Research Paper Collection

Two partial skeletons of baleen whales have been recovered from Coastal Plain deposits of South Carolina. One specimen, from the lower Pliocene Goose Creek Limestone, consists of a partial skull (including mandibles) and some incom- plete ribs; the other was collected from Pleistocene–Holocene mud and includes numerous post-cranial elements in addition to fragmentary premaxillae and maxil- lae. These whale skeletons preserve compelling fossil/sub-fossil evidence, in the form of bite marks and shed/embedded teeth, that the elasmobranchs Galeocerdo cuvier, Carcharhinus falciformis, C. longimanus...

Twenty-five fossil Amphiuma vertebrae have been collected from five sites in eastern South Carolina. These specimens constitute the first fossil records of this amphibian from the state and the northernmost record of the genus within the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Eleven specimens from one site in Dorchester County are assigned to the late Blancan North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA) and represent the oldest Pleistocene record (Gelasian Stage) of the genus. A vertebra from a second Dorchester County site was collected from strata thought to have been deposited during the middle Pleistocene...

A survey of the Eocene (Priabonian) Dry Branch Formation exposed in Aiken County, South Carolina, resulted in the collection of thousands of fossil teeth and bone fragments. Two sites located near the city of Aiken proved to be particularly productive, and 24 species of elasmobranchs, 11 osteichthyans, and three reptiles (one crocodilian and two turtles) have been identified. Herein we focus on the elasmo-branch species (17 sharks and seven rays) that are part of the assemblage, which includes a new species of daggernose shark, Isogomphodon aikenensis n. sp. Cicimurri and Knight. The fossils...

Twenty-five fossil Amphiuma vertebrae have been collected from five sites in eastern South Carolina. These specimens constitute the first fossil records of this amphibian from the state and the northernmost record of the genus within the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Eleven specimens from one site in Dorchester County are assigned to the late Blancan North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA) and represent the oldest Pleistocene record (Gelasian Stage) of the genus. A vertebra from a second Dorchester County site was collected from strata thought to have been deposited during the middle Pleistocene...

Three fossil holocephalian tooth plates have been recovered in Kingstree, Williamsburg County, South Carolina. All of the fossils were collected from a lag deposit containing a temporally mixed vertebrate assemblage. Two specimens, an incomplete left mandibular tooth plate and an incomplete left palatine tooth plate, are Edaphodon and compare favorably to E. mirificus. The third specimen is an incomplete and highly abraded right mandibular tooth plate from a very young individual that is questionably referred to Edaphodon.

The tooth plates were associated with Cretaceous shark and dinosaur...

The first reasonably complete dentition from the Americas of a Late Cretaceous batoid, Rhombodus binkhorsti, was collected from the Maastrichtian Ripley Formation of Union County, Mississippi, USA. The specimen confirms that the diamond-shaped teeth characteristic of the genus are arranged into very tightly packed alternating files. Rhombodus binkhorsti was widely distributed during the Maastrichtian and has been reported from Asia, Africa, and North and South America. In North America, the species has been recovered from Maastrichtian strata of the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Cretaceous...

A single rostral spine of Schizorhiza stromeri Weiler, 1930 was collected from a temporally mixed vertebrate assemblage recovered from Williamsburg County, South Carolina. Although well known from Upper Cretaceous strata of Africa, the South Carolina Schizorhiza occurrence represents one of the few records of the taxon from North America. In addition, our specimen is the northern-most Western Hemisphere occurrence, originating from approximately the same latitude as previous accounts from the Tethyan region of northern Africa.

Eight teeth referable to Eotorpedo hilgendorfi (Jaekel, 1904) have...

Tooth plates of three extinct species of callorhynchid holocephalans, Edaphodon mirificus, E. barberi, and Ischyodus bifurcatus have been collected from Upper Cretaceous strata of Alabama. Of the two species of Edaphodon, E. mirificus is represented by isolated tooth plates as well as associated dentitions. Edaphodon barberi was based on a small left mandibular tooth plate, but additional mandibular tooth plates in museum collections show that the diagnostic features seen on the E. barberi holotype are consistently present and therefore useful for species differentiation. Ischyodus bifurcatus...

Fisherichthys folmeri Weems 1999 (Sciaenidae?) is an extinct teleostean fish occurring in marine strata of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains, USA. We report isolated teeth collected from a lower Eocene (Ypresian) deposit in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Crowns of unworn teeth bear apical papillae surrounding a central depression, but these features are lost as teeth are worn through in vivo usage. The pulp cavity appears to become reduced in size as the tooth matures in the alveolus. Fisherichthys folmeri is thus far only known from Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia in strata...

Matrix surrounding a dermochelyid carapace and two cetacean skulls recovered from the Givhans Ferry Member of the Ashley Formation (lower Oligocene, Rupelian Stage) in South Carolina, USA yielded a surprisingly diverse assemblage of euselachian and teleost fishes. We identified 21 elasmobranch taxa, including 13 selachians and eight batoids, nearly all of which are known to occur in the overlying upper Oligocene (Chattian) Chandler Bridge Formation. Notable occurrences within the Ashley Formation paleofauna include a new shark, Scyliorhinus weemsi n. sp., and the first South Carolina Oligocene...

Numerous isolated snake vertebrae within the late Pleistocene-aged Ardis Local Fauna from Dorchester County represent the first fossil record of the colubrid genus Drymarchonin South Carolina.Four measurements from each of fifty of these isolated vertebrae were used to statistically differentiate Drymarchon from morphologically similar vertebrae of Coluberand Masticophis. This study highlights theutility andnecessity of standard measurements subjected to statistical methods todifferentiate isolated fossil snake vertebrae.Drymarchonis not part of the extant South Carolina herpetofauna, and the...

This catalog presents artwork featured in the exhibition, Edmund Yaghjian: A Retrospective, which opened at the the South Carolina State Museum in 2007. The museum is honored to present this retrospective focusing on the career and life of one of South Carolina’s most important visual artists and art educators. His influence continues to be evident across the Palmetto State by way of his leadership as the first chairman of the Department of Art at the University of South Carolina, through the many distinguished South Carolina artists he trained and inspired, and visually through his paintings...