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Invertebrates
Brachiopods
The majority of the brachiopod collection resides within the stratigraphic collection amassed by the BEG during their geological mapping of Texas.
Additional specimens are continually being added to the collection from numerous other research projects. The brachiopod collection is an important resource for those interested in
interspecies variation and in relationships between brachiopods and other organisms.
A global taxonomic collection of Emmett Wallace, numbering several thousand specimens was donated by his widow, Jean Wallace.
The Wallace Collection
Learn more about brachiopods.
Learn more about the Glass Mountains.
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IBR0484 Rhamnaria kingorum
Word Formation, Permian
Glass Mountains, Brewster County, Texas
This brachiopod comes from a very famous area, the Glass Mountains. As the name suggests there are some wonderful fossils in those mountains preserved as 'glass', or more accurately their original shell has been replaced with silica.
During the Permian this area of Texas was a shallow warm ocean and the rocks representing that time period include many marine organisms. In addition to brachiopods there were sponges, bryozoa, crinoids, corals, and many others.
Those fossils that were replaced by silica can be extracted from the limestone by dissolving the limestone. The resulting silicifed specimen retains incredible detail and much fragile structure that would normally be lost.
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