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Showing results for tags 'Cameleolopha bellaplicata'.
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I recently recovered this Cameleolopha bellaplicata valve from the Upper Cretaceous (Middle Turonian) Prionocyclus hyatti ammonite zone of the Carlile Shale here in New Mexico. I was initially delighted with its preservation and upon further inspection, noticed a feature on the inside of the valve... ...I thought it may be a blister pearl. I reached out to Dr. Spencer Lucas (New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science) to get his thoughts. His response was: "years ago, we found a Texigryphaea near Tucumcari with a similar pearl in it." Pleased with that response I turned to the interwebs for more information. V. Friedman and A. Hunt (2004) wrote and abstract on Fossil Pearls from the Upper Cretaceous of Texas in which they are reporting Cenomanian and Turonian occurrences...I plan to reach out to Adrian Hunt to get his thoughts on this specimen as well. I also found a paywalled paper on Fossil Pearl-growths written by R. Bullen Newton (1908) in the Journal of Molluscan Studies and have requested access to that literature. Then I turned to our Forum. @LanceH found a pearl in the Kamp Ranch Limestone... ...as did @Mikrogeophagus ... ... @Bobby Rico has a blister pearl specimen from the Norfolk Coast (UK)... ...and @rocket is working on some Campanian Ostrea semiplana pearls from Hannover, Germany. There are numerous threads here on the forum where fossil pearls are discussed. These conversations, along with some modern representation from interweb imagery... ...have led me down an unfamiliar path. My understanding is that these fossils are uncommon. And with all that said, I pose this question... ...is this a fossil blister pearl? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for your time.
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- blister pearl
- cameleolopha
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From the album: Post Oak Creek
These oysters are common in the creek, and support the Turonian age of the fossils.-
- cameleolopha
- cameleolopha bellaplicata
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From the album: Post Oak Creek
These oysters are common in the creek, and support the Turonian age of the fossils.-
- cameleolopha
- cameleolopha bellaplicata
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Here are interior and exterior views of both valves of the Cretaceous oyster, Cameleolopha bellaplicata, collected in Post Oak Creek in Sherman, Texas, The specimen is more oval and elongated that most of the members of its species. The calcite valves with a trace of interior aragonite, mother of pearl, are covered in yellowish calcite cemented sandstone. The larger valve has the remnants of an attached ramose bryozoan that grew on the shell since the muddy Arcadia Park Formation did not provide a great hard ground to grow on. An unidentified domed colonial stone coral species also grow on the oysters in the area. The oysters are found in the upper part of the Arcadia Park Formation that contains a yellowish calcareous sandstone that is rich in small bivalves, shark teeth and other vertebrates. Similar mostly thin-bedded, yellowish and calcareous sandstones occur throughout north Texas and may be related to the thicker Bells Sandstone in eastern Grayson County. See this best reference: Hook, S. C. & Cobban, W. A. 2011. The Late Cretaceous oyster Cameleolopha bellaplicata (Shumard1860), guide fossil to middle Turonian strata in New Mexico. New Mexico Geology. 33: 67-95. Hook points out that Cameleolopha bellaplicata was "initially Ostrea, then Lopha, Alectryonia, and Nicaisolopha, and, now, Cameleolopha." Hook describes the oyster as follows: "Cameleolopha bellaplicata (Shumard 1860) is a medium-sized, plano-convex oyster with 8–27 generally simple plicae (ribs) that radiate from the beak. Secondary ornamentation consists of concentric lamellae that intersect the ribs. The general absence of attachment scars on preserved left valves indicates the species lived unattached as adults on the sea floor. Its left valve is larger and more convex than that of C. lugubris, giving it a more robust appearance and making it better suited to higher-energy, nearshore environments. The type specimens of C. bellaplicata came from the upper Eagle Ford Shale of Grayson County, Texas..." For additional information on the oyster see: Shumard, B. F., 1860. Descriptions of new Cretaceous fossils from Texas: Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, v. 1, pp. 590–610. Vyalov, O. S., 1936. Sur la classification des huîtres: URSS Academy of Sciences, Comptes rendus (Doklady), new series, v. 4 (13), no. 1 (105), pp. 17–20 (after August 1).
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From the album: Texas Finds
Scientific Name: Cameleolopha bellaplicata Found: North Central Texas Creek Date Found: Spring 2013 Formation: Eagle Ford / Austin Group Size: Various-
- Cameleolopha bellaplicata
- Eagle Ford
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