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From the very moment we wrapped up at that Conasauga Formation fossil hunt at the spot I'd never heard of before, I was itching to get back there. I guess that's what going for years without hunting half-billion year old bugs does to you. Well, this past Sunday I had my opportunity to get another bug hunt in. It's a good thing I brought my water boots with me, because the spot was quite a bit wetter than the previous time I had come, with some really large puddles at the foot of the hillside I'd get to work in. After a good while of splitting, I had myself yet another selection of Conasauga trilos Of the specimens I collected this time around, I picked up some really interesting and precarious pieces, most notably this one: If this was all there was to this Aphelaspis plate then it'd be a really nice find, but it wouldn't have controlled my attention in quite the way it would have if it didn't also have this: Apparently when this piece split, it split into 3 pieces, not 2, with the 3rd piece actually being the exoskeleton of the larger individual in the split. How it hasn't broken/crumbled into a million pieces by now is beyond me especially considering how thin it is, though I'm definitely not sure how I want to approach it as a result. I'd love to be able to bring out the rest of the detail in it, but with how fragile I know these exoskeletons to be, I'm not even sure it's possible to do much of anything, at least not with what I have on me. It goes even further too, as on the opposite sides of each of the main 2 pieces, there's another 2 trilobite individuals, one on each plate! The split that keeps on giving, that's how it tends to be with this Conasauga material, even when you're splitting at home! With that collective piece, I think I'll nickname it "Frankenbug". Will definitely be open to ideas on how to approach it! As for the rest of my finds, they may not be quite as remarkable as the piece above, but as per usual you get all your Conasauga Cambrian goodness!

I was wondering if anyone had a good list on different species found in the Conasauga Formation? I've found a few references to trilobites, but I was especially curious about non-trilobite species such as brachiopods, sponges, non-trilobite arhtropods, etc.

Made it down to the Conasauga Shale as the last of 10 sites on a 4-state, 6-time-period collecting expedition in mid-august. I'll post reports on the other sites (as well as other trips earlier in the summer) later. I elected not to split shale on-site and just collected shale for splitting in a controlled environment. I'm only interested in trilobites that still have the exoskeleton (rather than just impressions). I gently tap the shale until I see a fine crack in a bedding plane and then carefully pry it apart with an Xacto knife. The exoskeletons usually have a hollow space above and below them and are terribly fragile. One must hope that all the exoskeleton ends up on one side of the split. Any still unexposed require tedious removal of matrix under a scope with a fine needle while trying to avoid poking through the exoskeleton into the hollow space underneath. I wick consolidant under the exoskeleton to prevent it from flaking off. Even blowing on it can knock it off. Here are the keepers.

May be a bit of an odd question, but I was wondering what horizons or layers are the most fossiliferous in the Conasauga Formation. I've heard about the Tibbs Bridge site (RIP), but that site exposed a calcareous, light-colored shale from the upper part of the Conasauga. From what I read online it seems that most of the trilobite beds are located in the upper shale layers of the formation, but I was wondering if anyone else knew if the other parts of the formation had anything?

At this Murray County location, trilobites are not the only thing that can be found. Last April, I contacted Dr. David Schwimmer, who is a Professor of Geology at Columbus State University in Georgia. Dr. Schwimmer has also published a couple papers on the fossils from the Conasauga Formation. I wanted to see if he could identify a small piece of matrix that contained something that I have not found before, or since. I was thinking that it was some type of algae, so I sent both halves of the fossil down to him so he could examine them and see if he could come up with an ID. Here are the two halves- A couple months later, I was contacted by Dr. Schwimmer and he provided the below response. "We put your anomalous specimen in the SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) finally, and it turns out there was no image! That means it has no relief, its a color feature, almost certainly iron oxide colors. My interpretation is that it must be some sort of relict carbon-based plant material, which would suggest, as you first assumed, some sort of algae. Since there is no tissue I would rule out red algae, which usually have carbonate crusts, leaving a green alga as the likely source". I let him keep whatever piece that he wanted and he returned the other piece. Here are close ups of the piece that I have in my collection.

Well, It's been a while. After a hiatus that has seemed like forever, my friend Barrett and I decided to head to the Conasauga to find us some bugs as neither of us really had anything to do this weekend and we both wanted to do something. This was Barrett's first time, so I was effectively his mentor for the day. First stop however, breakfast of southern hospitality at a local biscuit place! After that, we went right to the site, getting into the nitty gritty. The river wasn't flooding over, but it was pretty decently high. Of course, that wasn't stopping us. We got into our big water-proof boots and jumped right in. Barrett quickly got into the groove, finding a certain section of the formation that was producing very large and complete Aphelaspis Brachyphasis with just about every swing of the hammer and chisel. Then late into the day, I found THIS beauty: I was stunned. I had never seen an exoskeleton on a positive that complete from the formation before like this, and for a second I thought it was fake. (sidenote, while transporting it to the car not long after this picture, a portion of the tailshield's exoskeleton unfortunately got peeled off by a very light breeze into the wind. At least I got a picture! Very fragile!) There was also a negative, though honestly it was completely outshown. In the end, we didn't take a whole lot, but we definitely took a number of really good ones, including some of the largest complete Aphelaspis I've seen.

If you beautiful people recall, I said I'd be heading back to our favourite GA trilo site on the Conasauga river for my Convergence media project. Well, here's the run down: When we got to the small parking space that eternally marks the entrance to the site, we checked the river as we always do. To our fortune, the Conasauga was low Saturday, giving us more leg room to hunt. It was definitely the right condition to hunt! Not too hot or cold, and the river was nice and low. After doing some filming shots for the DEC (the school news program), I got to what was REALLY important: finding those trilos! I actually deviated from the norm this trip by going to the other side of the bridge, a place I haven't really explored before. And it was looking promising: It wasn't long before I found a direct formation exposure and got right to splitting the incredibly easy-to-split rock: A short 30 minutes later, I had already gathered a good trip's spoils... One particular multi-slab I found simply lying amongst the rocks caught my eye, with one Aphelaspis positive being practically complete, and even having visible eyes (more images coming later):

Today I was picking through some of the matrix that I have from the Conasagua Formation from Murray County, Georgia and came across a trilobite that surprised me by its size and nice detail. Unfortunately, this trilobite is not complete, and from my limited knowledge of trilobites, it does not look like the Aphelaspis brachyphasis trilobites that i find from that location. Lastly, if it is an Aphelaspis, it must be one on steroids. Any help would be appreciated. @Kane , @sixgill pete , @Fossildude19 , @WhodamanHD , @FossilDAWG An Aphelaspis - on the larger size of what I find. Unknown:

The mudstone from the Conasauga Formation in Murray County, Georgia produces a nice quantity and quality of the trilobite "Aphelaspis brachyphasis" (below). But when it comes to the Agnostoid trilobites, I have only found pieces, that is until tonight. I finally found a complete specimen, though the quality is not the greatest, it is complete.

This trilobite is from Conasauga Shale, Floyd Co., Georgia, USA and it is Middle Cambrian. Is this Elrathia antiquata which is the dominant trilobite of Conasauga Shale? I don't know what other trilobites are in Conasauga Shale. Thanks again to everyone Jani