Interesting Florissant Fossil

[Earendil]

Hello,

 

Another Unidentified Florissant Object, some sort of attachment on a monocot/reed/stick. Maybe the attachment is an insect egg, or a larva, or just a seed of some kind. You can definitely see they are connected. Maybe you guys can help figure this one out, if it's unidentifiable I totally understand. @piranha @Top Trilo @Rockwood @Tetradium @LabRatKing, y'all have helped me in previous topics.

 

Thanks!

[Crusty_Crab]

The "stick" might also be a pine needle. Herb Meyer's book The Fossils of Florissant lists several members of the pine family that have been documented from Florissant. This is a picture of my own find from Florissant:

 

 

I'm not seeing any features that suggest insect larva nor would I assume it is attached to it since these are 2 dimensional compressions of what were 3 dimensional objects.  

[Rockwood]

You've seen the stumps ? I'm afraid this is what washed away from the scene of the disaster. Sticks and charcoal.

[Earendil]

14 minutes ago, Crusty_Crab said:

The "stick" might also be a pine needle. Herb Meyer's book The Fossils of Florissant lists several members of the pine family that have been documented from Florissant. This is a picture of my own find from Florissant:

 

 

I'm not seeing any features that suggest insect larva nor would I assume it is attached to it since these are 2 dimensional compressions of what were 3 dimensional objects.  

Good point, It just seemed an awful coincidence that this circle thing fell right next to the pine needle so it's literally touching it instead of on or near it.

Edited September 1, 2021 by yardrockpaleo

[LabRatKing]

Not much here to work with. I’d agree to a conifer needle and “ovoid dark spot”

[Earendil]

34 minutes ago, LabRatKing said:

Not much here to work with. I’d agree to a conifer needle and “ovoid dark spot”

Oh well, it was worth a shot. And I learned something! Thanks everybody! And @Crusty_Crab, if you don't mind, would you take a look at the latest fossil in the thread I linked below? So far the consensus is trace fossil...

 

 

 

[Top Trilo]

I agree with the others, nothing else I can add.

[Crusty_Crab]

On 9/1/2021 at 12:08 PM, yardrockpaleo said:

Oh well, it was worth a shot. And I learned something! Thanks everybody! And @Crusty_Crab, if you don't mind, would you take a look at the latest fossil in the thread I linked below? So far the consensus is trace fossil...

 

 

 

I agree that there's little in the way of diagnostic features and I would defer to Dr. Meyer's assessment since he has by far more qualifications and experience than I do. 

[Tetradium]

On 9/1/2021 at 12:17 PM, Crusty_Crab said:

The "stick" might also be a pine needle. Herb Meyer's book The Fossils of Florissant lists several members of the pine family that have been documented from Florissant. This is a picture of my own find from Florissant:

 

 

I'm not seeing any features that suggest insect larva nor would I assume it is attached to it since these are 2 dimensional compressions of what were 3 dimensional objects.  

Your are not pine needle. Its a leaf from a dicot shrub. Pine needles don't have center veins and isn't flat.  After all Colorado back then were more like California but still drier climate so having narrower leaves reduces the sun glares and loss of moistures. 

[Tetradium]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:48 AM, yardrockpaleo said:

Hello,

 

Another Unidentified Florissant Object, some sort of attachment on a monocot/reed/stick. Maybe the attachment is an insect egg, or a larva, or just a seed of some kind. You can definitely see they are connected. Maybe you guys can help figure this one out, if it's unidentifiable I totally understand. @piranha @Top Trilo @Rockwood @Tetradium @LabRatKing, y'all have helped me in previous topics.

 

Thanks!

I'm going with a petiole. After all it can trap smaller stuff so they end up right next to them. And that small round look like a fruit. Look at its coarse appearance (lots of repeated oval like appearances) which omits buds. More like catkin to me. There's even what appear to be a few bristles but I'm not 100% sure.  I'm too busy right now to look it up. 

[Tetradium]

On 9/1/2021 at 2:08 PM, yardrockpaleo said:

Oh well, it was worth a shot. And I learned something! Thanks everybody! And @Crusty_Crab, if you don't mind, would you take a look at the latest fossil in the thread I linked below? So far the consensus is trace fossil...

 

 

 

I took a quick look at book. Nothing about catkins so far. Not that surprised as they are fragile and usually need to be attached to identifed branch to id. After all you have to think of different plant parts in different stages of decomposition. Like with the other guy leaf, there so many other similar ones like single ones from yews or pinnate compound ones from honey locust that detach from petioles when they die.  

[Tetradium]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:48 AM, yardrockpaleo said:

Hello,

 

Another Unidentified Florissant Object, some sort of attachment on a monocot/reed/stick. Maybe the attachment is an insect egg, or a larva, or just a seed of some kind. You can definitely see they are connected. Maybe you guys can help figure this one out, if it's unidentifiable I totally understand. @piranha @Top Trilo @Rockwood @Tetradium @LabRatKing, y'all have helped me in previous topics.

 

Thanks!

One more thing: can you look up Fagopsis fruits or beech family fruits. I can't remember but there's some similar small understory tree that have woody rounded fruits with many seeds in it. Birch is too long and fragile - its fruit is made of many papery seeds on one thin long woody stalk and pine fruits are too obvious or flowers rot easily.