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It has been a while since I've posted on the forum, so here is a prepwork from this weekend It is a late devonian orthocone, it was quite a hustle to get this out of the rock, it broke in 3 pieces during the extraction in the field. Only a part of the shell was exposed, so I took a whole lenght of matrix back hoping that it contained a whole specimen, and it did The prepwork went realy well, and even the tip of the orthocone was preserved. The 3 parts glued back together, showing only a glimps of the orthocone: clearing out the fossil: a bit of marble treatment on the shell and done

I spent yesterday trying out a location along the southwest corner of Tug Hill Plateau in Oswego County NY. There is a road cut exposure that is very weathered. Lots of crumbly mud- and silt-stone, interspersed with sandstone. I couldn’t get very low on the exposure because the river that the highway crosses was high, no shelf or margin of error to climb down. On the Rockd app, this is supposed to be late Ordovician Pulaski and Whetstone gulf, and I wanted to find trilobites. I think I found one fragile flexicalymene, Prasopora (chocolate drop bryozoan), and a big orthocone. Very few trilobite remains in any layer I examined. I hope to return this summer when the water of the river is low...

I finaly got around putting all my best cephalopods specimens that I collected over the past 4 years in the frasnian of southern Belgium on there place in the cabinets. They all come from the same location. (except an orthocone and a receptaculites from the same age but from a different spot ) most of it has already been posted in individual posts, but this gives an overal vieuw of the part of the collection on display. Enjoy al the Manticoceras, Crickites, Tornoceras, Bactrites, Orthocones and more

I made a trip to my new favorite Upper Ordovician (Drakes Formation) spot today (working on a field trip report ). I came across a few of these cylinders, which I believe are orthoconic nautiloids. I found them in many different sizes. Some taper as I would expect from an orthocone. However, they do not have the suture lines or septa that I am used to seeing. Some have what appears to be a possible siphuncle in the center while others do not. Here are a few pics of some of the more interesting ones. I can provide more if needed. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for any assistance! This one is about 3cm in diameter and 7.5 cm length. Number 8 in first pic. There are also a couple that have this twisting pattern on the outside. This one is about 5cm in diameter and 3.5 in length. Number 4 in first pic. Possible Siphuncle? 1 cm in diameter. Number 7.

Blair County, Pennsylvania (USA) Silurian... According to the map the likely guess is Clinton Formation, but my gut on site said "Wills Creek" Anyway, what do I have here? Small straight nautiloids or Tentaculites? How do you tell them apart?

I found this orthocone a while back at Arkona (devonian) and I thought it was dolorthoceras, but now I am not so sure. It has a strange mark protruding from centre of each chamber. Any help would be appreciated! d!

Need help with identification. I have a pretty strong idea that this is a weathered section of a cephalopod but I would like to be certain. Your feedback (as always) is appreciated. :)-

This summer I was once again able to look for fossils near Newberry, MI in a degrading hill filled with drift. In my research recently, I came across a paper on the Collingwood formation drift in Newberry, and was excited to find exact descriptions of some of the layered rocks found there. I am including photos of one of them, split into its layers...and the orthocones revealed in thos layers. The orthocone has a very thin shell of some kind....they are always found flattened and usually with that line down the center indicating what was once rounded has been squished flat. In the 4.5 " orthocone showing (the third image and about 6" overall) even the open edge presents a somewhat curved opening. usually it is squared across. Over the years I have found these triangular shaped creatures filling the shale...from 1/4 " long smattering of them all over a hashplate, to the ones that average 4 or so inches. I have not been able to figure them them out. The interesting paper I read doesn't mention them, which was a surprise to me since they are so plentiful. At any rate, If someone has a suggestion I would appreciate it. The other thing I am curious about, is the geologic process that formed this rock...for each of them, the split layers reveal creatures...in one of my rocks, each layer is filled with graptolites. So what was the process by which the layers formed....rain storms that roiled the sediment and trapped a layer of animal...followed by a week or month or day or year storm that layered another 1/2 inch of sediment and captured another layer of creatures....and how did this layer than get broken up into cobbles....(the animal remains found in each of the layers sames to be consistent with all the other layers of each, so I am assuming a rather quick succession of silt was laid down....in a somewhat regular pattern.

Wanted to take advantage of the good weather and went to the creek on my farm to see if I could find anything good. The creek is located on a farm in Northern Kentucky, located in a small valley amongst the hills. As soon as I reached the creek and knelt down, I spotted this beautiful specimen and instantly recognized the shape and tapering. I can’t find any septa on it though. I find an abundance of bryozoans, brachiopods and crinoid stems. Few weeks ago, found a fragment of orthocone and had it verified on here. This is only my second and so are pretty rare on our land. Just wanted to show you all, make sure 100% it’s the real deal since you all know much, much more than I. Don’t want to keep a rock or petrified ice cream cone around.

Found this while searching the creeks located around my farm. I find a lot of bryozoans, brachiopods, crinoid stems and that’s about it. Never have found a fossil like this around here before, though I know Northern Kentucky has found orthocone fossils before. Interested in what you all think!

Hi, noone will hurt my feelings if this turns out to be geological and not an orthocone cast. I was exploring for other fossils when I chanced upon 3 separate specimens of the following. They were all about the same dimensions and appearance so I decided to bring one home. What the heck it only weighed a couple of pounds. 7.5" x 3" at the widest. Elliptical shape on left end a side view

UPDATE: August 20, 2013 - A new site for Wattieza - the world's oldest known tree Since posting this, the debate about "orthocone" versus "Devonian tree" has been settled. The Devonian tree experts have weighed in and confirm that these are Devonian tree shoots. They were growing in a swampy shallow marine environment similar to how modern mangroves grow. Since our original discovery - which represents an entirely and previously unknown site for Devonian Wattieza trees - my wife and I have collected more than a dozen separate fossils including some with surrounding substrate, from this site. I have cleaned most of the specimens and am taking closeup photos from all perspectives, now, to show such things as the central tube (called a stele) that runs through the core and the texture of the outer covering. In addition to Wattieza we have also discovered a separate Devonian plant species which we are attempting to evaluate and identify. Here is a photo from our SECOND site visit that shows the actual small Wattieza stump fossil that we collected, placed in front of a photo of the same fossil in the substrate as we found it. You can also see the adjacent "stick" which we currently believe is NOT part of the Wattieza stump - a separate closeup of the stick is included. We are currently looking at our several "stick" fossils and planning to cut one to look at the cross-section pattern, to try to determine the plant species. We feel that these finds have the potential to add new information about Devonian trees and plants, from this new site. It is also significant that we found these in a Devonian site where there are normally only marine fossils so we appear to have found a rare "island" of ideal conditions where young mangal Wattieza trees were growing in a paleosol where the conditions allowed fossilization. Geologically, these fossils are at the lower end of the "Tully limestone" formation. Our Devonian tree/plant finds confirm our thinking as "advanced amateur" paleontologists that as amateur fossil hunters we all can and should be using our time and knowledge to discover new sites and add to the fossil record. The small "army" of fossil hunters represented on The Fossil Forum have a unique opportunity to look in places where scientists may not have an opportunity - or inclination - to search. Once in awhile we discover something important, which seems to be the case here. OUR ORIGINAL POST Before I write our 4th of July trip report, I asked for some ID help with 3 tube shaped fossils we discovered at Tully, NY (Devonian, Hamilton Group) - the first opinion I received is that these are orthocone cephalopods. A contrary view is that these are Devonian trees! I modified the description slightly from the original post to reflect the current debate which has made this a "hot" topic. Have to admit, it's kind of cool that our first major fossil trip this year has sparked such an interesting discussion! Nan and I found these in situ sitting vertically in the substrate of a new construction site. I had found a few very large (2 inch diameter) cylinder shaped segments in the rubble that looked like cephalopod pieces and they were the largest we have seen to-date, so we were intrigued and started pulling away the substrate in the vertical walls exposed by the bulldozer. The first two fossils were found about a meter apart and the third was found about 300 meters away over a hill, but in the same level strata and depth. I'll do some minor cleaning, take better pix of the recovered fossils and segments, and add them soon - there appears to be a siphuncle structure running through the center, and other clues to the identity. Here is a quick view of how and where they were found - of course we realize it's very rare to find this type of fossil vertically embedded in the substrate. Nan found the first one, I found the next two and excavated all three - will provide more photos soon but hoped to get an ID first. The third sample had about 2/3 with the bottom portion missing. The first two appear to spread out slightly at the bottom. Several people suggested these could be trees and a few said other creatures but most people I talked to before posting this seem to agree they are orthocone cephalods. Aside from their size and shape (which is unusually large for the Tully shale so these are rare especially found in situ) - the primary convincing evidence is the siphon (siphuncle) protruding from the tip of the top of one of the specimens. This structure runs like a worm through the center - the other segments show holes in the center where the "wormlike body" ran through it. This argues against trees or other creatures but a few people claim that Devonian trees did have a similar center structure. The most confusing aspect is the lack of hard shell which should be present if this were a cephalopod - so what does that suggest? Another type of creature? Did they moult their shells and is this the "soft shelled" phase? Or is this a tree? Here is the top segment from the best specimen which clearly shows the siphuncle protruding at the center. In addition to the segmented tube shaped structures (they are all about the same diameter and length) there appear to be tentacle shaped structures on the left side although I didn't recover those when I extracted the tubes. Of course if this is a tree, then it is possible that those structures could be shoots. The tentacles or shoots were not recovered and are only shown in the photo which unfortunately limits the analysis. Here is how the debate seems to be shaping up: Pro Orthocone Cephalopod - These 3 specimens were found in what appears to be a Devonian marine environment where all of the fossils found there have been marine fossils. They have a small center "worm like" structure running through the center that looks like a siphuncle (siphon). They are all segmented and all the same approximate length and diameter. One was partially collapsed and distorted (some segments bulging outward). No one has suggested a cephalopod species that this might represent. Pro Devonian Tree - The horizontal strata where they were found contained very few if any marine fossils so they could be small young trees growing in the water. There is no trace of any shell fragments which is unusual if this is a cephalopod and the segments don't resemble cephalopod shells. There is a thin outer "skin" which could be consistent with ancient horsetail type bark. In the cross section of the segments, there are no concentric circles - in early trees there was pith, not traditional wood with concentric growth circles and some people have indicated that the first Devonian trees did have a similar center structure. The center core that looks like a siphuncle would be a core structure called a stele. Piranha suggests that this could be Wattieza sp., a prehistoric cladoxylopsid tree from the Middle Devonian that was discovered in Gilboa, New York which would be consistent with the location which was the Hamilton Group near Tully, NY. This genus has been called the earliest known trees. One of our goals for this fossil trip was to find something larger and distinctive/unusual and apparently we've done that. Another goal we've had since last year was to find a Devonian plant of some sort and it would be cool if that's what this turns out to be. I'll be just as happy if these are orthocones. The debate is hot on the ID for these and with all the attention and help from everyone, we should zone in soon. I'll take some more closeup photos this week and post them here. These are some of the largest fossils Nan and I have found so far and certainly the largest we have found in situ - it's fascinating that we found these exactly where they died and were preserved, 385 mya. I have to admit I felt like RomanK, who finds a lot of stunning in situ fossils and I have to admit, I was consciously trying to think like Roman and inspired by his example while searching for these fossils, which involved a lot of "excavation." UPDATE: NEW PHOTOS/CLOSEUPS At the end of this blog (page 3 and 4) I posted some new closeup images.

It has been a while since I made a decent post on this forum ( spending most of my time here in the chatroom ) But last weekend I took the courage to prep some of my recent and older finds. In my older posts you could notice that I’m particularly interested in the Paleozoic fossils of my small country, especially if I can get some cephalopods. Although they are relatively rare here, we found a few deposits wielding them, and in the quarry of Lompret a specific layer has been really productive for them. Their conservation isn’t always very good and they might be hard to spot, but this I a selection that I made and prepped. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. https://goo.gl/photos/s1N12Vic27d49GUb9 This one had a little surprise during the prep, while clearing the goniatite I discovered a small orthocone under it. ( Manticoceras sp + orthocone: might be orthoceras or Bactrites ) https://goo.gl/photos/Ek4BYCRckhLBxNWP7 Manticoceras sp. https://goo.gl/photos/hw1LotmNF4KzxCyp6 Multiple orthocones, the largest one judging by the position of the siphuncle should be an Orthoceras sp. https://goo.gl/photos/thc9WLxVT6zWgrTC8 Manticoceras sp. https://goo.gl/photos/bS4EniPSXf1miQVEA This is one of my favorites: a double Manticoceras sp. https://goo.gl/photos/exfdSJ2X1XzFtMy78 https://goo.gl/photos/oFvCtRKuWauJtKwL8 This is probably the best one in my colection: 3 complete Manticoceras and a partial one and a Orthocone. ( that last wan came loose during the prep and was glued back in position. ) I realy like the tiny specimen in the chamber of the larger one Cheers, Kevin

This 2.7cm long fragment is from the Brigantian (U. Mississippian) of SW Scotland. I've skimmed through the Treatise (orthocerida and actinocerida) and a few other books but can't find anything Carboniferous with this sort of decoration. There's no siphuncle visible at either end so I guess it's a piece of the living chamber - a pity because it might have helped narrow it down. Any comments appreciated!

TRIP REPORT - TULLY, NY Finds included Orthocone Cephalopods, Trilobites, Nautiloids, Devonian Assemblages We didn't have much time for fossil site visits this year so our 4th of July weekend had to be special. We decided to combine fossils and fishing which gave us 2 days at Tully NY for fossils, and 3 days at Lake Cayuga for boating/fishing and fossiling. This report covers the Tully site visit. I'll post a separate trip report for Lake Cayuga. As our friends on the Forum know, Nan and I try to set specific goals and targets for each fossil site visit and that's what we did for our 4th of July fossil and fishing vacation. Our goal for the Tully visit was to find Devonian fossils that were unique and collectible. We also wanted to find larger Devonian fossils if possible. I called and got permission in advance from the land owner to collect at our favorite Devonian site but when we got there, we were disappointed to find that our best spot had been picked clean and a lot of fossil rich rubble had been removed. Last year we found many large brachiopods, crinoids and several species of trilobites but this year there were no large specimens, only "baby fossils." Also, it was raining both days so we didn't do our customary cracking and fracking of shale which yields our best finds and this was a factor. I immediately found 1) a large well-worn nautiloid shaped fossil, and 2) a smaller nautiloid shaped impression in shale. These are not well articulated but I haven't seen a lot of large nautiloids from Tully. I also noticed some very large diameter cephalopod segments about 2 inches in diameter. Often we find these flattened in shale but these pieces were fully articulated cylinder shaped segments. This clue suggested we might find more complete specimens, so we started looking for more complete specimens. Nan was looking at a vertical face exposed by the construction work and suddenly started screaming that she found something cool. I ran over and sure enough, there was a large tube shaped fossil with segments and a smooth skin...standing upright exactly where it was preserved. In the first image below you can see the position of the tube in the formation and the relationship to the horizontal layers which suggests that this is NOT a concretion or geological anomaly, but a real fossil. The second image shows a closeup of the fossil in situ. Closer inspection shows a center stele at the tip of the top rounded segment which you can see in the image below. It took me about an hour to carefully extract the tube (Nan is better at finding fossils and I'm probably better at excavating them). Excited by the find, I kept excavating along the seam and soon discovered another fossil with the same shape, configuration and positioning. Later, I found another partial specimen about 300 yards away - ironically, at the same place we thought was devoid of fossils. All 3 fossils were the same relative size, shape and positioned vertically in the formation. As I excavated the fossils from the formation, I kept thinking about RomanK who has found tree and plant fossils embedded vertically and I was "channeling Roman" as I removed these finds. As it turns out, these were not orthocones, but turned out to be Devonian tree fossils (Wattieza). I started a separate thread in the Fossil ID section.