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On Wally Windscheffel’s big discoveries of tiny fossils
From a friend and colleague of Wally Windscheffel, for whom the Fruitafossor windscheffeli was named:
Ms. Davis… just for the record, here is a picture of the fossil Wally was working on in the ‘big hat’ photo you posted in your blog.
He was gluing a block of matrix with Duco cement so it could be removed from the quarry without breaking the small lower jaw of a mammal which he had uncovered earlier in the day. …
Once in the lab, Wally would use his tiny tools to lift, chip and scrape the remaining matrix material from the jaw. This specimen was unusually well exposed right from the quarry. This is a lower jaw, incisors on the left. You can see how the fracturing bentonite was threatening to destroy this fossil and any other bones still hidden in the matrix.
Chuck Safris Des Moines
Ancient Aardvarks
Popeye arms and aardvark bite, Of ancient lineage long deceased, he Lived beneath the lizards’ might, This late Jurassic tiny beastie;
Simple tubular teeth can munch The termites destined for his belly; Scratching fore claws find his lunch: It’s Fruitafossor windscheffeli!
— Virgil Keys, science blogger
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