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Phosphatic Concretions Of The Pennsylvanian Muncie Creek Shale


Missourian

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As requested, here are some fossils found in concretions from the Pennsylvanian Muncie Creek Shale....

 

Two conularids and some chitin, possibly from a crustacean:

 

17-Muncie-conularids-chitin.jpg

 

Crustaceans are occasionally found:

 

08-Muncie-crustaceans.jpg

 

The phyllocarid shrimp Concavicaris is the most common. The two nodules on the left contain its spiky telson. At top and lower right, its carapace can be seen. The nodule in the middle with the fly-like form may be a shrimp tail. The nodule in the upper right appears to contain chitin. There appears to be a curled-up shrimp in there, but I'm not sure.

 

Ammonoids are found too. The square-edged Proudenites seems to be the most common:

 

05-Muncie-Proudenites.jpg

 

A suture pattern is visible in the one at the bottom.

 

Fish material is quite common:

 

10-Muncie-fish-bones.jpg

 

Most are bones and spines that are hard to id. Occasionally, one is recognizable. The mandible on the left, for instance.

 

I call these 'chicken bones':

 

04-Muncie-chicken-bone.jpg

 

This distinctive form has bilateral symmetry. I'm not sure where it would fit into a fish.

 

A piece of another 'chicken bone', and a scale:

 

13-Muncie-chicken-scale.jpg

 

And finally, the coprolites:

 

15-Muncie-coprolites.jpg

 

Bones and scales pass straight through a fish. That big bone on the right must have been painful....

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Missourian....WOW....This material is fabulous, thanks for posting it and showing it to us.... The shrimpy bits are pretty detailed and I have a nodular tail thats very similar to yours... its great finding a creature in a serious of nodular jigsaw pieces hopefully one day have a full reconstruction of the creature.... and great to see an ammonoid... the fish material is stunning... it really is, great preservation and detail.... I could hunt that stuff all day....The scale and jaw I recognise from my carb fishy finds but the chicken bone is intriguing... Could that be a jawbone or dorsal fin spine?.... The coprolites I also find interesting and very often we find them containing bivalve or insect remains... Occasionally they have become circular in shape and we dont know if these are regurgitates of undigestable material or possibly coprolites that have swelled and opened up after becoming water logged and have spreading out prior to fossilisation over the silt in a circular shape..

Good stuff.... :)

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Super cool! I've read of these nodules out in your part of the mid-west, but I've never seen a collection of them.

Thanks for sharing!

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I gotta love those! In the pic where you have "fish material is common",

what is that in the top right corner of the image?

Welcome to the forum!

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On 12/2/2011 at 10:35 AM, Roz said:

I gotta love those! In the pic where you have "fish material is common",

what is that in the top right corner of the image?

 

Thanks all for the comments.

 

I'm not sure what the upper-right thing is.

 

These bones come in a bewildering variety, and illustrations of these fish are rather hard to find.

 

The only types that have been confirmed in these nodules are Cobelodus and paleoniscoids.

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Thanks all for the comments.

I'm not sure what the upper-right thing is.

These bones come in a bewildering variety, and illustrations of these fish are rather hard to find.

The only types that have been confirmed in these nodules are Cobelodus and paleoniscoids.

I asked because I found one that looks quite a bit like it.. Thanks for identifying

the ones you know..

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Oh yeah, in this thread:

http://www.thefossil...__1#entry274997

there are some images of my nodules with Lawrenciella, which is the endocast of the cranium of some fish.

Oh Yes, I had seen those! Those are just amazing lil' devils!. I think the one on this thread is possible brain

material but uncertain as to how it presents itself in the pic on this thread.. Looks a bit different to me..

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On 12/2/2011 at 3:43 AM, Terry Dactyll said:

.... I could hunt that stuff all day....

 

I could too if the nodules kept popping out of the rock. :)

 

Quote

the chicken bone is intriguing... Could that be a jawbone or dorsal fin spine?....

 

The 'chicken bone' has bilateral symmetry, and the bulky end seems to have been part of some form of hinge joint.

 

Quote

The coprolites I also find interesting and very often we find them containing bivalve or insect remains... Occasionally they have become circular in shape and we dont know if these are regurgitates of undigestable material or possibly coprolites that have swelled and opened up after becoming water logged and have spreading out prior to fossilisation over the silt in a circular shape..

 

Or maybe some of the fish shouldn't have drank the water... :)

 

I didn't think of the possibility that they are 'throw up'. That would explain the rather large, saddle-shaped bone on the right.

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The 'chicken bone' has bilateral symmetry, and the bulky end seems to have been part of some form of hinge joint.

A dorsal spine needs to raise and lower for defensive purposes as well as doing its job when the fish is moving...Maybe this could explain the hinged end... Very often dorsal spines (& teeth) preserve quite well and are more robust in comparison to the other fish remains... Obviously only a thought...

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Impressive research post...KUDOS

Very interesting topic because I also have collected a lot of these

(what I refer to as) Phosphatic nodules at my Pennsylvanian locality

in the St. Louis. MO area. I've opened several and I see some familiar

fossils, shapes, and patterns.

Will have to go to my collection and sort through the material comparing

some of fossils in this posts with those I found. I have about 1K nodules

that needed to be opened and examined.

Again...Most impressive and thank you for sharing :)

Barry

Flash from the Past (Show Us Your Fossils)
MAPS Fossil Show

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  • 1 year later...

I finally rescued several of my Muncie Creek concretions from the chaotic mess in the basement. I will go through them and show anything interesting that turns up. I'll also round up images that I'd posted in other threads and occasionally place them here.

 

I'll start with this little gem:

 

5476-Muncie-doohickey-1.jpg

 

5474-Muncie-doohickey-2.jpg

 

I haven't id'd it yet.

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In your second image (in the center), those almost look like tiny teeth..

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On 5/9/2013 at 11:37 AM, Roz said:

In your second image (in the center), those almost look like tiny teeth..

 

Whatever they are, they seem to be inside of a 'tube'. There appear to be three 'tubes' altogether. I wonder if it is a compressed phyllocarid telson.

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Speaking of teeth, here is a 26 mm fish mandible:

 

1928-1935-Muncie-fish-jaw-2500.jpg

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Speaking of teeth, here is a 26 mm fish mandible:

attachicon.gif1928-1935-Muncie-fish-jaw-2500.jpg

Now I am just outright jealous of your find! I have dreamed of finding a fish jaw

with teeth of that age!!! Do you know what kind of fish as I would think those

teeth might really narrow it down?

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On 5/9/2013 at 0:16 PM, Roz said:

Now I am just outright jealous of your find! I have dreamed of finding a fish jaw

with teeth of that age!!! Do you know what kind of fish as I would think those

teeth might really narrow it down?

 

I'm not sure at all. I figured it could be a paleoniscid, but that was based on a similarity to an illustration in some book. I don't remember which one at this point. Come to think of it, are there any decent publications out there that describe or illustrate the various Pennsylvanian fish? Gerard Case's book is probably the best I've seen so far.

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Not that I know of.. I have done searches in the past but haven't found what I am

looking for. If I locate an interesting one I will sure let you know.. I do best with

actual images..

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Stunning !....Great to see this material.... Very detailed....

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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On 5/10/2013 at 2:18 AM, Terry Dactyll said:

Stunning !....Great to see this material.... Very detailed....

 

Thanks. I have to agree. :)

 

Now for the goniatite Schistoceras sp.:

 

4289-Schistoceras-1.jpg

 

4292-Schistoceras-2.jpg

 

4305-Schistoceras-3.jpg

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Wow Missourian!!!!! What great finds!!!! You are a never ending supply of cool fossils.... I just can't imagine the size of your collection if these were hiding in your basement! Looking forward to seeing more!!! :)

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On 5/10/2013 at 10:46 AM, lissa318 said:

I just can't imagine the size of your collection if these were hiding in your basement!

 

Well, most were hiding, but not all. :)

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The best of the best isn't in my collection. A fellow KC collector found this section of scales:

 

5519-Muncie-scale-section-1.jpg

 

5522-Muncie-scale-section-2.jpg

 

This is from an illustration in a local guidebook, but I've seen it in person. The concretion is about two inches wide,

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