Whats Barstow Area Megafauna?

[kolleamm]

does anyone know anything about the BARSTOW AREA MEGAFAUNA ? Im going on a field trip in November with a Paleontological Society and would like to know ahead of time what im going to find.

[Fruitbat]

The Barstow area is best known for its Miocene exposures (the Barstovian North American Stage derives its name from Barstow). Mammal finds are not uncommon and include typical North American Miocene animals such as three-toes horses, camels, saber-toothed cats, etc. There is a well-documented avifauna from the area and I've also read reports of concretions containing arthropods (mostly insects).

Sorry I can't be more specific.

-Joe

[kolleamm]

The Barstow area is best known for its Miocene exposures (the Barstovian North American Stage derives its name from Barstow). Mammal finds are not uncommon and include typical North American Miocene animals such as three-toes horses, camels, saber-toothed cats, etc. There is a well-documented avifauna from the area and I've also read reports of concretions containing arthropods (mostly insects).

Sorry I can't be more specific.

-Joe

Wow just what I was looking for, thank you!

[siteseer]

Years ago, I saw an old collection of that - maybe two soda/beer flats worth. It looks like most of what you find are horse teeth of the "Merychippus" form (horse fossils once known as Merychippus have been referred to different genera) but the collector was also lucky to find a Hypohippus tooth. He had a couple of camel teeth and horse toe bones too.

The Barstovian is the time when cats (like Pseudalurus) and gomphotheres crossed from Asia into North America. As an example, the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed is of late Barstovian age (cat and gomphothere material from there are some of the earliest known on the continent).

The Barstow area is best known for its Miocene exposures (the Barstovian North American Stage derives its name from Barstow). Mammal finds are not uncommon and include typical North American Miocene animals such as three-toes horses, camels, saber-toothed cats, etc. There is a well-documented avifauna from the area and I've also read reports of concretions containing arthropods (mostly insects).

Sorry I can't be more specific.

-Joe

[jpc]

Are you allowed to keep vertebrate fossils on this field trip? I thought it was allBLM landout there. Hope you canfind some insect nodules. They can becool, but you havetodissolve the insects out with acid.

[kolleamm]

Are you allowed to keep vertebrate fossils on this field trip? I thought it was allBLM landout there. Hope you canfind some insect nodules. They can becool, but you havetodissolve the insects out with acid.

good question, yea i gotta ask tomorrow

[Auspex]

...Hope you canfind some insect nodules. They can becool, but you havetodissolve the insects out with acid.

'Round about I was 14 or so, I bought a bag of these little nodules from Malick's Fossils and, with all the patience I could muster, set them soaking with diluted muriatic acid. Many bath changes later, I had a bunch of small 3-D insects! Man, they were fragile, but my fossil buddies were oh so jealous! (Everyone had trilobites, but only I had insects!).