Brachidium?

[Kane]

Some interesting finds in the field today, but this one made me wonder if this was a brachidium or some other related feature. It looks like a trilobite, so naturally I picked it up.  The piece was long exposed to the elements. 

 

Length: ~3cm

Age: Mid-Devonian (Dundee Fm, Ontario, Canada). 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Don't think it's a brachiopod bit. 

Looks a bit like a 'cystoid' to me. 

[Kane]

Hm... A cystoid would be an unexpected and lovely surprise!

 

I should provide a few better photos now that I'm home. In the darker of the two, you can see why I took it for a distorted/disarticulated trilobite!

[Rockwood]

I agree with the echinoderm angle. Maybe one of the more unusually shaped crinoids such as Ammonicrinus ? It's listed as mid Devonian. 

[Al Dente]

This photo makes me think it is a trilobite.

 

 

[Top Trilo]

Is there any chance of further prepping it?

[Malcolmt]

Looks quite cystoid like but not familiar with any in that formation

[Rockwood]

44 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

This photo makes me think it is a trilobite.

Telescope compressed exuviate. I think so.

[Al Dente]

Here’s what I see. Blue is the cephalon, yellow the pygidium, red the axis and green is lateral pleurae.

[Rockwood]

Some of the blue originally extended to overlap the green ? Seen in a faint sectioning to the lower.

[FossilDAWG]

Kane is the trilobite whisperer of course, so I would expect him to instantly recognize a trilobite even if crushed or fragmentary.  That being said it looks like a trilobite to me also.

 

Don

[Kane]

Thanks, all! I suspected it might be, but second guessed myself (but brought it home just in case). But perhaps my hope turns out to be true.  I’ll see if I can prep it a bit tomorrow, or what is left of it, and see if it is a match for one of three species it might be, out of the seven I’ve so far recorded in this facies.

[Kane]

After some preliminary scribing, I can happily confirm it is a trilobite. This would be a Pseudodechenella sp. Despite its broken back, what is remarkable is in finding one nearly complete in this material -- known for having nothing but moulted or tidally disarticulated fragments. Given its state, this will not be the most fun prep in the world. 

[Top Trilo]

Mystery is solved! I think the difficulty was the fact it was disarticulated and that Kane wasn't sure it was a trilobite, not many would argue with that