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Lately Natalie is surpassing me on finding cephalopods. It is not every day that we find a Crickites sp. In the field, let alone a well preserved specimen with the living chamber. So I went to work to prep her precious find: It was a very promising looking specimen and it lived up to the expectations. Crickites sp. Late Devonian ( Frasnian ) Matagne formation Chimay area ( Belgium )

The Paleontolocigal Society of Austin monthly field trip was last weekend - we planned to hit a couple of spots in Brownwood. Well it's a bit of a drive from San Marcos, so I decided to make a mini two day trip out of it and stay in an Air BNB (a great option for traveling these days - no shared air source like a hotel!) . So instead of just the two sites on Saturday with the Society, I headed up to Lake Jacksboro for some solo hunting! And boy was it solo.....not a SINGLE person at the site! I was astounded. Had the whole place to myself for HOURS! It was a beautiful day - 70s and sunny. I can't believe no one was there! I was really hoping to find a whole Goniatite (had found one small fragment in the past) and thought I had hit the jackpot when I saw that arced edge sticking out of the dirt - praying to whatever omnipresence was available that it please please be a whole one! Alas....it was not. But still a better piece than I had! Found a couple of other nice goniatite fragments too. Goniatite Gonioloboceras sp. 2 inches Goniatite Pennoceras sp. (I think - if anyone has a better ID, lemme know) 1 inch I was super excited to find a couple of Conularias too (I'd not found them before) 1/2 inch Also found this odd Cephalopod Poterioceras sp ( I think) 1 1/2 inches Then I found this weird thing - I think it is an odd brachiopod called Collemataria nobilis 1/2 inch And lastly I finally found a nice (honking big) Derbyia crassa bivalve 3 inches So after a really nice time at Jacksboro, I headed back south to hit Mineral Wells fossil park - a great little public fossil hunting spot. I pulled up and there must have been 25 cars in the parking lot! SPRING BREAK! Each car had a family of at least 4 (mostly little kids) out digging in the dirt. Fortunately, it's a big place, so you could avoid everyone, but so many people had been out there digging instead of surface collecting, that is was pretty much a waste of time. I found a few nice little things, but left pretty quickly. A nice Crinoid cup fragment 1/2 inch a tiny bit of echinoid spine 1/4 inch and a nice sized Gastropod Goniasma lasallensis 1 inch My last stop of the day was a roadcut I had found last time up in that area - unfortunately, there was a very large, very dead hog t the site and it was, of course, upwind. So I didn't stay long because that's just unpleasant. Did find a couple of nice things there, though! What I think might be a Stenopoceras nautiloid 1 inch and a whole mess of really gorgeously preserved echinoid plates - Archeocidarid I think I stayed in a little Cottage (Air BnB) in Dublin Texas - and yes, they have outdone themselves with the Irish theme in the town (plus it was just 2 days after St. Patricks Day so there may have been a little "extra irish" going on). Nice little town. Got up early and met the Society for our fieldtrip. We started out going to the Brownwood Spillway - a dramatic landscape for sure! Huge overhangs of heavy limestone (stay away from those overhangs, y'all). The fossiking was sparse, but the finds were amazing....those who found stuff. I came away with a really nice 6 inch hashplate full of bryozoans and crinoid bits. Then, we headed out to the second site where I KNEW the fossiling would be good! And boy was it....first I found my first trilobite from this spot (just the trilobutt, but hey, I'm not picky) Ditomopyge sp. 1/2 inch and then, my next best find (or first best, depending on your preferences!) I found the arm fragment first, uphill, and then the base downhill!! An "almost' crinoid crown! Delocrinus sp 2 1/4 inches My last and final adventure of the day (I decided I'd had quite enough fun and was ready to go home after this....) My First Rattlesnake Encounter! Yep, was poking around some big rocks up a hillside looking for shark teeth when I heard that distinctive rattle......I think I actually flew down the hillside (I know I leapt over a couple of cactus and some really large rocks on my way down). So that was enough fun for one weekend! (See the snake? He's under that big rock....hahhaha!! The one halfway up the hillside.....)

On a recent fieldtrip I found a verry large and promising looking goniatite. The center of the specimen was covered in claystone. I tried a combination of mechanical prep with air scribe and treatment with potassium hydroxide. Removing matrix as close to the fossil as possible and then treating it with potassium hydroxide. I repeated this process a few times until I managed to clear out the whole center of the fossil. before and after pictures: Crickites sp. Frasnian ( Late Devonian) Belgium

I'm unable to identify these goniatites from the Finis Shale member of the Graham formation. Found at the Lost Creek spillway near Jacksboro Texas. At first I thought they were just extra large examples of Agathiceras sp. which can be found there because of the longitudinal lirae but I noticed some other differences. These are more evolute as well as being larger. They also have a larger whorl height to whorl breadth ratio at 1.11 to 1 compared to .85 to 1 for Agathiceras. This one shows the larger umbilical diameter of 10mm and here is a close-up of the longitudinal lirae with fine crossing radial lirae. This shows it on the venter of another specimen and here is the largest sample which would have had a diameter of around 77mm without the body chamber, much larger than Agathiceras which I believe can range from 8 to 30mm depending on the species. I would appreciate any help with these.

Howdy, It’s about time I take a moment to say hello and also say thank you for being one of the few sources of information available for non academics out on the web. Identifying and prepping marine fossils is one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever taken on, especially when you arrive here as I have. I’m not ready to spill the details as I’m still documenting, working on prep, and need to upload it all to ResearchGate, but I promise to share it here first. For now, I’ve hit a few roadblocks in ID and prepping due to how insanely hard the mineralization is. I’ve got hours of sweat invested in hand sanding what I believe are fossil marine cephalopods that are fossilized in matrix that has the hardness of quartz. It’s slow going. Trying to find an ID is further complicated with the lack of documentation and photos for anything outside the standard spiral ammonite. Nothing about this project has been “standard”, but more about that later. Attached is a quick photo of my most complete prep. Please forgive the amateur layout. I recently upgraded to an SLR and I’ll be revisiting documenting via photos properly once I tackle ID and prep.

Finally time to go back in the field after that long period of confinement . So this Saturday we went back to the Ardennes to prospect Frasnian ( Late Devonian ) deposits. Not a lot of finds, but it was good to be in the field again, and Natalie did find some nice quality fossils. Enjoy the pictures : A placoderm fragment: Bryozoa: not a fossil coral nodule with a few Tornoceras: same piece after a little work:

This weekend we finaly got out after those long months of lockdown. This time I am prepping a gephuroceratid that Natalie found. They are often found on top of the limestone banks, but this time she found one peeking out the center of the limestone bank. The position of the fossil didn’t make the prep any easier, since I had to grind away as much as possible of the matrix with a powertool without cutting in the fossil. Luckily I just missed a 2d goniatite hidden in the matrix with the grinder. After 4 to 5 hours of prepping with grinder, chisels, with air scribe and a finishing touch of color deepener for marble, this is the result: 2 Manticoceras sp. Late Devonian ( Frasnian ) Lompret ( Belgium ) As found: Step by step:

Saturday we went back to the south of Belgium to check out the quarry where I like to hunt for goniatites. The last 6 months there was litlle activity in the quarry and I was hoping that things had changed by now and the would have dug further, but alas there stil was no change. Still the bad weather and the storms of this winter cleaned out a lot of debris, we did find some nice fossils. At 1 pm we had to give up searching and ran back to the car due to heavy downpour and wind. Start of the day, gray and windy , but still dry: ptospecting the rubble , the first fossils apear: A big goniatite in the mud: Carinoceras sp. some parts of the shell missing. peeking out of the dirt: A little game for the TFF members, find the goniatite: the 2 best finds of the day: From Natalie a cute piece of placoderm: For me, I picked up a crinoid calix, I still have to remove some of the sediment around it: And we brought this one home to show to@Tidgy's Dad a large brachiopod

I will trade these fossils for one well preserved European goniatite or European triassic ammonite (specimen with 5 to 8 cm preferentially) because that kind of specimen is lack in my teaching collection. Note the Anorthopygus orbicularis is not a common species and, apart the incomplete test, has an exceptional detailed preservation, rarely seen. Best regards, Ricardo Traded

This Monday we went on the last fieldtrip for this year, the weather forcast was cold but sunny so a good excuse to get out. We took te dog along and went to the quarry, A lonely excavator was operating in the far end of the pit, I went for a quick chat to let him know we were prospecting in the other side of the quarry and to ask if it was no issue for him. The fossil rich deposits had'nt moved since our last visit, but we still did find a few cephalopods. Natalie found a very promising one, the goniatite looks to be preserved completely in white calcite, I cant wait to get that one out of the matrix. For me the find of the day was a rare Carinoceras sp. goniatite , I have only a handfull of those at home, but this one is very well preserved and not compressed. Enjoy the pictures: Toto the dog prospecting the slates First goniatite of the day credits yo Natalie. a Tornoceras sp. A nice loose orthocone on the scree pile: The wite goniatite from Natalie: A large but wethered one on the scree pile. The Carinoceras sp.

A couple weeks ago I met with a retired paleontologist that specializes in Pennsylvanian cephalopods. I showed him all my finds from a certain site here in NE Oklahoma and he was kind of surprised with what I had found (and wasn’t finding). There were a couple common goniatites and nautiloids, a few uncommon ones and five specimens of one type of goniatite he didn’t recognize. He checked his book and still couldn’t match a suture pattern and told me it may be an undescribed species. He noted down the pattern and said he was going to double check, but if it ends up being the case, he would potentially try and get it written up. So, my question is, for those of you who have been through this before or do it for a living, what all does describing a new species entail?

Before going back on my field trip today I had a few projects to finish. so last week I tackeld a broken goniatite, the specimen was in 2 parts and and large gaps were between the 2 parts. first I prepped the 2 pieces appart and then glued them back together. Then I filled the gaps with crack filler that I mixed with a bit of black paint. after this dried, I cut of the exces with a sharp knife and smoothed the surface with a a dremel with soft steel whire brush. I then finished it by adding some paint on the restored parts.

Here’s something I found in Michigan, it’s an ammonoid of some type but I thought it was too wide to be a goniatite, I could be wrong though.

I recently bought some small hematized goniatites from Morocco. They are each under 25mm and fully hematized. The two on the right look to be the same species, while the left specimen is wider in girth and has simpler sutures. They are probably too worn to have distinctive keels, but I've posted a photo of the keels anyway. Any thoughts on identification? I wasn't able to find a good source online for identifying goniatites to family or genus. Thank you for your help!

Found this first one in Jacksboro, TX, Lost Creek Dam. Finis Shale Formation, Pennsylvanian. Would like to identify. Gastrioceras? or maybe Vidrioceras?

Yet again a Manticoceras prepp my last few preppjobs were very succesful, and inspired by what @Ludwigia did on a larger one that I sent him, I tried to prepp one of my larger Manticoceras specimens. I tried a few new tricks to prepp this one, although the living chamber got dammaged, I decided to remove even more of the living chamber to show more of the inner shell with suture lines. It turned out quite well: Manticoceras sp. diameter 16 cm Frasnian ( late devonian ) Chimay area ( Belgium ) as found: ( top left specimen ) removed from the large chunk of matix: ( and glued back together, not everything went acording to plan ) during prepp: the end result:

This week I've been prepping a few goniatites that I had lying around. This one didn't look very promising, but what a surprise I got when I tried to remove it from the matrix. a few hits with the chissle and it came out perfectly. I just had to remove the extremities and clean out the center with an airscribe. It turned out to be one of my best specimens Yet an other Manticoceras sp. for display