CHEROKEE VILLAGE — The Spring River Gem and Mineral Club will have Kelly Irwin, staff herpetologist at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, speak on “Campanian Marine Vetebrates of Southwestern Arkansas” at 10 a.m. Oct. 6 at the Omaha Center in Cherokee Village.
His program will be an overview of the Late Cretaceous marine vertebrate fauna based on historic research and material that he has collected for more than eight years.
Irwin has been collecting marine vertebrates in the Campanian marine deposits of southwestern Arkansas for 10 years and has begun publishing the information that he has collected in recent years. He has established a working relationship with researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where his collections will be deposited in a systematic research collection.
He was the first staff herpetologist hired by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 2000. His interest in vertebrate paleontology has developed into a full-time hobby with a focus on Late Cretaceous marine reptiles and fishes.
All of his fossil specimens are donated to the vertebrate paleontology collection at Southern Methodist University, where he has an ongoing collaboration with researchers.
For more information, contact Spring River Gem and Mineral Club President Paul Grindol at (870) 257-5623.
Three Rivers, Pages 133 on 09/25/2011