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Well, it has been a while since a post on the Silurian Leighton Fm. Had to make a trip due to family matters, and once I got back had a lot of work to do. I finally got into a position to start splitting and prepping more shale, and found this new little guy. I am torn between an operculum of a gastropod, and an inarticulate brachiopod. My main argument for an operculum is because of the shape - the only inarticulate brachiopods in this formation are Orbiculoidea and Pholidops. Unfortunately, I cannot find any reliable papers on the brachiopod Pholidops, it looks very similar but there is quite a bit of variation. The gastropod Australonema (possibly Cyclonema) is found in this formation, and the operculum of the genus is very similar to my specimen. On the other hand, the rarity of such Paleozoic opercula make me think that this is a brachiopod. And now for the specimen itself. It was not found in association with any gastropods, but was next to numerous Nuculites bivalves, some ostracods, and a tentaculite. The pictures below first show the two opposite halves of the specimen - unfortunately one was damaged when the shale split. Thanks for reading!
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