Published September 30, 2014
Professors from the University of Louisiana at Monroe recently published an article
titled, “Late Paleocene Examples of Residual Coloration and Embryonic Features in
Juvenile Marine Mollusks from Northwest Louisiana,” in the online journal, Palaeontologia
Electronica.
Dr. John Anderson, associate professor of physics; Mr. Dennis Bell, instructor of
biology; and Dr. Lloyd Glawe, retired professor of geology, collaborated on the project.
The research is the result of collections from oil well core samples first studied
years ago when Glawe was a Ph.D. geology student at Louisiana State University.
The mollusks range in age from 55-60 million years old and are very small.
None are over four millimeters in length. The photomicrographs were used to discuss
various physical and morphological features of the minute shells.
This research, supported by ULM, the Departments of Biology and Geosciences and the
ULM Museum of Natural History, extends knowledge concerning the environmental conditions
and mollusks present in the shallow, North American Inland Sea that covered Louisiana
during the Late Paleocene era, from about 66 to about 55 million years ago.
There are plans for the information to be incorporated into a display for the ULM
Museum of Natural History in Hanna hall.
To view the article, visit palaeo-electronica.org/content/2014/830-nw-louisiana-mollusk-features
