Search the Community

I went out today and found some cryptolithus cheeks (my first), which was my goal, and I am stoked about. While looking at them at home I noticed that one of them has what appears a glabella. I am new to all of this, but could this possibly be a full trilobite in matrix? Some photos of the finds.

Recently I went fossil hunting along a road cut revealing some of the Coburn Formation, latest Ordovician. I was stunned to find that so much of the ecosystem was made up of only Trilobites and Cephalopods. I found trilobites such as Isotelus and Cryptolithus (First picture). My find of the day was a large, very heavy plate of rock that preserves different parts of large Isotelus gigas from multiple individuals, and the circular cross-section of a small cephalopod (Second picture). However, I'm having trouble identifying these cephalopods. In the very few that preserve the outer sell, faint striae can be observed. The septa, when visible, are close together. On some of the smaller specimens, which may be a different species or the same, the uncrushed cross-section reveals what appears to be a small, eccentric siphuncle (Sixth picture). Most specimens, because of their size, are crushed flat. Only much smaller individuals sometimes retain their original shape. Arrows indicate septa unless stated otherwise. The large cephalopods appear similar to both "Michelinoceras" and Geisonoceras tenuistriatum, but this species is restricted to the Whitby formation in Ontario. Could anyone help?

Hey everyone, Thought I’d share a recent acquisition of mine with you all! This is an extremely rare odontopleurid called Diacanthaspis sp. from the closed Ordovician locality at Swatara gap. These trilobites were not often found at the trilobite beds at Swatara Gap but rather in the echinoderm beds. One publications states that in 100 hours of digging one could expect one articulated specimen. It is probably the 7th 8th most rare trilobite species at Swatara behind Proteus and Platylichas.

Normally I try to only buy fossils with adequate identification but a while back I impulse bought this small trinuclid from the UK. based on my research it doesn't mach lloydolithus or salterolithus, so I'm inclined to say cryptolithus. What do you guys think?

Last fall I went on a fossil hunting trip to a creek in Adams, NY. Along this creek were exposures of the Whetstone Gulf and Pulaski formations. There were many different layers, each with different fauna. Some layers were barren, while others had many species. Some of the most common fossils were cryptolithus and triarthrus trilobites, as well as brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, ostracods, and straight shelled nautiloids. Some layers contained pyrite and some of the fossils in these layers were partially pyritized. (Including some of the trilobites!!).

I found this Cryptolithus in the Late Ordovician, Viola Springs Formation of Carter County Oklahoma. Can someone tell me if it is C.fittsi which I see on a fauna list for the site or another species? I'm also wondering if the segmented strand below it is part of the tail or something else?

It’s been quite some time since my last post here on the forum – more than two years! I missed the forum and it’s good to be back. This last week was spring break for some colleges in Pennsylvania, mine included. Thursday we saw beautiful sunny weather, warm enough to shed the heavy winter coats we’ve been wearing for months. Checking weather forecasts, I was pleased to find that Friday would be similarly warm – sunny and mid sixties to seventies! Perfect fossiling weather! I seized the opportunity. I knew these unseasonably warm temps could be gone as soon as they had arrived and didn’t want to miss a chance like this. I drove out with my little brother to a couple of sites I’d visited before. The first was an Ordovician roadcut. I’d been told the rock here was from the Salona formation, but Coburn formation limestone is also known from the area and apparently has similar fossils so I’m not entirely certain on this site’s stratigraphy. After about an hour’s drive we arrived at the site – only to be greeted by two nasty pieces of roadkill at the base of the cut! Agh! Thankfully they weren’t near the collecting area and didn’t have a noticeable odor yet. We immediately set to work, crawling carefully up the gentle slope of the cut and checking each irregular chunk of tan limestone. It didn’t take me long to score several fine Cryptolithus trilobites, as well as some neat mushroom-shaped bryozoan colonies and a handful of brachiopods. The trilobites here are usually found with either the horseshoe shaped ventral side or the noselike glabella poking out of the surface of the stone. They will take some prep work to expose fully – I’m hopeful at least one or two of them are complete under all that stone. Most of them are just isolated cephalons or chunks of Cryptolithus collar. After about 45 minutes on the cut we took a break for lunch, stashing our finds in the trunk. Our sandwiches finished, we walked back out for round two! Scrambling over fallen stone, I managed to score two big blocks with multiple trilobites each. The crown jewel was a block with at least 15 Cryptolithus showing! I probably won’t even attempt prepping that one until I’m a little more confident in my abilities. I’d hate to ruin such a great multi-block of trilobites. After another hour or two at the cut, we’d found enough. Some of our finds: Bryozoans: More trilobites: Brachiopods: Continued in next post…