduled on a quarterly basis on Saturdays and begin promptly at 1 p.m. in the lounge on the top floor of the museum. All meetings are open to the public - you do not have to be a current CMMFC member to attend a meeting. Members are encouraged to come early to see the new on-goings at the museum and to bring and set-up their own recent fossil finds. Various related fossil topics, club issues, etc. are discussed at the meetings, as well as updates from the Paleo Staff of the Calvert Marine Museum on recent finds and new additions to the museum's permanent collection. Whenever possible, these new items will be on display. Beverages and snacks are usually provided and additional "finger food" contributions are always appreciated. Meetings are an hour to an hour and a half in length and are, whenever possible, followed by a free public lecture by a visiting distinguished guest at 2:30 p.m. in the Harms Gallery.

2020 Fossil Club Meeting and Lecture Schedule:

 

Saturday, February 22, 2020
Club meeting at 1 p.m. followed by a public lecture in the Harms Gallery at 2:30 p.m.
THE INCONSPICUOUS LIVES OF ANCIENT INSECTS:
Fossil Evidence of Insect Herbivory on Plants
presented by Sarah Augusta (Gussie) MacCraken
 The evolutionary history of plants and their insect adversaries is a story told by the scars on fossil leaves. Insect damage on a single leaf not only captures one moment in time when an insect fed upon a plant, but it also reflects the millions of years of evolution leading up to that moment. These minute and unassuming fossil traces also tell us a great deal about how terrestrial ecosystems functioned during periods of biotic turnover, climate change, and extinction events. For this talk, I will discuss my research on Late Cretaceous and early Paleocene plant-insect associations, including a newly discovered lyonetiid moth mite, the oldest evidence for plant-mite associations, insect herbivory during the rise and radiation of flowering plants, and a new project examining insect herbivory throughout the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Club meeting at 1 p.m. followed by a public lecture in the Harms Gallery at 2:30 p.m. More information to come.

Saturday, September 12, 2020
Club meeting at 1 p.m. followed by a public lecture in the Harms Gallery at 2:30 p.m. More information to come.

Fossil Club Field Trips

 
For all trips, contact Bob Ertman at robertertman@msn.com or 410-533-4203 as soon as possible, but no later than Thursday before the trip. Remember to include your cell phone number. Please remember to call in for yourself and family members, or for another club member, on the date and time indicated. Current memberships in both the Fossil Club and the Calvert Marine Museum are needed to go on the trips. Information on directions, lodging, meeting times and meeting places will be provided at the call-in.

2020 Field Trip Schedule:


Check back for upcoming trip information

Fossil Club Elected Officers & Volunteers*

 
Paul Murdoch, President: parapaleo@aol.com
Grenda Dennis, Vice President: grenda.dennis@gmail.com
Christa Conant, Treasurer: christa101@comcast.net
Lori Lindholm, Secretary: lindholmla@aol.com
Christa Conant, Membership Chairperson: christa101@comcast.net
Stephen Godfrey, Editor*: Stephen.Godfrey@calvertcountymd.gov
Robert Ertman, Fall Field Trip Leader*: Robertertman@msn.com
Robert Ertman, Spring Field Trip Leader*: Robertertman@msn.com