Slovenia 2006 "Middle Miocene Fossil Snail"

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Issue Date 24.03.2006
ID Michel: 466; Scott: 659; Stanley Gibbons: 617; Yvert et Tellier: 533; Category: pF
Design Design: Matjaz Ucakar, Photo: Miran Udovc
Stamps in set 1
Value D-rate (T107), Fossil Snail (Pereiraea gervaisii)
Emmision/Type commemorative
Places of issue Sentjerknej
Size (width x height) 28.0 mm x 39.5 mm
Layout Sheet of 10 stamps
Products FDC x1 MS x1
Paper
Perforation 14 x 14
Print Technique Offset lithography
Printed by Cetis d d Celje
Quantity 120.000
Issuing Authority Pota Slovenije
Fossil Snail on stamp of Slovenia 2006

On March 24th, 2006, the Post Authority of Slovenia issued the next stamp in their multi-year set "Fossil of Slovenia". The stamp show a Middle Miocene Fossil Snail.

The following text was written by Jernej Pavsic and was published on the website of Slovenia in 2006.

The fields and vineyards in the vicinity of entjernej in the Dolenjska region have been famous fossil collecting locations for quite a long time, producing vast numbers of various fossils from the shallow 14 million years old Miocene layers of the Krko Basin. The fossils lifted to the surface during ploughing include shells, snails, foraminiferans, otoliths or "fish ear bones", and siliceous algae or diatoms. The most prominent of them all is the fossil gastropod Pereiraea gervaisii (Vezian), which, among others, is also notable for its size (about 10 cm long).
This gastropod species has a spiralled shell ornamented with long hollow spines in the upper part of the shell. The whorls are distinct and slightly angled. At the end of the last whorl is a large aperture, or opening, which is rarely entirely preserved because it is often subject to mechanical damage during fossilization. Occasionally, the damage was also caused by predatory crab attacks.
The aperture is elongated to form a medium long siphonal canal, suggesting that these animals lived burrowed in the sediment (infaunal) and used the canal as a channel through which they elongated the siphons to reach the surface. Another distinctive feature of Pereiraea gervaisii is a calcareous thickening of the parietal region or aperture, also called callus. This is a smooth shelly layer secreted by general surface of mantle allowing the snail's foot greater flexibility in movement. The Miocene gastropod Pereiraea gervaisii is a relatively rare fossil find occurring only in a small area of Europe. This is the reason why the collecting sites in Slovenia have a crucial role in the study of the ancient Miocene sea conditions and the connection of the Paratethys basin in the north with the Mediterranean basin in the south.


Products and associated philatelic items

FDC First-Day-of-Issue Postmark Example of circulated cover
Fossil of prehistoric Oligocene fish on FDC of Slovenia 2004 Fossil of prehistoric Oligocene  fish on postmark of Slovenia 2004 Fossil of prehistoric Oligocene fish on FDC of Slovenia 2004



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References

  • Technical details and short description: Posta Slovenije (on the website of Post Slovenia this stamp is erroneously listed for 2008), colnect.


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Last update 24.03.2025

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