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Showing results for tags 'Devonian'.
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A few weeks ago some friends and I visited a site near Braidwood in southern NSW (3 hours south of Sydney) for middle-late Devonian fish. The site was first published in Ritchie (1984) with the description of Placolepis budawangensis, a phyllolepid known only from this locality. This species is one of the two most common here, with the other being Bothriolepis longi (see Johanson 1999). So far, only these two species have been described from this locality but acanthodian spines and sarcopterygian scales are also known. All fish fossils from this locality occur in within a 75cm band of red siltsone and are mostly just disarticulated plates, but the P. budawangensis holotype is still fairly well articulated. The plates of both species are very recognisable, the Placolepis usually have lovely parallel ridges whereas the Bothriolepis are covered in tiny bumps. Some photos of the siltsone band with some fish plates exposed on top. Peter did a great job on this hole, it's not easy work! The specimens from this locality are quite weathered, so the bone is usually quite poor and doesn't split well. They still look nice, but I chose to dissolve away the bone in hydrochloric acid to latex the cavity for photography. Here are some as found: Placolepis: Bothriolepis: Some bone in cross section (the horizontal black dotted lines): Here are some latex casts of specimens after acid preparation. The latex is blackened with ink, then whitened with ammonium chloride for high contrast photos. Much easier to make out features in these than the unprepared specimens! Bothriolepis longi plates and pectoral fins (compare with figures in Johanson 1999): Placolepis budawangensis: Sarcopterygian scale(?): No idea on this one! After the fish site, we quickly stopped in at a road cutting which yields occasional Devonian plant fossils. Nothing too exciting, but still nice to find some Devonian plants! That's all for now, I might post more ammonium chloride photos when I take the next batch. Hope you enjoyed!
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From the album: Trilobites
purchased. -
After attending a conference in Norman, Oklahoma, I slipped down to the southern part of the state taking a few days to explore a bit of America I have never experienced before. This trip report focuses on the Devonian of the Arbuckle Hills, more specifically, the Haragan Formation. My research ahead of my trip provided me with a few marginal sites to play in. Little did I know, luck would be in my favor that day and provide me access to a couple great sites. I was collecting along a road, a site offered to me by a forum member, and not finding anything substantial. A truck came up over the knoll and stopped next to me. The occupant rolled his window down and asked "what are you doing" in a slightly unfriendly voice. An explanation of who I was and what I was doing appeased him. After a long and friendly conversation on many topics, he suddenly surprised me by asking would I like to fossil hunt on "his" property? He went on to tell me his parents, who really own the property, used to allow fossil hunters on the land for a fee. But due to their age and a few unscrupulous fossil hunters they ceased granting access. I asked him " is this the "White Mound" location and he verified that it was! What luck! He unlocked the first gate and the only thing he asked of me was to lock it as I left. He then said I would have to go through a second gate to get to the fossil site and explained I would likely be greeted by his goats at the gate. You can see he wasn't kidding. I was proud of myself for slipping my vehicle through the gate without a single goat escaping. As I arrived at the site, it became apparent, looking back down the path used to reach the site, that the goats were going to be my friends while I searched for fossils. Look at that train of goats as far as the eye can see. My guesstimate was about 300 head, all friendly. Fossils were weathered out, easy pickings! It was hard to keep track of what specimens I had found already so I didn't overharvest. Here are some of my finds: As mentioned already, a forum member referred me to this roadside collecting spot. It was explained to be by a gate with 2 eagle statues on it. This was Jimmy Houston's property. For avid fisherman on this forum, the name is famous as he is the star in the TV series Jimmy Houston Outdoors. For years, as I religiously watched him teach America how to fish, I took to the water applying his techniques to my fishing grounds, the Mississippi River. Maybe his educational techniques were too good, for the thrill of discovery diminished as I became a better fisherman. This caused me to loose some of my passion for the sport and looked elsewhere to satisfy my need of discovery. That's when I took to the sport of fossil collecting. Anyways, after gaining the knowledge that Jimmy lived there, I reached out to him and told my story. Then ended with an explanation that to find a fossil on his property would be as big a thrill to me as catching a 10 # bass. His response was quick and decisive. I was granted my wish. So after just an hour at White Mound, I had to leave my caprine friends behind and make a new friendship across the road. To reach Jimmy's house required going through 2 fancy gates (Oklahomans love their gates!!) and a herd of elk. Meeting Jimmy was wonderful. The better part of 4 hours was spent on his deck overlooking a lake frequently seen in his TV shows. Conversations had never related to fishing or fossils at all!! We just had a chance to get to know each other in a personal way. Eventually, he took me around his property on a 4 wheeler showing me where he felt there could be fossils. He tried hard to make my trip a success, but after hunting at White Mound, I was intrigued with a small dig site they use to get gravel for the road. It looked very similar and I soon had a few Houston fossils to take home! Here is a photo of the two of us. Currently, I am working on a shadowbox to include this picture and the fossils I found. In closing, PLEASE do me a big favor and correct any IDs or ad identification to fossils that lack it. Visiting new sites like this can be overwhelming when the identification process begins.
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- arbuckle hills
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This was my first winter fossil hunting in NJ (or anywhere, as a matter of fact). Definitely a different experience from summer and fall. Less people, and much better fossils! Although the people I have run into were pretty devoted, which I can appreciate. Thought I would document my 4 hunts between December and this past weekend. First up, 12/16. On of my favorite Cretaceous brooks. Found an awesome variety of fossils, one of which turned out to be a Theropod tooth! Group Shot Devonian glacier erratic with Crinoids, Bryozoan and Brachiopod or Bivalve impressions. Gastropod Steinkern Ammonite Steinkern Crustacean claw piece A. phasolus Crusher Tooth Enchodus sp. Tooth w/Jaw fragment Squalicorax sp. (Crow Shark) A. kopingensis (Mackerel Shark) Theropod Tooth
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QUARTETnary - A card game about the geological time scale
paleoflor posted a topic in Members' News & Diversions
L.S., Wanted to raise some awareness on TFF because I expect many here will simply love this: A good friend of mine, Iris van Zelst (geophysicist at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin) has developed this really nice card game centred around the geological time scale: QUARTETnary The gameplay is based on the classic game Quartets (similar to Go Fish and Happy Families), where players try to collect as many sets of four cards as they can. In QUARTETnary, each of the sets represents four major events that took place during a specific geological time period. To win the game, you need to create the most complete timeline of Earth history, all the way from its formation 4.567 billion years ago to the appearance of us humans. The cards have been designed by Lucia Perez-Diaz (Earth scientist and freelance illustrator from the UK). The illustrations look amazing and I really like that they adhered to the official colour scheme of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Iris sent me this nice set of cards for the Proterozoic: The game includes 15 sets of four cards in total (many featuring fossils): one each for the Hadean, Archean and Proterozoic eons, and one each for the 12 periods of the Phanerozoic. I expect QUARTETnary will become a really fun way to learn about and memorize the different geological units and major events in Earth history. Kind regards, Tim -
Found this a couple years ago near Deer Lake, PA. The site is a Devonian aged Mahantango formation location. I split the rock and this was inside. The left and right halves fit together. The specimen is about 5 cm from top to bottom and about 2 cm across. The dimpling pattern is what intrigues me the most. Could it be a type of sponge?
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- devonian
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Zosterophyllum rhenanum Kräusel & Weyland, 1935
oilshale posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Plants
Zosterophyllum rhenanum Kräusel & Weyland, 1935 Early Devonian Brohltal Germany -
From the album: Old Port Formation
Extremely rare trilobite from the Old Port formation of Pennsylvania. -
From the album: Mahatango Formation
Nis Hollow member, Schykill county -
From the album: Mahatango Formation
Undetermined crinoid, niss hollow member. -
Today, I went on a quick early morning fossilhunt. I have been anxious to get out hunting, any chance I can considering how mild winter has been so far. I decided it would be best to start today with little, to no expectations and just see what the day would bring. At about 3:30am I woke up to use the bathroom and when I played back down all I could do was toss and turn. So I did that until about 5:15 and I finally got up. Got to the hunting grounds about 7am, just as the sun was making it's presence known. Unfortunately it was only 20° at the site. There was some snow covering the site as well as ice. Obviously this made digging and splitting slabs a real chore. So much so the there wasn't a whole lot I could do. I was hoping that with the sun out maybe it would eventually warm things up enough to make digging a little easier. So for the first 2 hours i kinda putzed around surface scanning and flipping slabs over, looking for something worthwhile. Eventually I started trying to remove slabs. I was actually starting to make a bit of progress, but then the ground got hard again. While trying to remove the slabs, I picked up a small chunk of matrix that fell off. As I inspected the piece carefully I noticed a small Dipluera pygidium and partial thorax exposed on the very edge of the break. I could tell that the rest of it was underneath some matrix. I would of normally been static but the area where the Dipleura was sitting was pretty fractured and I didn't really think I was going to be able to extract it without the whole thing crumbling apart. But I put it in the truck and decided to give it a shot when I got back home. Other then that I only brought home a bivalve and a brachiopod. There really wasn't anything else worth keeping. When I got home I inspected the trilo very carefully and looked at every fracture going around it, I started breaking off small bits of matrix till it got to the point where all that was left was the portion covering the front half of the trilo. I took my angle grinder and made a notch. Then I took a screwdriver, twisted and popped off the top! That is when I got very excited! Now I have found Dipleuras smaller then this one, but this is the smallest one the I have found in this good of condition. It measures at 1 7/16 of an inch. Totally made the trip worth it! Here is before and after pics.
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Gyracanthus is a cartilagenous gnathostome possibly a stem or sister clade to the Chondrichthyans. Most common fossils found are the fin spines but scapulocoracoids are not uncommon. Fossils here are result of collecting over 8 years from 2013. diagnosis.—Medium-sized gyracanthid fish, maximum estimated body length approximately 1 meter. Maximum fin spine length estimated 375 mm. Ridge width constant at maturity, ridge width constant along insertion-exsertion boundary at maturity, interridge width equal to or less than ridge width. Cristate tubercles ≤2 mm height, ≤2mm width, 9-11/cm proximally on pectoral fin spines, 8/ cm proximally on pelvic fin spines, 15/cm proximally on dorsal fin spines where preserved. Major and minor axes on tubercle, apex oriented oblique to underlying ridge. Pectoral fin spine inserted approximately one-third the length of the fin spine, ridge width constant along insertion-exsertion boundary at maturity, maximum fin spine ridge chevron angle along leading edge 90°, ornamented ridge dorsal to posteromedial groove. Two types of pelvic fin spines, one narrower with extensive exserted area, one wider and more robust with extensive inserted area, both with inserted area extending greater than half the length of the spine. Pelvic fin spine ridges curved retrorse towards midline. Median fin spines approximately symmetrical, comparable to paired fin spines but smaller and straighter distinct anterior and posterior dorsal fin spines. Prepectoral ventral plate with more than 30 tubercle rows, largely subparallel, some bifurcating, curving to the middle only at the extrema, convergent towards the lateral edge; prepectoral ventral plate inserted area at least a third of the width of the plate.
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Taxonomy from Fossilworks.com. Alternative combination: Aspidosoma roemeri. Description from Südkamp, 2017, p. 134: "Encrinaster has many characteristics common with Euzonosoma. The differences are as follows. The elongated arms are strap-like, broadening distally until the disc edge and then tapering evenly as comparatively narrow arms to the arm tips. The interradial disc outline is convex to straight. The marginals are flat overlapping plates. The ambulacrals are more delicate, less rectangular than in Euzonosoma, and more sub-triangular in oral view." Identified by oilshale using Südkamp 2017. References: Schöndorf, F. (1910) Palaeozoische Seesterne Deutschlands. II. Die Aspidosomatiden des deutschen Unterdevon. Palaeontographica 57:1-63. Lehmann, W.M. (1957) Die Asterozoen in den Dachschiefern des rheinischen Unterdevons. Abhandlungen des Hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 21:1-160 Südkamp, W. (2017) Life in the Devonian. Identification book Hunsrück Slate fossils. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil. München 2017. ISBN978-3-89937-221-2.
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I have this unnamed moroccan tilobite in my collection , now i want to know If somebody knows the exact species. I've done a little bit of research and found two species that match very well : Holladorps and Minicryphaeus Quaterspinosus . Or i am completly wrong and its a complete different species Length of the trilobite : 5 cm Found in : Erfoud, morocco
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All material was found in a lag deposit layer on SW side of highway Rt120. SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY SARCOPTERYGII Romer, 1955 TETRAPODOMORPHA Ahlberg, 1991 MEGALICHTHYIDAE Hay, 1902 Diagnosis—Osteolepiform distinguished by a cosmine cover to dermal bones in combination with a premaxillary tusk that interrupts or lies lingual to the premaxillary marginal tooth row, contact between the subopercular and the second submandibular bones, and a distinct rostral process of the supratemporal that is without cosmine cover (Borgen and Nakrem, 2016). Diagnosis—A species of Megalichthys that is distinguished from previously described species by the presence of a pineal series of bones, the presence of a triangular principal gular, and the lack of sensory canal pores on the postparietal.
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I am fortunate enough to have such a huge amount of Middle Devonian Givetian material that I thought it best to put the older Middle Devonian stage, the Eifelian, in its own thread. There are some spectacular fossils here as well though! I thought a good place to start would be in the Formosa Reef, which I believe is quite early Eifelian. This tabulate coral and stromatoporoid reef continues similar complexes found from the Middle Silurian, see my: https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/84678-adams-silurian/page/3/ thread from page three onwards for details. All these Formosa Reef specimens come from a delightful gift from my good friend @Monica who is a tad busy with life at the moment but is fine and still thinking of the forum. This outcrop can be found on Route 12 near Formosa/Amherstburg, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. This beautiful-looking specimen came to me with only a third of it revealed but I managed to get it this far after nine days of painful pin prepping. Monica found another one and posted it for ID here: https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/105528-weird-circular-imprints-formosa-reef-lower-devonian/#comment-1172285 The specimen was identified by another Canny Canadian @Kane to be the little stromatoporoid sponge Syringostroma cylindricum. Hardly a reef-builder, but gorgeous nonetheless. It does have a little thickness to it, but not much. Beautiful! Pretty thin, actually. I love this Monica, thank you!
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- acanthopyge
- acanthopyge contusa
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- acanthopyge contusa
- alnif
- alpena
- amherstburg
- amherstburg formation
- anti atlas
- assa
- athyrid
- athyrida
- athyridid
- athyridida
- athyris
- athyris fultonensis
- atrypa
- atrypid
- atrypida
- austria
- bou dib
- bou dib formation
- brachiopod
- brevispirifer
- brevispirifer gregarius
- bryozoa
- bryozoan
- camarotoechia
- camarotoechia lamellosa
- canada
- ceratarges
- chilidiopsidae
- chonetes
- chonetid
- chonetonschiefer
- clark county
- col daubisque
- confertinemilata
- crassiproetus
- crassiproetus crassimarginatus
- cuninulus
- cyphaspis
- cyphaspis walteri
- cyrtocone
- cyrtoconic nautiloid
- dawsonoceras
- dawsonoceras americanum
- desquamatia
- devonian
- disphyllum
- disphyllum caespitosum
- dunnville
- eifelian
- el otfal formation
- eleutherokomma
- eleutherokomma diluvianoides
- euruteines
- fimbrispirifer
- fimbrispirifer divaricatus
- fistulipora
- formosa
- formosa reef
- france
- furstenstand
- gastropod
- gastropoda
- geisbergsattel
- glenshaw formation
- goldringia
- goldringia citum
- graz
- harpes
- harpes perradiatus
- harpetid
- hippocardia
- hippocardia ohioense
- hoareicardia
- hoareicardia cunea
- horn co
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From the album: Moscow formation, Devonian, Erie co. New York, USA
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From the album: Moscow formation, Devonian, Erie co. New York, USA
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From the album: Moscow formation, Devonian, Erie co. New York, USA
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From the album: Moscow formation, Devonian, Erie co. New York, USA
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From the album: Moscow formation, Devonian, Erie co. New York, USA
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From the album: Devonian, Catskill Fm., Pennsylvania USA
Lobe-finned fish scale-
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From the album: Devonian, Catskill Fm., Pennsylvania USA
Positive and negative of an unidentified plant-
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- devonian
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