My Discoveries

Alaska

new cycad locality

• In the early 2000s, while checking out an area I'd hiked past
  numerous times, I found a mound loaded full of cycad leaves.
  There were also occasional delicate ferns and other leaf prints,
  as well as small sections of tree stumps. The age is Jurassic,
  and this locality is a new Talkeetna Mountains cycad site.

new giant clams

• In the early 2000s, looking around near another outcrop, I found
  lots of invertebrate fossils including clams, snails, brachiopods,
  ammonites, coral, and fish scales. Of 18 identified pelecypods,
  there was a new species (maybe two) and probably a new genus.
  Some clams are quite large, up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) long.
  The age is Jurassic, location is the Talkeetna Mountains.

new ammonite form

• In the early 2000s, while looking for ammonites along an area
  I've searched many times, I found some heteromorph ammonites
  with a strange flare at the terminus, like the bell of a trumpet.
  At first I thought it was an anomaly, but I've since found 4 more!
  The age is Cretaceous, location is the Talkeetna Mountains.

Texas

new sponge genera

• In March 2006, while looking for bryozoans and digitate sponges
  along Lake Bridgeport, I found some new vase and bowl shaped
  sponges, including several genera previously unknown to science!
  Details in the May 2008 Journal of Paleontology 82(3):492-510.
  The vase sponges are named Dermosphaeroidalis irregularis,
  and the bowl shaped ones are named Luterospongia texana.