Can anyone help with ID'ing some fossils I've found in Fairfield County CT?

[Edgecitysilverdesign]

So i found these fossils and im dying to know what they are! Can anyone help! I found them in smooth round stream river looking rocks(pic of the type rock im finding them inside included, thought it might help with id) that are lining are drainage ditch at a gas station. That first one resembles a hornets face so much! But as the rock its inside has seashell fossils inside it too thats probably highly unlikely.

 

Ive been an avid gem collector and rock hound for a very long time. I know alot about crystals and minerals, plan to get my gemology degree from GIA eventually. But I know next to nothing about fossils. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

The first one is part of a trilobite cephalon. Maybe a calymenid? 

[Fossildude19]

The second image looks like a trilobite cephalon as well.

Not sure on genus.

 

These are all imported stones, as there are no trilobite bearing rocks found naturally in Connecticut.

[Shellseeker]

16 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

The second image looks like a trilobite cephalon as well.

Not sure on genus.

 

These are all imported stones, as there are no trilobite bearing rocks found naturally in Connecticut.

 

I was wondering for a second , Tim.. I spent all my formative years in Fairfield County , Connecticut and would have been disappointed if I had missed all those trilobites.

Are there any Trilobites in any of the northern and/or Eastern states?

Edited July 30, 2021 by Shellseeker

[Misha]

1 hour ago, Shellseeker said:

Are there any Trilobites in any of the northern and/or Eastern states?

Out of the places around CT, obviously NY and PA have a wealth of trilobites, NJ also has some I think. For New England I believe I have heard of trilobites coming from Vermont and some from Maine @Mainefossils has posted some from the Silurian Leighton Formation. There are probably other places to but these are the ones I know of so far.

[Fossildude19]

Jack,

Misha said it.

Vermont, and Maine are the only stand outs I can think of.

There are supposedly some paleozoic fossils in a few spots in New Hampshire, but I've never seen any.

 

There were Cambrian Trilobites found nears the shipyard in Boston, but most of the exposures are now inaccessible.

[Mainefossils]

From Vermont, I believe the Fitch Fm is one of the few (only?) formations that has trilobites. Rhode Island has some trilobites in the Jamestown formation. Massachuesets and Connecticut are pretty bare of trilos as far as I know. 

 

From Maine, I have collected trilobites from the Leighton Fm, as @Misha mentioned. It (rarely) has complete ones. I hope to visit the Hardwood Mt Formation soon, which has some of the finest preserved specimens in the state. The Chapman Sandstone, Shin Brook Fm, Square Lake Deposit, and Tarrantine Fm have recorded trilobites. One specimen, supposedly from the Fish River Lake Fm, has been found, but it is not conclusive. 

 

Hope this helps! 

[piranha]

38 minutes ago, Mainefossils said:

From Vermont, I believe the Fitch Fm is one of the few (only?) formations that has trilobites.

 

Vermont has numerous Cambrian and Ordovician trilobite localities. There are 22 trilobite bearing formations at 69 localities listed at this: LINK

[Shellseeker]

52 minutes ago, Mainefossils said:

From Vermont, I believe the Fitch Fm is one of the few (only?) formations that has trilobites. Rhode Island has some trilobites in the Jamestown formation. Massachuesets and Connecticut are pretty bare of trilos as far as I know. 

 

From Maine, I have collected trilobites from the Leighton Fm, as @Misha mentioned. It (rarely) has complete ones. I hope to visit the Hardwood Mt Formation soon, which has some of the finest preserved specimens in the state. The Chapman Sandstone, Shin Brook Fm, Square Lake Deposit, and Tarrantine Fm have recorded trilobites. One specimen, supposedly from the Fish River Lake Fm, has been found, but it is not conclusive. 

 

Hope this helps! 

It does !!! It may answer the question of where these rocks in Fairfield county may have come from... It also raises the question of why not Connecticut and Massachusetts ?  --- Glacier bedrock ?

[piranha]

2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

There are supposedly some paleozoic fossils in a few spots in New Hampshire, but I've never seen any.

 

Billings, M.P., Cleaves, A.B. 1934

Paleontology of the Littleton Area, New Hampshire.

American Journal of Science, Series 5, 28:412-438

Calymene sp.; Dalmanites cf. caudatus, limulurus

 

Hitchcock, C.H. 1904

New Studies in the Ammonoosuc District of New Hampshire.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, 15:461-482

Calymene; Dalmanites caudatus, limulurus, lunatus, pleuropteryx

 

Lambert, A.E. 1904

Description of Dalmanites lunatus.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, 15:480-482

 

Lambert, A.E. 1905
A Trilobite (Dalmanites lunatus) from Littleton, New Hampshire, With Notes on Other Fossils from the Same Locality.

In: The Geology of Littleton, New Hampshire, With an Article on a Trilobite From Littleton, and Notes on Other Fossils From the Same Locality.
University Press Cambridge, pp. 33-38

 

 

2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

There were Cambrian Trilobites found nears the shipyard in Boston, but most of the exposures are now inaccessible.

 

Besides the Braintree paradoxidids, Massachusetts also has other trilobite bearing formations (Brigus & Hoppin).

 

Fletcher, T.P., Theokritoff, G., Lord, G.S., Zeoli, G. 2005
The Early Paradoxidid Harlani Trilobite Fauna of Massachusetts and its Correlatives in Newfoudland, Morocco, and Spain.
Journal of Paleontology, 79(2):312-336

 

Geyer, G., Landing, E. 2001
Middle Cambrian of Avalonian Massachusetts: Stratigraphy and Correlation of the Braintree Trilobites.
Journal of Paleontology, 75(1):116-135

 

Landing, E. 1988
Lower Cambrian of Eastern Massachusetts: Stratigraphy and Small Shelly Fossils.
Journal of Paleontology, 62(5):661-695

 

Lieberman, B.S. 2001
Phylogenetic Analysis of the Olenellina Walcott, 1890 (Trilobita, Cambrian).

Journal of Paleontology, 75(1):96-115

 

McMenamin, M.A.S. 2002
The Ptychoparioid Trilobite Skehanos gen.nov. from the Middle Cambrian of Avalonian Massachusetts and the Carolina Slate Belt, USA.
Northeastern Geology and Environmental Sciences, 24(4):276-281

 

Shaw, A.B. 1950
A Revision of Several Early Cambrian Trilobites from Eastern Massachusetts.
Journal of Paleontology, 24(5):577-590

[Fossildude19]

The only fossiliferous exposures in Connecticut are in the Connecticut River Valley, and a few outlier basins.

Those exposures are all Early Jurassic in age.

These are exposed only because of faulting and upthrusting.

 

Any older rocks are metamorphic or igneous in nature.

 

 

[Edgecitysilverdesign]

Thank you! I figured the rocks were imported. I Rock hound alot in CT and generally spend a lot of time near rivers and streams and these river looking rocks did NOT look local for our geological area here. Hence why I included a pic of the rocks themselves. Thank you for the help now I know what I'm looking at and that's what I was after! 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Edgecitysilverdesign

[KompsFossilsNMinerals]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:36 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

The first one is part of a trilobite cephalon. Maybe a calymenid? 

my thoughts as well, reminds me of a flexicalymene but i could be wrong.