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Showing results for tags 'trace fossils'.
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Oviposition-Scars On A Calamite Stem From The Westphalian D Of The Piesberg, Germany
paleoflor posted a topic in Member Collections
Dear all, It was difficult, very difficult to wait with posting, since I am very, very excited about this fossil find. However, I also wanted the Dutch magazine version to come out first. Well, it finally did this Tuesday, so here is some info in English, along with a couple of the figures. During a visit to the Piesberg near Osnabrück (Germany) in 2010, I found a stem fragment of Calamites decorated with strange, elongate-oval structures [Fig. 1]. While those features were unusual and quite remarkable, it proved difficult to find information about them and the fossil consequently went into my collection as unidentified. Last January, however, I stumbled upon a research paper that could shed light on the matter. The elongate-oval structures turn out to be one of the oldest-known examples of endophytic oviposition, i.e. egg-laying inside plant tissue, by insects. Fig. 1. The fossil specimen is atypical in several respects [Fig. 2]. The stem fragment doesn’t show the longitudinal ribs one usually sees on the internodes of Calamites. This is because we are looking at a preservation of the epidermis (outer layer of the stem), not at a cast of the central pith, which are more commonly found. Fossils of the epidermis (sometimes referred to as Calamophyllites) typically have internodes with a smooth surface (though it may be lightly striated or wrinkled), leaving few diagnostic features. Nonetheless, due to the presence of a characteristic nodal line with large, circular branch-scars [Fig. 2, shown on schematic in green], the fossil fragment can be identified as Calamites (subgenus Calamitina) with reasonable confidence. Below the nodal line with branch-scars, about eight elongate-oval structures can be observed [Fig. 1]. They are all orientated roughly parallel to the axis of the calamite stem and vary in length from 6 to 16 mm. A foreign nature with respect to the plant tissue is suggested by the gümbelite film in which the epidermis is preserved (gümbelite is a hydromuscovite and responsible for the well-known silver-grey colour of the fossils from the Piesberg). Note how this thin film of mineralization does not extend across several of the elongate-oval structures, which may indicate that the plant tissue there is either missing or damaged. Their exact origin, however, remained a mystery to me. Until recently. Fig. 2. While looking for information on some Carboniferous localities in France, I happened upon the research article ‘Earliest Evidence of Insect Endophytic Oviposition’ by Olivier Béthoux et al. (2004). The paper describes insect egg-laying structures, called oviposition-scars, found on two stem fragments of Calamites cistii from the Upper Carboniferous (Stephanian B/C) of Graissessac, Southern France. These scars are elongate-oval structures, orientated parallel to the axis of the stem, occurring on a preservation of calamite epidermis [see their Figures 1 and 2]. Careful preparation of three of these scars yielded small spherical cavities, which the researchers interpreted as imprints of the eggs themselves [see their Figure 2b]. The oviposition-scars from Graissessac vary in length from 5 to 38 mm and are surrounded by a thin film of organic material [see their Figure 2c]. Given the strong resemblance with the Piesberg-material, it didn’t take long to make the link with the mystery markings I found years earlier. Now, after confirmation by email from Olivier Béthoux and in person from Han van Konijnenburg-van Cittert, I can with reasonable certainty say that some sort of Carboniferous insect has laid its eggs in the calamite stem I found in the Piesberg quarry. This type of trace fossils is quite rare, so I am very happy I brought this one home. As a nice bonus this specimen comes from the Westphalian D, and is thus somewhat older (about 4 million years) than the published material from Graissessac (Stephanian BC), which is still cited as the oldest occurrence in recent literature. So you can really say this specimen from the Piesberg is one of the oldest examples around! Hope this was as fun and informative as this fossil has been for me, Tim
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- Calamites
- Carboniferous
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Megaovoidus foveolatus (Roselt) Laaß et al. 2023
paleoflor posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
Note specimen also contains Megaovoidus compactus-type oviposition scars.© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
Note specimen also contains Megaovoidus foveolatus-type oviposition scars.© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
Note specimen also contains Megaovoidus foveolatus-type oviposition scars in top left corner of image.© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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Megaovoidus foveolatus (Roselt) Laaß et al. 2023
paleoflor posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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Megaovoidus foveolatus (Roselt) Laaß et al. 2023
paleoflor posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Steinbruch Piesberg (Osnabrück, Germany)
Note specimen also contains Megaovoidus compactus-type oviposition scars.© T.K.T. Wolterbeek
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Collected in Woodbine, so many different traces on both sides of rocks really curious what made them, esp the 'plowing', there's a single and double plow. There's an odd tube like thing with ' inards' coming out, and lastly a really random one, single trail with piece of something stuck in it. Hopefully someone recognizes some of them.
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Strange Sandstone Cylinders Found in the Lower Permian Glorieta Sandstone, Northern New Mexico
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Lucas, S.G., DiMichele, W.A. and Karnes, J.M., Unusual Sandstone Cylinders from the Lower Permian Glorieta Sandstone, Northern New Mexico. New Mexico Geology. vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 63-75. New Mexico Geology Volume 44, Number 3 - Full Issue New Mexico Geology — Back-issues Yours, Paul H.-
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- glorieta sandstone
- new mexico
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Please help ID these Pennsylvanian Naco Formation trace fossils from central Arizona. Help Chris. @Arizona Chris Are the 1 cm wide chevron tracts in photo 3 Cruziana from trilobites? What are the 2.5 - 3 cm long teardrop shaped features in photos 1 and 2? What are the 2.5 - 3 cm long teardrop shaped features in photos 1 and 2? What are the elongated traces 3.5 to 4.5 cm long with length parallel marks in photo 4? From crustaceans?
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An enigmatic large discoidal fossil from the Pennsylvanian of County Clare, Ireland.
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Below is a delightful enigmatic fossil from Ireland in an open access paper. Maybe, someone in this forum knows where more can be found. Murray, J., MacGabhann, B.A., Doyle, E., Mángano, M.G., Tyrrell, S. and Harper, D.A., 2023. An enigmatic large discoidal fossil from the Pennsylvanian of County Clare, Ireland. Palaeoworld. Yours, Paul H.- 6 replies
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- carboniferous
- central clare group
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This Strange Ancient 'Fossil' May Not Have Been Left by Any Living Thing Carly Cassella, ScienceAlert, Nature, February 25, 2023 The open access paper is: Nolan, M.R., Walker, S.E., Selly, T., and Schiffbauer, J. 2023, Is the middle Cambrian Brooksella a hexactinellid sponge, trace fossil or pseudofossil? Peer J. Yours, Paul H.
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- brooksella
- cambrian
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I don't know if they are traces fossil or geological in nature, do you know what these spots are? The period is Late Ordovician Thanks! #1 #2 #3
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- canada
- late ordovician
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Extraordinary soft-bodied fossils highlight the Cambrian explosion Derek Briggs, Yale University The Cambrian Explosion and the evolutionary origin of animals Professor Paul Smith, Oxford University Museum of Natural History What triggered the Cambrian Explosion? Professor Rachel Wood, University of Edinburgh Virtual palaeontology: bringing the first animals to life in 3D Dr Imran Rahman, Oxford University Museum of Natural History An alternative reading of the history of life using trace fossils Professor Gabriela Mángano, University of Saskatchewan, Canada Yours, Paul H.
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- cambrian explosion
- soft-bodied fossils
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Mysterious Holes Found on the Seafloor at depth of 2,540 meters (Mid-Atlantic Ridge)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Scientists Are Perplexed by Mysterious Holes They Keep Finding on The Ocean Floor Fiona MacDonald, Science Alert, July 29, 2022 The Case of the Mysterious Holes on the Seafloor NOAA Ocean Exploration Updates, July 27, 2022 Open access paper. Vecchione, M. and Bergstad, O.A., 2022. Numerous sublinear sets of holes in sediment on the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge point to knowledge gaps in understanding mid-ocean ridge ecosystems. Front. Mar. Sci., 31 January 2022 Sec. Deep-Sea Environments and Ecology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.812915 Yours, Paul H. -
Looking for guidance on what to collect today. 1/2 - Could this be pet wood or is there decent potential for fossils in this piece? I put bit of lichen to mark some areas I found interesting (potential marine fossils?). I could leave in place, peel off another layer, pour done water on it, or move on? 3- About same size as 1st one. Multiple trackways or insect burrows? For now, Collect or leave it? 4- hmmm, burrow or stem looking, but all pointed in same direction. 5/6-Not sure, but does not look weathering. AHH SNIKIES! I think that is poison oak & of course I was using my glove as a make do scale Gotta get to the sink! Thanks!
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I was able to take another trip to the Leighton Formation today! It's been a while since I've been able to visit (months and months), but I've finally been able to. Unfortunately, during the winter the place is completely covered in snow and ice. Not really the best collecting conditions... My last trip there was in August of last year, and the spring has been very busy. Today it was time. It was supposed to be overcast with a chance of rain, but it came out sunny and bright. Absolutely beautiful day out. The collecting was very good. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the site. I was working in the same spot as last time, and at another outcrop a little farther down the shoreline. Place hasn't changed much, still as minuscule and weathered as ever. I had a better idea where to look though. Last time, I collected a lot, but I was mainly working in layers where the fossils were very evident. These layers contained a plethora of brachiopods, ostracods, tentaculites and other invertebrates - plus my first conodont. This time, though, I was going to try something a little different. The layers between the extremely fossiliferous layers had finer sediments, and generally seemed to keep the specimens intact better. I chose to mainly work in what I now call the "Chonetes layer". It's the only layer in these outcrops that contain Chonetes bastini brachiopods. The layer doesn't shatter as much as the other shale, so the pieces come out without a lot of cracking. It was also the same place that I found a nice trilo-bit, and I was hoping it would pay off. It did... The best finds of the day went to the trilobite cephalons. I found two Acaste cf. zerinae sp. - mostly intact, but an eye cracked off on the first, and both on the second. I was (luckily) able to find them, and I intend to glue them back on. At least the external molds are completely intact. In all of the following pictures, internal molds come first, external molds second. Cephalon #1, the one-eyed wonder. Cephalon #2 - missing both of the eyes. Sad, it would have been so nice too... Then came the pygidia - four of them! I believe that they are all the same species as the cephalons - A. zerinae - but I could be wrong. I'm sure the trilo-experts here can help me with that. Pygidium #1, the nicest one. Pygidium #2 - this little guy got a bit beat up when the rock split. Pygidium #3 - little bugger needs to be prepped a bit. Pygidium #4 - the internal mold of this cracked in half - and it's missing a piece. This one's a neat little trace fossil. It looks like an infilled burrow to me, but I'll set up a separate thread for that - with better pictures. And this very odd little guy. Another one I'll have to take better pictures on, and as soon as the matrix is pared down a bit I will scrutinize it under a microscope. It's not very evident, but it feathers out at the right end. It could be mineral staining or something, but I'm not sure yet. Then the stuff I couldn't bear to leave behind. I was trying to keep my collecting to new stuff, but some of them just sneaked in there... I feel like we've all experienced this before. Orbiculoidea sp. brachiopod. Lingula sp. brachiopod. Leiopteria rubra bivalve. It was a pretty good day. On top of these finds, I brought back some promising shale pieces to look for micro-fossils in - and a few more interesting unknowns. But that's for another time.. Thanks for reading!
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- bivalves
- brachiopods
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Color Guide To Pennsylvanian Fossils Of North Texas
Conostichus posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Almost there! Over 270 pages of full color fossils from the Pennsylvanian of North Texas The long-awaited sequel to the Pennsylvanian Fossils of North Texas (2003) Available Q4 2015 in hardcopy, digital and e-reader formats.
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Here is (hopefully) one last post to help me identify some items I found while searching through the micro matrix from a Gainesville creek that Ken @digit was nice enough take us to. Some other items have been covered in previous posts:; http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/119097-gainesville-shark-teeth-question/&tab=comments#comment-1305867 http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/114209-north-florida-fun/&tab=comments#comment-1264293 The matrix comes from a creek in Gainesville, Florida and most of the fossils are from the Miocene aged Hawthorn Formation although there is occasional younger material. The fossil fauna is dominated by shark and ray teeth but there are lots of other items including: bivalves, gastropods, crab claws, fish parts, etc. (i.e. marine). What I have below are several items that I am uncertain about and hopefully someone can confirm my suspicion or give me a better idea. Thanks in advance for all your help. Item #1 is what I assume is a fish scale. Is that correct and can it be ID'd any more specifically? Item #2 is are two very tiny beautiful ray tooth. They look different from most of the Dasyatis and Rhynchobatus that I found with a much wider root. That had me thinking Rhinobatus but I'm not really seeing the uvula that I should expect so I could be way off. Any thoughts? Item #3 are a group of fish vertebrae. The two bottom rows are two views of the same 6 vertebrae and I have no doubt they are fish. It is the one on the top that I am uncertain about as it has a totally different shape. But I'm not that familiar with all the different permutations of fish vertebrae, so it may just be a different one. It reminds me of a mammal atlas, but maybe fish atlas bones look like that too. Item #4 are some items that I really have no idea. They look like little sacs and some are broken so that one can see sediment on the interior. While there is variability, most of them have a distinctive teardrop shape. Item #5 I am guessing may be burrow casts, but I'm not sure. Do they look familiar to anyone? Item #6 also look like casts of something, I'm just not sure what. They are generally very straight sections of a smooth tube form. All of the mollusk remains I have found are internal casts so no shell material is generally preserved in this deposit. Item #7 are, I don't know. My Paleozoic brain wants to call them eroded horn corals but I obviously know that is not right. Don't have another option in mind. And lastly, item #8 are probably worm tubes, just looking to see if that is right. They also have a common shape of being U-shaped or looped. They are not attached to a shell or anything (except maybe some matrix) like I am used to seeing with worm tubes. So that is my collection of oddities. I'd appreciate any thoughts folk have. Thanks Mike
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Mid-Devonian (Archaeopteris) fossil forest in peril, Cairo, New York
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
The world's oldest fossilized forest is in Greene County. It needs saving. Roger Hannigan Gilson, Times Union, Aug. 5, 2021 The world’s oldest known fossil forest has been discovered in a quarry in upper New York state By Kelly Murray, CNN, December 20, 2019 The open access paper is: Stein, W.E., Berry, C.M., Morris, J.L., Hernick, L.V., Mannolini, F., Ver Straeten, C., Landing, E., Marshall, J.E., Wellman, C.H., Beerling,D.J. and Leake, J.R., 2020. Mid-Devonian Archaeopteris roots signal revolutionary change in earliest fossil forests. Current biology, 30(3), pp.421-431. open access Yours, Paul H.- 2 replies
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- archaeopteris
- cairo
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From the album: Ichnofossils of Platteville to Decorah Formation Twin Cities
One of the largest most complete Rauffella palmipes feeder burrow fill I have ever found. I hadn't heard of any other trace fossils yet that comes close to this weird one. The invertebrate animal that leaves them makes overlapping spoon shaped burrows with one entry hole. -
Why is the difference between fossils and trace fossils important?
Daniel Fischer posted a topic in Questions & Answers
First of all I want to make it clear that I know what are trace fossils an I know the difference between fossils and trace fossils, but I feel like I am missing something. In a few posts here on the forum I saw people saying things like "this is not a fossil, maybe a trace fossil" and things like this and I do understand that regular fossils give more information but can anyone please explain to me why it seems like trace fossils are worthless compared to regular fossils? -
Trace fossil named after Univeristy of Alberta paleontologist
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Newly discovered fossil named after U of A paleontologist By Andrew Lyle, Univeristy of Alberta Research News, January 26, 2021 https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/01/newly-discovered-fossil-named-after-u-of-a-paleontologist.html https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uoa-ndf012621.php https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210127093217.htm The paper is: M. Ryan King, Andrew D. La Croix, Terry A. Gates, Paul B. Anderson, Lindsay E. Zanno. Glossifungites gingrasi n. isp., a probable subaqueous insect domicile from the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone, Utah. Journal of Paleontology, 2021; 1 DOI: 10.1017/jpa.2020.115 Yours, Paul H.-
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- cretaceous
- ferron sandstone
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Hi all So I took some pictures of some very interesting trace fossils. They are found in the upper Devonian, frasnian, Witteberg group, Swartruggens formation. Is it possible to get an identification on these?
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Found this piece on a walk near a Triassic outcrop in Pennsylvania, has a pretty exact visual similiarity to the wing rib of a Triassic reptile but is likely just some form of sedimentary trace. It would be great to get some more opinions on this piece to see if its worth holding onto or I would label it to be definitely sedimentary and rid of it, which I feel is the case.
