Show us your Devonian Epizoans & Pathological Brachiopods!

[Brach3]

11 hours ago, historianmichael said:

I don't think I have ever found a brachiopod encrusted with an epibiont before

You have repeated the great words our russian scientist Gekker R.F. about epizoans: "If you don't think about epizoans, then you don't see them and you don't find them."

and it really is! and as soon as they start to think about them (they keep them in mind), they immediately begin to find them in huge quantities. 

 

And the most amazing thing is the demand! 7-10 years ago, no one in Russia heard about epizoans. nobody! may be scientists, but not fossils hunters. I have posted my first publication in 2013 years. not immediately, but in a few years, unnecessary epizoans has suddenly become extremely valuable! they began to think about them, they began to notice them and began to collect them. and previously, the epizoans was simply cleaned off,and everyone collected ammonites. BUT paleoecology it is more interesting, because you see not a collectible, but a living being that was in a relationship with other creatures! and gradually, a huge number of hunters began to post photos of the finds and a real paleo rush began!

 

For understanding: 10 years ago, the epizoans cost 0 rubles (0$). 7 years ago they started selling Cyrtospirifer sp. i dont know a price, definitely not expensive, almost for nothing (no one needed brachiopods). BUT after some publications on top russian site about fossils - the brachiopod cost 50-250 rubles (1.3$ - 3.5$ for 1 pcs). AND 5-3 years ago i know the brachiopod + epizoans cost 6.9$ for 1 pcs!!! brachiopod has become more expensive than ammonite! ))) ... now any novice in paleontology knows what a epizoans is... and i can see photos of the epizoans!!! 

 

@historianmichael

i have come here to find you, @Mediospirifer , @Misha and   other paleo hunters, because i have some books about epizoans near NY and want to see new photos about epizoans. I'll sent you some books with information (fields, quarries) + photos. and I know you (all of you) will find more interesting fossils. this is a very large gap, now almost no one in the world is engaged in epizoans. may be some scientists and they are already aged. SO everything is in your hands 

 

11 hours ago, historianmichael said:

Tropidoleptus carinatus with Ascodictyon(?)

Why not! it's very interesting fossil!  

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Brach3

[RuMert]

59 minutes ago, Brach3 said:

as soon as they start to think about them (they keep them in mind), they immediately begin to find them in huge quantities

Why doesn't this work with marine reptiles

[Brach3]

21 hours ago, RuMert said:

Why doesn't this work with marine reptiles

@RuMert Anything is possible! here is a good example, this is Edrioasteroidea. We know only seven fossils Edrioasteroidea from D3 Russia (for all time!!!), and AlIscander (not a scientist, not an expedition, just a paleo hunter, just went to the quarry...) and has found №8.

 

№1-3 1898 (3 pcs)
№4 1914 (1 pcs)
№5 1926 (1 pcs)
№6 1929 (1 pcs)
№7 1930 (1 pcs)
№8 14.06.2021 (1 pcs)

 

AND 14/06/2021 was found №8. It's the impossible find! find of the century.

They asked about this fossil last year... they searched the books the places/fields.   

They've thought about and they have found it.  i dont know how they do it... 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Brach3

[RuMert]

8 hours ago, Brach3 said:

They've thought about and they have found it

Seen it:) IMHO it's better explained by the lack of competition. Too few people there (especially those who can recognise Edrioasteroidea). Awesome find nevertheless

[Mediospirifer]

The cool photos just keep on coming.  I haven't had the time to do much with fossils lately (extra time at work can have that effect), but I enjoy seeing other hunters' finds!

 

One thing I've noticed is that it seems as if some locations have a richer diversity of epizoans than others. The horn corals I find at Penn-Dixie (Windom shale) are (at least mostly) devoid of epizoans, while another Windom shale site (Livingston county) produces horn corals that are almost all host to something. I will note that the Livingston county site produces larger and more varied corals than Penn-Dixie. A third site (Kashong shale) doesn't produce as many corals as the Windom, but there are an amazing quantity of epizoans on almost everything I've found there! 

 

I need to find some time to get back into fossil photography. Maybe once my next run of obligations is complete...

 

[SteveE]

A Blair Co, PA  (USA), Devonian Lock Haven brachiopod... and a modern bivalve (?), both home to tubes and burrowers.  I don't have any ID for these but I love the span of time and vaguely similar community in this display.

 

[Misha]

@SteveE

Cool find!

Perhaps the epibiont is Aulopora sp.?

It's hard to say exactly from that angle but the pattern it radiates out in and the relative scale seems similar to some I have in my collection.

[Mediospirifer]

4 hours ago, SteveE said:

A Blair Co, PA  (USA), Devonian Lock Haven brachiopod... and a modern bivalve (?), both home to tubes and burrowers.  I don't have any ID for these but I love the span of time and vaguely similar community in this display.

 

Nice display! They do indeed show a superficial resemblance, but I don't think any of the similar creatures involved are closely related. Mollusks (yes, that is a modern bivalve), brachiopods, corals, and tubeworms are all different phyla, although there is a modern tube-shelled snail (Mollusk) that could be the modern encruster in your specimen. Look at the page on Vermetidae for more information. 

 

4 hours ago, Misha said:

Perhaps the epibiont is Aulopora sp.?

 

The fossil certainly looks like Aulopora, but the modern one is definitely not a coral. (I suspect that you know that; I'm just clarifying for anyone who might have less experience ID-ing epizoans.)

 

Very cool! 

 

[Brach3]

13 hours ago, SteveE said:

both home to tubes and burrowers

It looks like Serpula sp.

 

And about this. I wonder how such a void turned out at all, here we see the complete dissolution of both the shell and the coral, I have never seen this before!

 

13 hours ago, Misha said:

It's hard to say exactly from that angle

by the way, we can use these examples (ideas) for make a cast: 

 

gypsum

gypsum and Silicone compound Pentelast-710

plasticine

Polymer clay

+=

clay (and source for filling)

ginger cookies (it works )

and so on

 

BUT provided that this branch does not grow into a thread of discussion of casts of gastropods or something like that )))

Edited June 24, 2021 by Brach3

[SteveE]

On 6/23/2021 at 8:47 PM, Misha said:

@SteveE

Cool find!

Perhaps the epibiont is Aulopora sp.?

It's hard to say exactly from that angle but the pattern it radiates out in and the relative scale seems similar to some I have in my collection.

 

I confess I have never tried to ID any brachiopods beyond “brachiopod”.   At the risk of hijacking this thread here are a couple other photos From other angles.

Edited June 25, 2021 by SteveE

[Crusty_Crab]

Some pictures of an encrusting coral on Schizophoria iowensis (Hall, 1858) as I work on re-digitizing my collection using my new digital microscope. It appears to be on the pedicle valve.

 

 

 

The brachial valve appears to have a remnant of another epibiont, my guess is an inarticulate brachiopod. 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Crusty_Crab

[minnbuckeye]

@Crusty_Crab Is this Aulopora?

[Misha]

Looks like a hederellid to me

[Mediospirifer]

2 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

The brachial valve appears to have a remnant of another epibiont, my guess is an inarticulate brachiopod.

 

That's what I would say. Crania or Petrocrania, perhaps?

 

29 minutes ago, Misha said:

Looks like a hederellid to me

 

Agreed. Aulopora usually has larger and more angular corallites. Hederellids appears more flexible in their growth habit. Hederella filiformis, maybe?

 

It's a very nice specimen! 

 

 

[Brach3]

5 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

using my new digital microscope

 This trend on the forum cannot but please! Respect and respect. 

Now we can look at the small epizoans on the brachiopods in good quality.

 

Yandex browser (like google) can now translate text and video speech in real-time.

This is the first time when I can read this forum in russian without dictionary  (saving time)

 

3 hours ago, Misha said:

Looks like a hederellid to me

  

it seems to be a posthumous settlement. Please try to find such settlements, as in the example from the right.
I am sure that you should come across them. 
 

  

 

Here I see damage most likely due to the tightness of the settlement and as a result of the storm, the edges of the valves were injured. This Schizophoria is undoubtedly a very good find and beautiful!

 

  

And here I see the "ruffling of scales" (like the scales of a fish). It seems to me that this is how the mantle reacts to minor damage along the edges of the shell. A scar is formed inside and the shell substance is deposited already under the scar and such an effect is obtained. Now such damage has often started to come across (I previously posted a photo).

 

2 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

Crania or Petrocrania

  

Here the epizaon has copied the shell structure of the Schizophoria. And after that Crania/Petrocrania grew and changed her shell structure!

 

@Mediospirifer I've promised to post some new photos but no time (i remember). 

Shamefully. branded with shame and public condemnation. I will improve! 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Brach3

[Brach3]

All finds in this post are gifts from Galina Harlamova

 

№1 On the regular basis, such fossils come across. And we can see one side is ok, but theother is damaged may be algue, may be sponge, or whatever... in any case, this is bioerosion without saving the epizoans on the Cyrtospirifer sp. 

 

No damages:

  

But there are bioerosion on the one side 

    

and normal other side: 

 

  

№2 damage + crowding of the settlement on the Cyrtospirifer sp.

 

 

 

    

for understanding: the same order but without damage (the same brachiopod)

 

 

№3 the epizoans  on the Atrypa sp.

one side - Aulopora sp.

the other - Siringopora sp. (in mud)

 

№4 the incomprehensible epizoans ... may be something new on Atrypa sp.

  

 

May be it's the common Microconchida but unclear...

 

But it's the second find in this way. Before we have found these one (size 0.5-1 mm):

and on this Atrypa sp. there is the same finds (the other side):  

please look there for something more whole... or cap gastropods, or foraminifera or ostracod flaps... it's not clear. there is something else to grow and strive for)))

in general, as usual: "nothing is clear, but very interesting" 

 

№5 some Sphenothallus holdfast  on the Atrypa sp.

 

 

but 2 holdfast like are on the mud  and it is unclear whether they have come unstuck and just lie or rise above the precipitation... 1-2 mm size.    

in any case, a wonderful settlement

 

№6 something like Sphenothallus holdfast  I began to pay attention that such finds began to come across more and more often ... I used to think that it was something from corals, but they are similar Sphenothallus holdfast in composition. Size 3-5 mm 

    

may be something new... please see and №7 in this way on the Cyrtospirifer sp. too

 

and theother one on the Atrypa sp.

 

№7 something like Sphenothallus holdfast too  size 2-3 mm so i don't what is it )))

  

in general, as usual: nothing is clear, but very interesting 

 

№8 a very interesting formation on the shell structure. And always on the Cyrtospirifer sp. I have a few more examples (I'll take a photo) and there was even a scientific article about such formations somewhere. Unfortunately, I did not pay much attention to this problem at that time, I thought that these were geological processes, BUT later it became clear that this was definitely not geology... so to be continue 

 

  

 

On theother side there is a damage at the same level of the brachiopods growth

 

№9 a very interesting epizoans too (unclear issues / problematic). 

taking into account this finding, it can now be argued that there were three types of tube worms:

1.  2.  

3. 

 

this number 3 can also be foraminifera, which live inside the bottom sediments. we previously found a foraminifera on Atrypa sp.

 

 

May be these findings are in the same direction, at the moment it is not clear. therefore, I just publish this collection of photos:

    

 

here is such a selection of new  

Edited December 7, 2021 by Brach3

[Peat Burns]

Ascodictyon (incertae sedis) on Strophodonta demissa, middle Devonian Silica Formation, Paulding, Ohio, USA. Showing stellate vessicle clusters.  Scale = 1mm.

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Microconchids on a Strophemind brachiopod:

 

[Brach3]

On 12/22/2021 at 9:48 AM, Peat Burns said:

Showing stellate vessicle clusters.

Everything is cool on this photo 

 

 like   = New Year's theme! 

 

there are very interesting “sockets” here

who has super microscopes that can reveal this secret? )

 

  

 

I've seen some articles about these “sockets”: "A critical feature we see in this Ascodictyon/Allonema complex is the occurrence of “sockets” at the bases of vesicles like the above from the Silica Shale. These are almost certainly places where some erect portion of the organism extended above the substrate. Maybe these were feeding devices? Reproductive parts? We’ve found no trace of them." (from here web article 1 and web article 2)

 

a very successful and beautiful find

 

It seems to me the answer can be found through 4 possible situations:
1) on the fossils (it seems chance about 0%, but we have obviously impossible situations in real finds like ammonite soft body from the Late Jurassic or like An ammonite trapped in Burmese amber). we have a conditionally similar situation...  brachiopods after death were carried by bottom currents and these processes (the towering part) coming off... 

 

 

2) grinding

 

like here the sponge has overgrown the brachiopoda

 

 

or here peloids Tomaculum Groom, 1902 (fecal pellets, coprolites) in brachiopods  

they are preserved inside the limestone

 

and i have very interesting fossil with bryozoan on the the brachiopoda. And there is the emptiness inside the bryozoan i.e. the bryozoan has overgrown something that has not been preserved (organics). i'll photo it...  

 

like here emptiness inside the bryozoan (from ordovician)

there is an organic imprint inside

"Do you see a gopher? No. And I, but he is there."  

but the owner will never agree to cut the sample so we have "emptiness of something inside the bryozoan"

 

3) or imprint (print, mark) like here: 

as I see in the photo here is an imprint of brachiopoda and epizoans in the bottom sediments

when imprint can show more than the find itself

in any way it's very interesting fossil - the Microconchids has settled after the death of the brachiopoda 

 

4)  or in this way...  ammonite muscles revealed in 3D from Jurassic fossilarticle ( may be new technology will reach Ascodictyon one day)

 

So Ascodictyon will surprise scientists more than once, the brightest discoveries are ahead... ))) this is especially true for those who have super microscopes 
 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Brach3

[Brach3]

 

here in russia we love celebrating the new year very much and give gifts

and we love it so much that we are ready to celebrate and celebrate all new years on the planet 

25th december from West (at work with colleagues) + 1 january here in russia (at home) + 14 january is old new year (not a joke!) + and lately 1 february from East (chinese new year... we don't know where and how to celebrate yet, but we will definitely celebrate) 

so Merry Christmas & Happy New Year = more fossils, more new places and good mood in new year! 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Brach3

[Fossildude19]

Middle Devonian cephalopod Brevicoceras casteri with Hederella filiformis:

 

 

 

Retispira leda  bellephrontid gastropod with a bryozoan, ... possibly Paleschara incrustans?

 

 

[Misha]

I haven't seen this topic come up in a while, but I really enjoy seeing some of the fossils posted here.

Here is a recent find I made yesterday while going through some of my Spinocyrtia from Central NY. This one is only a half of the shell and I was thinking of getting rid of it but then I noticed this little disc near the commissure, a quick search through my field guide showed that this is a very close match to Petrocrania hamiltonae.

This is my first find of this species and although not very well visible on camera here, there are some really interesting fine details of the inside preserved.

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 4/11/2021 at 4:14 PM, Misha said:

 

this next one is an Atrypa reticularis from the Birdsong formation in Tennessee, it has a nice bryozoan attached to it. There is also the small round object (Crinoid?), I am not sure if it is actually attached to the shell or just stuck to it during fossilization.

There are several very interesting epibionts found in the Birdsong of Tennessee. 

Here, on a couple of Discomyorthis oblata,

 are microconchids

a crinoid holdfast

Fistulipora sp bryozoa

And the very weird bryozoan Ptilodictya tenuis

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

There are usually epibionts on these large flat brachiopods and you can see in the photo above that this specimen of Xystostrophia woolworthana is no exception. 

Some colonies of Fistulipora sp.

And another cystoporate, Ceramopora parvicella. 

This species is distinguished by the way the apertures on the zooids being angles at nearly ninety degrees to the surface of the zooarium. They colonies are usually less than a centimetre in diameter. It is on the valve interior, near the hinge line suggesting it grew on the brachiopod postmortem. 

[Brach3]

On 9/27/2022 at 12:23 AM, Misha said:

I really enjoy seeing some of the fossils posted here.

@Misha You are welcome ) in your region NY there are a lot of epibionts (too much)

I had one year fossil's holidays (no trips) but one person had gifted me some fossils with epibionts 

may be you will be interesting in it? and i'll make some photos

 

and @Mediospirifer may be she has found anything too 

 

 

@Tidgy's Dad if you can please make new photo, where are intresting fossils but i can't see the detail because of low quality.

 

  

@Fossildude19 it's cool! it looks like a slice (grinding,polishing)

sometimes it's the most intresting

Edited October 18, 2022 by Brach3