Virginia

=Virginia State Fossil=

Bivalve Scallop (//Chesapecten jeffersonius//)

Name of the State and State Fossil
This is the Virginia state fossil called the Bivalve Scallop. This is because it is a bivalve which is an organism with two valves (shells) and is one of the ancestors to today's scallops.

Time Existed
This creature lived in shallow waters of coastlines and existed near the extinction of the dinosaurs.The last of it's kind died out about 3 million years ago in the area now known as Virginia due to the onset of the Ice Age. Originally, it lived peacefully on continental shelf's and fed on tiny organism.

Preservation
It is not an imprint fossil but the fossilized remains of the scallop's shells and most of these remains are common and well detailed. Many are dug up not only in Chesapeake Bay but along New Jersey and Florida as well. Hence they all have the Genus Chesapecten. = =

Who Found It
It was the first fossil to actually be described in American Literature by Martin Lister in 1687. It's scientific name is named after Thomas Jefferson and the Chesapeake Bay since that was where it was found and because Thomas Jefferson always had an interest in natural history. This fossil was officially made state fossil of Virginia by Governor Wilder.

e-ReferenceDesk.com. (1993). //Virginia Fossil: Bivalve Scallop.// Retrieved from http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-fossil/virginia.html

Wikipedia.com. (2012). //Chesapecten jeffersonius.//Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapecten_jeffersonius