Re: paleonet Taxonomy help for Field Museum exhibit

[Frank Holterhoff <frank@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I can throw in two corrections:

Peter J. Wagner wrote:

> Greetings Paleonetters,
> 
> The Field Museum is revamping its life over time exhibit.  When given 
> the specimen labels for Silurian - Devonian invertebrates, I noticed 
> that 4 of the 5 snail species were placed in their original genus rather 
> than their current one.  I caught this for the only bivalve and 
> trilobite that I knew well enough to spot this.
> 
> Given this track record, I think that it is just possible that the other 
> specimens have outdated generic classifications.  Below is a list of the 
> species and whence the specimens came.  Many of these genus names are 
> "classics," which makes me all the more suspicious that the species 
> belong elsewhere.  If you know the current genus assignment (or even 
> that the old label carries the current genus assignment), I would be 
> sincerely grateful if you could let me know!
> 
> Thanks in advance.

> /Fenestella bifurcata/
> Devonian, Waldron, Indiana

Either the system or locality is wrong - I don't think there's anything 
but Silurian anywhere near Waldron.

> Crinoid
> /Eucalyptocrinus crassus/
> Silurian, Chicago area, Illinois

The original genus name is Eucalyptocrinites (Goldfuss, 1829 or so, off 
the top of my head).  Eucalyptocrinus is a later "correction" made by 
some helpful workers who felt that the name had to end in "-crinus" 
since it's a crinoid.

> (And, yes, I realize that Joe and Jane Public do not care about this.  
> Still, it would be nice to present the most up-to-date information.  
> After all, that one person in a thousand who is not there just for the 
> dinosaurs might appreciate it!)
> 
> -- 
> 
> Congratulating the Red Sox for defeating Evil.....
> 
> Peter
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Peter J. Wagner                        mailto:pwagner@fmnh.org
> Assoc. Curator                   http://pjw3.fmnh.org
> Dept. of Geology            ph: 312-665-7634
> Field Museum of Natural History fx: 312-665-7641
> 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.          cell: 773-841-6520
> Chicago, IL 60605-2496                AIM: snailgod3
> 
> "... ......"It's useless but perfect."....
>         (baseball, as described by D. Duchovny)"

-F

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