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Category: News


Generous donation to the paleontology collection

On Friday, October 8th, a fossil turtle, a fish, and various crustaceans were donated to the Alabama Museum of Natural History collection by UA Museums’ Research Associate Mr. George Martin. George found all specimens himself in Alabama and prepared them by removing the surrounding rock and stabilizing the fossils using a specialized resin as needed. The 40 cm (16”) long turtle specimen in particular took George countless hours to prepare and is now ready to be studied in more detail. […]

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IMLS Grant Awarded to Paleontology Collection

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a $39,944 grant to the paleontology collections of the Alabama Museum of Natural History. The goal of this project is the rehousing, digitizing, and imaging of the cataloged part of the historic invertebrate paleontology and type collections over the next two years starting in September.

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Inferring octopodoid and gastropod behavior from their Plio-Pleistocene cowrie prey (Gastropoda: Cypraeidae)

Predation is an evolutionary force shaping sea floor communities, with the record of drilling predation being particularly useful to study predatory behavior on short and long timescales. Most predatory drill holes are caused by gastropods, but octopods within Octopodoidea also produce characteristic drill holes, yet remain severely understudied in deep time.

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Octopodoidea as predators near the end of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution

Octopodoidea are a highly versatile and diverse group of marine predators comprising > 200 species today, but their diversity and ecology in deep time are virtually unknown. Because these soft-bodied cephalopods have a low preservation potential, only a single body fossil species has been documented.

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