Search the Community

Spent the day yesterday with a great field comrade as we gypsied from one prospect to another, spanning locations from the lower Mid-Devonian down to the Mid/Upper Silurian. We pretty much whiffed despite all the driving and multiple locations, but that is the nature of trying to prospect new sites. In the Devonian, we did bump into some fairly substantially sized coral (for all the coral buffs out there). This one from the Dundee Fm runs well down below the shaft of the hammer and seems to have a second "branch" to the left beneath the pick end.

A few weeks ago I had posted some finds from the imported fill from the Bois Blanc Fm, and one in particular that resembles a trilobite genal spine. I went back today to collect and photograph it. It appears in a sandy matrix reminiscent of the Springvale Mbr of the Bois Blanc Fm., lower Devonian. It is a fairly substantial size compared to the usual array of brachs, etc. I'd have to rule out Anchiopsis since they do not have such a long genal spine. I can probably also rule out the thick lip of a Leptaena brach. Total length of visible part of the specimen is a little over 40 mm, but is likely a bit longer. The brown "crust" usually signals the presence of trilobite in these rocks. I have a piece of the imprint with more of the brown shell somewhere in the house. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

A bit uncertain about this one. I spent a few hours this morning on the "mountain" today, which has a lot of fill from the Bois Blanc Fm. This pygidium showed up. Although it was my first instinct, I'm not satisfied with declaring this an Eldredgeops rana. Despite their occurrence in that formation, I find most E. rana pygidia to be much more shorter/truncated. Comparing against Ludvigsen's photographs, I am not satisfied with the diagnostic details in terms of similarity here (maybe more like Dechenella?). And the ribbing on this tail seems a bit more detailed than E. rana. I might also rule out Anchiopsis due to a lack of the pygidial spike (although it is not clear on this specimen if there might have been one as there is no clear termination at the bottom). I've looked at a number of my E. rana for comparison, and they lack the pygidial detail that this one has. I apologize in advance if this one is a no-brainer and a waste of other folks' expertise. Width at widest point = 1.8 cm. The specimen on the lower right (positive and negative) looks to be E. rana, although the librigena seems a bit small (which may mean it is buried in the matrix, but I'll have to use some tools to determine that).