A Hillsdale College professor has discovered a new fossil.
Biology professor Anthony Swinehart found the fossil of ancient seaweed. The fossil is named Earltonella swinehartii, in his honor, and is now kept in the college’s D. M. Fisk Museum of Natural History.
Swinehart found the fossil while exploring a quarry in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with paleontology expert Steve LoDuca. The fossil is special because it is a soft part of the seaweed that usually doesn’t get preserved. Instead of just an impression, the fossil still has carbon residue.
College officials said the fossil is preserved in a way that is rare and only occurs in very specific environments.
The discovery was announced in the Journal of Paleontology and is expected to improve scientists’ understanding of ancient marine plants.