From August 18-21, 2024, John Paul Mondala, Dr. Allan Gil Fernando, and Dr. Tomoki Kase from the National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan, conducted a field visit to check a potential Cretaceous locality in Samar reported by Dr. Jillian Aira Gabo-Ratio and Dr. Betchaida D. Payot of UP NIGS in 2023. Along with RWG graduate students LA Arenque and Donna Longga, the outcrop was revisited and, to the team's delight, yielded an abundance of Mesozoic fossil molluscs. Preliminary identification of the gastropods suggests affinities with the Superfamily Nerineoidea, an extinct group of marine molluscs characteristic of carbonate platforms of the Tethys during the Mesozoic. The discovery of these fossils raises intriguing questions about the potential existence of Cretaceous carbonate platforms near the Philippines during that period. Moreover, it prompts further investigation into the transport mechanisms that led to the fossils being deposited in their current location. John Paul Mondala, under the guidance of Dr. Fernando, Dr. Kase, and Shin-ichi Sano of Toyama University will undertake a detailed study of the systematic taxonomy, field occurrence, and depositional history of the fossils.
The Samar Team in the Nerineoidea-bearing outcrop (from left to right: Ms. Jayvhel Guzman, Dr. Jillian Aira Gabo-Ratio, Dr. Tomoki Kase, Dr, Betchaida Payot, LA Arenque, Donna Longga, Dr. Allan Gil Fernando, John Paul Mondala)
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