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Last week in a thread by @WyomingRocks! about Whiskey Bridge, a Middle Eocene Claiborne Group site in Texas, @historianmichael asked about ostracods from there. I said I would post some pictures, so here I go. I brought home a bunch of matrix from the site a couple years ago and have broken much of it down and pulled out the larger fossils, but I had not really gone through the micro stuff until recently. I sieved it through a series of screens and found the ostracods primarily on the 60 mesh screen. I have only gone through a tiny amount of it, but wanted to answer his question as I tend to wander off in all fossil directions and who knows when I'll get back to Eocene Ostracods - haha. I picked over two dozen specimens from several different species out of less than 1/2 TBSP of matrix. I wonder what all is in the quart bag of it that I have!! Artusy in his thesis (see below) recognized 46 species of ostracods, I have a long way to go. A few years ago @jkfoamposted an ostracod or two from this location in this thread: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/11079-the-arthropod-that-cant-get-any-respect/page/2/ There may be other posts on the forum as well, but Eocene ostracod threads are not a huge topic! I am not an ostracod expert by any stretch, so others that are more knowledgeable (like @Acryzona) can feel free to correct or update any of my ID's. The literature that I found dealing with ostracods from this site is limited and somewhat old, but that is what I have. I'm sure there are more recent publications on portions of the fauna, but I have not tried to wade through that. I primarily used: The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part Q (1961), a thesis by Raymond Artusy (1960) Ostracoda of the Stone City Beds at Stone City Bluff, Texas, Bulletin 114 of the Mississippi Geological Survey by William Moore (1970) The Jackson Eocene Ostracoda of Mississippi I know some of the pictures are not totally focused, but unfortunately at this magnification, there is a pretty limited depth range that is in focus until I learn how to do photo stacking. I hope you can get the idea of what they look like though, some of them are really intricate and wonderful looking. The last few pictures are really intricate specimens and I'm sure with some effort, I could get a more precise ID, but the differences are all in the details of the ornamentation and subtle shape differences and I haven't taken the time yet to master that. Enjoy!

I was able to take another trip to the Leighton Formation today! It's been a while since I've been able to visit (months and months), but I've finally been able to. Unfortunately, during the winter the place is completely covered in snow and ice. Not really the best collecting conditions... My last trip there was in August of last year, and the spring has been very busy. Today it was time. It was supposed to be overcast with a chance of rain, but it came out sunny and bright. Absolutely beautiful day out. The collecting was very good. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the site. I was working in the same spot as last time, and at another outcrop a little farther down the shoreline. Place hasn't changed much, still as minuscule and weathered as ever. I had a better idea where to look though. Last time, I collected a lot, but I was mainly working in layers where the fossils were very evident. These layers contained a plethora of brachiopods, ostracods, tentaculites and other invertebrates - plus my first conodont. This time, though, I was going to try something a little different. The layers between the extremely fossiliferous layers had finer sediments, and generally seemed to keep the specimens intact better. I chose to mainly work in what I now call the "Chonetes layer". It's the only layer in these outcrops that contain Chonetes bastini brachiopods. The layer doesn't shatter as much as the other shale, so the pieces come out without a lot of cracking. It was also the same place that I found a nice trilo-bit, and I was hoping it would pay off. It did... The best finds of the day went to the trilobite cephalons. I found two Acaste cf. zerinae sp. - mostly intact, but an eye cracked off on the first, and both on the second. I was (luckily) able to find them, and I intend to glue them back on. At least the external molds are completely intact. In all of the following pictures, internal molds come first, external molds second. Cephalon #1, the one-eyed wonder. Cephalon #2 - missing both of the eyes. Sad, it would have been so nice too... Then came the pygidia - four of them! I believe that they are all the same species as the cephalons - A. zerinae - but I could be wrong. I'm sure the trilo-experts here can help me with that. Pygidium #1, the nicest one. Pygidium #2 - this little guy got a bit beat up when the rock split. Pygidium #3 - little bugger needs to be prepped a bit. Pygidium #4 - the internal mold of this cracked in half - and it's missing a piece. This one's a neat little trace fossil. It looks like an infilled burrow to me, but I'll set up a separate thread for that - with better pictures. And this very odd little guy. Another one I'll have to take better pictures on, and as soon as the matrix is pared down a bit I will scrutinize it under a microscope. It's not very evident, but it feathers out at the right end. It could be mineral staining or something, but I'm not sure yet. Then the stuff I couldn't bear to leave behind. I was trying to keep my collecting to new stuff, but some of them just sneaked in there... I feel like we've all experienced this before. Orbiculoidea sp. brachiopod. Lingula sp. brachiopod. Leiopteria rubra bivalve. It was a pretty good day. On top of these finds, I brought back some promising shale pieces to look for micro-fossils in - and a few more interesting unknowns. But that's for another time.. Thanks for reading!

Hello everyone, Recently @Shamalama showed me great kindness and generosity when he sent me some samples of matrix from three Devonian sites. This package arrived yesterday and I have slowly been picking out all of the tiny fossils. I want to use this topic to show off my finds. Here is everything I received:

Hi, a few days ago I went on my first ever fossil hunting trip to Eben-Emael, a Limestone quarry in Belgium that dates to the Maastrichtian and is part from the type location (the historical ENCI quarry being only a 3,5 km to the north. The trip was orginized by the BVP (Belgische Vereniging voor Paleontologie) and a short report of the trip with phot's and some of the finds can be found in this topic by @Manticocerasman who I was lucky enough to tag along with, cause I doubt I would have found many mention worthy fossils without the guidance of Kevin. But since I am into microfossils I decided to collect some samples of the limestone without the obvious fossils home to later be able to look for microfossils as it should be quite rich. I think I have around 1 - 3 kg of matrix left to look for microfossils. But I have never myself dissolved matrix, and although it seems easy, I don't want to make any mistakes. During the trip they advised me on two different approaches, depending on what kind of fossils I wanted to find. One approach was dissolving in water and the other in vinegar, but now the seeming obvious question. How exactly do I do that? Should I just take a bucket of a glass, fill it halfway with said liquids and just wait? Or should I use a sieve and lay the block there so only fossils remain in the sieve and the rest goes to the buttom. Does the limestone just dissolve or does some kind of putty residu where the microfossils will be in? If so, how to properly remove the fossils when you pour out the liquids without pouring out the fossils? I know I have many questions and some might be very obvious and straigh-forward, but I really haven't done this before and I would like to do it the right way from start. So thanks in advance for any tips & tricks, I would really appreciate any help!

Hello all, I have recently acquired more fossilised Ostracods from here in Connecticut. All of them are very different from each other and some come in plates as hash while others are more scattered but also whole. The plates range in sizes but the ostracods are pretty much the same everywhere. Some plates also have clam shrimp. These do not seem like particularly rare pieces although I have not seen any others from the Jurassic of CT. In return I am mostly looking for any Paleozoic material but I am open to any suggestions. Thank you everyone, More pictures will follow in the comments.

Here I have a few hash plates littered with ostracods all over their surfaces, they don't show up great on camera but I will also include a closeup shot of the surface. They were all found by me here in the Jurassic shales of Connecticut. I have way too many to keep even from just one batch of matrix but feel bad throwing them away. I am not looking for anything in particular just seeing if people would be interested, Thank you all, Misha.

Due to the current instability of the cliffs, I headed west Sunday. @EMP helped me out with a ton of info, so I knew I could hit a few sites in one day. My dad and I drove to Allegany County and got to Hunting. I messed up the directions so probably didn’t get to the exact site, but I found a few exposures of mid-late Silurian material, probably McKenzie and Tonoloway formations mostly. The yield was a huge amount of ostracods, some brachiopods. My dad saw a strange rock so I climbed some talus and picked it up. Upon closer examination it had not only ostracods, but tentaculitids on it! Think that will be my IFOTM entry. My dad also found a beautiful calcite vug at one of the sites. I saw a bryozoan in one rock but I didn’t pick it up as the rock was too big. No trilobites, but for a few short stops not bad. I encountered some oriskany sandstone near as well, but as those who have hunted in it will know, it’s badly metamorphosed and almost never yields trilobites. After that, I continued to the conemaugh FM, a Carboniferous terrestrial unit. There was a water filled ditch right in front of the outcrop so I had to do some ninja moves over it here and there. The sandstone was mostly barren aside from a few fragments and the shake was too fragile to survive long but nonetheless I made it out with a few nice plant pieces. A day well spent, I returned home, fossils and a few good memories in tow. I haven’t taken many pictures yet, but I will. Here are a few to whet your appetite. Vug and worn ostracods and brachiopods from Tonoloway limestone

Found this piece of large (for the location) orthocone yesterday in a Brigantian (Mississippian) mudstone. The thin bits of surviving shell are apparently pierced through with many small round objects, mostly circular, 0.3 - 0.5 mm in diameter. Each one is now a very low cylinder (like a watch battery) with apparently vertical sides and depressed centre. Many are filled with pyrite. They have left impressions on the mudstone internal mould - the whole shell fossil is covered with them, both the living chamber and chambered phragmocone. Ostracods came to mind but these seem to go right through the shell and the spacing is quite regular so was whatever they were growing there? Orthocones and many other types of shell are common from this location but I've never seen this before. And one more:

Apparently not all Ostracods shave in the morning Subrecent, Mauritanian Shelf

Hello all. I have been really stumped on these for a long time. They look like small bivalves at first site, but they have odd shapes and some have a long, straight "hinge line"; none have a clear umbo or ornamentation or internal detail. I wonder if they could be ostracods? I found them at an outcrop near Catskill, NY, at a place where you can see the Taconic Unconformity. Specimen came from a big slab of rock detached from the outcrop, and I could not find where it came from. So it's age could be late silurian or middle ordovician. In the microscope, I can tell it's definitely a shell material. Need to do acid test. Any ideas? Thanks, Bob

This is just a guide to people who want to collect microfossils and don't want to spend a lot of money. This topic includes foraminifera,conodonts,ostracods,scolecodonts,and misc. mini fossils mainly too small to see without magnification. It will not be all encompassing, mostly for the beginners. A) Collecting; If you happen to live in an area that has a lot of shale/clay then you are in luck. The Ordovician and the Devonian both have lots of microfossils. Just gather up a bag of clay from between the rock layers. Soak the clay in a big bowl , crush it up with your hands, and slowly decant the clay (pour it off slowly), refill the bowl and repeat until the water turns clear. This may take numerous washings. What you have will have micros in it most likely. Dry the residue, if it is clean,it will not clump together if it sticks together too much, wash it some more. Then sieve the residue through at least 2 sieves one with door screen size openings and the other fine mesh (women's hose, or if you're Joe Namenth, your own hose ) Then look at the smaller material with at least 20x magnification and see what you find. The areas with sandy materials just usually have to be dried and sieved (Cenezoic, Cretaceous stuff) Cretaceous marls can be treated like clays for the most part. I don't usually deal with hard rocks, they require an acid to break down, too much work and mess for me. Materials: Sieves Fossil mounts Magnifiers Sorting tools C) Sieves can be as cheap or as expensive as you are willing to spend. The ones I will show you how to make will cost under$10. They are made from cardboard cylinders and needle point hoops and mesh. Most of which can be found in your local hobby store. The pix tell the story. I use door screen for the coarse sieve and hose/mosquito netting for the fine. You can buy a 4" plastic with brass mesh 5 piece sieve set from geologic/materials testing supply stores on line, about $40-50 a set. The advantage to these is you can wash the matrix directly through the sieves saving time. D) Fossil storage You can buy microfossil storage slides on the net from scientific supply houses for $4-7 each. The ones I use cost about a $1, and you can customize them to what you collect. I but plastic coin holders from hobby shops 2x3" and 11/2" square. I print my own lable inserts I printed using Excell to get the size needed. You may use my included for if you wish and it will print clear enough for you. If you figure out how to make money off this idea I want a cut. End of part 1

I've been experimenting with breaking down some Windom Shale from Penn-Dixie, and I think I have some ostracods: I have a few other interesting bits, too. Are these echinoid spines, micro-belemnite bits, or something else? And then there's this object: That's a small sampling. I also have found lots of brachiopod pieces, which is not surprising. The shale is rich in macrofossils, especially brachiopods, trilobites, horn corals, and occasional straight cephalopods.

So I have found a couple more ostracod pieces. Sadly small pieces and very fragile.... The loupes I ordered came in the mail so tried to snap a couple shots, starting with my original pieces (have positive and negative). This isn't a great pic and hoping to get better ones tomorrow. It is through a 5x loupe. Will add future ostracod pics to this post!

Now that there is a microfossils subforum, I thought I might gather various posts regarding some silicified micros I found recently.... Years ago, I collected a few nice gastropods that were silicified: Because they came from limestone, I figured I could extract many more with muriatic acid. Last summer, I collected some chunks of rock that contained the mollusks: This was the result of the acid bath: There weren't as many snails as I'd hoped, but I was intrigued by the fine detritus. Time to pull out the microscope.

Part 2 Fossil mounts cont. I cut the ID lables to fit the coin holder I am going to use and glue it in the box using a glue stick. Let the glue dry, and coat the numbered area of the lable with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water. Do not put it on thick, a thin coating will do. When this dries the holders will be ready to use. The blank area at the top is for location information. E) Magnifiers: You can use a hand lens of 20x to view the prepared sample but this will get real tedious if you are doing much looking. There are several other relatively cheap options. USB stand alone cameras. These you plug into your computer and get a real time picture on the screen of what you are looking at with the use of the included software. These cost from $20 to $50 depending on which one you buy. I have included 2 that I have, they take decent pictures and aren't hard to use. They are basically small digital cameras. I have included some pix from them also. PIX: Another type of USB camera I use is used in conjunction with a binocular microscope. This obviously is not as cheap but still not too bad, about $220 for a 5.1 M camera. A 1.3M is about $100, and on up to higher resolutions. You can buy a serviceable binocular microscope for as little as $140. I found a nice new Russian made one for $250. F) Sorting tools: I purchase various sorting trays from dollar stores and use different ones depending on the color of the matrix I am looking through. Dark for light and light for dark. Any smooth very shallow sided container can be used. See pix. To sort out the micros in the trays I make my own disecting needles from dowel rods and sewing needles of various sizes. Make a hole in the end of the dowel rod and glue in a needle. When you find something you want to keep you can use a fine tip artists brush or make your own by cutting out most of the hairs from a small model brush. Leave only a couple hairs. Moisten the brush tip (I use spit ) and apply a little moisture to one of the boxes in your coin case. Use the disecting needle to isolate the fossil in the dish and touch the moist brush tip to the fossil, like magic it will stick, and transfer it carefully to the moistened spot on the case. The fossil will stick to the case. It can still be moved until the glue dries. If you need to remove it at a later date a little water on the brush applied to the fossil will break it lose. Lable the slide and have fun. There are lots of web sites out there to help with identification. The best one I know of for foraminifera is Foraminifera.eu. I hope this helps someone, feel free to contact I you have any questions. If I don't have the answer I'm sure someone else on th FF will .