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Hello all, Today I found many trilobites from a locality called Gilwern quarry in Wales They are from the Ordovician period. Here are 2 of my best finds. I would love to get an ID on them! The complete one (~2cm) I don’t know what it could be , the second one (just the head) ~1cm is probably Trinucleid? Kind regards Thomas
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Cincinnati Museum Center Donations
Sauropod19 posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
Hi all! At last Friday’s Dry Dredgers meeting, I handed over the two Ordovician fossils below to Dr. Carl Brett for the Cincinnati Museum Center! Standard business card for scale. This coral, which I have wrongly been identifying as Favosites sp., is from the campus of Hanover College in Indiana, in their Dr. Daryl Karns trail system. This was donated with permission from the Hanover College Geology Faculty. This Treptoceras sp. comes from the US-68 road cut in Maysville, KY, Kope Formation.
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Hello Folks, I am slowly learning my way around the website and observed that I had not introduced myself. I am a retired Environmental Interface Research Chemist who has been a lifelong fossil enthusiast. I grew up in Cincinnati and was fortunate enough to take Paleontology and Mineralogy classes at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. After the lectures they also distributed free samples of the discussed specimens to students. It is unfortunate for young people today that such resources do not appear to exist any longer. I have discovered that one means of fossil identification that is very useful is to compare your specimen with images on the internet. I am therefore seeking to place good quality images of my identified specimens on the Fossil Forum for this purpose. I also repurposed an old TV cabinet into a fossil display in a manner that others may find useful (photos on the site). I look forward to a lot of fun!!!
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Members of the Fossil Forum have been very helpful with previous submissions. I would appreciate comments/suggestions concerning some nautiloid cephalopod fossils that I have. Image 1 is typical of the Ordovician nautiloid cephalopod fossils found in the Cincinnatian region. Given the bryozoan encrustations, it clearly remained on the sediment surface for a period of time. One source suggests that you can only identify the species by slicing them lengthwise and examining the siphuncle; is this true? Images 2a and 2b are images of a significantly larger Ordovician nautiloid cephalopod that I have tentatively identified as a Cameroceras both due to its larger size and the very large siphuncle illustrated in Image 2b. Image 3 is also of a larger nautiloid cephalopod that appears to be a mold. If one assumes that the piece on the right side is part of the same fossil then it displays a quite small diameter siphuncle. The fossil in Image 3 does however appear to contain part of the living chamber. Lastly, Image 4 is of a nice endoceras Ordovician cephalopod from Ontario. This fossil appears to have been buried in fine grain sediments so it may very well have perished from suffocation during a sediment resuspension event. There does appear to be a layer on the surface. This brings me to the question: Did paleozoic cephalopod shells have a skin?
NautiloidCephalopOrdKY.thumb.jpg.42bd2a5037902cbed2008ab025005db9.jpg)
NautiloidcephalopodcamerocerasOrdCinti..thumb.jpg.b9fe8bce9601e4ed2a051cd07c815a54.jpg)
NatiloidcephalopodCamerocerasOrd.Cinti.thumb.jpg.48ab42143176a58e45cfb8b6d8f65f0d.jpg)
NautiloidcephalopodOrd.Cinti.thumb.jpg.24aedb62f7d4c416e43ccc11792216a2.jpg)
NautiloidcephalopodendocerasOrd.Ontario.thumb.jpg.386115abe28c812f775997953960157d.jpg)
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- cameroceras
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The dimensions given are for the largest specimen. The block is 11.5 com at it's widest point by 10 cm and 2 cm deep. Most of the of the other species ascribed to this genus in Morocco are now considered junior synonyms. See https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-04364-7_199 Notice that they are all aligned in one direction as they were buried by a mudflow sweeping in from the continent. The arms, bodies and stems are all pretty much aligned. This seems to have occurred fairly regularly in this area at this time. Also notice younger, smaller specimens have fewer plates and arms.
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- ascocystites
- ascocystites drabowensis
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I found this specimen in the bed of Stonelick Creek in Batavia Ohio. This heavily tumbled specimen was very unlike all of the other Ordovician limestone shale rocks in the bed. Presumably it arrived there through one of three modes: 1) the creek carried it from a more distant source, 2) it could possibly have been carried by a glacier, or 3) Native Americans formerly lived there and it could be a manuport. At first I thought it might have been a meteorite but alas it I concluded it was a fossil due to the low iron content, the relatively low density and the bubbly nature of the specimen. The specimen is about 6 inches long and images coral1 and coral2 display the side and top of the specimen respectively. From the Atlas of Ordovician Life I suspect it is a tabulate coral of the syringophyllidae family and the Calapoecia genus. Is this reasonable? I would appreciate any comments.
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QUARTETnary - A card game about the geological time scale
paleoflor posted a topic in Members' News & Diversions
L.S., Wanted to raise some awareness on TFF because I expect many here will simply love this: A good friend of mine, Iris van Zelst (geophysicist at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin) has developed this really nice card game centred around the geological time scale: QUARTETnary The gameplay is based on the classic game Quartets (similar to Go Fish and Happy Families), where players try to collect as many sets of four cards as they can. In QUARTETnary, each of the sets represents four major events that took place during a specific geological time period. To win the game, you need to create the most complete timeline of Earth history, all the way from its formation 4.567 billion years ago to the appearance of us humans. The cards have been designed by Lucia Perez-Diaz (Earth scientist and freelance illustrator from the UK). The illustrations look amazing and I really like that they adhered to the official colour scheme of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Iris sent me this nice set of cards for the Proterozoic: The game includes 15 sets of four cards in total (many featuring fossils): one each for the Hadean, Archean and Proterozoic eons, and one each for the 12 periods of the Phanerozoic. I expect QUARTETnary will become a really fun way to learn about and memorize the different geological units and major events in Earth history. Kind regards, Tim
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When I was a young teen in Cincinnati bivalves were called pelecypods. I thought I would share images from my Cincinnatian collection. Photo1 is an Ambonychia bivalve collected and identified by the Cincinnati Dry Dredgers. Photos 2 and 3 are of cymatonata and cyrtodontula bivalves that were sent to me by a friend in Cincinnati. I identified them by comparison with photos on the online Atlas of Ordovician Life (this site specializes in Cincinnatian fossils). Hopefully these photos will assist others in identifying fossils.
AmbonychiaRobustaOrdWaynesville.thumb.jpg.3c413815a678cb387e1849fd42fc164e.jpg)
CymatonataTypicalisOrdWaynesville.thumb.jpg.70908926d92ebf5e0a11b9f6d6988127.jpg)
CyrtodontulaUmbonataOrdWaynesville.thumb.jpg.7c70e24b6d063c539ee1135b0edd9cf8.jpg)
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From the album: Trilobites
Coll. by KB, purchased. Ontario.-
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- starfish
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From the album: Trilobites
Coll. by Thomas Whiteley from the Rust Walcott, prepared by me.-
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During our last warm spell in November ( a high of 40 may not sound warm to you southerners), I took the opportunity to collect a few buckets of Decorah Shale to process during the cold snowy month of December. Here are some of the fossils found. Nothing too exciting, but fun to find!! @Tidgy's Dad, I would be pleased if you could assist me with my attempted IDs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if there are some that you do not have yet, let me know and I will see about sending. 1. I suspect Platystrophia extensa 2. Sowerbella minnesotensis. pedal valve above convex, brachial valve below concave 3. Sowerbella curdsvillensis. 4. 5. Rostricellula colei has far less costae than the one above and the costae are broad and smooth. 6. Pycnocrinus are prevalent in the Decorah, but mostly small partial stem pieces 7. Endoceras are the most common cephalopod I encounter in this formation, so the Isorthoceras was a welcome find. 8. Interior pedal valve of Strophomena filitexta, showing the well developed ridges for the large muscle attachment. 9. Unknown Strophomena interior pedal valves? At 2 cm wide and lacking the ridges of S filitexta, I am guessing Furcitella scofieldi. 10. The gumdrop bryozoan, Prasapora conoidea, has always been an enjoyment to find. They come in many sizes and shapes. The next one has me a bit confused. Normally Prasapora are NOT attached to anything and show the obvious growth rings underneath. This one obviously is attached to a Strophomena leading me to wonder if it is a sponge or another species of bryozoa instead. Thoughts are welcome. 11. The Decorah Formation yields many Hesperorthis tricenaria. The pedal valve is easy to identify with its beak and its triangular delthyrium. It is the brachial valve that I am not sure of. This is my guess to its identity. Very flat with similar ribbing to the pedal valve Here is a sample that contains what I think are both pedal and brachial valves 12. The solitary rugosa coral, L. profundum, is found every time I hunt the Decorah. Here is a nice specimen in association with a few Sowerbella. But this particular hunt provided me with two unknowns. First, is this a colonial rugosa or just 2 solitary L. profundums side by side. If colonial, I can not find any mention of a species name. The second odd coral is this one. Very small and appears worn even though the matrix it popped out of was not 13. Many species of branching bryozoa are commonly found both loose and in matrix. 14. Pionodema subaequata at the top and Doleroides pervetus below. 15. These two are 3cm by 2 cm, leaving me to think an interior and an exterior surface of a brachial valve of Strophomena septa. The size of this one is 2 cm by 1.5 cm. This pedal valve is quite raised, so I am suspicious it is Oepikina minnesotensis. 16. A possible pedicle valve of Pionodema subequata. 2 cm by 2 cm 16. 17. Brachial valve interiors of Sowerbyella curdsvillensis 18. Inarticulate brachiopods, Lingula. It is difficult to find a pristine one at the site I hunt. But I will keep trying! The name has changed to Pachyglossella eldei. 20. Gastropods are infrequently encountered in the Decorah, yet above and below this formation, they are common.
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I found some interesting specimens today I would like a second opinion on. Thinking both of these essentially complete bugs are Eomonorachus intermedius, but I'm not certain as they are both exposed ventrally. #1 After some cleaning #2- the second ventral specimen here is preserved hiding underneath an Isotelus pygidium and is very tiny! After some cleaning I think both of these partials are Eomonorachus as well. Almost exposed pygidium Half exposed cephalon showing good eye facet detail. Thanks for any feedback. -Jay
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- decorah formation
- missouri
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Hello all! I was scrolling through my home state’s fossil page when I came across this post from someone claiming they had a “special spot“ in western Kentucky where they found all of these fossils. Someone in the comments inquired about the ID, and he told them they are fossilized jellyfish. Obviously, these are not fossilized jellyfish. My first thought was geodized crinoid calyces, but then I looked closer and counted the plates- six rather than five, which is not what I’m used to for a typical calyx. Any thoughts?
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Microtrilobites and Other Microfossils of the Pooleville Member
Isotelus2883 posted a topic in Micro-paleontology
Recently I acquired some microfossil matrix from the Bromide Formation, in Oklahoma. They were of the Pooleville and Mountain Lake Members, containing a very diverse fauna, mostly bryozoans and crinoid arm fragments. While searching through the matrix, my main aim was to find some of the small and young trilobites that are often found here. Also, I had bought a trilobite meraspis previously, from the same locality. It is an enrolled meraspis of a Lonchodomas mcgeheei, from the Pooleville member. Views of the Cephalon and pygidium.  Now, here are the finds. A Cyclospira parva, these were very common and found in all samples of the Pooleville Mbr. These are the trilobites of the Lower Pooleville. What may be a partial Lonchodomas mcgeheei pygidium. It is more likely a brachiopod fragment, however. A proetid free cheek, I think. This one is more likely to be a Homotelus bromidensis cheek. I'm not sure for this cheek. Eoceraurus? Here are the trilobites of the Middle Pooleville Member. Calliops armatus partial pygidium.It is rather fragmented, as sadly most of the microfossils in this material are. This may be a trilobite pygidium, but it seems now that I look at it, it may be a brachiopod. Now here is one of my better finds from the matrix. It is a partial trilobite, with the hypostome in place, unusually. Because the dorsal side is not preserved, I don't know what species it is. Here are the fossils of the Upper Pooleville Member. A picture of some of what I found in the sample. A healthy sized proetid free cheek. Two partial cephalons of Frencrinurus capitonis. Though partial, they still show exquisite detail, including several sharp spines. Last, there is this specimen. I am hoping it is a protaspis of some trilobite, but... Yeah. Doesn't look like it. These samples gave a clear picture of the Bromide Formation, and they were rich with fossil fragments, an excellent test for my microscope.
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From the album: Trilobites
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From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Specimen on the Left is bought online, from Wisconsin Mifflin Platteville Formation. Campylorthis deflexa is the middle one with Rostricellula minnesotensis Leftmost. Oepikina minnesotensis is rightmost. The specimen on the right is the closest Minnesota mifflin Campylorthis deflexa like specimen that I could find. It is darker color rock so its harder to see good textures but if you look closer toward the edge you can see where ribs are which makes it more coarse than the much more numerous Strophomena and Oepikina which are distinct characteristic in Twin Cities bed. -
Now that the holiday festivities have past and we are waiting for the New Years celebrations, I thought I would finish up the year with a few ID requests on some Galena/Ordovician finds from NE Iowa last month. 1. 2 3. 4. 5. 6.
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In my Secret Santa gift last Christmas from @connorp I received (among other nice items) a very nice little hash plate from the Mifflin Member of the Platteville Formation (U/M Ordovician, Blackriverian, ~453 MY) from SW Wisconsin. The picture below is the plate as it was received and in my 12/20/22 post about getting it I said: “A great hash plate. I already see two or maybe three different trilobite types with a couple of them tantalizingly partially buried and an interesting gastropod that I am not familiar with. I think a little prep work will make this even more spectacular. As an added plus, it represents my first fossils from the state of Wisconsin.” I finally got around to doing the prep I talked about and spent a little time exposing some of the more prominent fossils and giving it a gentle going over with air abrasion to bring out some of the features. I think it looks even better than it already did and I was even more impressed with the wide variety of fossils on the small section of rock. Below is the cleaned up plate: Here is a collage of the plate just turned at different angles to the sunlight in case it helps to bring out any features: There are hundreds of fossil fragments on this one small piece of rock, but I want to highlight the top couple dozen specimens. With the help of some TFF members via previous posts and replies in a couple of ID threads I put out (thanks @Tidgy's Dad, @connorp, @piranha, @minnbuckeye and others), I have identified several trilobites, brachiopods, gastropods, ostracods, bryozoans, and a crinoid and want to show you this wonderful diversity in such a small space. If anyone sees changes to my ID's please feel free to chime in. Some will be very specific ID's and some will be a bit more general. The picture below is the key to where each of the numbered specimens is on the slab (see number in upper left of each specific picture). We will start with the trilobites. Although each is only a partial, there is enough present to get a pretty specific ID on most of them. All are new genera or species in my collection. Here are the brachiopods: Here are a couple of specimens of a really neat gastropod which was new to me. So often it seems Paleozoic gastropods are just internal molds or rather plain forms, but this first one is very nice. Here are a few bryozoans and one very small horn coral. There were several of these small corals, I'm not really sure of the ID, I didn't research them much yet. Just a couple of small crinoid columnals were found. And last but not least are the ostracods. I am used to small ostracods (which some of these are) but there is also this one form that is huge (by ostracod standards) coming in at about a centimeter long. At first I thought they were brachiopod fragments until I looked at them closer. These things are the size of a kidney bean! Note the scale difference between the Eoleperditia and all the others. Most of my ID's are questionable as I was using a reference that is for the immediately overlying Decorah Formation until I can find a listing for the Mifflin Member. OK that is everything for now. I hope you have enjoyed the wonderful diversity of this small slice in time. With a little more investigation, I may yet tease out a few more specimens worthy of an ID. Thanks for looking. Mike
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From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
All sources had says there are only two genus of the family of this particular brachiopod and Protozgya and Rostricellula is listed for Platteville Formation. Protozyga is too different and much weaker ribs structures by comparations. -
From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Like Anazyga recurvirostis, A. plinthii tend to prefer muddy limestones and is locally abundant where found in Twin Cities. -
From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Flatter than A. recurvirostis and a bit bigger. -
From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Very recently in 2023 paper came out that basically places all Zygospira earlier than Mayville/Richmondian in genus Anazyga. Cinnicinntea website also had name change for Anazyga recurvirostis since it also extends into maysville formation. The Decorah Formation Twin Cities can have a lot of those but oddly enough to me they are very specific to muddy limestone as I never find them in the weaker shales for unknown reasons. One of the tiniest Decorah Formation Brachiopod species I have ever found, tiny enough to balance on eraser end of pencil. Compare to the other Anazyga species it is much smaller and more inflated in shape. -
From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Those are the closest specimen I could find that I think is Anazyga lebanonensis. Described as longer in length than the other two Anazyga species from Decorah Formation. -
From the album: Brachiopods of Platteville/Decorah Twin Cities Minnesota
Lepidocyclus - Decorah Formation only? For me I hadn't found it in Platteville formation for unknown reason - could be locations. Very abundant and highly variable in forms - I suspects quite a few genus and species can be easily mistaken for this one. Part of it is I only find the smallest ones as strongly triangular and more flat with sulcus not as prominent. But all the bigger one are much more inflated. Plus costae is pretty uniform over all species. Transverse growths are sometimes prominent on anterior portion of the shell, usually on adult specimens. -
I "rediscovered" a weird rock I found 6 years ago at a quarry near Belvidere, Illinois. The rocks exposed at the quarry are dolomitic ordovician Galena group. Last night, I took a closer look at it under a microscope and noticed that the spiny crystal structures seem to be formed by mycelium. I know mycelium breaks down rocks, but I'm curious to hear any thoughts/insight about this oddity.
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NautiloidCephalopOrdKY.jpg.5340dac9235f3c5e6bdaad29ba209037.jpg)
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AmbonychiaRobustaOrdWaynesville.jpg.cbb17a6d1e6416acd2b0701afc570c33.jpg)
CymatonataTypicalisOrdWaynesville.jpg.ed7c133cd91fa909282155d8226dbeaa.jpg)
CyrtodontulaUmbonataOrdWaynesville.jpg.c91f3ea50170d7794a75b4e5b0736ad6.jpg)
