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minnbuckeye

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Early in the summer, an attempt was made to hunt a different Ordovician formation than I normally collect in. It provided me with a learning experience and some new and neat fossils. Having enjoyed my finds so much,  a return trip was made 2 weeks ago. Not to the same site but to a more extensive exposure of the Elgin Formation of the Maquoketa close by. The location is in NE Iowa in some beautiful farm country. Even if I found no fossils the view from here made the trip worthwhile.

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Now for the finds. I am a novice at identifying fossils from this formation and am open to any suggestions or changes to my identifications. 

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Here is a sediment filled cephalopod  with Dalmanella on it. Only one was truly part of the find. Which brachiopod belonged to the cephalopod?

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This one!! 

 

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 Cephalopods of all types and sizes abounded in this formation. 

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 This is one cephalopod I would love an ID of. The linear stripes are new to me.

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 Epibionts were common on the brachiopods. 

  

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Now on to the trilobites. First up is a picture of a u shaped structure just 5 mm long. Is it a hypostome. If so, what trilobite? 

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Many pictures that I hope you enjoyed!

  

Mike

Edited by minnbuckeye
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Awesome finds on that hunt, Mike! Great pics and IDs! Looking forward to seeing the ID on that Unknown Cephalopod!  :-D

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The more I learn, I realize the less I know.

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That unknown cephalopod looks like a tusk shell (a scaphopod).  Are tusk shells known from this age rocks?

 

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Dang! Did you find all of those in one day? Did they require much prep, or did weathering do most of the work? What a wonderful haul. I have read of Scaphopods in the Galena group, so it’s quite possible they are in the Maquoketa as well. I plan on collecting more often in north eastern Iowa, and I wonder what reference materials you use for your IDs. 
Thanks for sharing! 

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Hi, Mike. 

First : :default_faint::b_love1::envy: etc. 

With that out of the way, I think :

Crania laelia is now Philhedra laelia.

I've never heard of Dalmanella macrior, but those are stunning.

It's Dinorthis proavita. 

And Sowerbyella sericea.

 

Scaphopods don't appear until the Carboniferous, a possible ancestral form is found in the Ordovician but only in Kentucky. 

I think the unknown roller is another Anataphrus vigilans.

 

Zygospira modesta, I think. 

Rhynchotrema capax is now Hiscobeccus capax. 

 

Marvelous finds, Mike. 

 

 

 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Scaphopods sure look similar but for now, I am sticking to cephalopod. If you look beyond the horizontal ornimentation that mimics scaphopods, there is evidence of septal divisions running perpendicular to the long axis.

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31 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

Scaphopods sure look similar but for now, I am sticking to cephalopod. If you look beyond the horizontal ornimentation that mimics scaphopods, there is evidence of septal divisions running perpendicular to the long axis.

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Looks similar to Metaspyroceras from the Ordovician formations in the Twin Cities, MN.

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  • 1 year later...

Mike, with further research after you kindly sent me some lovely specimens from the Maquoketa, I think I can make one or two changes. 

I don't think Rafinesquina subquadrata is a valid taxon anymore, so this is likely to be Rafinesquina deltoidea.

Dalmanella macrior is now Eremotrema emacerata, but Eremotrema emacerata is longer compared to its width than your specimens which I believe to be Plaesiomys occidentalis. 

Dinorthis proavitus is now Plaesiomys proavitus, but I think yours have too many ribs so they are  probably Onniella quadrata. 

Your Hebertella sinuata is actually a Glyptorthis, I would say Glyptorthis bellarugosa for this one.

I can't see the 'Sowerbyella sericea' clearly enough, but some are likely Sowerbyella minnesotensis and others perhaps Eochonetes recedens. 

I believe that you are now aware that the epibiont crinoid holdfasts, at least the smaller ones, are Lichenocrinus minutus, which could belong to a disparid such as an heterocrinid, but i don't think anyone knows which crinoids they belong to for certain. Again they are mostly growing on specimens of Glyptorthis, not Hebertella. 

The 'Strophomena amoena' are either Sowerbyella or Eochonetes, I'm not quite sure which. 

And I still say that's a very nice nautiloid. :)

Thanks, Mike. :beer:

      

  

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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