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I found this on a plate of trilobites and pelycopods, it is around 8mm in diameter and I have no Idea about what it could be. Any help is appreciated, Thank you.

Does anyone know what part of the crinoid this element is? Is there enough there to assign a genus? It is 6-sided, and each side has a concavity. Pictured are top, bottom, and one side view. Scale in mm. Location & geological context in tags.

This weekend we're taking a long weekend up to the Niagara Falls NY area. We're going to be doing the typical tourist stops plus a visit to Penn Dixie. . Based on the weather forecast I would assume to be there at opening time to avoid the afternoon heat and possibility of thunderstorms. I don't know yet if we're going to be there on Saturday or Sunday. Is there any tips or suggestions for first timers to Penn Dixie? We have a rock hammer, mason's hammer, an engineer hammer and several cold chisels. Also on a totally unrelated note any restaurants in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area that anyone would recommend for the family. Thanks for any information and I will post a field report early next week.

Here are a few finds from my first trip to Penn Dixie not sure exactly what these are. The first is a spiriferid brachiopod but I would like to confirm that what is on it is a crinoid holdfast or is it something else?

It's taken me a while to post this, but my boyfriend and I took another trip to Penn Dixie on the Fourth of July! For those who have been to Penn Dixie I'm sure you know it's impossible even for a total newbie to leave empty handed. I didn't get anything super amazing like some of the full trilos th at I've seen other people post, but I did get what I went in hoping to find - gastropods!!! I THOUGHT that I found 2 - the large one and the good spiral one. But when I started washing the mud off them last night I discovered two others on the other side of some chunks that we had kept for their trilo fragments! They aren't perfect, but I'm so happy because all I've wanted to find since I started going to Penn Dixie was a snail It has a little bit to do with my love for David Attenborough shows and learning that we are currently in the Golden Age of the Snail which makes me unreasonably happy. I'll try to get some more pictures tonight of everything we found to help illustrate how many fossils you can leave Penn Dixie with - even when your boyfriend is making you be more selective and says you can't keep everything! I took a picture right after I found the third gastropod (the smaller not spirally one - I know the name is in the Penn Dixie guidebook but I can't think of it right now) Realized I jumped the gun by taking a picture of the three when I found this guy! He's definitely not as great as the other spirally one, but I might try to extract him better at some point! Not even the best trilobite pieces we found, but the only ones I have pictures of at the moment!

I found this small pygidium while prepping some Penn Dixie material. Not sure whether it’s Greenops or Bellacartwrightia. Any thoughts? @Fossil-Hound @DevonianDigger Hope you don’t mind the tags.

I had the pleasure of attending the recent Penn Dixie Dig With The Experts and had the opportunity to catch up with some old collecting friends and make some new ones. As one of the people helping out collectors and cutting a heck of a lot of bugs out of rock for people I had the opportunity to see most of the really awesome bugs found that weekend. Without a doubt this one found by Scylla's son was one of the best and one of the rarest finds to be had a Penn. Gus and his son were kind enough to trust me with their prize find. The bug was damaged a bit and split between two sides of the matrix. I will look at repairing some of this at the end of the prep. Regardless this is a huge bela and has remarkable preservation. This is being prepped with relatively low PSI dolomite / sodium bicarbonate mix with some minimal scribing using a Pferd MST-31 with fine stylus. At the point of this picture I have already trimmed down the counter part to make it ready for reassembly. Reassembly was by super thin cyano acrylate clamped for 24 hours

I am wondering if this hash plate from Penn Dixie has the cephalon imprint from a large trilobite, or is it from something else?

Hi all! Last weekend I attended Penn Dixie's Dig with the Experts event on the Sunday, and I found a couple of fossils that I'd like help identifying, if possible. The fossils are mid-Devonian in age. Thanks so much for your help! Monica Item #1 - photo of the entire rock and a close-up. Item #2 - photo of the entire rock and a close-up. Perhaps a crinoid bit?

While cleaning the brachiopods which I found on my recent trip to Penn Dixie, I noticed something that I cannot identify. I initially thought it was a shell fragment due to the white color. Upon closer inspection, I thought it might be a bryozoan? Now I’m wondering if it could be a tiny crab?

This year I pulled the trigger on heading to Penn Dixie for the Dig With the Experts weekend! Definitely would highly recommend . I drove up from Boston to the Buffalo area on Thursday and spent the day Friday digging with @Malcolmt and @JamesAndTheFossilPeach. It was a blast! Thanks again guys for giving me a lay of the land. Credit to @JamesAndTheFossilPeach for the find of the day with a giant Eldredgeops (pic below). Saturday and Sunday were spent looking for trilobites in the roped off Dig With the Experts section of excavated shale with some success. Monday I drove back to Boston, and stopped to stretch my legs in Glenerie, NY to walk a stretch of road looking for Devonian brachiopods and gastropods. Got a couple! All in all, a great trip... although I'm nice and sore . Here are my takeaways from the weekend. I tried to get a bit of the entire Penn Dixie Ecosystem keeping at least one of everything and as many trilobites as I could find. I wish I took more pictures Saturday and Sunday, but I was too busy splitting shale . Cheers, Barret

I know some TFF members will be at Penn Dixie for the "dig with the experts" weekend coming up. I'll be there with my oldest on Saturday and the other two kids will catch up with us on Sunday. Who else will be there? https://penndixie.org/dig-with-the-experts/

Came across something interesting today while excavating the Bay View Coral bed at the site. First thought was a hypostome from a Dipleura dekayi. It is not. There are symmetrical sutures in it, which are pretty interesting. Wondering if anyone has some literature on Devonian fishes from the Hamilton. The only thing I can think of is placoderm. It's about 1mm thick and 4-5cm across. Sorry for the poor photo, I took it in situ with my phone.

Great day today. Ended up getting a greenops some eldredgeops rollers some really nice brachiopods and even some carbonized wood. What was really awesome is I ended up finding 4 large ammonites out of the Wanakah shale which was strange. But hey I’m not complaining.

I have up for offer this little fella. He's not perfect, but he's a cute little ~2cm prone Eldredgeops rana with a nice little coral in association. He's got something weird going on on the right portion of his cephalon into the first few pleurae, but has really nice color and a great personality. I prepped him out to a degree, but I don't want to risk losing any more of his already damaged glabella. I'm offering him up in trade for another equally disrupted trilobite. Message me with any interest!

I spent an hour this evening working on the Eldregops rana trilobite from Penn Dixie that I received unprepared from @Kane. It is a beautiful partially enrolled specimen. Thanks Kane! There’s also a nice little horn coral next to it. Here it is before:

[WARNING: As is my custom, this trip report is exceedingly long, verbosely worded, and copiously illustrated with photos.] (It may be a good idea to find a comfy chair and grab a drink and some popcorn.) Since Tammy's retirement earlier this year, we've been busier than ever. We finally made it to Iceland this summer and saw dozens (if not literally hundreds) of waterfalls in that geologically interesting country. While talking about waterfalls ("fossar" in Icelandic), Tammy had realized that I had somehow not yet seen Niagara Falls. Tammy did not do a lot of vacation traveling when she was younger but had visited Niagara several times in her youth. She decided it was high time I experienced the power of Niagara. It could have been a simple trip--a flight up to Buffalo, a day out on a boat getting drenched at the base of the falls, and home again with little more than a long weekend invested. Somehow though, I have a remarkable knack for constructing enormously detailed travel itineraries--and this trip was no exception. Our anniversary month is October and so with the prospect of some multi-chromatic autumn foliar displays we decided that we'd plan a roadtrip that included Niagara Falls as its underlying motivation. It didn't take me long to realize that there are a lot of great TFF members up in the New York and Ontario area. Additionally, some members from the Virginia/Maryland area suggested meeting up during our last roadtrip through the Carolinas but that trip was already lengthy and involved. Perhaps, I could combine visits with a number of TFF members along the way and do a roadtrip down the Eastern Seaboard? As I started contacting prospective members to get the idea kickstarted, the starting point of our trip changed and we tacked on several extra days to the start of our trip. My brother and his wife had just bought a new house in the north side of Chicago. He decided that since all of the family holidays (Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas) were already claimed by other family members that he would start the tradition of Oktoberfest at their house--first Saturday of October. The itinerary for our trip was still in its early stages so we were easily able to incorporate a trip up to Chicago and link it to the start of our roadtrip. We considered flying from Chicago to Buffalo and picking the rental car there but the cheaper airfares were (not surprisingly) at rather inconvenient times (who wants to check into a hotel in the wee hours of the morning?) but an alternative soon presented itself. Since one of the places we'd hoped to visit along the way was the Devonian Hungry Hollow site in Arkona, ON, we'd have to backtrack west if we started in Buffalo but it would be conveniently along the route if we simply picked up the rental car in Chicago and started the roadtrip from there. This also allowed us the opportunity of visiting the small town of La Porte, Indiana where Tammy lived at one time. Things were falling into place. Of course, that is not to imply that my roadtrips are in any way quickly improvised--I think I spend as much time planning them as I do driving them. Starting the trip in Chicago allowed us both to visit family and work our way through all of our favorite food groups (authentic Chinese, Indian, Middle-eastern, and deep-dish pizza ) before gorging ourselves on lots of tasty German food and Oktoberfest-themed adult beverages at my brother's new place. Finally, we were ready to start rolling some miles (and kilometers) onto our trip odometer and we picked up the rental car and got underway. We planned on making London, ON for our first night and since it turns out it is only a mere 6 or so hours driving from Chicago, we had a bit of time to drive through La Port. It had been nearly 40 years since Tammy lived there and (as expected) much of the area was barely recognizable and not much as she'd remembered it. There were a few landmarks still in place and it didn't take us long to find the house her parents owned in town. The main floor was the Chinese restaurant they owned and the second floor above is where they lived. It's always interesting indulging some nostalgia and visiting places from the past. After a bit of driving around town we picked up the highway and in time crossed the border into Canada at Port Huron. We got to bed late that night but we had one of the longer driving days behind us already. On the road again--and a stop at a childhood home in La Porte.

I finally managed to get my cheapo air abrader working today so I want to show off my first self-prepared trilo. Eldredgeops rana found a few weeks ago at penn dixie fossil park in NY Before starting only the right eye and a few segments were exposed (forgot to take a pic before starting...) so I assumed it was a roller of some sort like most of the others I've found. The exposed section also had compression damage so it seemed like good practice material. Luckily I didn't destroy it because aside from the compression it turned out to be a very well preserved prone! The air abrasion was done using a paasche air eraser at 50 psi with dolomite. Everything so far was done without magnification so I need to finish off the eyes and some of the deeper crevices under a scope.

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the late reply in posting this, but I was busy on the weekend with a course I'm taking, so it took me a few days to get my act together. On Friday, October 12th, 2018, a bunch of TFF members met up at Penn Dixie Fossil Park in Hamburg, New York in order to do some group fossil-hunting for mid-Devonian trilobites and other critters. The members in the pictures that follow are Malcolm @Malcolmt (he's wearing the beige bucket hat), Greg @Greg.Wood (he's in the striped shirt), Ken @digit (he's in the red jacket), Ken's wife Tammy (she's in the blue jacket), my daughter Viola (she's the only child in the group, so she's easy to spot!), Kane @Kane (he's in the black shirt), Kane's partner Deb (she's in the black jacket), and Mike @ischua (he's in the blue touque and green jacket). Diane @Mediospirifer and her husband were there, but I didn't get any pictures with them - so sorry! - perhaps Ken got a few photos... I encourage the others members of the group to add pictures to this thread if they have any, especially pictures of the finds - thanks! Monica The group hard at work: Malcolm using one of his toys to clear off some dust and debris: Greg doing some heavy lifting: Malcolm splitting some rock: continued...

About a month ago I went to Penn with two fossil buddies and they both found prone greenops. Sadly I did not find one. However both of these greenops were split between the positive and negative and probably were missing some skin as the material was quite flaky. For one of my friends this was his first ever find of a prone greenops. Prone greenops that are nicely laid out are a very rare find in the Windom shale. Most of the ones I have found from there or others that I have prepped for people are fully, partially enrolled or distorted. So to my fossil buddy this was a bit of a special find. We wrapped up the two pieces in tin foil in the field and I agreed to take it with me and prep it for him. Well zoom ahead a month in time and I am going out with him last week to collect and he asks how is his greenops coming, whereby I realize that I have not only not started it ,but in my senility had forgotten I had it and had no clue where it was. Well when I got home it turns out that I had never unpacked the bucket of fossils from that trip and low and behold his fossil was packed just as we had left it. A careful look at both parts under the scope confirmed my opinion that the bug was in pretty rough shape , but a prone greenops, not to mention perhaps his first ever prone warranted we attempt to bring it back to life. Unfortunately I did not take any pics until a ways into the prep but here is what I did to start. 1. Washed the mud off both plates scrubbing with a tooth brush 2. Squared up what would become the fossil plate with the diamond gas saw 3. Cut out as small as possible a square from the top piece of the matrix that contained the top part of the greenops using my 7 inch tile saw with diamond blade 4. On a belt sander using aluminum oxide 120 grit thinned the top piece as much as safely possible to help minimize my prep time later. 5. Using super thin cyanoacrylate glue reattached the top portion to the main slab clamping tightly with a c-clamp. Asusual all prep was done under a zoom scope at 10x to 20x magnification using a Comco abrasion unit and in this case a German Pferd MST 31 scribe exclusively.. Not a lot of scribing was done other than to outline the bug as the skin was not in great shape. Abrasion was pretty much done with a .18 and .10 nozzle using 40 micron previously used dolomite at 30 PSI. Here is the bug after about an our of prepping . I have outlined in red where you can still see the outline of the section that was glued down. A lot of people do not realize that many of the fantastic trilobites you see on the market have actually been glued back together because the splits are often through the bug. I once did a Moroccan trilobite that was in 7 pieces when I received it Here is the bug after another 40 minutes Took some pictures of the prep but frankly they ended up too blurry to use so here is the prep after abrasion is complete and after I have repaired a lot of the parts that broke of in the split. I tend to use a white repair material and always take a picture to let the owner know what has been repaired Here is the bug after coloration applied . The repairs were allowed to cure overnight before coloration and a bit of extra carving to clean up spots.Just waiting for me to do a final cleanup tomorrow after everything has cured a bit more. A long way from being the worlds most pristine or perfect bug but I am relatively pleased that we were able to breath some new life into an ailing bug. Totally prep time about 3 1/2 hours over 4 days. I suspect the owner will be pleased with the result. I have seen people toss bugs in the field that were in this type of shape. For those of you who just need to know the bug is 27mm x 18 mm A slightly different view

It was a pretty good week fossil collecting I managed to make it to Penn Dixie Tuesday and Friday. A few of us Canadians had the place to ourselves both days Tuesday was an interesting day, three of us went Mike, Greg and myself and we all ended up with heat stroke. The temperature topped out at 39 Celsius and then you add in the humidity factor and it was low 40's. Stupid weather for collecting but we all found some very good stuff. Greg found a huge plate that I cut down in the field for him to about 12 inches by 12 inches. It would appear to have 4 complete prone E. rana on it . It currently sits in my basement waiting to be prepped. I do not have a picture as of yet but if I get his permission I will post one. Mike as usual is the greenops whisperer and he found 2 or 3 relatively complete and large greenops at the top of the blocks in the main Penn trilobite layer. I was having a reasonable day I probably had 20 to 30 enrolled or partially enrolled trilobites in the bucket along with a very nice Pleurodictyum americanum (a tabulate coral) . I only find a few of these each year at Penn and always take them home because they prep up quite nicely. I was getting a bit frustrated that both Mike and Greg were finding prone rana's including Greg's spectacular plate, when my fortunes changed with one split of the rock. For those of you that have been collecting with me you know that my style is to spend the morning breaking out huge blocks from the main trilobite layer with big prybars, wedges and chisels and then I split for the whole afternoon. We were working a large bench and had gotten to the state where all the blocks were locked in because of convoluted dome structures and the lack of natural cracks. The blocks that day were coming out about 200 to 300 pounds and about 12 to 18 inches thick. Eventually I would resort to the diamond gas saw and create some weak areas that we could exploit, but back to this story. In frustration with the heat and three guys not being able to get the next block out I just took a chisel and a 5 pound mini sledge and took my frustration out on the rock. Well to my pleasant surprise off popped a piece of matrix that clearly had 2 nice bugs in it. Wow one strike of the sledge and the fortunes of the day are totally changed. I always tell people who are collecting with me to keep at it, your are only one strike of the hammer away from having an amazing day. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures in the field my phone would not let me it said the battery was over heated. Here is ta picture of the shard about 1/2 hour into prepping. What you cant notice in this picture is that there is a 3rd bug buried to the left, I was just able to see the edge of a pygidium from the side. For once I got lucky and it was not just an isolated pygidium. Here it is probably an hour into the prep Prep was pretty standard using a COMCO air abrasion unit at about 30 PSI with 40 micron previously used dolomite, utilizing .025. .015 and .010 tips. Very little scribing was used on the piece because was quite thin and looked to have weak spots that were stabilized with cyanoacrylate and dilute vinac in acetone .Anyway for your viewing pleasure here is a series of pictures of the completed bugs. The plate has no repairs or restoration and the bugs are lying in their original positions. Going into my collection besides the "Perfect Bug" I found earlier this season.

It is very rare that a crinoid calyx is found a Penn Dixie. I was at Penn Yesterday in the blistering heat 39 Celsius and found a small calyx (23mm * 11 mm). I have a suspicion what this is but don't want to taint others before hearing their opinion. This was found in the top of the E. rana trilobite layer in the Windom shale. I prepped it this morning and the preservation is much better than the 1 other calyx that I have ever found there which I gave to DevonianDigger earlier this year. Here are a series of pictures that try to give the different views. There is the remains of one arm but it is disarticulated from the actual calyx.

Here's another fossil from Penn Dixie I'm having trouble with. It's from the Devonian shale, and it can be hard to see in the photo as it blends in really well and is a bit worn. There is a trilobite in the upper part of the photo, I've circled the interesting feature in red. It's a circular shape with ribbed features radiating from the center. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if it's actually a fossil or just an anomaly in the rock.

A visitor brought this item up front and I'm pulling the room to see if anyone has a definite ID on this piece. It's almost like coal, definitely seems like a carbonized something. Doesn't have the calcite to indicate plant, perhaps a fish coprolite? Thanks in advance.