Faunal diversity in the Mesozoic formations of Northwestern Colorado

Thank you so much! We can't wait to get more lab notes out (especially once we're out in the field in May)!

Thank you! This has surpassed our wildest expectations and we can't wait to get started!

Thank you for taking the time to look into our project! I will see if I can answer your question to the best of my ability. Short Answer: Maybe Long Answer: From cursory research, it seems crayfish (of the family Parastacidae) have been found from the Mesozoic, but located only in Cretaceous formations in Australia. Our scope of field work this year is heavily focusing on Jurassic material but will incorporate both the Ilses and *possibly* Williams Fork formation from the Cretaceous. Neither one, to my knowledge, would have guaranteed deposits of freshwater invertebrates. The same could be said for our Jurassic and Triassic locales. There is nothing to say that we would not stumble upon a creek or small river deposit, but a large river or lacustrine deposit has not yet been determined at our current sites. The taphonomy of most vertebrate burials does include freshwater burial, but it is still undetermined at our new sites if it is a high energy burial (like a flood) or low energy (like slow creek or lake). We should know shortly into the beginning of this field season. If crayfish trace fossils are also interesting to you, that could provide us more opportunities, but we do not currently have anyone planned for this field season that is a specialist in ichnofossils. Essentially, we do have the possibility to find some in our vertebrate sites, but given the sparsity of crayfish in the fossil record where we are working, I would say that, honestly, the chances are low. I hope this answers your question and if not, please don't hesitate to ask any other questions. We would greatly appreciate your support but do understand if this research does not perfectly fit what you are looking for.

Thanks to your and everyone else's support, we hope to do just that this summer! If we meet our goal, we look forward to providing entertaining and educational lab notes for the next several months!

Thank you so much, Lyle! We wouldn't be where we are without your help in the past and, like you said, hopefully involvement in the future! We have been sorely (or should I say saur-ly) missing your puns and hope to see you soon.