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Showing results for tags 'Mississippian'.
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Ventral Ameropiltonia lauradanae trilobite
Collector9658 posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Mississippian fossils
A nice ventral Ameropiltonia trilobite.-
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- boone county
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In the annual TFF secret Santa I received a lot of cool fossils. One was a Mississippian aged bryozoan hash plate from the chesterian zone of the Bangor limestone. There are lots of interesting tiny details on the specimens so when looking through a microscope I spotted a tiny white sphere, only 150 micrometers in diameter. The question is, is it a fossil associated with the other bryozoans or is it just some synthetic foam or similar? The reason I ask is because it appears to be clean of matrix resting on top rather than imbedded. Stupid question? Maybe.
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- bangor limestone formation
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
An intriguing crinoid calyx from the Chouteau Formation of central Missouri, likely Aacocrinus boonensis . I'll clean and ID this specimen properly later this year.-
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
An enrolled Comptonaspis swallowi I found today. Unfortunately, some of the shell has weathered away. I'm still pretty happy as these aren't the easiest trilobites to collect anymore.-
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- boone county
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Today I went through some piles of weathering Fern Glen limestone I have outside, and I found the cutest little calyx. First thought was it was a chunk of stem, but after chipping it out of the rock that was definitely not the case. I compared it to some literature I had on hand, and believe it is small Agaricocrinus pracursor crinoid calyx. I Would like some second opinions. Unfortunately I don't have an air abbraider to clean this calyx further and it being so small as well as ironstained makes it tough to photograph well with my old phone, so I will add a couple more photos than usual. Thanks as always. -Jay
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Looking for spots to find complete crinoids in indiana or surrounding states. I've done some door knocking in crawfordsville to no avail. Does anyone know where else to look or who to talk to?
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- crawfordsville
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
A good sized Pudoproetus fernglenensis cranidium.-
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- fern glen formation
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
A rare partial Mississippian trilobite. Unfortunately the specimen was found damaged and is missing most of it's cephalon.-
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
An odd bryozoan from the Fern Glen Formation of Missouri.-
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- bryozoan
- evactinopora
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
A nice Pentremites blastoid from the Golconda Formation of IL.-
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Identification help requested! In presumable Burlington chert (Mississippian: Tournaisian/Osagean) of east-central Missouri (Lincoln County), USA, I recently came across a mostly moldic chert specimen of what must be a bryozoan, but I do not know what early Mississippian bryozoan would possess such a robust axis devoid of zoœcia, as in the later Mississippian Lyropora. At first I was not even sure it was the bryozoan’s own axis but instead thought the bryozoan was somehow associated with an orthoconic cephalopod. Each photo below is paired with its optical inversion to help visualize what originally filled the mold. Scales in mm. The main reason I feel confident that this whole structure is bryozoan is thanks to a colleague’s find of a presumably related unidentified bryozoan, also in moldic chert presumably from the Burlington Formation but from southwest Missouri, that shows the axis and its texture much more clearly than mine. Here is that specimen, again with inversions. Again I have no knowledge of an early Mississippian bryozoan built like this. (Yes, the axis surface texture looks quite a bit like the texture along the genal rim of some Mississippian trilobites! But it also resembles undoubted bryozoan textures I’ve seen.) Identification help requested! Thanks.
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- bryozoa
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My annual excursion to visit my family which migrated to Kentucky years ago took place at the end of October into November, lasting two weeks. Of course, the planned trip took me in the vicinity of some excellent fossil bearing sediments and though quality time with family was the primary purpose, I did hope to add to my collection. All of the spots I visited were ones I've been to before; however, the first stop was a new one for me- Paulding, well known and documented on the Forum for its Middle Devonian marine fauna. I drove from the suburbs of New York City for almost eleven hours, raining most of the way, arriving at and spending the night at a hotel in Defiance, Ohio. Paulding was about fifteen minutes away. Drove there the following morning, It was a brisk forty degrees, mostly cloudy, but sunny at times. A TFF member I was supposed to hook up with there unfortunately had to bail last minute. A nearby quarry which exposes the famed Devonian Silica Shale had, years ago, stopped allowing collectors to hunt there. There was a big outcry and the quarry set up a fossil park dumping fossiliferous rock onto a property they owned which the public were free to collect from. Much of it is now overgrown and much of the rock has been reduced to gravel. However, there are still many fossiliferous chunks out there if one is willing to look.
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- bivalves
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Back in 2020 I went with a university paleontology class to a quarry in Alabama where the Mississippian Bangor Formation is exposed. Much of the formation is massive pure limestone, which is used for cement production. However at the top of the quarry there are thin limestone layers separated by shale. As this is unsuitable for cement, it is stripped off and discarded adjacent to the quarry, and we are allowed to search this. Crinoids and blastoids are common finds, and other fossils including chondrichthyans ("shark" teeth and spines) are found occasionally. On the 2020 trip I found a partial large edrioasteroid, the first the professor had seen and they had been leading trips to the quarry for many years. (BTW edrioasteroids are known from other Bangor exposures, just not this quarry). Last weekend I was trimming up some fossils with a tile saw to make space in the cabinet. The edrioasteroid was still on a fairly big slab partly wrapped in aluminum foil. The back had a centimeter or so layer of dried mud and broken down shale covering it. Before I started to cut up the slab I decided to clean off the back, in part to make cutting less messy, and also just to make sure there wasn't anything interesting on that side. In the past I have cut right through good fossils because I didn't know that they were there. As I took a toothbrush to the mud and broken down shale, a bit of black appeared. This was interesting, as about the only thing in these rocks that is black are the fish teeth. A bit more scrubbing, and a beautiful Chomatodus tooth appeared, the best I have seen personally. There is a small bit (maybe ~2 mm) missing on one end, but otherwise it's all there and perfectly exposed. The taxonomy of these fish is quite confused, and even experts are declining to put species names on specimens until the genus is properly revised, so I am labeling this specimen as Chomatodus sp. Just for fun, I will be entering this one for Fossil of the Month. The edrioasteroid (Hypsiclavus huntsvillensis): The tooth (Chomatodus sp):
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- alabama
- bangor formation
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Hello, I found this rock in an ephemeral stream bed with what I think is an ammonite and crinoid head in the same rock. I'm somewhat familiar with the local geology and fossils but not 100% sure. It was found in Columbia MO in what should be part of the Osagean series of the Mississippian. Most common rocks in the area are limestone, chert, and dolostone; crinoids are extremely common. I'm a lot less confident on what I think is a mold of a crinoid head (second fossil pictured). I just hope it's not a chert nodule. Anyways I would love to hear other opinions to confirm this. Thanks!!!!
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- ammonite
- carboniferous
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While journeying back out to the Mississippi River, I decided to also stop along the Meramec River in St. Louis. There are exposures of Mississippian aged Warsaw Formation along the river. I passed one, and turned around quickly to try my chances at finding a nice crinoid calyx. There was a lot of rock exposed, but not much of it was fossiliferous. Much of the rock was caked in mud and thick dirt, which made finding anything difficult. After a few hours, I did finally manage to find something worthwhile. It was a nice Agaricocrinus crinoid calyx, exposed in the hard bedrock. Unfortunately, no amount of chipping or pounding was going to get this out of the hard bedrock. Luckily, I had a new grinder in my car I had purchased last week that came with a diamond tipped blade. I had never used a grinder or saw before to extract a fossil from rock, but thought this would be a good opportunity to try and do so. Geared up with my PPE, I used my grinder to put in two relief cuts. Success! The two cuts made it a breeze to knock out with a hammer and chisel. The crinoid is dirty now, but will clean up nicely when I get time to put towards it. I packed up my trophy, and decided to drive out to my campsite for the night. The next morning, I took off to a couple of spots along the Mississippi River. There is a lot of rock along the river and in the area, so research is a must! You could wander around a ton of rock and never find a fossil. I had a secret spot mapped out, and today I was not completely disappointed. I had found the Bainbridge Formation rock I was looking for, though unfortunately there was very little rock exposed. A lot of time was spent carefully scouring the few slabs of exposed stone. Here were a few complete, but weathered Calymene trilobites. Many unsuccessful attempts later, I finally found one I thought that was worth trying to clean up. You can see a small portion of the cephalon exposed. I gathered a few more non photo worthy trilo-bits for my collection, and packed up my finds. I had a long walk back to my car. Once I got back, my curiosity got the best of me so I spent some time picking away at my last exciting find. I carefully exposed it a little bit, but will stop here for now. I am fairly confident it will be a complete Calymene trilobite! A definite happy end to my weekend off work.
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- bainbridge formation
- girardeau county
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A few days ago I took a trip to view some exposures of Ordovician aged rock along the Mississippi River. I had decided afterwards to take a little detour and stop by a fairly popular exposure of Mississippian aged Golconda Formation outside the town of Anna, Illinois. There is rock exposure along both sides of the road here. I was careful, and decided to park further down along a gravel road. A lot of material at this site is weathered out, and easily collectable. I flipped about every rock I saw as I walked up to the exposure, and the first rock I flipped had a nice blastoid on it that looks to clean up nice. I didn't use any tools here, everything collected was just picked up loose. I found a few more nice Pentremites blastoids. This next one is probably the largest Pentremites I've found in Illinois. It was huge! Here are the two compared next to each other. I believe they are both Pentremites pyriformis. I found a few nice crinoids as well. I almost couldn't believe what I saw when I spotted this first crinoid! A very small and dirty Phanocrinus crinoid. The next one I found was on a rock I flipped over, and better shows the bottom calyx plates. This one unfortunately wasn't complete, still not too shabby. There were alot of bryzoans and brachiopods weathered out. I did take a small handful of Archimedes spirals. Last find was a small block with a trilobite pygidium on it. This was a nice little stop. It was very easy to collect as well.
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I stopped by a Mississippian aged road cut in Illinois today while driving on my way home. I found some crinoids, and I believe they are all Phanocrinus formosus from the Golconda Formation. I appreciate any input. I apologize, my camera cannot capture the best images of the smallest specimen.
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I was out looking for trilobites, but found an interesting crinoid calyx exposed. I've done some research, and I believe this crinoid is from the Mississippian Fern Glen Formation. At first glance, it looked like it was an Agaricocrinus or Actinocrinus. After a little spit-shine, I then changed my mind to Steganocrinus. I've used my best reference on hand with illustrative plates; Kinderhook faunal studies—V, the fauna of the Fern Glen formation1, by Stuart Weller to compare with. I'm curious what others think. This calyx looks similar to Steganocrinus pentagonus I've collected from similar aged deposits. The bottom of this calyx is a bit compressed/ damaged.
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From the album: Misha's Carboniferous
Gyrolepidotus schmidti Early actinopterygian Kyzykchul Formation Tournaisian Early Mississippian Carboniferous Krasnoyarskiy krai Russia- 3 comments
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- actinopterygii
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I stumbled upon a small patch of Warsaw Formation limestone and found a couple of cool Chondrichthyes teeth. Both teeth were unfortunately cracked/ split in the matrix, and the tough limestone bedrock made removal tricky. The smaller tooth looks like Cladodont of some sort. I can't ID or recognize the bigger toothplate, and was curious if anyone has possibly seen one similar?
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- chondrichthyes
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From the album: Bill Cain
possible calyx or bryozoan-
- ©2022 bill cain
- bill cain collection
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Curious and a bit crazy, I drove a couple hours out to what used to be a popular blastoid collecting site in Illinois. I've read online that this location has been the example of a couple bad apples ruining the bunch in the past, so I wasn't sure if I could collect or not. The exposure lies in a creek between private property, so to cover my bases I went knocking on some doors. Sometimes, that's all it takes. I spoke with the landowner, and he was nice and did not mind me looking and collecting. I would kindly express that anyone else with similar intentions do the same. Excited, I raced down to the exposure. A short walk from my car and I found the creek. The post will be picture heavy. A bit overgrown, but that's normal during the summertime in the Midwestern USA. I waded to the other side of the creek and started checking the mud towards the bottom. It didn't take long until I found a Pentremites blastoid! It was a decent size, though a bit compressed. Checking back, I noticed another one right below it, and gave them a quick creek wash. I then went up and started checking the first lower wall and noticed a nice dirty blastoid eroding out of what looks like a mudstone/ shale rock. I decided getting low on my hands and knees and checking through all the eroded material would be the best approach. This worked well. There were many blastoids just waiting to be plucked at the surface, or waiting just below some debree. So far, they were all in nice condition. The soft matrix attached also comes off easily in most cases. After finding 4, I got overwhelmed a bit from excitement and had to sit for a few minutes. A short break later, I started looking again and found more. A lot more. There were so many Pentremite blastoids just littered around. It was almost like picking up pecans when they start to fall, but better! Venturing towards the top of the exposure, I noticed some larger examples. Some were exposed in the soft wall, while a few looked like they had fell out recently. Here was a very nice specimen I found towards the top buried in mud. After a quick wash Almost everything I had found was just laying there and weathered out. No tools were required. I flipped through and looked at some of the bigger chunks of rock, but most were barren besides one cool little multi block. There were also some nice brachiopods and bryozoa I collected, which I sadly didn't photograph. I did find some sort of crusher toothplate as well. I think the blastoids always get most of the attention here, and I can understand why. I've never collected a spot with them so abundant. My final find ended up being my favorite, and biggest blastoid. I'm amazed at the quality, sizes, and sheer abundance of Pentremites blastoids that are here. This was a lot of fun and is a productive place to spend a day.
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I decided to stop by and check out a few road cuts while traveling through the St. Louis area and found what I believe are a couple of fish teeth. I'm not certain, but all of their features lead me to believe they are fish teeth. They were both found loose of rock and close by each other as seen in the first photo. While they very in size and shape, I believe it is probable they are from the same type of animal. The rock seems to be Mississippian in geologic age, though I'm unsure of the geologic formation they eroded out from. This isn't territory I am familiar with, so I appreciate anyone's expertise on the matter!
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From the album: Misha's Carboniferous
Cardiosuctor populosum Coelacanth late Mississippian Bear Gulch Limestone The matrix of this specimen is a bit unusual and not typical of what I've seen from most other Bear Gulch fossils, does anyone know why this might be? I'm assuming it might be a specific layer within the Lagerstätte which is also rich in Coelacanths as the only other fossils I've been able to find online in similar dark colored matrix from Bear Gulch with the same type of preservation are also Cardiosuctor specimens. The dark color of both matrix and fossil make it a bit difficult to distinguish some of the features, but there's some good preservation of skull elements, the vertebral column, fins and some scales around the specimen. generously gifted to me by my friend @Dean Ruocco- 1 comment
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- bear gulch
- coelacanth
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