An Odd Florissant Find

[gutenfrog]

Hi,

 

I last visited this site a while back, after I received some fossil shale from the Florissant Quarry a couple years back. You all were wonderfully kind in responding. Well, I've upgraded my home lab (I've been hunting tardigrades for the last year or so), and I have a solid stereoscope, and I decided to revisit my shale to look for microfossils or things that I'd missed.

 

I came across this section (perhaps half an inch in total); the view is a shot through my stereoscope. To my eye, it's plant material, and it looks like wood cells. From what I understand from Herb Meyer's The Fossils of Florissant (SO GREAT), wood fossils (aside from the huge stumps, of course) are relatively rare. If so, and it might be of interest to folks, I'd be happy to send it along to the Florissant folks.

 

Anyway, thanks for reading, and take care.

 

Brett

 

 

[oilshale]

I would guess a fish fin.

[Fossildude19]

I think oilshale is correct. Very much looks like the fin rays of a fish.

Cropped, rotated, and contrasted:

 

 

[jpc]

I agree 100%... fish fin.  Fish are not unknown from Florissant.

 

Do you have pictures of tardigrades to share?   

Edited February 18, 2022 by jpc

[gutenfrog]

Thanks, all! I didn't even think of fish, though I know they are found there too. NEAT.

 

And yes, here are a handful. And a jokey Tiktok I made featuring a live one, swimming: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdBpXdwt/

 

[crabfossilsteve]

Oh cool, I haven't seen a live tardigrade since grad school......a long time ago.  I'm been thing of taking my grand niece and nephew out on an excursion to look for soil beasties including tardigrade and pseudo-scorpions.

[gutenfrog]

On 2/19/2022 at 2:04 PM, crabfossilsteve said:

Oh cool, I haven't seen a live tardigrade since grad school......a long time ago.  I'm been thing of taking my grand niece and nephew out on an excursion to look for soil beasties including tardigrade and pseudo-scorpions.

If you want any tips, I can tell you the gear that I use and how/where to spot them. Just let me know.

[Plax]

On 2/19/2022 at 3:04 PM, crabfossilsteve said:

Oh cool, I haven't seen a live tardigrade since grad school......a long time ago.  I'm been thing of taking my grand niece and nephew out on an excursion to look for soil beasties including tardigrade and pseudo-scorpions.

Lots of pseudoscorpions in pigeon houses and some hen houses. They are in layers of feed mixed with droppings. First learned of Tardigrades at a talk given at Widener in 69 or 70. Interesting critters.

[gutenfrog]

Just now, Plax said:

Lots of pseudoscorpions in pigeon houses and some hen houses. They are in layers of feed mixed with droppings. First learned of Tardigrades at a talk given at Widener in 69 or 70. Interesting critters.

I haven't spotted any pseudoscorpions yet (not for lack of trying), but for tardigrades, my advice is simple take some lichen from several different trees, put it face down (lichen-side down) in 20 mL of water, and wait eight hours. Then remove the lichen and look directly underneath the lichen with a stereoscope. (Tardigrades sink.) If you see nematodes, rotifers (tube-like guys that zoom about) and such, you're in the right neighborhood. Tardigrades will be (literally) ambling about, if you're lucky. Sometimes, you can find quite a few per dish. If you want a look at them under a compound scope, you'll need to either snag one with an Irwin loop, or use a pipette to try to get them onto a well slide. The latter takes a lot of trial and error. (I've been doing it for a year and I'm getting competent at it, but at first, it's a comedy of errors.)

[jpc]

Thanks for this tardigrade stuff... very cool.  

 

 

[Plax]

Found my first pseudoscorpions while collecting free meal worms (tenebrio) in a pigeon house. Had them and some of the substrate in a coffee can and noticed the pseudoscorpions around the rim next time I opened it. Not really microscopic but tiny.

  Wonder if one could get tardigrades from liverwort seepage areas?

[gutenfrog]

In the literature, mosses and lichens are the main targets, but from what I've seen, liverworts are an option too. (See this for more.)

 

And there are plenty of others found in aquatic environments, etc. I'm going to try to hunt some of those down later this year once it unfreezes here (MN).