Our Meetings

Guests are always welcome to the meetings if you would like see what we're all about. Meetings start at 7:00 pm and usually take place the first Saturday of the month, unless there is a holiday, then it's on the second Saturday of the month. Located at the USF Behavioral Science Room #103.

After the speaker finishes we have a short break. Then we draw for door prizes and some raffle items as well. We finish with any final announcements.

Upcoming Meetings and Guest Speakers (2022-2023 season):
NOTE: All meetings are the first Saturday of the month at 7:00 pm unless otherwise clearly noted.

Sept. 10 - Dr. Richard Hulbert, Collection Manager, Vertebrate Paleontology Florida Museum of Natural History
Looking Back & Ahead: 40+ Years as a Florida Paleontologist

Dr. Richard Hulbert will retire from his position as vertebrate paleontology collections manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) on September 30, 2022. In this, his last talk to TBFC as an employee of the FLMNH, Dr. Hulbert will reflect on his 41-year association with the museum and the major paleo discoveries and technological advances occurring over that period. He will also look ahead to greatly increased time in his “retirement” to conduct research on Florida fossils and discuss his plans for a comprehensive program on the Pleistocene Mammals of Florida that will include extensive collaboration with amateur and hobbyist fossil collectors across the state.

Dr. Richard has been a good friend and liaison for the amateur community in Florida. His trusted relationship with the amateur fossil hunter has probably done more to advance paleontology in Florida than any other initiative. We’ll miss Dr. Richard when he’s retired, but I can only imagine we’ll see him around. There’s lots of research Dr. Richard has had to put off because of other projects at the museum. I’m sure it won’t be long before we start hearing about his future studies on tapir, horses and other Florida mammals.

Oct. 1 - CANCELED

Nov. 5 - Annual Auction

Dec. 10 - Paleo Talks

Many of you already know about Tech-Talks. If you don’t, they’re very popular technical talks covering a wide range of technical conepts and ideas: From how a technology or processes work, to how to perform a specific task, to lessons learned in a project. Most are short, 10-20 minutes. For us, our December meeting will feature Paleo Tech Talks. Three short presentation and Q&A sessions on 3 different topics.

Jan. 7 - David Letasi, There's a Mastodon in my Sink!

Explore the prehistoric world of elephants and their relatives the mastodon. What is their origin? Discover why so many of these beasts’ fossil bones are found in our sinkholes, ponds and river bottoms. How did they live, what were the predators that hunted them and what was their relationship to other prehistoric mammals? Did early humans lead to many of their species extinction? Dave will examine these strange varieties of elephant families, their prehistoric habits and range. Can science bring back the mastodon and their relatives the mammoth?

David Letasi has been interested in fossils and pre-historic times since he was eight years old and thus has had many years’ experience searching for fossils all over North America and Asia. By age twelve, he had discovered three archeological sites that are recorded in the Michigan State Archeological Site Survey. In addition to dinosaurs, Letasi has studied prehistoric man, ancient world history, and archeology.

After serving in the Navy, he decided to travel around the United States to collect specimens from well-known fossil sites in Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida, as well as Canada and several countries in Asia. After he married his wife, Suzanne, in 1972 she began to travel with him. In 1976 they moved to Florida where it was possible to collect saber-tooth cat fossils, his main field of interest. Dave worked for Great Explorations Museum in St Petersburg and assumed a number of duties, including designing and curating exhibits and later worked at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa. While at MOSI, he led cave explorations for children and adults to the Dames Cave in the Withlacoochee State Forest, as well as fossil-collecting trips to mining sites in Polk County. Since retiring from MOSI in 2007, he has been active in projects with the Historic Hernando Preservation Society.

His lengthy résumé includes being the lead archaeological project coordinator with the Historic Hernando County Preservation Society, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Gulf Archaeology Research Institute of Gainesville. Some interesting projects he’s worked on include searching for the eighteenth-century capital of the Seminole Nation and the exploration of the Bayport Civil War shipwreck site.

If you have any mammoth or mastodon fossil material, bring it along to the January meeting. Dave would sure like to see it and so would the rest of us!

Feb. 4 - To Be Announced

Mar. 4 - To Be Announced

Apr. 1 - To Be Announced

May 6 - To Be Announced

June 3 - End of Season Dinner

View Our Past Virtual Meetings

COVID-19 has forced us to adapt!
Since in-person meetings were not possible during this time, the club hosted Virtual Live Meetings on our YouTube channel.
Subscribe to the channel to get notifications when we go live!

All our club live streamed or recorded meetings will be saved and can be re-watched anytime! Not all meetings can be recorded for various reasons.
You can view past virtual or recorded meetings in the playlist below: