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ID help requested: Bryzoan? Brachiopod?


Gramps

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Folks,

These photos are from a small section of shale I picked up in Northeastern Oklahoma. The shale contains marine fossils of Pennsylvanian age. I have questions about a couple of the labeled objects. I’m thinking the center one may be a brachiopod (or possibly a bryzoan--it's hard to tell because of the crinoid plate resting above it). The one on the right looks to me like a bryzoan. However, I’m a novice at identification so I’d appreciate any opinions. The putative bryzoan appears to have grown on the crinoid stem.

Best wishes.

01 Hash plate  Cropped.JPG

02 Brachiopod.JPG

03 Bryzoan.JPG

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The one on the right isn't a bryozoan, I don't think. For me that's a brachiopod squashed onto the crinoid stem, in part. 

The one in the middle, I'm not at all sure about either, some of the growth looks more like a coral, but could be a splatted brachiopod. 

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I think the middle one is a brachiopod - some productid ornamentation looks wavy like that and you can see shell edge at the top. I agree the other one looks like brachiopod, or possibly bivalve.

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Tarquin

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1 hour ago, Gramps said:

Folks,

 

These photos are from a small section of shale I picked up in Northeastern Oklahoma. The shale contains marine fossils of Pennsylvanian age. 

 

03 Bryzoan.JPG

The shells in the pictures (one circled) look like scallops such as Aviculopecten. Look for some wings.

BCE3EB24-B3BF-4659-8B15-05972593F49B.jpeg

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Thanks so much to all of you for your insights. I have a lot to learn, and I appreciate your willingness to help. Regarding the item in the right of the photos, I was puzzled by it's thinness and adherence to the shape of the underlying crinoid fragment (as shown in the crude diagram below). I had not seen shellfish to conform so well to the shape of substrate without fracturing.

Again, thank you again for your help.

Best wishes

Slide4.JPG

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Definitely brachiopod fragment and small scallop :)

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I believe your bryozoan? is a bivalve as has been mentioned.  It looks like it could be Pseudomonotis hawni (a relative of Aviculopecten) which is characterized by strong radial ribs with one to three smaller ribs between each primary.  Each large rib has some spines along it and I believe you can see the bases of broken spines in your close up.   That is a very nice piece of matrix with a lot going on!

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Thanks to all of you for the great information. I never would have guessed a bivalve could bend around a crinoid that way without breaking. Your posts have been very informative.

Best wishes.

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