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A Cretan Fossils Collection


astron

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Last for today and completing the salix sp. leaves to date is the third set of six.

Thanks for viewing.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Hello all.

After the salix sp two more teams of trees dominating the middle Crete island in the late miocene epoch were ziziphus sp., (pics 1,2) and daphnogene polymorpha ., (pics 3,4,5) as the leaves imprints witness.

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Last for today is a set of five daphnogene polymorpha leaves.

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Aston, Your colection is incredible!!!!! :fistbump:

Hi, Ameenah and all.

Thank you, Ameenah, for the nice comment ;):)

Delayed as I was trying to chip an end with some ids through my papers available. Some times succesfully, others not...

Any way, going on...

After salix sp. and ziziphus sp., dominating middle Ctete during the late mioce were the species of the genus quercus sp., as well.

Here are the first five recent examples of their leaf imptnts.

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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The next set of five quercus sp. leaves.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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And the last six quercus sp. leaves.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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As always, excellent preparation. What type of oak are these most similar to? The leaf shape doesn't look like the typical oaks that we see here (quercus alba and quercus rubra)

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Astrinos,

Your skills at preparation bring out the best in these wonderful specimens; they are beautiful!

The shape of the quercus seems similar to the "Live Oak".

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Astron... Magnifico !

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Nice. It looks like some of the leaves were lunch for insects. :)

Context is critical.

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Gus, Chas, Steve, Missourian,

Thanks a lot, my friends, for the nice comments! I am always trying my best in order tsese specimens to display as nature has preserved them.

What type of oak are these most similar to? The leaf shape doesn't look like the typical oaks that we see here (quercus alba and quercus rubra)

Nice question, Gus. I am copying from the available PDFs the Cretan quercus species refered:

Q. rhenana, Q. mediterranea, Q. kubinyi, Q. ilex, Q. roburoides, Q.coccifera, Q. drymeja. In addition, there are some more cases where just the genus (quercus sp.) is refered.

It looks like some of the leaves were lunch for insects. :)

Really and not only, as it happens with the next 3 samples and with some more in my upcoming posts. I don't know what is that on the first two daphnogene polymorpha leaves, while in the quercus sp. leaf case(third pic), as it seems the insect after (or before) the lunch, has placed it's eggs on it (insect gals ?) :)

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Hello all.

Dicotylophyllum, laurus sp. and myrica sp. were also common in the late miocene Cretan flora.

Attached pics of six dicotylophyllum leaves.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Three laurus sp. leaves.

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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And the pics of 6 myrica sp. leaves.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Very nice as always, Astrinos, you're finding a lot of leaves these days! The matrix looks like a dream to work with.

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Very nice as always, Astrinos, you're finding a lot of leaves these days! The matrix looks like a dream to work with.

Thanks a lot, Eric for the nice comment!!! Yes, enough leaves and try to pick the best up.

It's truth that the matrix is helpful with my unusual preparation, that is obligatory to me becouse it smooths enough my serious space problem and on the other hand it makes the items to display better. The limestone matrix ranges from very soft to hard, with more difficult the very soft and mostly the hard slabs. There are and disadvantages, though. As it is the much time required (more than two hours in some cases) and the serious danger of damage during the prep, as well. I have to do all this process keeping the fossils completely safe. And even a single finger touch on the fossil area might be ... fatal, as it has happened sometimes.:)

Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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I know what you mean, but in any case your stuff looks a lot easier to work with than my local crumbly black shale. It never stops crumbling, especially when it's exposed to water, so I have to infuse it with glue, and I can't trim it with anything that needs water so I must find the right tool that can cut without water. Space does become an issue when you can't trim everything down! And the only thing that will successfully prep them is the air abrasive machine which I still don't have yet. I wish it could just split cleanly like yours!

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Hi Eric and all.

Understandable, Eric! I am really lucky I don't have that matrix here!!!

Time to continue my presentation of the recent plant finds...

Even though the cupressaceae family plants were common in the late miocene Crete, my finds the in last period of time were just the following.

Pic 1. Two different foliages. The bigger one (down)is a tetraclinis salicornioides.

Pic 2. A branch

Pic 3. A cone and

Pic 4. A foliage head

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Four individual leaves here.

Pic 1. ''Parrotia'' pristina.

Pic 2. Pinus sp. leaf (2 needles type).

Pic 3. Laurus sp. and

Pic 4. fagus sp.

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Three interesting items here.

The first two are cycad partial leaves belonging to the family of zamiaceae. They are of the very few I have found in my hunting area that are the only samples of this family found in Europe from the Miocene epoch (20 to 5,3 mya)!!!

The first one has been donated to the Natural History Museum of Crete.

I am impressed with the size of the leaf in the third pic, wich is by far the biggest I have found to date. The preserved part of the leaf is 35 cm long and, as it seems, something is missing from the base and from the top, as well (at about 5 cm ?). Though, I don't know what the plant it could come from...

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Edited by astron

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Astron... The branch & 2 different foliages are spectacular... I enjoy finding the delecate specimens myself and I certainly wish I could find that material here... I'd like to find and clean it and then display it in the same way you do... Fabulous... keep up the good work....

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Astron... The branch & 2 different foliages are spectacular... I enjoy finding the delecate specimens myself and I certainly wish I could find that material here... I'd like to find and clean it and then display it in the same way you do... Fabulous... keep up the good work....

Thank you so much, Steve!!! Your comments honor me, more over since they come from a TFF member who is of those I have admired right after my first steps here... :)

Astrinos P. Damianakis

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Hello all.

Time for the new plantation plates.

At first two very big ones.

The first slab (2 pics) bears several leaves and seeds (front and back) and the second a shrub (part and counterpart).

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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A set of 3 plantation plates with leaves and seeds.

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Astrinos P. Damianakis

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