Sternberger “Kuche”; Scaphopod-rich sandstone of Upper Oligocene age
Last weekend (April 28th to May 1th) Jordy van der Beek, his family and I visited dr. Bernd Sahlmann and dr. Vollrath Wiese in the museum “Haus der Natur” in Cismar, Germany. Our main objective was to discuss the identity of some problematic scaphopod species, especially from the Red Sea coastal region. This way the “First European Scaphopod Workshop” was a fact, being the first time three European scaphopod-specialists met. When we arrived there was a meeting going of the “Club Conchyglia” or Verein Deutscher Conchyliensammler. I had the opportunity to obtain some pieces of Sternberger-sandstone from geologist Karina Thiede. Sternberger-sandstone was formed 28 million years ago (Upper Oligocene) on the edge of a shallow sea. These tempestites (storm deposite) are teeming with scaphopods, see photograph above.
Vollrath, Jordy and Bernd discussing Red Sea Scaphopoda
The following days Jordy, Bernd and I spent with identifying lots of less known scaphs and making preparation on a paper on het scaphopod fauna of the Red Sea. Vollrath kindly helped us by taking high quality pictures of species we want to include in this article.
Many thanks to our friends Vollrath and Bernd for their generous hospitality and the numerous house made cakes!