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Mazon Creek Best Of The Best Mazonomya Mazonensis Bailey, 2011


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This next species is the second most common animal found in the Essex portion of the Mazon Creek deposit.

While there are over a dozen described bivalves found in the Mazon Creek deposit, Mazonomya is by far the most abundant.

It is restricted to the Essex (marine) portion of the deposit, where in some areas have been found to make as much as 70 percent of all bivalves collected.

At one collecting site, these clams are so common the area has been nicknamed Chowder Flats.

Despite the abundance of specimens, Mazonomya was not formally described until 2011.

For years it had been misidentified as a type of bivalve named Edmondia. Current research has shown it is actually a Solemyid.

Before formal description, Mazon collectors referred to these bivalves as clam-clams due to the fact that they are often preserved in a death position with both valves opened.

Mazonomya is the largest clam found in the deposit . While quite rare, specimens have been found over 4 centimeters in length.
preservation can be excellent and in some cases, soft tissue can be preserved.

Specimens have been found with preserved “death trails”.

Solemyids are still found today in oxygen poor and sulfide rich marshes.

This first specimen is the largest in my collection. The valves measure almost 4 centimeters. There is also some evidence of the hinge ligament (soft tissue) between the valves.

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This is an interesting specimen that has some unusual mineralization.

Almost looks like ammolite.

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Here are a few examples preserving “death trails”.

The second specimen is pictured in The Mazon Creek Fauna book.

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Very nice clams! I really love the one with the iridescence. Thank you also for the historical and scientific descriptions you have provided with each of these posts. 

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These are always my favorite clams and I still call them Edmondia or “Clam-Clam”. There is a vacant area near Reed Road that Walter and I would collect. This area had some barren patches several yards long and wide and every concretion contained at least one clam and many contained multiple clams. The area is still vacant, but because of the area being covered by grass nothing erodes out. Hopefully one day there will be some construction there and I will one again snatch these favorites up.

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Here are a couple of my single and multi clam specimens- I only took pictures of the positive side of the concretion.

 

IMG_2534.jpg.3f66b3183b0bc4a84270ce702e6a2db7.jpgIMG_2535.jpg.424438a7475167497715ff32a4ef6880.jpgIMG_2532.jpg.95558e56c3875c67b5656eec83d13ab4.jpgIMG_2536.jpg.3990352ee06767fad7a6842b3875bb47.jpgIMG_2537.jpg.0f3ae3f190fecf45228391d79b91b8ac.jpgIMG_2541.jpg.4d4daec89a88d46f596a3ef4afe6aac4.jpgIMG_2539.jpg.bd6fdd88dee7f2fef0ca97a0b24bd902.jpg

 

 

Multi Examples-

 

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The one time my wife came with me to mazon she found a perfect looking concretion which ended up containing one of these.  She thought the two shell halves looked like a heart.  

 

That makes this one of my favorites.

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