Regular Monthly Meeting July 12

Venezuelan Fossils

Dallas Paleontological Society will meet next on Wednesday, July 12th, at 7PM Central time, in the Boonesville Auditorium (Room 125) of the Ellison Miles Building (Bldg H) at Brookhaven Campus of Dallas College, 3939 Valley View Lane, in Farmers Branch.  John Moody, geologist and Charter Member of the DPS, will speak on “Fossil Discoveries in Western Venezuela”.

Western Venezuela is now known for a wide variety of fossils, but many of these were discovered during the 1990s, when John Moody led students from the University of Zulia on fossil collecting expeditions.  These trips were mostly into the poorly-explored areas of the Sierra de Perijá mountain range, as well as to areas of the Venezuelan Andes.  They collected many important fossils, including several new species and a number of other Venezuelan “firsts”, including fossil plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, in Devonian, Jurassic, and Cretaceous strata.  Squalicorax moodyi , a shark from the Cretaceous La Luna Formation and Anapaulia moodyi, a Devonian fossil plant, have been named for John.  One long-term project used military helicopters to reach a cave in the top of the Perija range near the Venezuelan-Colombian border, where they collected Pleistocene vertebrates.  The culmination of his discoveries were in Venezuelan tar pits, as a result of earlier paleontological discoveries, international cooperation, and a few chance circumstances.  The site, Mene de Inciarte, is considered one of the largest accumulations of Pleistocene fossils in South America.

John Moody has a BS in Geology from the University of Texas at Arlington, but is mostly self-taught in paleontology, having collected fossils from an early age.  He worked as a geologist and a petroleum services manager in Maracaibo, Venezuela, for almost seventeen years.  During his last ten years there, John also served as Invited Professor and Curator of the Paleontology Section for the biology museum of the University of Zulia (MBLUZ).  He made significant contributions to Venezuelan paleontology as author and co-author of numerous scientific publications and popular articles.  He has also authored 19 novels and a memoir. “Different Lives in One”.  In the memoir he describes in detail some of his experiences and fossil discoveries in Venezuela.  Presently, John works at Grayson College in Denison, Texas.

DPS meetings are always free and open to the public.  Members can bring food or snacks to share, and DPS will provide water and sodas.  Everyone is invited to bring fossils.  We really enjoy seeing your recent finds, as well as your old favorites and collections.  We will even attempt to identify mystery specimens. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81080502644

Meeting ID: 810 8050 2644

Passcode: 689324

Giveaway of papers continues!  Several years ago, DPS received a large number of papers in vertebrate paleontology from our advisor Dr. Art Busbey at TCU.  We will be giving those away at our meetings.  There are many papers on crocodiles, the Permian of Texas and Oklahoma, mammals and other vertebrates, and some on invertebrates, Cretaceous formations, and many other topics.  First come, first served.

DPS