THREE REPRESENTATIVE AMMONITE FOSSILS FROM WESTERN USA

Ammonites are extinct cephalopods (mollusks) that had soft parts that resembled squids but also had a hard, external shell (used for protection).

1) MIDDLE TRIASSIC NEVADITES AMMONITE FROM WESTERN NEVADA

 

In 1975, I collected specimens of the ceratitid ammonite Nevadites hyatti? (Smith) from anoxic black shale/limestone = the Middle Triassic Prida Formation, which was deposited along the ancient continental coastline that existed at that time.

Fig. 1. Back side of a specimen of the Middle Triassic ammonite Nevadites hyatti from Nevada.

2) UPPER CRETACEOUS SCAPHITES AMMONITE FROM       NORTHWESTERN NW NEW MEXICO

In 1968, when I was a summer field assistant working for Shell Oil Company in northwestern New Mexico, I collected specimens of this ammonite. They occurred only in heavy concretions that had weathered out from nearby cliffs. I had to bust up a representative concretion with a sledge hammer in order to recover any fossils, which were predominantly the ammonite Scaphites sp. Not much time was spent by the crew I was with, when it came to collecting fossils. We were there to measure a stratigraphic section, but the fossiliferous concretions were a wonderful “bonus” for me!

 

These ammonites are of Late Cretaceous age (about 92 million years old, from the Gallup Sandstone, which correlates with Upper Cretaceous Turonian Stage). The ammonites are heteromorphs, meaning that their shell became uncoiled with growth (the uncoiled parts were broken off on the specimens I collected). I identified these ammonite specimens as Scaphites.

Fig. 2. Back side of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Scaphites sp. from northwestern New Mexico.

3) UPPER CRETACEOUS HOPLOSCAPHITES AMMONITE FROM MONTANA

This widespread genus of shallow-marine ammonite was previously reported as confined to Late Cretaceous age rocks. In recent years, however, shallow-marine Hoploscaphites ammonites have been reported in Early Paleocene (Danian Stage) rocks in Denmark, the Netherlands and in the USA. This new information does not support the previous viewpoint held by most earth scientists that all ammonites died out at the end of the Cretaceous Period. 

In North America, Hoploscaphites lived primarily in the Late Cretaceous warm waters of the Western Interior Seaway---from eastern Alaska to northern Mexico. The early part of the shell of this animal was tightly coiled, but with growth the shell became somewhat uncoiled (i.e., J-shaped). This genus has complicated septa (= curved partitions that divide the shell into chambers). 

Overriding the septa are complicated suture lines (white on these images). The suture lines of Holploscaphites are especially complicated  which indicates that this genus was an advanced form of ammonite that lived during Cretaceous time.

Figure 3. Back side of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Hoplocsaphites sp. from Montana (this specimen was a gift given to me).

TWO TOADS

Toads are a type of frog. Toads have bumpy, dry, thick, skin and short legs for hopping or walking on land (thus, they can be terrestrial). Toads lay their eggs in long spiral chains. Toads are also  generally toothless.

Frogs, in contrast,  have smooth, slimy skin and long legs for leaping through water. Frogs live in or near water. They lay their eggs in gooey clusters, and frogs usually have small teeth in their upper jaw.

Biogeographic analyses suggest modern toads originated in South America approximately 61 million years ago (i.e., middle Paleocene, with later dispersal to Africa and Asia (Wu et al., 2025) and Wikipedia, 2025).                                                         

                                  ANAXYRUS TOAD

Two summers ago, I was surprised when I found a toad in my backyard. It is the only one I have every seen in my yard. It was an adult Anaxyrus americanus, which is a North American toad. It was spotted in the morning time, which is unusual because this toad is mainly nocturnal. This toad eats insects, worms, spiders, and slugs.

Its dry, warty skin has prominent parotoid glands behind its eyes, which secrete this toxin milky poison. It skin is brown to gray, with a light stripe that runs down the middle of its back. It has short legs, warty skin, and a stout body about 2 to 4 inches long. It absorbs water through its skin. It periodically shed its old skin. 

   Classification

Kingdom

Phylum Chordata

Class Amphibia

Order Anura

Famil Bufonidae

Genus Anaxyrus

Species A. boreas

[only three species are known]

note: Anaxyrus boreas is found throughout California, except for the northernmost counties 

(californiaherps.com).

Figure 1. Anaxyrus boreas (about 3 inches long), found in my backyard in Southern California.

                        VIETNAMESE MOSSY TOAD

This nocturnal amphibian lives in northern Vietnam and southern China. This toad (usually incorrectly referred to as a "frog,") has excellent camouflage because it has extremely bumpy/mottled moss-like skin that has green and brown coloration (plus some red) that blends in perfectly with the rainforest habitat in which it lives. They require high humidity.

These toads are 2.5 to 3.5 inches in length, with females larger than males. They are also insectivores that mainly eat crickets and cockroaches. These toads defend themselves by curling into a ball and dropping into standing water in the rain forests. Their skin has toxins, thus if you have to handle one, you should wear gloves. 

Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Amphibia

Order Anura

Family Rhacophoride

Genus Theloderma

Type Species T. corticale

Figure. Vietnamese Mossy Toad (usually and incorrectly referred to as a "frog") is about 3 inches in length. Image from the Smithsonian Institution (open access).

References: 

californiaherps.com

Wikipedia 2025

Wu, D. and 13 others. 2025. Earth history and trait innovation drive the global radiation of modern toads. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences, v. 292, issue 2057. Access is via an account. Otherwise, only the abstract can be viewed.

TWO UNUSUAL BUGS

THE IRONCLAD BEETLE

This flightless beetle is native to California and Baja California. It lives up to eight years (note: most beetles live for only a few weeks or months). It has a very hard flat carapace (shell) that is difficult to penetrate, even with a pin: hence, the name “ironclad”. This insect can play dead and go for long periods without food water. It eats rotten wood and any associated fungi in the wood. This beetle has smaller legs than non-boring insects, thus it is more easily burrows into wood.

  Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Clade (only one)

Class Insecta

Order Coleoptera

Family Zopheridae

Genus Phloeodes

Type Species P. diabolicus

The adults of this beetle are up to inch long (25 mm). It moves fairly slowly. It spends most of its time living under the bark of a rotting tree. I discovered this beetle in late afternoon as it was slowly “walking” on a sidewalk next to where a partially rotten tree was recently removed by city workers. Ironclad beetles are crepuscular (active an hour or so before sunset).

It was a challenge to identify this insect, but I just kept looking online and in my small collection of “nature books.” I eventually concluded that it had to be a beetle, but there are so many of them! Eventually, via a process of elimination, I concluded that what I found was as “ironclad beetle.” 

Figure 1. Phloeodes diabolicus (about 10 mm long). Santa Clarita, Southern California.  

_____________________

MOTTLED STINK BUG

This insect is another species that I had never seen before. It is native to southern Europe. Finding a specimen clinging to the outer wall of my house was even more of a surprise to me, because this insect is supposedly not yet known to occur in the USA. Well, it can reported as definitely occurring there now! Shield bugs have sucking mouth parts that damage crops, thus, it and insects like it are considered to be pests Fichter (1966, p. 70).

The common name for this insect is a “shieldbug.” The large triangular area (or scutellum) at the posterior end of this insect is conspicuous and distinctive for this kind of insect.

Stink bugs do damage, both as nymphs and as adults, by sucking sap from plants and causing them to wilt, and/or to become pimpled or malformed. These bugs also give off a strong order. 

   Classification

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Arthropoda

Family Pentatomidae

Clade (1 of them)

Class Insecta

Order Hemiptera

Family Pentatomidae

Genus Rhaphigaster

Type Species Rhaphigaster nebulosa

Reference

Fichter, G. S. 1966. Insect Pests. A Golden Nature Guide. Western Publishing Company, New York. 160 pp.

Figure 2. Rhaphigaster nebulosa, 16 mm length, from Santa Clarita, southern California. This specimen has an orange abdomen with tiny black dots on its outer surface.

References

Hogue, C.L. [revised by J.N. Hogue] 2015. Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, 3^rd ed. Natural History Museum of the Los Angeles Basin, 479 pp.

Wikipedia, 2026.

GRAPHIC GRANITE

 
Graphic granite is an igneous rock with a very distinctive texture of intergrown crystals of quartz and alkali feldspar. The rock is white or pink.

Figure 1. Two hand specimens (each about 4 inches tall) of graphic granite collected by the author from San Diego County, southern California. The scale in the image is in centimeters.

The intergrown crystals produce a texture that looks like ancient, angular cuneiform or hieroglyphic script. This disintictive texture is the result of simultaneous crystallization of quartz rods with the host feldspar crystals. 

This kind of rock forms in granitic pegmatives during the simultaneous cooling and crystallization of molten magma saturated with both feldspar and quartz.

Graphic granite is found throughout the world at various locales (e.g., the Rocky Mountains, America).

The name is derived from the Latin grapus and the Greek gryphos---both words meaning to write.

PYGMY CEDAR (AN UNCOMMON PLANT)

Schott’s pygmy cedar (= Peucephyllum schottii) is the only species of this very unusual genus. This plant is not a cedar, a fir, nor a pine. Rather, it is a member of the aster family, Asteraceae. Although I could not find anything about the fossil record of Schott’s pygmy cedar, I am including it in my blog, nevertheless, because of the apparent rarity of the plant. I detected this plant in the front yard of one of my neighbors.

  Figure 1. Schott’s pygmy cedar in bloom (this plant is four feet tall). 

                                                  Figure 2. When this plant is not in bloom.

This uncommon plant belongs to a monotypic genus (e.g., having only a single species). In its modern record, this plant is "at risk."

Its flowers consist of only yellow, disc florets. It has yellow/green needle-like leaves that produce rounded tufts of white, cotton-like material. The fruits of this plant are woody, bristly seeds.

Also known as “Desert fir,” “Desert pine," or "pigmy cedar,” it is heat tolerant and can persist through droughts. It prefers to live in full sunlight on dry rocky slopes, among boulders.

Although native to California, Arizona, Baja California, and Sonora in northern Mexico, it also is found in Nevada and Utah. I came across this plant while walking around my neighborhood. I was fortunate to have detected such an unusual plant, with its odd features.

It is a perennial shrub, that can be up to 9 feet in height. It is an interesting plant that normally grows only in desert environments. 

Its genus name is derived from the Greek work for pine or fir. The tubular flowers of this plant are commonly visited by hummingbirds and/or small mammals (Southwest Desert Flora = a website, see below).

References

Southwest Desert Flora, https://southwesterdesertflora.com

Wikipedia, 2025.

PURPLE SAGE

This plant's common name is well known (e.g., "Riders of the Purple Sage," a popular western book written by Zane Grey). The botanical name of this plant, which is Salvia lecophylla, is not commonly mentioned in popular literature. 

I was really surprised to learn that this perennial shrub is native to the southern coastal mountain ranges of Southern California and Baja Sur California (in Mexico). It is, furthermore, commonly called the San Luis, California “purple sage,” even though it is not very purplish. [Note: it seems to me that the common name “purple sage,” has been over-used) for various species of Salvia].

Salvia lecuophylla is a shrub that can be up to 5 feet tall. Its leaves are light green in spring but turn grayish-white with maturity (when its branches arch toward the ground). Its flowers, which grow in tight whorls, are six to eight inches long. The flowers are white to pinkish-purple and in very widely spaced clusters of lowly elevated, somewhat inflated looking, gray spikes. The flowers can have a few thin threads. The leaves are light-green gray, thick, and pimply. Branches commonly arch toward the ground. [Note: When I returned to the exact same plant, one week later, most of the purple color was gone (those parts had fallen off), thus the plant could then be called the “gray sage.”]

This hardy plant is drought-tolerant and requires low maintenance. It thrives in full sun. It lives in USDA Zones 8-11. It can survive temperatures as low as 0-10 degrees F. It comes back every year, as it is a wood perennial plant. It can also survive with only sparse water. 

It also repels cockroaches (they do not like the “sage” smell). 

   Classification

Kingdom Plantae

Clades (4 of them)

Order Lamiales

Family Laminaceae (= the mint family)

Genus Salvia

Type Species S. leucophylla

There are many cultivares (variants) of this flower, including wild hybrids, thus making clear identification tricky.

Note: Salvia dorrii, which is native to the western-interior of the USA (including Utah), is possibly the plant that Zane Grey had in mind when he gave the title “Riders of the Purple Sage,” to his famous western novel (set in Utah). This novel was also the basis for a movie. He was not precise in the taxonomic usage of this plant, thus there has been on-going disagreement as to which species he had in mind.

                                                                  

Figure 1. A Salvia lecophylla plant (about 3 feet wide) that I found growing wild in Santa Clarita, Southern California. I initially had no idea as to the identification of this flower, and I was very surprised when it became evident that it belonged to the sage family.  

Figure 2. A closeup of a portion of the same plant as shown in Figure 1. Image also   taken on the same day (in early summer) as the one shown in Figure 1, above. One week later, I examined this same plant, and most of the purple color was "gone."

AN UNUSUAL FLOWER

Feijoa sellowiana = common names = “pineapple guava” or Acca sellowiana or California feijoa tree. This is the only species in this genus. It is native mainly to the highlands of Colombia, southern Brazil, and parts of northeast Uruguay and Paraguay and northern Argentina. 

This plant  is an evergreen shrub or small tree (up to 23 feet or so tall but usually no more than 10 to 15 feet tall) and is a warm-temperate, subtropical plant. It requires winter chilling in order to produce its distinctive egg-sized fruit; thus it is frost tolerant. Its leaves have a silver luster to their bottoms. The flowers have five whitish petals which are puffy. There are about 25 dark red stamens projecting from the center of the flower. This flower produces fruit (they resemble limes), which is popular in places like New Zealand. Reportedly, its fruit tastes like pineapple (Wikipedia, 2026).

The fruit ‘s skin is thin, waxy, and delicate and easily bruised. Underneath the skin, its white-yellowish flesh is dense and has a consistency is similar to a pear (see reference below).

There are numerous varieties (cultivars) of this plant. This flower grows in southeastern margins of the United States. It also can be grown in southern California. According to Wikipedia (2026) it grows well in USDA Zone 10 (Wikipedia, 2026).

   Classification

Kingdom Plantae

Clades (4 of them)

Order Myrtales

Family Myrtaceae [= Myrtle family]

Genus Feijoa

Type Species F. sellowiana

Feijoa is usually pronounced fay-ZHOH-uh, with the emphasis on the second syllable. Its rhymes with the word “day.

Figure 1. Feijoa ("pineapple guava") flower (without fruit).

References

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Fejioas 

Wikipedia, 2026