Lake Michigan brachiopod

[Pippa]

My daughter found this nice little brach at a Racine, Wisconsin beach, with silurian bedrock.  

Milwaukee with devonian bedrock is not that far north. So the shell may very well be devonian. 

Can anyone help with identifying the species?

Thanks in advance.

 

            

[ClearLake]

Maybe one of the local experts can identify it from this one picture, but I would need several more views. It looks like one of the rhynchonellids, but that is about as much as I can tell from comparing it to other Great Lakes area examples. 

[Pippa]

A Rhynchonellid. Well, that's more than I knew yesterday. :-)  

Thank you ClearLake. 

 

The piece is at my daughter's place and she is out doing field work for a couple of days. So additional photos will have to wait for a bit.

The backside is just rock, no shell parts visible. Should she take some pics from the sides and front then? She only has her cellphone camera though, so she won't be able to take closeups like the one I took above.

 

Maybe @Peat Burns will chime in. 

[Peat Burns]

Difficult to say for sure without more views of brachiopod.The interarea would be best, but it sounds like that's not preserved on your specimen. It could be a Rhynchonellid, but it's pretty beat up and may be missing parts of the margins of the shell.  It seems like the Racine Formation would be a good place to start to look for possible matches.  Here is a list of brachiopods from the Racine Formation.

 

If that doesn't pan out, I'd identify the possible Devonian formations to the north and compare with those fauna.  

 

Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

@Tidgy's Dad, @FossilDAWG

[Tidgy's Dad]

Like the others, I agree that rhynchonellid is a possibility, but there is not enough from this one angle to be certain. 

If pushed, however, given the size, general shape as can be seen and width of plications, I would perhaps tentatively lean toward Stegerhynchus sp.

 

[Pippa]

30 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

Difficult to say for sure without more views of brachiopod.The interarea would be best, but it sounds like that's not preserved on your specimen. It could be a Rhynchonellid, but it's pretty beat up and may be missing parts of the margins of the shell.  It seems like the Racine Formation would be a good place to start to look for possible matches.  Here is a list of brachiopods from the Racine Formation.

 

If that doesn't pan out, I'd identify the possible Devonian formations to the north and compare with those fauna.  

 

Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

@Tidgy's Dad, @FossilDAWG

Thank you, thank you!  No need to apologize at all.

After all, the specimen is beat up and worn.  Still, we're quite happy to have found it, as it's the best fossilized shell that we've ever come across on the beaches. While I do have lots of shell bits, pieces and imprints, compared to those, this is a very fine specimen indeed. 

 

I really appreciate that list of possible suspects. Names are so helpful when trying to identify pieces with Google. That list should keep me busy in the evenings for a while.  :-) 

Thanks again!

[Pippa]

34 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Like the others, I agree that rhynchonellid is a possibility, but there is not enough from this one angle to be certain. 

If pushed, however, given the size, general shape as can be seen and width of plications, I would perhaps tentatively lean toward Stegerhynchus sp.

 

That's a name on the list that PeatBurns provided. Thank you!

I think I will start with the Stegerhynchus sp. first and work through the list from there. Should be fun.