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Found at the famous Caesar Creek spillway, which exposes the Liberty and Whitewater formations. Thinking Grewingkia canadensis for the horn coral. The brachiopod is not a spiriferid, and is too round for Vinlandostrophia. Four ridges (pictured) suggest Lepidocyclus perlamellosa/Hiscobeccus capax for the calcified brachiopod. And ideas what the circled encrusting bryozoan may be (circled red)? It is not patterned like Escharopora falsiformis--the zooids cells have no pattern, more like Aspidopora sp. Feel free to contest my identification; I am always looking to improve. What are your thoughts?

Sample was found in the Liberty formation in the well-known St. Leon roadcut in southeastern Indiana. Sample measures 70.0 x 38.3 millimeters. Monticules are not star-shaped.

On my eighth trip to the locality, I collected fossils at the famous St. Leon roadcut. Exposed were the Waynesville and Liberty formations, which date to the immense coral reefs of the upper Ordovician, or 450 ±5 MYA. The site was heavily picked, its erosive forces slowed during Indiana's summer heat. My drops of sweat evaporated on the sun-tempered limestone faster than I could count to ten. Despite the setbacks, acquisitions were generous. Best for last. Behold my brachiopods. The top row is Strophomena sp., the top-left sample demonstrating encrusting bryozoan. The second row is Vinlandostrophia ponderosa. The third and fourth rows are Lepidocyclus/Hiscobeccus, though I am of the opinion the genera are synonymous and are just sexual dimorphs given their identical ages, appearances, and regional occurrences. I am curious what other brachiopod enthusiasts think of this similarity. (Four boxes on the grid is 25 millimeters.) I continue with the bivalves. The top row is Caritodens sp, the top-left sample being a particularly well-preserved example. The bottom-left sample is Anomaladonta sp., and the bottom-right sample is a near-perfect Ambonychia sp. Life is incomplete without the gastropods! I didn't take French in high school for nothing! The top sample is unknown to me, despite being the second I have found of its type. The middle-left sample is too buried. The remaining four are all Paupospira sp., the middle sample being a good example. Interestingly, the bottommost Paupospira has a partial Flexicalymene sp. trilobite cephalon on it, which makes me question if the trilobite was consuming the calcium to augment its own development. However, considering the sample is a messy storm deposit, it is likely pure luck. I have to mention the numerous Isotelus maximus fragments at the site. When looking for fossils at St. Leon, one must wonder how many beautiful I. maximus lie under the surface, only to crumble down the slopes of the roadcut and into my hands. Of interest is the long, delicate genal spine on the top right. Now to the more interesting fossils. I follow with three of six total straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopods. The middle sample is a rare, (calcified) Anaspyroceras sp., and the right sample is also calcified. The beautiful, ancient calcite crystals within the dull-appearing right sample: Now to the next three. The left orthocone is all associated and is very large. The middle sample is also quite large. Species-level identification of orthocones can be difficult even with a clear cross-section of the siphuncle, so "straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopod" will have to suffice. However, I suspect these three samples are likely Treptoceras sp. Excellent samples to say the least. I kept saying "straight-shelled," so perhaps some of you guessed it: I found a coiled nautiloid cephalopod! These are very rare. I have found only a handful of these. Behold the curved Beloitoceras sp., a member of Oncocerida, to which the modern nautilus owes its existence to! It's unbelievable how this rock from half a billion years ago directly led to the existence of modern nautiloids! The continuity of life is incredible. The penultimate is a bryozoan fan. Yes, a fan! The bryozoan tapers off at the upper edges. I have never seen anything like it! It is 8x4 cm. And finally... ...a giant bryozoan! This is my biggest single fossil find ever! The caliper on the left is set all the way out to 15.00 cm! It is easily 15 inches in diameter and four inches thick! After crashing my bicycle a few weeks ago, this immense find could be my new wheel! Hear me out. In ten years of collecting, I have found many rare trilobites, behemoth cephalopods, and more, but this colony of tens of thousands of individual animals takes the cake for the most interesting fossil I've ever had the privilege to collect. On top of being huge and complete, it's riddled with trypanites (trace burrows for you bone hunters out there) from all a manner of creatures that used to reside in the Ordovician. I'm sure my fellow amateur paleontologists appreciate that this isn't just a fossil coral, it's an entire ecosystem! It's literally a window into life 450 million years ago! It's riddled with traces left by crinoid stems, scolecodonts (boring worms), parasitic encrusting bryozoans, brachiopods, bivalves, and so much else! I'm considering donating it to a museum. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed.

I recently went to the famous St. Leon roadcut for the third time. The previous two times were more exploratory with few good finds to speak of, especially in regards to trilobites. I had a much more fruitful time this trip, including 2 complete rollers and 2 and a half prone flexis (my sister found a gorgeous one). I also came across this plate, where I saw the fossil in the bottom middle that is the subject of this post. At first I thought it was part of a coiled cephalopod, which I hadn't found at this site before. The other fossil, that I'm fairly certain to be a cephalopod, on the left in the previous picture also lead to that conclusion. However the plate is also covered in Isotelus pieces, which I am not very familiar with. And from looking at Isotelus specimens, I was wondering if it could be part of the thorax or something. Here are some other pictures of the plate, if there's anything else on it that's interesting, let me know. It's mostly a mash of trilobite and crinoid pieces, with some gastropods mixed in, as far as I can tell.

Hi, I have just purchased this Crinoid fossil cluster and I can't make out what the card that came with it says. I was hoping someone could hopefully help? I have it down as saying, Zenacrinus bairdi, Liberty formation, Leaves creek, Ohio, Ordovian period. Thank you (hopefully!)

Hello TFF friends, I recently recieved some Ordovician Brachiopods from Ohio and would love some help with getting IDs for them, First up are two Lingulid Brachiopods from the Waynesville Formation: I have not been able to find much on the brachiopods from this formation, the brachiopods also look slightly different so I am not sure if that indicates some kind of different species or these are just differences between individuals. Both are about 1.5 cm in length Next up are two rhynchonellids, these two are preserved together and are about 2 cm in width, perhaps Lepidocyclus sp.? Then finally, there are some brachiopods that I believe are Platystrophia sp., also liberty formation: Thank you for any help!

Hello, friends! This bryozoan is tiny, about a mm wide. It seems to be made up of overlapping tubes arranges diagonally across the zooarium. It come from the Southgate Hill road cutting, St. Leon, Indiana and I think is from the Liberty Formation, Cincinnatian, Late Ordovician due to other species found in the same piece of rock. The other species include Xenocrinus baeri, Hebertella occidentalis, Zygospira modesta, Graptodictya perelegans, Bythopora deliculata, Batostoma sp. and Stictopora emacerata. I think. Thank you for looking.

On Thursday I checked the weather for Brookville and St. Leon, Indiana, Friday looked like a good day, since no rain was forecasted, but Saturday did not look as promising. Feeling the urge to go collecting, I left at 5 am and drove the 4 ½ hours (330 miles) to my first stop in Brookville. This site is located on Route 101 and is referred to as Garr Hill, it is represented by the following Ordovician formations: Waynesville, Liberty, White Water and Saluda. This road cut is about 70 feet tall and I like going up and down and across on the road cuts that I visit. This day there were portions that were super muddy and I would slip in these areas and the other portions were as dry as the Western desert and I would slip on these areas. Special attention needs to be taken and when traversing this site and any road cut site since you do not roll down. Here are some pictures of the road cut: If you have seen any of my other Trip Reports, I like to take a lot of pictures, I do not take them for me, I take them for the Forum members to see, especially the ones that may never have a chance to visit. I like to try to use the pictures to take other members on a virtual trip of the places I collect. With that said, it will take me multiple posts to show this area, the fossils found while collecting, the loose fossils that I took home as well as the Hash plates that I also brought home. Here are pictures of fossils that I saw in the field, many, but not all were collected. None of these will be identified, but I do my best in the portion that shows the loose fossils that I collected. I always have a problem with these ID’s, so if you see an issue and feel like correcting, please do so.

It was a planned family get together at my sister's ranch in Kentucky to celebrate my father's 90th birthday. I was travelling from Southeastern New York by car. Made it to Harrison, Ohio the first day, right on the border with Indiana. Next morning, weather was pleasant and I was out to the famous St. Leon road cut, a place that I've wanted to visit for years. Finally made it there. Spent the entire day. Despite the site's fame, didn't see another collector and except for one brief shower the weather was perfect though a little on the warm side. I explored the entire exposure though the best was just below one of the terraces where the brachiopods and corals were weathering out of the shale complete.