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© © 2013 Tim Jones

Prep Practice

Fossildude19

By Fossildude19

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Eldredgeops rana -

Middle Devonian, Hamilton Group, Windom Shale. Buffalo, NY.

 

Trying out the new air scribe and air eraser.Seems to be working fairly well.

Note the black dots along the edges of the axial lobe.  It is believed that these are preserved chromatophores, that allowed the trilobites to "change color" for camouflage purposes.

 

NOTE: Specimen was moistened to show color differentiation better. Link to discussion about this fossil: > CLICK ME! <

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© © 2013 Tim Jones

From the album:

Fossildude's Middle Devonian Fossils

· 150 images
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Photo Information

  • Taken with Canon Canon PowerShot A470
  • Focal Length 6.3 mm
  • Exposure Time 1/125
  • f Aperture f/9.0
  • ISO Speed 80
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Fossildude19

Fossildude19

Posted

Specimen after some matrix contouring around the trilobite.

 

 

picture_2022_4_3_14_2_21_75-1.jpg

 

 

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Bringing Fossils to Life

Bringing Fossils to Life

Posted

A more recent paper suggests that these spots are windows into an underlying layer of the exoskeleton, and not simply chromatophores as was once thought.

"...show spots to be microcrystalline low-Mg calcite spheres embedded within the primary layer of the cuticle below the prismatic layer."

"We suggest that spots represent original biologic structures manifested as either crystallographic or optical loci resulting in sclerochrome spots or possibly clear spots embedded in the cuticle that contrasted with a pigmented exoskeleton and may have served as windows to an underlying epidermis."

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248380708_Original_spotted_patterns_on_Middle_Devonian_phacopid_trilobites_from_western_and_central_New_York

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