Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Araucaria mirabilis Cone Fossil

Araucaria mirabilis (Spegazzini/Windhausen, 1924) sliced and polished "pine" cone fossil found in the petrified forest formation of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Fossil dates to the Middle Jurassic Period (Callovian) or about 160 million years old. Learn more about this fossil at The Virtual Fossil Museum web site and Wikipedia.

Thanks to Mark Palatas for letting me photograph this specimen.