Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna

Worm-like Animals

ribbon worms, roundworms, arrow worms, spoon worms, and velvet worms

Many of the egg tempera panels from the first decade of my work contain geometries that serve as thresholds between different sensory worlds. Be they purely patterned or derived in form from familiar objects – furniture, vessels, and other intimate objects – they all seem to push paint and image into heightened contrasts. Egg tempera is a luminous medium, comprised of multiple translucent layers, but it also can present a very physical and tactile surface. In the piece, Tigress, from 1991, I built up the paint in such a way that it appears to form natural fissures, creating a sculptural quality against the dark circle which represents passage and transcendence. As the circle throughout history has implied unity, infinity, and perfection, so is the magical center or “window” of Tigress an invitation to a sublime experience. The white circle – off-center, but attached and relating to the larger – gives a suggestion of something planetary and gravitational, even moon-like. Symbolically, Tigress is the feminine power in mythology, and the white circle, individual and contrasting, is the eternal soul.

Archisymplectes rhoton

Ribbon Worm
                                 Archisymplectes rhoton, MPM P359782
                                                                               MPM P26065.1

Nemavermes mackeei

Roundworm
               Nemavermes mackeei, The Field Museum collection
J.Wittry collection, Figure 10.2 The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna 2012.

Prapulites konecniorum

                                 Priapulites konecniorum, MPM P359924.2 and P359924.1 (negative and positive halves).
                                                         The Field Museum collection
                                                              J.Wittry collection

Paucijaculum samamithion

Arrow Worm
                A.Young collection - Paucijaculum samamithion in
​                 association with Essexella asherae - Braceville, IL.
                  Figure 167.1 The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna 2012
 Right specimen (MC Fossil Fauna Figure 167.3) shows an arrow worm with an Acanthotelson stimpsoni shrimp - J.Wittry collection

Caprinoscolex ellogimus

Spoon Worm
                                                                                                           Coprinoscolex ellogimus, MPM P25871.1
​                                        MPM P266091.2
​                         MPM P359823.1 (negative half)
​        MPM P359823.2 (positive half)
                                                     A.Young collection, Figure 14.4 The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna 2012.
                                                    A.Young collection - Pit 11, Braidwood, IL (coal mining tipple area).
A.Young collection, Figure 14.3 The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna 2012
Chicago Academy of Sciences collection
                                                                     J.Wittry collection
Chicago Academy of Sciences collection

Ilyodes inopinata

Velvet Worm
                                                                               J.Wittry collection

Spirorbis sp.

Tube Worm
A.Young collection, Figure 20.2, The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna 2012.
                                         Left and above: Figure 20.2 (details).
​                                                                                                                                         Spirorbis sp., MPM P25872
​                                                                     MPM P359891.1
​                                                     MPM P359891.2
                                  Chicago Academy of Sciences collection.

Undescribed "Smooth Earthworm"