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Hello again everyone, sorry for the delay between Part 1 and Part 2. I went through some more material from DSR and I've made some pretty awesome finds. I might have enough specimens for a Part 3, but I still have to go through more material. The same goes for the Penn Dixie part, I've barely touched it yet and still need to photograph the finds. To kick Part 2 off, here is my best DSR find yet! A nearly complete (unfortunately disarticulated) Echinocaris punctata!!! My kitten Indy for scale The Echinocaris has one of the spikes on its tail visible, and both valves are present. Another Phyllocarid, a Rhinocaris columbina! The reverse side shows another half, possibly from the same Rhinocaris? This cute little cephalon is one of my first Eldredgeops finds at DSR. Here's the Dipleura heads I've found so far (excluding the one from the previous trip report), This one is one of the largest I've found yet, it's 3 inches wide! This cephalon was a real heartbreaker. The other half of it was stuck under 1 1/2 - 2 feet of overburden This one is upside down I think this is a juvenile Dipleura cephalon, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll have to clean it up to be sure. Now onto the misc finds This is one of the largest Goniatites(?) I've found here, it popped out of the matrix on the way home but it should be able to be glued back. I feel like the cone shaped fossil in the center of the piece might be a Hyolith, but I don't know for sure. A lone crinoid stem, it'd be cool to see what it looks like when prepped. Not sure what kind of fossil this is, possibly a devonian putty scraper? Here's some Brachs and Bivalves from DSR, I'm not 100% sure on the ID's so if I'm wrong please correct me on it. Goniophora chemungensis? Paraspirifer acuminatus? Mucrospirifer consobrinus? Big jumble of brachs (maybe some Bivalves too?), cool golden sheen on it. I don't think it's pyritization. Assorted brachs Devonochetes coronatus? This is on the back of the possible Hyolith piece shown above. M. mucronatus? Large brachiopod and bivalve hash plate Probably the biggest Bivalve I've ever seen, let alone found. ID unknown Orthonota undulata

Last Saturday as some of you know, I found this really awesome Echinocaris punctuata with both valves and part of the telson. I had the idea of prepping it and then entering it into the IFOTM contest here on the forum. I’ve been working on it for 1 or 2 hours a day using pins and an old screwdriver. In this post I plan to post an image of the prep process everyday until it is complete.

Went on the field trip with the NYPS to Madison County today. We went to 2 sites today. The first one was DSR and the second one was a new locality in Brookfield, NY. It was basically untouched and there were greenops everywhere ( but I’ll talk about that in a later post because this one’s all about the phyllocarids). I managed to find 5 or so partial Rhinocaris carapaces at DSR. None of them with telsons or anything fancy like that. At the second spot though, I got lucky! Along with 7 more Rhinocaris partials I found an Echinocaris with both valves and part of the Telson! Definitely one of my best finds ever.

Hello forum folks I went to DSR again yesterday 10/05/19 as I had another free day to go collecting. I may not being able to fossil hunt until the end of the month so I had to take advantage! I have been noticing the phyllocarids are coming from certain intervals lower in the quarry...could be nothing....could be somthing....before I assumed I figured I should test it. I knew the exact bedding plane my last Echinocaris came from so I planned on opening a shelf on that bedding plane. My thought was if I could find another phyllocarid on that bedding plane maybe it could mean something....clearly not enough data to make any final assumptions but heck who wouldn’t dig a bedding plane that has produced lol. I was still specifically upset I couldn’t find the missing piece to my phyllocarid from last trip so I did some scanning I initially. I knew it was a waste so I got to work on the bedding plane I desired. before I got started I moved a lot of over burden and got some nice slabs moving. Loving the wedge and sledge combo....so much easier on my body physically. anyway....I found this Echinocaris punctata about 30 minutes into clearing off the shelf. Same bedding plane!!! Only about 1-2 feet from the one I found last trip. Bingo!! I’m going to show a few close ups...this is a really interesting specimen. It appears to be A double carapace folded in half. You can see the margins of the other half and some spots actually fold over slightly that confirm this. It would be great to reveal the other side but I would have a very thin, flattened, fragil specimen. also.....I’m feeling like the boy who cried wolf here but are these mandibles I see on the top left part of the specimen (Seen below)? The margins aren’t as easy to see but it’s clear there are some type or serrations on each part. Here is a close up that does a decent job showing what I’m talking about. They are really non photogenic because of the rust on the shale between the mandibles. It messes with the margins visually. It was still really messy with debris/rubble when I found it so I wasn’t sure where the counterpart was under the rubble. Foolishly it’s on a slab I left behind and I’m going to try and rush out after work to grab it this week. I found this another foot away from the phyllocarid above. When I found this I immediately thought I had a rhinocaris phyllocarid but now I’m not so sure? Unless someone can say for sure. Just doesn’t look right. here is a close up.....it has some lines running across it that make me question what this is. So for now I’m not sure. I found this Rhinocaris sitting out in the open so I have no idea what layer it came from. I’m positive this is a Rhinocaris and it’s very different from the other unknown specimen I found. Here is a reference photo for people who are unsure what phyllocarids are. I really think this specimen is special like the one I found last trip. Also, I do find it interesting that this was on the same bedding plane and very close to the last Echinocaris phyllocarid. More field work will help tell the tale. More to come....my trilobite finds from DSR and I found a layer with all Eldredgeops!!! Really awesome. Stay tuned for part 2

My phyllocarid collection to date. Includes Echinocaris sp. and Rhinocaris sp.