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Found this piece in Iowa yesterday while hunting trilobites. I've never seen anything like it. The six point symmetry with it's bulbous tips are very strange. And the fact that it is very water-worn doesn't help with an ID. I'm thinking holdfast or possibe starfish. What do you guys see? Scale in mm/cm

A couple weeks back I took a trip to SE Mn to search for the rest of a Brachyaspsis sp. trilobite I found back in July. I new my quest was difficult and almost an impossible one, but I took a chance. I had made plans with @fossilized6s to meet up with @Bev and @papadave for his first Mn hunt. His goal as was mine, was to hunt for and find trilobites. Even if I didn't find the rest of my trilobite, I would still be in good company. I arrived Friday(a day before fossilized6s) around 9am and headed straight for my site. After locating the spot I found my piece back in July, I mapped out a grid in the area I thought would cover the best ground. It became apparent after several hours under the hot sun that my attempt was futile so I stopped and just walked around looking for other traces of trilobites. About an hour later, I started walking back up to gather my tools and take down my grid. As I approached the boarder of my grid, I looked down and a shape in a rock triggered excitement. There it was!!!! However, it wasn't the piece I was hoping for. The piece that I thought might be whole was in fact 2 or 3. I took a picture and ran back to the TARDIS..err truck, and fit the piece on. The piece fit absolutely perfect with no gaps or damage. I marked the spot it was found for future attempts. The photos of the site contain information that could expose its location so they will not be published in this report. The first photo is of the piece I found on Friday. The next 2 photos are of the piece I found in July. The last photo is of the two fitted together.This piece gives me the left eye, thoracic segments and the rest of the left cheek. Oh, and in case if anyone is wondering...Yes you can bet Ill be back later this year for the rest! Measurements are in CM Brachyaspsis sp. Elgen Member-Maquoketo Formation Upper Ordovician SE Minnesota

It's not often I come across something in my stomping grounds that I can't at least ID down to a common name, but this one has me stumped. Maquoketa Formation Upper Ordovician (Richmondian) Northeast Iowa

My father and I have been planning a trip these past few weeks to a river in Northeast Iowa. Our plan was to put in and collect our way down the 9mile trek. While this sounded grand and adventurous, we quickly realized that 8hrs of sitting at a desk every day does something to a person... especially during the northern winter months. We put the canoe in the water around 8am on Saturday, April 14 and started our journey down the river. With the lack of snow and rain the river was unseasonably shallow. Shortly after putting in we realized that we would be dragging the canoe a fair amount, but it was early in the day and we still felt strong. There have been numerous large Isotelus found along this river, but none by us. We came upon a nice area with a fair amount of rock to break along the shoreline and parked the canoe. On the second rock I split I was shocked to see an Amphilichas pygidium. In the many many years my father and I have been collecting the Maquoketa Formation, this is only the second Amphilichas pygidium we have found(the first I found last year). I also found a carbonized tube-like thing. Apparently the theory is that it was a worm that died in the burrow and carbonized, I need to find the paper that was written in the 70's about them. The next few stops were a bust until we made it to a site we had collected in the past. This was the half-way point of the river run and my father and I were both exhausted. My muscles were cramping up and it was getting difficult to swing the hammer hard enough to split the unreasonably dense limestone. I went a bit further down the exposure and lying in front of me was an almost 3inch Isotelus! This marked the first complete trilobite of the day. My father eventually made his way down the exposure to where I was collecting and he quickly found an even bigger Isotelus. We continued to walk along the shore and my father picked up a partial Isotelus that would have measured 6-7inches, unfortunately we could not locate the rest of it. We decided that next time we collect the river we will start at this site and then work our way down-river. We continued our trip exhausted and sore stopping only a couple more times finding a very strange mystery item and an interesting double of Anataphrus vigilans. Despite the fact that I don't want to move for fear of every muscle cramping up simultaneously, I would do the trip again... when I'm in a bit better shape. Amphilichas sp. pygidium Worm thing My Isotelus My Father's(the cephalon is tucked down) The one that got away And a Graptolite- Desmograptus cancellatus