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First Trilobite, need help with order or genus.... Alas, it's from the Garbage Formation


SteveE

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Not counting lits bits and piece, finally found my first trilobite.  It goes to show that you can find fossils in unexpected places, too.   I was waiting to meet a friend and was just kicking over rocks in a misc (man made) rubble heap on the edge of town.  Then this fragile soft siltstone broke apart badly, right across this beauty.   I have no idea what formation it's from, and since its a junk pile along an abandoned RR I can't say for sure that's even from the county (Hollidaysburg, Blair County, PA, USA).  About all I can say is it failed the fizz test, and there is a lot of parallel coloration running perpindicular to the bedding plane.  For the fossil, there is a mold and cast. and part of me sees parts of more than one animal.  I'm all new to trilos though.   I think the closeup is a trilo eye, and was struck by the repeating details along the.... eye ridge maybe?   What ID features leap out at you?  Any advice on removing more material?  That flake with the eye in the closeup just looked like waste, and I pried it off with my fingernail only to be surprised!  (You might say my eye popped)

 

 

 

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By morphology, I think we can narrow this down to the cranidium and pygidium of a trilobite from the dalmanitidae family. They may or may not belong to the same individual. I'm not confident to drill down to specific genus or species though. 

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I’m going to side with Kane on this one. In the last photo, it does look like a pygidium from something in the dalmanitidae family. 
 

BTW... Congratulations on your first trilobite! I have found quite a few in my area in the “garbage formation”. Gravel drives, landscape, fill piles, etc. I myself am still waiting to find some in an actual formation. They are around here, but corals, brachiopods, and bryozoans are more abundant. Good luck in your future hunts!

 

P.S. “Garbage Formation” is my new favorite name for finds like these! :thumbsu:

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33 minutes ago, FossilNerd said:

 

 

P.S. “Garbage Formation” is my new favorite name for finds like these! :thumbsu:

In the UK the stratigraphic equivalent is The Rubbish Formation. :)

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1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

“Garbage Formation” is my new favorite name for finds like these! 

 

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

In the UK the stratigraphic equivalent is The Rubbish Formation. 

Aren´t  both part of the Anthropocene? :headscratch::D

Franz Bernhard

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14 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

 

Aren´t  both part of the Anthropocene? :headscratch::D

Franz Bernhard

Unfortunately, I believe that you are correct. :unsure:

The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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