Chasing Cryptolithus

[historianmichael]

One of the biggest regrets in my years of fossil collecting is never getting the chance to collect from the piles of Ordovician Martinsburg fm. material placed in the Swatara Gap Park by PennDOT. I had only just begun to collect fossils when that happened and by the time I was old enough to do proper research and learn about it the piles had pretty much been depleted. We still did end up visiting the Park, collecting from the Devonian layers there. After learning about the Swatara Gap site though I have been fascinated by the blind trilobite Cryptolithus. With its long genal spines and lace collar the trilobite has a very unique appearance. 

 

Recently my dad and I decided to make a renewed effort to collect some Ordovician trilobites. I did some research and it seemed like our best bet was to make a trip to VA/WV. Armed with a list of potential sites we made the all day trip there and back. Our first stops were in Northern Virginia. We scouted a few road cuts, but due to the hot sun and some very aggressive ticks, we quickly moved on when we did not see any evidence of fossils. My parents are planning to move to Virginia in the next few years so we might come back to scout the cuts again when the conditions for exploration are better. From there we crossed the border into West Virginia and settled on a known site for Ordovician trilobites. We spent the good part of the day at this site before making the trip back to New Jersey. We came away with a good assortment of Ordovician fossils, including some bits of Cryptolithus tesselatus.

 

The quality certainly does not compare to what was found at Swatara Gap, but I am happy to have some examples in my collection now. I have found some additional places to add to my list of potential sites, so my chase for quality Cryptolithus fossils will go on!

 

Cephalons of Cryptolithus tesselatus

     

 

 

Pygidia of Cryptolithus tesselatus

  

 

 

Cheeks of Cryptolithus tesselatus 

    

    

 

 

Part of a Pygidium of Odontopleura

 

 

Thorax and Pygidium of Flexicalymene granulosa 

   

 

 

Partial Cephalon of Flexicalymene granulosa 

 

 

My guess is that this is a partial cephalon of Isotelus but I am not sure

  

 

 

Ectenocrinus simplex

 

 

Sowerbyella

 

 

Dalmanella

 

 

Climacograptus

 

 

A cool 3-D Bryozoan

    

 

 

[Monica]

The "lace collar" of Cryptolithus is stunning, but I particularly love your graptolite 

 

Thanks for the show-and-tell!

[taj]

The hunt is on ! Cryptolithus is certainly very elusive !In the Nicollet fm there are plenty of bits, very similar to your pics  .Once you start looking for them , you see them everywhere but finding a complete specimen , oh my ! I will discover in the fall if I have managed to fetch something more or less complete .Meanwhile ,this is a fresh cephalon from this week , Neuville fm . 

[TOM BUCKLEY]

On 6/7/2020 at 12:26 PM, historianmichael said:

One of the biggest regrets in my years of fossil collecting is never getting the chance to collect from the piles of Ordovician Martinsburg fm. material placed in the Swatara Gap Park by PennDOT. I had only just begun to collect fossils when that happened and by the time I was old enough to do proper research and learn about it the piles had pretty much been depleted. We still did end up visiting the Park, collecting from the Devonian layers there. After learning about the Swatara Gap site though I have been fascinated by the blind trilobite Cryptolithus. With its long genal spines and lace collar the trilobite has a very unique appearance. 

 

Recently my dad and I decided to make a renewed effort to collect some Ordovician trilobites. I did some research and it seemed like our best bet was to make a trip to VA/WV. Armed with a list of potential sites we made the all day trip there and back. Our first stops were in Northern Virginia. We scouted a few road cuts, but due to the hot sun and some very aggressive ticks, we quickly moved on when we did not see any evidence of fossils. My parents are planning to move to Virginia in the next few years so we might come back to scout the cuts again when the conditions for exploration are better. From there we crossed the border into West Virginia and settled on a known site for Ordovician trilobites. We spent the good part of the day at this site before making the trip back to New Jersey. We came away with a good assortment of Ordovician fossils, including some bits of Cryptolithus tesselatus.

 

The quality certainly does not compare to what was found at Swatara Gap, but I am happy to have some examples in my collection now. I have found some additional places to add to my list of potential sites, so my chase for quality Cryptolithus fossils will go on!

 

    I    

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

I have also been on a quest for the elusive  Cryptolithis tesselatus. A few years back I spent a couple of days in Antes Gap, PA. I was in te Salona Formation, Trenton Group, Middle Ordovician. A very dark gray to black, nonfossilferous shaley limestone and calcarous shale containing metabentonite beds. All fossils are found in extremely thin metabentonite layers.

 

Below are a couple of hash plates.

 

Tom

[TOM BUCKLEY]

9 minutes ago, TOM BUCKLEY said:

 

I have also been on a quest for the elusive  Cryptolithis tesselatus. A few years back I spent a couple of days in Antes Gap, PA. I was in te Salona Formation, Trenton Group, Middle Ordovician. A very dark gray to black, nonfossilferous shaley limestone and calcarous shale containing metabentonite beds. All fossils are found in extremely thin metabentonite layers.

 

Below are a couple of hash plates.

 

Tom

 

9 minutes ago, TOM BUCKLEY said:

 

Specimens found at Antes Gap:

Brachiopods:

Sowerbella punctostriata

Plectorthis

Plectorthis plicatella

Rafinesquina

Trace fossils:

Tomaculum

Bryozoans:

Prasopora simulatrix Ulrich

Encrusting bryozoa

Trilobites:

Cryptolithis tesselatus

Isotelus giga

Ceraurus?

Small conical shell:

Cornlites flexuosus (Hall)

 

 

9 minutes ago, TOM BUCKLEY said:

 

 

9 minutes ago, TOM BUCKLEY said:

 

 

[Paul1719]

Michael, very nice finds. I always wanted to find a complete or reasonably complete Cryptolithus but had to settle for parts. 

 

Tom, me and my son, Ian just drove past the Salona quarry last Sunday afternoon and wondering about access? Invertebrates have become of secondary interest so unlikely to find the time (we had a 5.5 hr drive ahead of us).

[minnbuckeye]

Great specimens!!! Next time, try photographing with a background that matches your specimen a little better. When shooting a dark fossil with a light background, the camera senses the light background and underexposes the picture. Contrast between the fossil and background is nice but not at the expense of dark pictures of fossils.  

 

Mike