ScottBlooded Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Working in the needmore formation outside of Winchester VA, mid Devonian gray shales where I find mostly trilobites, crinoid, brachiopods and some shelled cephalopods. These two little bits caught my eye. First, bifurcated spine (or looks like a spine? It’s preserved the way trilobite spines do in this formation). About 4 mm long. I’ve never noticed a species of trilobite out here that has bifurcated spines and now I’m curious. Second, cephalon next to a separate (I assume not associated?) pygidium. The pygidium I figure is a long shot on pinning down, but the cephalon looked interesting to me. Seems like something from the order odontopleurida? About 2 or 3mm wide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRatKing Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Could use a scale for the forked mold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBlooded Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 4 minutes ago, LabRatKing said: Could use a scale for the forked mold. Sorry, kind of buried in the post I guess. 4mm long, so like 3mm at the widest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Your "bifurcated spine" reminds me of an imprint of the "beak" of a brachiopod, possibly a spiriferid. Do you have the counterpart? Image from HERE. 2 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Could be a brach beak, as Tim suggested. I'll toss in another possibility: phyllocarid telson showing two of the three projections. We would need to see the counterpart to come to a more definitive conclusion either way. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 57 minutes ago, Kane said: Could be a brach beak, as Tim suggested. I'll toss in another possibility: phyllocarid telson showing two of the three projections. We would need to see the counterpart to come to a more definitive conclusion either way. That was something I considered (Phyllocarid telson). It is possible, as there appears to be more to the right of the object. 2 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRatKing Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Your "bifurcated spine" reminds me of an imprint of the "beak" of a brachiopod, possibly a spiriferid. Do you have the counterpart? Image from HERE. I was in the same line be of thinking. Brachiopod cross section 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Not brachiopod. 3 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBlooded Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 Both sides of it in daylight, both are molds so whatever it was has eroded away. I agree with it not being a brachiopod, seems pretty self contained save for that one end that’s broken off something 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBlooded Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 13 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: That was something I considered (Phyllocarid telson). It is possible, as there appears to be more to the right of the object. I had to look it up, I didn’t know this was an option but that diagram makes that make sense visually very easily, thank you. With a view of the other side I don’t initially see a third branching but it seems like from other photos I saw it might just be obscured? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Images from Devonian Paleontology of New York by David M. Linsley 6 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabRatKing Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Excellent! I just learned something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBlooded Posted December 26, 2020 Author Share Posted December 26, 2020 On 12/11/2020 at 8:00 AM, Fossildude19 said: Images from Devonian Paleontology of New York by David M. Linsley Digging through some more material in the same formation I’ve come across the same fossil again. Preserved a different color but otherwise the same, including being two instead of three pronged. Have both sides of the fossil (both shown in included photos) both sides are mostly molds now with no apparent place where I can see a break where the third prong would have snapped off. Also feels weird to find two partials damaged identically. Or is that something that regularly happens with this type of telson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottBlooded Posted December 26, 2020 Author Share Posted December 26, 2020 Also, did anyone ever have an idea on this cephalon? Shape is still giving me trouble. Thanks for all the help everyone. This has been a great community Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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