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This was in a box that was labeled trilobites from what was labeled Providence Mt in California. But to me does not look like a trilobite.

I visited the Quincy spot again, still with meagre finds but some were half-decent. I of course found some more disarticulated thoracic segments but they’re not worth posting, I found too many. Agraulid bits? The cranidium is probably a very badly preserved Skehanos quadrangularis. Some Paradoxides harlani bits, the cheek is weird because the genal spine is somewhat stubby. A very nice cranidium, and a nice size too, ~11 cm between the palpebral lobes, 7 cm from the anterior border to the occipital lobe. A pretty large section of thorax, with seven lobes. A little buddy. It was nice, but the rocks are very fragmented so there is almost no chance for a complete specimen.

I bought this fossil about a year ago and have had it sitting in my display cabinet front and center. It was sold to me as Vetulicola, it came from the Chiungchussu formation in Chengjiang, China. I was wondering if this is actually a Vetulicola species or a similar animal from the formation. It is right at 1cm in length, and the details seem pretty good up close. If it is Vetulicola, is it possible to assign a species to this specimen? Any help would be appreciated!

So, I will admit, I am severely uneducated when it comes to trilobites, but I’d love to learn more about them — the different species, what’s rare, what’s common, formations they’re found in, etc. I don’t have any in my collection yet, and I’d like to change that. Any recommendations where I could start my learning? Books, articles, papers, anything is appreciated.

Hi, I have this trilobite labelled as a Proetida. Also I was told it is 485-251 myo is this also right? Finally is it Moroccan if so I assume Atlas mountains? Thank you for your time!

Today I went back to the spoil piles at Quincy, with some better luck, and weather. I brought bug spray, which helped very much. I’m afraid this gives away too much about the site, but it was a very nice view. A picture of the site. The leaves were quite annoying. Some slickensides and a vug of pyrite which I did not keep, but were cool. On to the finds. I started out in the first few minutes with a lovely Paradoxides harlani left cheek. The rock is not tiny. Some fragments of pleurae. Some hypostomes, showing excellent “terrace lines”. A cephalic doublure, with half of a hypostome. Another more complete doublure. The cephalon might be there, but chances are slim. Some fragments of Skehanos quadrangularis. A cranidium and a heartbreaker thorax fragment. I wish that I had got there sooner, it would have been an awesome bug. A very badly preserved external mould of a Condylopyge eli. Still another species from this site, so I can’t complain. Now for the better finds of this trip. A really nice section of thorax, considering how fragmented this rock is. Four segments, it’s really the best one can expect from here. Not too shabby in terms of size, either. A really nice cephalon, if it were the positive. This one was really a shame, nicely sized too. And lastly, a decently preserved partial cranidium! Nice size, shell, definition, and… …there is a partial brachiopod on the side! I don’t think brachiopods have ever been recorded, or at least discussed from here. Something I never thought I would have found. Overall it was quite fun, I found some better material, and I will definitely return.

Found in spoil piles originating from the Hayward Quarry in Quincy, Massachusetts. Perhaps oxidised limonite burrow? Could the thing I circled be a poorly exposed Paradoxides cranidium? Burrow-like object is 2.2 in. or 5.6 cm. Braintree Argillite.

I found these two cranidiums in the spoil piles at Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. The one on the right is weirdly rectangular. Broken or not fully exposed Braintreella? The one on the left looks similar. “Agraulos” quadrangularis? Braintree Fm.

Before the construction of the Fore River Shipyard in Braintree and Quincy, a bit of the Braintree Argillite was dumped in Quincy. I have rediscovered the site of the spoil piles which are briefly mentioned in a paper about the MA trilobites. I got a few minutes of collecting before the rain got too heavy and I had to leave. The trilobites are found in a fine grained, weakly bedded light argillite that oxidises and forms an orange coating when weathered. I found some larger Paradoxides fragments in a darker argillite with a slightly larger grain size. This argillite weathers first to a blotchy dark grey, then orange spots of what look like limonite form on the surface. Trilobites are also found in an almost chert-like massive argillite that contain dark things which look like trilobite shell but are some sort of mineral. All contain vugs of calcite and pyrite. The finds. Paradoxides harlani left genal and small glabella. Left pleura, And a poorly preserved cranidium on the back. An even more poorly preserved cranidium. Believe it or not, even more badly preserved. Very partial imprint. Still more badly preserved. Large cranidium taken under dramatic lighting. A very effaced bunch of thoracic segments. Negative but still with some shell. Taken under dramatic lighting. And last, a very unusually rectangular cranidium, with a ”Agraulos” quadrangularis on the left of it. Notice the very robust occipital spine on the unidentified. Any ideas? Thanks to @piranha for the papers.

Hiya everyone I bought a small collection of trilobites last week. most are labelled, except these 3. They're Moroccan, and my guess would be Cambrian or Ordovician.

Today I decided to try my luck at Hoppin Hill. It was a bit too sunny, but otherwise good weather. The fossils mostly found are the small shelly fossils. I spent a good first hour and a half wasting my time on the extremely sparsely fossiliferous basal quartzite and grey argillite, on the west side of the inlet of the reservoir. I found a couple of ichnofossils, but not anything else. With little luck and half an hour left, I found the red slates on the east side of the exposure. The following are my meagre finds. Conotheca mammilata(?) Some extremely fragmentary trilobite bits. And lastly, a partial cranidium of Strenuella strenua. I will hopefully find some better stuff now that I know where the good outcrops are.

From an old collection we got this strange Trilobite. I think it was found and imported to Germany around 1980 - 1985. Should come from Yunnan-Province in China (I only know it comes from china, did some research in the net and think it is a Yunnan-one). Lenght is around 18 cm (7"). Has short spines at the end of the pleural segments. The cephalon has been badly prepared, surface is a bit destroyed but the rim fits. Pygidum looks rounded, but under a microscope I could see, the end is not prepped and under the surface. Will do the work on it next time... What do you think about the genus? Before I start the prep-work I love to know if it has spiny ends, Looks not easy to prep... thanks for comments!

Hi, Can someone shed some insight into what this could be? They are from the Guanshan biota (Cambrian Wulongqing Formation, Yunnan, China). 5-6cm. My first thoughts were a Vetulicolian "head", but if the tail was lost I see no sign of previous attachment. It has a smooth, unbroken border all-around.

Hello everyone! I had the opportunity over the last weekend to visit a spot in a campsite along the James River that had an outcropping of Pliocene Yorktown Formation fossils, as well as some "visitors" from the Cambrian Swift Run Formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. This was my first hunting trip that was outside of North Carolina, which was really exciting for me! While it was miserably hot and humid, and I had a stomach affliction for the duration of the trip, I made the best of it and found some really cool fossils, and met a lot of interesting folks. In all, over 70 people from various organizations were there. I have quite a few pictures to share, so hang in there with me! These are a few photos of the area on the river. The area we were in was brackish, and the camp beach there was recently worked on, which limited some of the fossils in the immediate entrance area. However, further down either side there were a lot more fossil piles. It was neat being able to look up and see all of the shells exposed on the cliffside. These huge chunks of material containing tons of Chesapecten scallops and other fossils were found in several areas. They were more plentiful before the beach replenishment from my understanding Fortunately there was not anything dangerous encountered over the weekend, but plenty of little critters were out and about. (Especially ants!) The hunt went from Friday evening to Sunday morning. On my way out on Sunday, I was given a lift back to my vehicle by a kind family from the Richmond Gem and Mineral Society, who were also nice enough to lead me to a well-known tulip poplar tree on the site. This massive tree is over 400 years old, and it takes about 8 fully grown adults hand-in-hand to fully encircle the base of the trunk. Now, on to the goodies I picked up. The majority of the fossils I picked up were varying sizes and species of Chesapecten scallops. I looked really hard for an intact echinoid or an Ecphora murex, but unfortunately I didn't get that lucky! As for the Chesapecten species names, and that of several other fossils as well, I am still in the process of learning them, so my detailed information will be lacking. I'll stick with my best finds, but this is a little group of mostly Chesapectens I had laid out while organizing my finds. Here are a few Chesapecten I had that had some variable colors, including my largest three specimens. They measure just over 15.25 cm (6 inches) wide. They have been brushed with water to show the color better. These are some random fossils I found including two coral fragments, several gastropods, some partial tube clams and some loose bivalves. This is the largest venus clam I found in the hunt, around 7.6 cm (3 inches) wide. These typically held together better than a lot of other aragonite-based shells. I found a few intact bivalves in a section of the cliff that had slid down to ground level, but most of them were so fragile due to their aging aragonite that they broke apart upon handling; some even had the physical consistency of the sand surrounding them! These are some ones I found that stayed intact to some degree, and one that had mostly broken away. While they're not the prettiest specimens, I realized they could be used as a cool visual example of how steinkerns form. I'll have to find a way to stablize them a little better so I can get them in a display box. While most of the bivalves were very brittle, some had undergone a mineral change and had their aragonite replaced with calcite. They give off a faint greenish-yellow glow in UV light, which made for a fun late night activity! One man even found a cluster of calcite crystals from the formation! Here are two intact calcite clams, and two loose calcite shells I found. This was a rather sizable Crucibulum limpet I found, also referred to as a "cup-and-saucer snail". It's a little over 3.3 cm (1.3 inches) at it's widest. This was the widest barnacle I found during the hunt, and it's over 5 cm (2 inches) wide. Here are a few barnacle clusters I found that had some nice pinkish coloration preserved on them. Here are a few intact oysters I found. The smaller one had quite the barnacle attached to it! Someone at the hunt suggested that this particular bone fragment was possibly avian. There were a lot of whale bone fragments around the site, and there have been some pretty sizable speciments found there, including whale vertebrae and whole dugong ribs. This ray tooth fragment was the only fish fossil I found myself during the whole hunt. One young woman found a 2 inch mako tooth, while another woman found a fairly sizable megalodon tooth. Jumping back to my Chesapecten, This is a medium specimen that had some very large barnacles on it (perhaps Balanus concavus?) They're probably the longest ones I found, measuring around 5 cm (2 inches). Here is a cluster of some very small Chesapecten. This is a fairly colorful specimen with some equally colorful barnacles attached to the exterior surface. Here is one of my largest specimens of Chesapecten (15.25 cm / 6 inches) next to my smallest specimen (1.525 cm / 0.060 inches). These are some pathological Chesapecten I found, although I'm not 100% sure about the third one, it might just be damage. Now on to my top favorites, this is a cluster of small to medium Chesapecten I found. There are some tusk shells on the interior side, and there is a Discinisca lugubris brachiopod on the right side exterior. This large Chesapecten has a calcite-replaced clam valve right on the rim of the shell. I had found this one on Friday and I didn't learn about the presence of the calcite replaced shells until Saturday, so it went unnoticed until I was washing it at home. I was too busy admiring the huge scallops everywhere! While I didn't find any intact echinoids there, I did find this oyster shell that has a small fragment of what appears to be from a regular echinoid on it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I also found this Chesapecten that appears to have a sand dollar fragment attached to it. Given the age and formation this might be a Mellita aclinensis fragment. A whale tooth fragment I found on Friday. A boy found a whole one there just before I arrived, and it was over 5 cm (2 inches) long. Now, we're down to my absolute favorite finds of the weekend. Here is a whole Chesapecten jeffersonius with both valves in fairly pristine condition. There is only a very minimal amount of hard buildup on the valves. I also found this specimen, but unfortunately it had a hole through one valve. Still really cool though! These are cobbles that contain Skolithos trace fossils from the Swift Run Formation, which is an Early Cambrian rock formation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They would break off during the upheaval of the mountains and eventually get carried in water currents all the way to where they were found in the current age. These are the oldest fossils I've found myself to date. And last but not least, here is a fairly pristine Chesapecten jeffersonius(?) valve I found with some good color. However, the most interesting part of this one is that there appears to be something in the resilifer of the shell, almost like shiny red nacre. This is the only one I picked up over the weekend with this feature. I wondered if it could be a preserved ligament, but I was a little unsure; I figured this would be the best place to possibly get some insight on it for the moment. The exterior was brushed with water to show color better. That's all for now! I've got a family trip to the southern NC coast planned soon, so I might try to swing by Holden Beach and nab another batch of Cretaceous fossils while it's still producing a lot. I'm also hoping I can find some local Triassic material before the holidays, I've got a few promising leads on some spots, including one right down the road. -Tony

Hello! I am a newbie fossil hunter, and I am asking for some ID help. My son and I visited the Kinzers Formation near Lancaster, PA , to look for fossils in the Cambrian shale. We didn't find much, which seems consistent with peoples' experiences recently, but did find traces of something that we haven't been able to positively identify. The attached photos of the specimen come from a piece of shale the we split. There's a radial pattern of darker flecks on the left side of the rock, each about 1 cm long. The tape measure is next to a longer, darker shape about 1 cm wide and about 6.5 cm long (although broken off on the right). Hopefully these pictures are helpful, but I can get out my SLR if more detailed pix would be helpful. Thanks for your thoughts!! Kerry

Most people are familiar with the Conasauga Formation when they think of Georgia's Cambrian record, but the Peach State has a paleontological history dating back several million years before the Conasauga was deposited. Indeed, the oldest fossils in Georgia date back to the early Cambrian, and consist of a diverse form of worms, brachiopods, trilobites, and other creatures such as hyoliths and archaeocyathids. This early Cambrian record is largely divided into three formations, from oldest to youngest the Weisner Formation (part of the Chilhowee Group), the Shady Dolomite, and the Rome Formation. All of these formations, as well as the overlying middle Cambrian rocks of the Conasauga Formation, are well exposed in the Rome and Cartersville areas. Cartersville is a mid-sized town in North Georgia with a rich interconnection between history and geology. Situated near the confluence of three major geological provinces (the Valley and Ridge, the Blue Ridge, and the Piedmont), the Cartersville area was uniquely positioned for the discovery and future development of a variety of mineral resources. Wide scale mining began in the mid-19th century with the establishment of the Etowah Iron Works along the Etowah River. Although the bulk of the works were destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War, mining not only continued in and around Cartersville but actually expanded in the post-war period. Iron was the principal product for a while owing to the region's rich limonite deposits, but by the turn of the century ochre and barite production also became prominent, if not more so. Mining operations peaked by the middle of the 20th century, but some active mines remain in the area, and they continue to be a favorite with mineral and fossil collectors. Thankfully, this past history of mining, combined with the recent construction due to Atlanta's explosive growth, has exposed rocks typically left buried under the thick clay and vegetation of North Georgia. The Shady Dolomite was, and still is, the focus of the brunt of the ochre mining around Cartersville. A carbonate unit, the Shady is easily weathered in North Georgia's humid and rainy climate, dissolving much of the rock and underlaying the ground in a thick, reddish clay. Due to the nature of the weathering, however, distinct beds can sometimes be seen in cuts made into the Shady, as shown in the above photo from a construction site in Cartersville. Another exposure of the red clay residuum made out of weathered material from the Shady Dolomite. Although the carbonates of the Shady are frequently weathered into a thick, red muck, this weathering process typically uncovers a wide variety of rock types that are more resistant to chemical attack, and which would have otherwise been locked into the dolomite. At exposures like the one above, pieces of shale, iron oxides, and chert are common. Alongside the chert are fossils from some of the oldest reef communities in Georgia. This small piece of rock contains fragments of archaeocyathids, ancient sponge-like organisms that once established reefs in the early Cambrian sea. Alongside archaeocyathids, other fossils like trilobites and brachiopods are sometimes found in the Shady, but I didn't find any personally. Aside from iron and ochre, Cartersville was an important center for barite mining around the turn of the century. Most barite mines were located east of town, near the contact between the Valley and Ridge and the Blue Ridge provinces. Although most have been filled in or flooded, one pit that is still left can be seen at Pine Mountain east of town. A few pieces of barite ore line the trail leading up the mountain. A small piece of barite ore from near Cartersville. The walls of a former mining operation near the base of Pine Mountain contrasted with an image of a similar mine when in operation. Leading up the trail at Pine Mountain, one travels across geologic provinces. The valley floor is underlain by rocks of the Shady Dolomite and Rome Formation, part of the Valley and Ridge province, while Pine Mountain itself lies within the Blue Ridge. Climbing up Pine Mountain, you begin to sense that change reflected in the rocks underneath you. The red clay and chert residuum of the Valley and Ridge gives way to brown and white dirt, and the chert and dolomite boulders give way for quartzose sandstones, quartzites, and schists. Along the trail, numerous pieces of quartz sandstone from the Weisner Formation are exposed, and in these boulders you can sometimes catch glimpses of the earliest recorded life in Georgia! The picture here shows a sandstone boulder with a couple of well-worn Skolithos linearis worm burrows. Whereas the Shady Dolomite was deposited in a shallow, tropical sea, the upper Chilhowee Group was deposited in a near-shore environment as indicated by the coarse sediment. That means that 530-550 million years ago, during the early Cambrian, what is now a mountain would have been a warm, sandy beach! And, although they may not seem like much, the humble tubes in the rock illustrate a time when life was not everywhere abundant, and the diverse lifeforms we find at beaches today had yet to appear. Climbing the rocky trail to the summit, one is well-rewarded with a view of the entire Cartersville area, including a view across much of the Piedmont to Kennesaw Mountain beyond, and across much of the Great Valley to the Armuchee Ridges. One can also get a sense of the legacy of intense mining that took place around Cartersville from the many red-colored pits scoured into the nearby hillsides, ghosts of operations past and present. On top of all of that, one can also visualize the impact geology has on the topography of an area. Being the intersection of so many geologic provinces, the Cartersville area is marked by numerous faults, folds, and other complex structural geology that has left pockets of one formation nearly surrounded by pockets of another. This has contributed to the hilly nature around Cartersville, as the comparatively resistant rocks of the Rome Formation and Chilhowee Group forms island-hills in the sea-valleys of the Shady Dolomite. The view from Pine Mountain. The red areas are current and past mines around Emerson, Georgia, just south of Cartersville (which includes the buildings in white). The hills here, which make up part of the Allatoona Mountains, are held up by resistant units like the Chilhowee and Rome while the valleys are underlain by softer carbonates like the Shady. On a clearer day you could make out the Armuchee Ridges lying at the western edge of the Great Valley, a synclinorium of Cambro-Ordovician rocks that stretches from here all of the way to Quebec. I hope you enjoyed the report!

Hello, I need contact information of a palaeoartist from Ontario: unfortunately I have no twitter account, so if anyone could help me and send me his E-mail/contact information via PM (or somebody who knows him and can send him mine?) Best Regards Johannes Unfirt

This summer a friend brought me this rock from the town of Pomer (Zaragoza). The age of the rocks in the area is Cambrian and I think it could be some kind of arthropod, I don't know... It was found at an altitude of 1300m. Can someone help me?

Hello everyone, Here I have a peculiar trilobite specimen that I discovered cracking shale from the Wheeler Formation. It comes from the House Range in Millard County, Utah, and I know it's mid Cambrian. Thanks!