How to get a Florida fossil collection in an hour and 44 minutes!

The first thing to do is seek out shells in inland Florida. Fossil shells are quarried and used as mulch in parking lots, and components in the construction of roads. Make sure to carry plastic bags!

Here is an extinct Mitre (Pleioptygma lineolata). Some shells (like this one) can be used under a UV light to reveal areas of their original pigmentation!

Here is a banded tulip (Cinctura lilium). They are another good species to use under UV, and if you look carefully you can see the bands without one! They are predators who like eating anything smaller than themselves.

A very important detail to remember is to take at least one of everything, not just the pretty ones. Doing so will leave you missing out on extinct and index taxa.

Here is a moon snail (Naticarius plicatella). They went extinct sometime in the Pleistocene, though exactly when is unknown. Moon snails use an organ called the radula to rasp (lick) their way through the shells of their prey. When you see a shell with a hole in it, they are a likely suspect.

Here is a Hystrivasum horridum, it is another extinct predator. However, it is entirely confined to three formations in Florida.

Here is an apple murex (Phyllonotus pomum). They are rather common here.

Here is a member of the genus Strombus, I am unconfident in making an identification, though they are extremely common

Here is a Sinistrofulgar, as with the Strombus, I am unconfident with making an identification. I do, however know that they are predators, which use the lip of their shells to pry open bivalves.

Here is a lettered olive (Americoliva sayana). They are extremely abundant predators burrowing predators. They are good shells for UV, and some specimens I have found preserve original pigments perfectly.

Here is a cone hiding amongst some Chiones. Cones are known venomous predators, and some attacks have been deadly to humans. Although they are snails, they are very much capable of eating fish.

Here is a Murex, likely Chicoreus floridanus. It is extinct and cannot be found outside of Florida.

Here is a small piece of coral that was encrusting a shell. I always take coral fragments

Here is a complete extinct bivalve (Chione erosa). Complete bivalves are considerably rarer than the single halves often found. They will not always hold, and don’t feel bad if they come apart on the way home.

Here is the completed collection, 1 hour and 44 minutes of hunting. Excess dirt can be removed with a wet toothbrush and sorted for microfossils. The collection has been sorted and given away for someone else to enjoy. I hope that this will make these fossils more accessible to everyone!