Great Day in Central Texas

[erose]

So I had a few hours off the other day and decided to hit a favorite spot in the Glen Rose Formation. The Glen Rose is Lower Cretaceous (Albian) and can be very fossiliferous. For those familiar with this formation the particular layer I was hunting is near the top of the Lower Member in what is known as the "Salenia texana" zone.  As the name implies it is abundant with the echinoid Leptosalenia texana.  But it also produces another handful of echinoids, some common and some rare.  I was hunting(hoping) for the rare ones...  Now let me tell you it has been a long hard summer and this week was the topper with my wiener dog Bacon getting snake bit in the back yard and things at work being extra hectic and, well just life in general in this time of plague...  So I was DUE BIG TIME for a good hunt.

 

Within the first five minutes I knew it was going to be good.  We recently had some good rain and there were no footprints in sight. And it was bright and clear and perfect "urchin" light. Some of you know just what I mean by that. Sharp clear sunlight at the right angle makes those tubercules pop, even when half buried in the marl.

 

My first good find was a fossil I had been looking for for a while and one that I got skunked on at the last PSA field trip. Jamie Lynn and a few other club members found them and I was teasing them about it. It was a comatulid crinoid cup. Not an echinoid, but another weird echinoderm. Comatulids are stemless crinoids, aka feather stars.  From there I started finding those Leptosalenias of which I only brought home the best ones.  Lots of other good specimens of bivalves, gastropods, serpulids, etc started filling the bag and then I looked up and there it was, bucket list, holy grail of the GR, a CIDARID! Now I have several "pieces" from there but this one was obviously complete.  It was still tucked into the marly layer and hadn't been fully washed out and broken up yet.  As I removed it I found it was a bit squooshed, but otherwise intact. The species is Paracidaris? texanus (Whitney & Kellum). Smith & Rader(2009) placed it tentatively in Paracidaris, but it is probably a good ID.   Spines and loose plates are common but articulated specimens are few and far between.  That was it, I could have gone home right then and there, but I kept going.  I was rewarded with a medium sized  Tetragramma (semi rare) that will need lots of cleaning and a few more Leptosalenias.  Eventually my alarm went off and it was time to head home. A great afternoon in Central Texas.

[bthemoose]

Congrats! Hope your dog is okay.

[erose]

7 minutes ago, bthemoose said:

Congrats! Hope your dog is okay.

Dog is home and seems to be OK. 

[Fossildude19]

Glad you got out to hunt, Erich.

Great report - thanks for sharing it with us.  

[JohnJ]

Congratulations again, Erich!  That is the second one I've seen from there.  

[JamieLynn]

oooohhhh.....well, you got your prize! A few of them!  Very glad your dog is okay too!

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

3 hours ago, erose said:

So I was DUE BIG TIME for a good hunt.

I feel like we are al there right with you.  Gods .. it has been brutal. Amazing finds. Seeing them half-buried must be the real treat ....

 

Cheers,

B

[Al Tahan]

3 hours ago, erose said:

 

 

Gorgeous specimen  

[RuMert]

Cool echinoids!

[erose]

10 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Congratulations again, Erich!  That is the second one I've seen from there.  

Thanks John,  I think I know who found that other one. As you know I had found some tantalizingly good pieces of cidarids there in the past so I knew it was just a matter of time.  

[Jeffrey P]

Those echinoids are exquisite. Thanks for sharing them. Big congratulations on on a most productive outing. 

[ClearLake]

Those are some excellent finds. Thanks for sharing. 

[BudB]

Wow, beautiful!

[Pagurus]

 

Congratulations on a great day of hunting, Erich. I hope it's a sign of things to come.

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Al Dente]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:29 AM, erose said:

My first good find was a fossil I had been looking for for a while and one that I got skunked on at the last PSA field trip. Jamie Lynn and a few other club members found them and I was teasing them about it. It was a comatulid crinoid cup. Not an echinoid, but another weird echinoderm. Comatulids are stemless crinoids, aka feather stars.

Do you think this is Decameros wertheimi?

[erose]

2 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Do you think this is Decameros wertheimi?

Yes. I wasn't sure based on a paper I have by the authors. But the drawing in The Treatise of Invert Paleo is spot on.

[LSCHNELLE]

Congrats Erich!  A truly amazing and rare find for Texas. 

[BobC]

Great Erich!

[erose]

On 10/18/2020 at 3:52 PM, BobC said:

Great Erich!

Because of you I knew whole ones were a possibility.

[gwestbrook]

Beautiful! Cidarids are a favorite of mine as well, although I've never actually found one of my own.

[sixgill pete]

Fantastic Erich. Beautiful cidarid, they are among the most spectacular echinoids. I also really like the D. wertheimi. Comatulid crinoids are found here in NC and I always get a thrill finding them.

[Monica]

Congrats on finding the holy grail of the Glen Rose Formation!!!  It's a beautiful echinoid - I am very