Ordovician brachiopods from PA

[Misha]

Hello everyone,

I recently went on a trip to Pennsylvania and stopped to do some collecting in the Salona formation,

I found some decent Cryptolithus parts which I am currently preparing, but most of the fossils were brachiopods.

There were two types from what I could tell, smaller strophomenids and larger ones.

The smaller ones I have not been able to get any ID info for but the larger ones may be Rafinesquina.

Here are some of the small ones:

[Misha]

Here are some more as well as a size reference:

 

 

This plate has brachiopods from the well-known St. Leon location, sent to me by @connorp the brachiopods are pretty much identical, the shape, color and even fine detail on the shell is all the same.

[Misha]

Here are some of the larger ones that may be Rafinesquina:

[connorp]

Oh, those are the ones you were referring to. I believe those (from St. Leon) are mostly Eochonetes clarksvillensis. I don’t know about your PA ones though, they’re nice though! @Tidgy's Dad

[Misha]

8 hours ago, connorp said:

Oh, those are the ones you were referring to. I believe those (from St. Leon) are mostly Eochonetes clarksvillensis. I don’t know about your PA ones though, they’re nice though! @Tidgy's Dad

That very well may be an accurate ID for these guys too, they look very similar to what I have found online by searching up that genus.

Here's another one of mine (it looks different to the previous ones because this one is from fresh split rock):

And this is one I got by searching up Eochonetes:

The detail on the shell is very similar, and so is the shape

[Misha]

I am still not sure about these IDs so I will tag @Tidgy's Dad and @Peat Burns as our brachiopod experts.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I'm afraid I don't know this formation at all. 

The first one could be Sowerbyella, Eochonetes, Eoplectodonta or Thaerodonta. I would lean toward Sowerbyella. 

The second one is Rafinesquina and has a wonderful trail, but, again, I don't know the species in this formation. 

[Misha]

10 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I'm afraid I don't know this formation at all. 

The first one could be Sowerbyella, Eochonetes, Eoplectodonta or Thaerodonta. I would lean toward Sowerbyella. 

The second one is Rafinesquina and has a wonderful trail, but, again, I don't know the species in this formation. 

Thank you for the info!

I have tried to find literature about the organisms but have not been successful. I am not sure if there are any resources describing the species present here.

[Tidgy's Dad]

PM sent. 

[historianmichael]

@Misha My understanding is that the Rafesquina are Rafinesquina trentonensis since the Salona Formation is part of the Trenton Group. The other brachiopods are Sowerbyella.

 

Btw any luck prepping the Cryptolithus? I'd love to know if they is more to the bugs hiding under the surface.

[Misha]

13 minutes ago, historianmichael said:

@Misha My understanding is that the Rafesquina are Rafinesquina trentonensis since the Salona Formation is part of the Trenton Group.

 

Btw any luck prepping the Cryptolithus? I'd love to know if they is more to the bugs hiding under the surface.

I will send you some pictures on instagram when I get the chance.

 

I found that the bug I started prepping was in very soft matrix, not sure if this is due to the weathering rind on the rock of this location or something else but it was really easy to expose parts of it with a simple pin vise. 

I was prepping a cephalon and there was definitely much of it not exposed but I would not expect any of the thorax to still be attached.

 

Also, thanks for the help with the ID! I will look into that