BugWare Headquarters

Located in Tallahassee, FL,  BugWare's office is daily workplace for most of Team BugWare -- when we're not offshore.  No paleontologist is an island... we work in the same room so that we can constantly discuss species concepts and ranges.  One never learns all there is to know about Gulf of Mexico biostratigraphy, but this maximizes our exposure to the infinite varieties of  fossils that we encounter.

Team BugWare         Leaders in Gulf of Mexico Biostratigraphy

Jim Pospichal, PhD

Specialty: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Nannofossils

Jim received his B.S. in Geology from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and followed up with an M.S. in 1989 and a PhD in 1993 from Florida State.  Like most other BugWare paleontologists, Jim studied at the FSU Nannofossil Laborartory.  He participated in two Ocean Drilling Program cruises as lead nannofossil paleontologist, Legs 188 and 121 sailing to Prydz Bay Antarctica and the Indian Ocean, respectively.  Jim’s first experience with industry began as a summer intern for Amoco in the summer of 1991.

Jim’s academic research was based upon the nannofossil assemblages at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary.  Having studied sections from all around the world, Jim is the world’s foremost authority on this subject.  He has published 20 articles as lead author, and many more as second author. Click here to see a list of Jim's publications.

After graduation with doctorate in 1993, Jim gained experience as Director/Curator of the Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility at FSU, followed by Visiting Assistant Professorships at UN-Lincoln, Hamilton College, and Washington and Lee University.

Jim joined BugWare in 1998, and has since risen to be one of the very top nannofossil biostratigraphers in the Gulf of Mexico industrial arena.  In addition to working many wells in the office, he has spent hundreds of days at wellsite on prospects such as Thunderhorse, Mad Dog, Atlantis, and many more.

 Contact Jim at BugWare (850) 668-3894, on his cell at (850) 591-6587, or email him at jim.pospichal@bugware.com.

Dana L. Griffith

 Specialty: Cenozoic Foraminifera

Dana received her B. A. in Geology from Rice University in 1981.  While she was there, she was influenced by Drs. Richard Casey (Coach) and John Anderson to pursue a career in paleontology.   Coach encouraged her to enter industry immediately, so she began work at E. H. Stork and Associates, a longtime Houston consultancy.  Both E. H. and John Ghist helped her learn the Oligocene section in the Gulf Coast, and gave her much valuable experience with wellsite work.

In 1982 Dana joined Unocal as a paleontologist.  She stayed there until 1990, becoming a recognized expert in the Gulf Coast Tertiary.  After leaving Unocal, she established a successful consultancy, generating and interpreting data for companies in the onshore, shelf, and deep water.  Dana worked on such high profile projects as Mad Dog, Puma, and St Malo.  She became adept at interpreting tops given limited data, and integrating geological information from the other specialties to arrive at solid solutions to stratigraphic problems.

Since joining Bugware in 2002, Dana has worked many exploration and development wells, and provided wellsite services for the Thunderhorse field.  She enjoys an unparalleled reputation for quality work and her ability to interface with other geoscientists.

You may reach Dana at (281) 681-2750 or (281) 851-8886, or by email at dana.griffith@bugware.com.

Anatoliy Shumnyk, PhD

Specialty: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Nannofossils

Anatoliy received his PhD in Paleontology and Stratigraphy from the Graduate: Institute of Geological Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2002, and studied the nannofossils from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern Ukraine.  During his tenure there, he also participated in a comparative palyno- and nannoplankton stratigraphy and correlation of the Upper Cretaceous deposits in Ukraine and Hungary, which resulted in several significant publications. 

Anatoliy began work at BugWare in 2003, and has since become proficient in Cenozoic nannofossils on top of his previous Cretaceous expertise.  He has worked as worked as primary paleontologists on many office-based jobs, as well as “second-chair” paleontologist on a significant number of wellsite jobs.  He is also developing an illustrated Paleogene nannofossil scheme for the Gulf of Mexico.

Anatoliy is also a Faculty Research Associate at The Florida State University Geology Department.  He is involved in research projects with Dr. Woody Wise and assists in teaching classes in the Nannofossil Laboratory there, which includes a study of upper Cretaceous nannofossils from ODP Leg 207 drilled in the Central Atlantic Ocean. He is also scheduled to participate as Shipboard Paleontologist on IODP Expedition 308 scheduled to drill in the Gulf of Mexico in June, 2005.

 He is a member of the International Nannoplankton Association and Ukrainian Paleontological Society.

Contact Anatoliy at BugWare’s voice line, his home phone at (850) 576-3455, or email him at anatoliy.shumnyk@bugware.com.

James Arney

Specialty: Cenozoic Nannofossils (with some Mesozoic)

James received his  BS in Geology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1997, and worked in the UN-L nannofossil laboratory under Dr. David Watkins.

Upon completion of his BS, James came to Florida State here in Tallahassee where he received his MS in Geology.  His thesis covered the Paleocene/Eocene nannofossils from ODP Leg 183 which was drilled on the Kerguelen Plateau.  James also sailed on ODP Leg 191 to the northwest Pacific Ocean as the shipboard nannofossil paleontologist. He worked at the Florida Geological Survey during his studies at Florida State.

James joined BugWare in July, 2001 and has worked many office-based projects as well as a significant number of wellsite projects.

Contact James at BugWare (850) 668-3894, on his cell phone (850) 443-9722, or email him at james.arney@bugware.com.

Mitch Covington

Owner of BugWare, Inc.

Specialty: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Nannofossils

Mitch received a BA in Geology from UNC-Wilmington in 1982 before traveling to Tallahassee where he was awarded a MS in Geology from Florida State University (1985).  While studying at Dr. Woody Wise’s world class Nannofossil Laboratory at FSU, Mitch sailed on Leg 93 of the Deep Sea Drilling project, which yielded an excellent Lower Cretaceous section offshore from the eastern U.S. coast.  Mitch formally described several new nannofossil taxa from this section.  For his thesis, Mitch studied nannofossils the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation from the Western Interior.  This section yielded exceptionally well preserved nannofossils, of which two were used for the cover photograph in separate issues of Marine Micropaleontology.  Several new genera and species were also formally described from this study.  Click here to see a list of Mitch's publications.

Upon graduation from FSU in 1985, Mitch began his career in the oil industry at Texaco, Inc. in New Orleans.  He was the first nannofossil worker at Texaco to ever go offshore to perform wellsite paleo.  While at Texaco, he also began development of paleontological software known today as BugWin.  His powerful suite of software products is still widely used worldwide today.

Mitch left Texaco in 1989, bound for Tallahassee and the beginnings of BugWare, Inc.  He participated in Ocean Drilling Project Leg 129 in the Mariannas Trench area, where sections were drilled from Recent to Jurassic.

Mitch has built BugWare to be a leading provider of wellsite biostratigraphy in the Gulf of Mexico.  Team BugWare has provided wellsite biostratigraphy for the Gulf ‘s hottest prospects, including Thunderhorse, Baha, Mad Dog, St. Malo, Trident and many, many more.  See our map of projects worked.

Contact Mitch at BugWare’s voice line, his cell at (850) 591-5087, or email him at mitch.covington@bugware.com.