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Can someone help me identify the item that is with these two conodonts? My guess is a fish scale. This is from the Stark Shale, Dennis Formation, Kansas City Group. The conodonts are 2mm or so and the specimen is 7mm. I am intrigued by the surface of the "shell" which is a bit crab-like (I'm not saying I think it is crab, but that the item's shell has that kind of texture). I've included pictures of both the item and its external mold on the other half of the split shale. Let me know what you think. Russ

Up to this point (over the last five years or so), all my local fossil hunting has been done in the Pennsylvanian of the Kansas City area. Recently, however, I visited a sand bar on the Kansas River some 20 miles West of Kansas City. I found one item of interest. I suspect that it may be modern, although I'm hoping, of course, that it is Pleistocene. Any ID help regarding age and animal will be welcome. I know it is quite worn, so I won't be surprised if "yep, it's a bone" is all that can be said. What do you think?

I can't seem to figure out what the bottom row fossils are they all look like some sort of shell fragments? I'm also unsure of the two far right fossils on the bottom row as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Is there an active fossil club in the Kansas City area?

The past month or so I have had a chance to examine some shale from the Stark Shale, Dennis Formation, Kansas City Group. I have found many conodonts and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of taking pictures of them while they are still embedded in the shale. I think I have over 100 specimens now. Below I have posted some of my results. I have tried to identify the element position (P, S, or M) according to Purnell, Donoghue and Aldridge’s “Orientation and Anatomical Notation in Conoodonts,” Journal of Paleontology, 74(1), 2000, pp. 113-122, although I have not distinguished among the various S elements. In addition, I have attempted a bit of genus and species identification using Baesemann’s “Missouri (Upper Pennsylvanian) Conodonts of Northeastern Kansas,” Journal of Paleontology, 47(4), 689-710. I am just now beginning to experiment with dissolving the shale to extract the conodonts. I’ve had a some luck just using a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution from a local drug store. If I can figure this out, I should be able to get some pictures of extracted specimens. It has been fascinating and I’ve learned some interesting things. I have no training in biology or paleontology, and I am just a fossil hobbyist, so I expect that there are mistakes in my understanding of the terminology and in the ID of specific items. This is likely exacerbated by my superficial reading of the articles I mentioned above. So, feel free to correct me and I will be grateful. Just a few things about the pictures. The conodonts are in the 1-3 mm range. Second, the places where the conodont appears to be black are actually where the conodont is missing. Conodonts leave a detailed shiny mold if they are broken out or removed. Third, certain presentations are common others are less so. For example the P element seldom presents its dorsal view. Fourth, depth of field is a special problem for the P elements since they tend to bulge upward--and out of focus. I hope to continue to develop this post as my understanding grows and my specimens increase. I have numbered each picture by means of the comment above it. 1. S element

I found this item in shale from the Stark Shale Member, Kansas City Group of the Pennsylvanian. Photos are of either of the halves of the specimen. The specimen is about 2 cm long. I would appreciate ID help. The only thought I had was that it seems to be flora and that the "stem" looks similar in appearance to Cordaites. Thanks, Russ

Here are a few more conodonts I found today. I had no luck in getting any out of the matrix, so I took some in situ pictures. Like the one I posted yesterday, these are all from the Stark Shale Member, Kansas City Group, Pennsylvanian Subsystem. They range in size from 1-2 mm or so. Russ Below is a closeup of the specimen above.

A couple of months ago I collected a small bucket of shale from the Stark Shale Member in the Dennis Formation of the Kansas City Group. My purpose was to find conodonts. Today, I had a chance to look at the shale and I found a conodont this afternoon--the first one I've ever found . I was able to extract this with a small needle in a pen vise. I took the pictures with a Celestron MicroCapture Pro. For any locals that are interested, this came from the Firemen's Memorial. Russ

I collected this specimen earlier today from the Pennsylvanian, Kansas City group, Winterset limestone near Kansas City. When I split the rock, I was delighted to see the delicate preservation. Am I correct that this is an internal mold of a fan bryozoan? Russ Here is the right side. Here are both sides. Here is the left side. An here is another view of the right.

I found this in the Winterset Limestone of the Pennsylvanian system, Kansas City group near Raytown, MO. The matrix was quite oolithic. You may notice from the pictures that I had some trouble reassembling and gluing it after it fell apart, and it may be missing a bit of the small end. It looks to me like an internal mold of an evolutely coiled cephalopod. It is about 2 cm x 1.5 cm. Any ID help will be appreciated.

Hello, I hope that I'm doing this right. I was recently rock hunting in Kansas City, Mo and found these teeth. They were on the surface in a limestone formation on the side of a hill. I'm just wondering if someone could tell me something about them?

In the Winterset Limestone of the Kansas City Group (Pennsylvanian) there is a section that is thick with Composita brachiopods. On one of these I found the tiny (around 1 mm) items in the pictures. Any help with their identification would be appreciated. Russ

This item is 6.5 x 2.5 mm. It is from the Middle Creek Member of the Kansas City Group (Pennsylvanian Subsystem) and was found in conjunction with crinoid pieces, brachiopods, bryozoans, and horn coral. Any ID help will be appreciated. Russ Front: Back: Back with measurement: Left side: Right side: Top (tip): Bottom (tip):

This was found in gravel near a house in southern Kansas City. It is impossible to say where it originated. My guess is that it is local; most of this area is Pennsylvanian. The pattern only shows up on a tiny spot on the back of the stone. Any ID help will be appreciated. Russ

This specimen was a surprise to me. At first glance, because of the delicate fibrous appearance and the wood color, I thought it was a modern piece of wood embedded in the middle of a boulder. Closer examination, however, revealed what you see in the pictures. This specimen is from the Winterset Limestone Member in the Kansas City Group, Pennsylvanian subsystem. It is about 1 cm long with a short branch off to the side. The specimen is split in half laterally and the pictures show the two halves that fit together. There were various brachiopods and half of a nice four-inch involutely coiled nautiloid (at least I think that is what it is) in the same boulder. The fossil is siliceous and has well-preserved, tiny fibers which are the color of wood. Although, it may be that the color is actually the same dusty red-brown or dusty purple as some other fossils in this member (mostly brachiopods). From the scant resources I have on hand for plant identification, I have guessed that it might be a Calamites. Any help with identification will be appreciated. Russ Russ

This specimen is from the Winterset Limestone Member in the Kansas City Group, Pennsylvanian Subsystem. It is somewhat fragile (I broke off two small pieces and then repaired it), so I have not be able to remove it from its matrix. The fossil is about 2x1 cm. There are small brachiopods and a bit of fan bryozoan on the rock as well. I have not seen any other fossils like this one in the area. It might be a gastropod, but the “base” of the fossil seems oblong, as though it came to a point (but is now broken) and the fossil does not really look spiral (although it is hard to tell). There are two photos of the front view; in addition there is a photo from the right side and another from the left side. Any help regarding identification will be appreciated.

PetrolPete and his dad came into town for some Pennsylvanian hunting. We were joined by JeepDigger and Kehbe. Our first stop was at an exposure of Winterset Limestone in southeast Kansas City, Missouri: The fossiliferous beds are in the upper Winterset. Here, these beds are grouped into three distinct zones: The pinkish-brown ledge in the middle is cross-bedded oolite with some pockets of coquina. Cephalopods and trilobites can be found here, along with other mollusks, brachiopods (especially Composita), and a few minor miscellanea. The collecting can be really good when you hit the coquina pockets. I was hoping the recent snow melt and temperature swings would pry some chunks loose from the rock face, but that didn't seem to happen this time. I didn't collect anything from this zone, but I can't speak for the other guys.... well, JeepDigger did find a rather large Deltodus tooth. Below the oolite is a series of medium-thick, micritic limestone beds separated with shale partings. I call these the 'blue beds'. The fauna is somewhat similar to that of the oolite, but the fossils are a bit trickier to coax out of the rock. I did find a pretty good example of some strange forms I've been finding in this zone: Through the microscope: Graptolites came to mind, but it soon became obvious that these are cross-sections of potato chip-like forms. These could possibly be bryozoans or pelecypods that were preserved in such a way that made the shell structure visible. I always like a mystery.... The 'blue beds' also contain some trace fossils. These branching burrows (Chondrites?) appear to be filled with shell debris: There are also some larger, ghostly, tube-like things that may be debris-lined burrows: The thin-bedded limestone at the top of the section contains sparse Cordaites leaves and not much else.

Picked up a few little Muncie Creek nodules, just for something to do. Expecting (or at least hoping) to find some conularia, they were all pretty much a bust, except this one. It was a very small nodule, but has a very distinct something inside. It really looks like shell, but the 'tri-hull' shape and the amount of apparent growth lines is kind of throwing me. But then, I know very little other than the most common stuff. Any ideas? A sort of panoramic view: Thank you! Steve