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Adam's Early / Lower Devonian


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The Devonian period is known as "The Age of Fish", but could also be known as "The Age of Brachiopods."

In the Early / Lower Devonian, brachiopods reached the height of their diversity towards its end in the Emsian. We see the ancestral groups occurring, lingulids, craniids, orthids, protorthids, pentamerids, rhynchonellids and strophomenids, as well as the later successful groups we have seen before such as atrypids, athyrids and orthotetids, plus the rise of spiriferids, spiriferinids and productids and the beginning of the terebratulids.  By the end of the Devonian , several of these groups are extinct or severely reduced in importance and brachiopods never quite recover.

Also, the Devonian is the last time we see trilobites with such variation, large sizes and numbers and orthocerids too are much more uncommon after the rise of the goniatites. The massive tabulate coral reefs also disappear after the Devonian.   

Fascinating period and I hope to share some of its wonders with you. 

Equally, a lot of this is rather new to me, so I would be very grateful for any assistance, corrections or further information on my specimens. Thank you. 

 

The Early Devonian epoch is split into three stages, so let's start with the first of those, the Lochkovian, that began about 419 mya and finished roughly 411 mya. 

I have been sent a nice selection of brachiopods from the Kalkberg Formation, Helderberg Group by the Mighty @Misha, mostly. 

But the kind gentleperson also sent me this fascinating little bryozoan hash

1121888383_BryozoaHash.thumb.jpg.fea4f05736fcaba72322345255fae772.jpg

It is dominated by fenestellids, which is usually the case in the Devonian, but other orders sill occur. 

These ones, I think, are Fenestella, but there are so many species in the formation that I wont take a guess as to species

Fenestella.thumb.jpg.0a12990f8d7b0824eb182efc86b25d6c.jpg

Fenestella1.jpg.511c97465c94b3abc45c9f572ca35b84.jpg

Fenestella2.jpg.38572fad14b420b92375b5d9a6922fe9.jpg

Fenestella3.thumb.jpg.1dbd06f300eb2ee0a09eb322c5cd81a3.jpg

 

Not sure what this one is ;

Bryozoan.thumb.jpg.79935a296a91551f05f4c98cb7e10d77.jpg

 

 

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A new collection thread from Adam! Yay! 
 

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Equally, a lot of this is rather new to me, so I would be very grateful for any assistance, corrections or further information on my specimens. Thank you. 


The Devonian is somewhat of a mystery to me as well. I won’t be able to assist much, but will thoroughly enjoy the content I’m sure.  

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I was wondering why you were revisiting some of my old posts on the Kalkberg. This is very exciting, I really enjoy reading through these posts and the Devonian is my main focus in collecting so this will be especially interesting. Can't wait to see more!

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Adam, I look forward to seeing what wonderful fossils and insights you have for the Devonian.

 

Mike

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On 7/8/2022 at 8:25 PM, FossilNerd said:

A new collection thread from Adam! Yay! 
 


The Devonian is somewhat of a mystery to me as well. I won’t be able to assist much, but will thoroughly enjoy the content I’m sure.  

It really is great to see you back with us, Wayne, I missed you, old chap. 

Some might say I'm silly not to start of this thread with a stunning trilobite or even a beautiful brachiopod, but I'm in my promotion of bryozoans mood right now.

Many people, (not you, I'm sure) assume that the spaces, the 'little windows' in fenestrids are the zooecia, where the animal lived, but this is not the case. These are holes that run through the branches to create water currents to feed the animals on the reverse (usually)of the fronds. Unfortunately, fenestellid bryozoa usually preserve with the zooecia hidden  underneath. 

Here's an exception. Look at the zooecia running down the main branches. If there are two layers / rows, it's probably Fenestella, but here, there are three, so this, I think is Polypora. 

Polypora lilia ; 

Polypora.thumb.jpg.119592f067b53914da630ab854367a31.jpg

Polypora1.jpg.0786f1617bc793e5cf88c2eb95538fea.jpg

Polypora2.jpg.81f81019e69fac48a5ea55a4050e7490.jpg

Polypora5.jpg.35f5a162af3f385f1a3bb34d877b3311.jpg

Polypora6.jpg.49018d783fffa253f8635602c0401086.jpg

 

Polypora7.thumb.jpg.0d89e272ecf522707512a08ce0be0e03.jpg

 

 

Polypora3.jpg

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1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

It really is great to see you back with us, Wayne, I missed you, old chap. 

Some might say I'm silly not to start of this thread with a stunning trilobite or even a beautiful brachiopod, but I'm in my promotion of bryooans mood right now.

Many people, (not you, I'm sure) assume that the spaces, the 'little windows' in fenestrids are the zooecia, where the nimal lived, but this is not the case. These are holes that run through the branches to create water currents to feed the animals on the reverse (usually)of the fronds. Unfortunately, bryozoa usually preserve with the zooecia hidden  underneath. 

Here's an exception. Look at the zooecia running down the main branches. If there are two layers it's probably Fenestella, but here, there are three, so this, I think is Polypora. 

Polypora lilia ; 

Polypora.thumb.jpg.119592f067b53914da630ab854367a31.jpg

Polypora1.jpg.0786f1617bc793e5cf88c2eb95538fea.jpg

Polypora2.jpg.81f81019e69fac48a5ea55a4050e7490.jpg

Polypora5.jpg.35f5a162af3f385f1a3bb34d877b3311.jpg

Polypora6.jpg.49018d783fffa253f8635602c0401086.jpg

 

Polypora7.thumb.jpg.0d89e272ecf522707512a08ce0be0e03.jpg

 

 

Polypora3.jpg

Maybe Thamniscus ? ;

Thamniscus.thumb.jpg.d1b151eefb8b083be0a1b2d5d7fce180.jpg

A trepostome?

Trepostome.thumb.jpg.650902eb263cf17cbdf118ad80410169.jpg

Trepostome1.jpg.9643e059c5af8d3fafb300374e1fb87d.jpg

Pretty. 

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Thanks! I missed you too, Adam. It really is great to be back. :)

 

I say start with whatever you want. It’s your thread after all. Besides, I’m quite fond of the often overlooked bryozoans myself.
 

Some nice examples, and it’s good to see a specimen with the usually hidden zooecia showing.:thumbsu:

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On 7/8/2022 at 8:25 PM, FossilNerd said:

A new collection thread from Adam! Yay! 
 

I'm excited about it too. 

You may have missed my Late Silurian thread  

And for those of you who would like to look further back here's

And 

And 

 

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4 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

You may have missed my Late Silurian thread 


You are right. I did miss it. Thanks for letting me know! :)


I’m following it now, and will go back through it this evening. 

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10 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Thanks! I missed you too, Adam. It really is great to be back. :)

 

I say start with whatever you want. It’s your thread after all. Besides, I’m quite fond of the often overlooked bryozoans myself.
 

Some nice examples, and it’s good to see a specimen with the usually hidden zooecia showing.:thumbsu:

Thank you. 

But here's an orthid. The orthids, as you may know, are split into two suborders. The Orthidina barely made it out of the Silurian, but the other suborder, the Dalmanellidina is still doing very well in the Lower Devonian.

Here's Discomyorthis oblata, sometimes incorrectly named Rhipidomella oblata, but Rhipidomella is a slightly later genus from the same subfamily, probably arising from Discomyorthis. A very successful group right up to the Permian. 

 Discomyort.thumb.jpg.001c36c9202b029becc7926e80825f3c.jpg

Discomyort1.thumb.jpg.4116df83086c3a5cd0b10ce15e5b1caa.jpg

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Discomyort15.thumb.jpg.2ab16596d449a3c15383e12720b0a986.jpg

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On 7/8/2022 at 8:35 PM, Misha said:

I was wondering why you were revisiting some of my old posts on the Kalkberg. This is very exciting, I really enjoy reading through these posts and the Devonian is my main focus in collecting so this will be especially interesting. Can't wait to see more!

Yes, your old posts and everything else regarding the Kalkberg. Very interesting and helpful. 

What do you reckon this one is? Worn Gypidula galeata is my bet. 

Gypidula.thumb.jpg.8f5210a6a7fcaf07677f3e16a27eaaec.jpg

Gypidula1.jpg.53969f255488f887ead5c9ab69d561fd.jpg

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Gypidula3.jpg.e66b90ed3d5702d44c74be0c597efe69.jpg

Gypidula4.jpg.fe653c36220fa0b94a20d60ea8b9fed1.jpg

Gypidula5.jpg.7a03e83e848139a226193cdc4bae45d1.jpg

Gypidula6.jpg.2b30203cbd4690df45d3e94e73c45e69.jpg

Gypidula7.jpg.93ecb60c6802f390e8a4524c851ac5ec.jpg

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On 7/8/2022 at 8:43 PM, ClearLake said:

Adam, I look forward to seeing what wonderful fossils and insights you have for the Devonian.

 

Mike

Cheers, Mike. 

Here's the lovely atrypid Atrypa reticularis, one of the most successful brachiopod species, genera and lineages of all time. I've got them from the Silurian from several locations and age and here they are again. We'll see lots of their relatives in my Devonian threads, but they're extinct by the end of the period. (bar a couple of dubious ghost lineages.) These are often labelled as Pseudoatrypa devoniana, but this is incorrect. P. devoniana doesn't occur this early and is a different shape as will be seen. 

Atrypa.thumb.jpg.b0c06fa76853b4743ac1da484ec2b730.jpg

Atrypa1.thumb.jpg.994c80cd66ac604e73df9dff22ddae06.jpg

Atrypa2.jpg.aa119c00103ab88fff9caa926bc8c809.jpg

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Atrypa4.thumb.jpg.f8461e841ad58f760d8a43ed3afebcf9.jpg

Atrypa5.jpg.71f162b71c84aef4b811feb0a61fae28.jpg

Atrypa6.jpg.ae306b41fe3c2f60c62bb8e9c679bee8.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A. reticularis is one of my favorites, it's amazing just how widespread both geographically and in geologic time they were.

I don't even remember that other brachiopod, it's a pretty one, I'll have to get back to you about it soon.

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I used to just assume that those brachiopods we're Meristella sp. but looking through some PDFs and the field guide Gypidula certainly seems to have a closer internal morphology to this.

 

I think I have another one of those specimens preserved in a very similar way, I'll have to change the label on it. I might have mislabeled multiple as Meristella, I'll need to check.

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There are a few genera of rhynchonellid present in the Kalkberg Formation, but the most numerous and the only one that fits the roundness and ribbing of my specimens is Uncinulus. 

The vast majority of my Ordovician and Silurian rhynchonellids belong to the superfamily Rhynchotrmatoidea, but, starting in the Middle Silurian, the superfamily Uncinuloidea begin to become quite common and become very important by the Early Devonian. 

There are a couple problems with the Uncinulus specimens in the Kalkberg. 

Firstly, it seems that the vast majority of brachiopods found in this formation seem to be only single valves and that includes the rhynchonellids which is quite unusual as rhynchonellid tooth and socket structures usually hold the valves tightly together even after death, so both valves are usually fossilized conjoined. But not here. They are single valves, or sometimes perhaps complete specimens that have been somehow sliced in half. This makes identification much harder. 

Secondly, there are several species of Uncinulus present and without very better preservation of both valves, they are very difficult to tell apart especially when factoring in a great deal of intraspecific variation. 

Some of the following are likely U, pyramidatus based on the broad ribbing, number of costae and general shape, but I'm far from certain. 

 Uncinulus.thumb.jpg.88514e4c22e885a38756c9a02dce8a17.jpg

Uncinulus1.jpg.d92f6957125839443daf17836fdf7667.jpg

Uncinulus2.jpg.2787b976c16d2ac96a8d5ee0390f05da.jpg

Uncinulus3.jpg.73bf562143cee897ec442408a0e389f8.jpg

Uncinulus4.jpg.35cde0a512d72b5c642c73720c54f9e2.jpg

Uncinulus5.jpg.64f2ffc16545322ad0999bbc9c318d96.jpg

Uncinulus6.jpg.6771858ce533ef094fe2f1e7cda1a76d.jpg

Uncinulus7.jpg.c615a4e7e7f9626efbf2eb99edb2e3e8.jpg

Uncinulus8.jpg.791832bf3e3159442d1264d548faf337.jpg

Other specimens 

Uncinulus9.jpg.475b881da8efed49046e2fa50f64d200.jpg

Uncinulus10.jpg.aeb01f62a8b06ce5bbe3cf8a9cfba21c.jpg

Uncinulus11.jpg.0534ef6b7b261a7b06e6aae2e8a16ddb.jpg

Uncinulus12.jpg.0021870702152e8d1ee18e75f381a093.jpg

Uncinulus13.jpg.93f7e4f21bacad7c72c1d73bdb0fbaee.jpg

Uncinulus13a.jpg.fba1f60f60a4b3c38ca6f79a45c3e792.jpg

Uncinulus13b.jpg.3bd2d3d179714a3b09e1f6644c14ecdd.jpg

Uncinulus14.jpg.1b233d51f6a6121261737f0a74009394.jpg

Uncinulus15.jpg.b39e67212e1245441890faa1962dfcbb.jpg

Uncinulus16.jpg.0be752370770b22b85fda2a7abefa420.jpg

Uncinulus17.jpg.8df35ee32b309229f6c45c29eb1ed5b7.jpg

Uncinulus18.jpg.43b26ae44e9fd9176770b38e92b5574a.jpg

Uncinulus19.jpg.cb8df582888485463a92651650e4744e.jpg

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Uncinulus21.jpg.1a012693d2842999a30348057174b1e7.jpg

Uncinulus22.jpg.f93e284f9788e4619740b252b86e992e.jpg

 

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The Athyridida are also well represented in the Kalkberg, mine seem to be the successful genus Meristella. 

What's interesting is that it looks rather like a terebratulid, which also occur in the formation. The first appearance of terebratulids was once proposed as being an indicator of the start of the Devonian, but it now appears likely that the group have a Middle Silurian origin, quite probably from an athyrid ancestor and are already quite diverse and fairly common fossils by the Lochkovian at the start of the Devonian. 

Anyway, as with Uncinulus, several species of Meristella occur in the Kalkberg Formation. I believe mine to be most likely M. laevis. 

Meristella.thumb.jpg.d7b0366fbd72b0087626153e004a5a7e.jpg

Meristella1.thumb.jpg.c97a8f6bb93811e126ef55d4fadfc5e0.jpg

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Meristella3.thumb.jpg.22218441ac37c35ed76b685c4f9a90f8.jpg

Meristella4.thumb.jpg.ab6b2d1bc8572ce3e6b5aa1dad376d17.jpg

Meristella5.thumb.jpg.58adbd3b9935939aadde36e42a66af87.jpg

Meristella6.thumb.jpg.052747c8914ffe78c10756bae79ed91a.jpg

Meristella7.jpg.f2f734c0a4691e249944f7aaa87c57fb.jpg

Meristella8.thumb.jpg.13894dc091c7f278733c166bcce50910.jpg

Meristella9.jpg.ea2a1393d861dd5cdd47d1a86753b6d8.jpg

Meristella10.jpg.7aa6517ea420e1b8fccde2d0dc038063.jpg

Meristella11.jpg.49e95d7e4cc214eeb5ea730173798377.jpg

 

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Spiriferids become increasingly successful as the Devonian continues and several species are found in the Kalkberg Formation. 

Here's a couple where I think at least the one on the right might be Costellispirfer concinnus, but I am, as is often the case with these Kalkberg fossils, far from certain. 

Costellispirifer would seem to be synonymous with the genus Concinnispirifer, but I and the Treatize prefer the former as Boucot created the genus Costellispirifer in 1973 and separated Concinnispirifer to describe a form limited to the Helderberg Group in 1975. 

Costellispirif.thumb.jpg.a1b8af02b5e1258d7b17f06259c96a75.jpg

Costellispirif1.thumb.jpg.8cf585a9b11036975751e596e75f3951.jpg

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Costellispirif6.jpg.9c6d29d55654d7bc14432aa4d401d85d.jpg

 

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This would appear to be a fragment of bivalve. I don't think there's enough of it left to say which genus.

Bivalve.jpg.3b782ef51c5a37b7057cf087bff0a451.jpg

Bivalve1.jpg.7e63eeb319b8cf73beb809d3a94f6cd7.jpg

Thanks again to @Misha for this and most of the above specimens from the Kalkberg Formation. :fistbump:

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This next batch of fossils are also from the Lochkovian stage of the Early Devonian of New York and come via an Auction to Support the Forum win I had a while back. So thanks again to Gus, @Scylla for these, though this was only a very small part of the total package. :)

These are said to come from the Catskills and may include specimens from the Becraft Mountain and from Howe Caverns. I'm not quite sure which formations, but they would all seem to be Helderberg Group. Those of you who know this area well might be able to recognize specimens from experience so I really welcome any comments. 

Until then, I am guessing. :BigSmile:

This first one is preserved in what appears to be a very dark limestone, there are conchoidal fractures on the back, so it would seem to be rather hard but brittle. It's much darker and different to the matrix of my limited number of specimens from the Kalkberg Formation. Does the Becraft Formation look like this? 

Anyway, this first specimen would seem to be the orthid (  Yay.gif.c5e097eabbc169e9929f64119bd602ce.gif ) Schizophoria multistriata. It shows details of some internal features s well as the multiple, ultra-fine striae that give the species its name. 

Schizophori.thumb.jpg.4802f5db747d6c5ee665f6a86ee3c4b0.jpgSchizophori1.thumb.jpg.abb307451f0af1e69d32a7478791d426.jpg

Schizophori1.thumb.jpg.abb307451f0af1e69d32a7478791d426.jpg

Schizophori2.jpg.d40b081800ba28aefa88d024ae3b121e.jpg

Notice also the punctate shell structure which is typical of the suborder Dalmanellidina, which are now the dominant group of orthids, the more primitive impunctate suborder Orthidina that were so important in the Cambrian and Ordovician becoming extinct at the end of the Early Devonian.   Crying.gif.aebafb4adb622b5ed8064b32a2122ca0.gif

Schizophori4.jpg.928d508646daa3f91100b78d99b5cc7e.jpg

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This one is too broad and flat to be Uncinulus. 

I think this is Machaeraria formosa. 1.7 cm wide. 

Interesting calcite band running through the matrix as well. 

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Gypidula was pretty much the last great success story for the pentamerids. Others of the order do occur in the Lower Devonian, but before long it was about the only genus left in North America and the Pentamerida as a whole became extinct during the Frasnian extinction event in the Late Devonian. 

Gypidula galeata is a very interesting species as it shows an extraordinary degree of intraspecific variation, even compared to many other brachiopods which are often very variable within a single species. G. galeata may be almost smooth to highly ribbed or with ribs jut at the anterior or in the fold and sulcus. The fold and sulcus are sometimes deep, sometimes shallow and occasionally barely noticeable. This is partly due to age/ size but other times seemingly not. 

I posted what I think is a G. galeata near the beginning of the thread, a worn or smoother specimen from the Kalkberg. 

This partial valve is a similar size but noticeably very ridged. But the shape and profile scream pentamerid to me, rather than another rhynchonellid. Grateful for any thoughts, as always. 

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Looks like I missed a lot of good content here over the last few days. 
 

Nice specimens and very informative. Especially to a Devonian layman like me. :) 

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Here's a bunch of the athyrid Meristella from the Catskills. 

If these are from the Becraft Formation, and I'm not at all sure that they are, then that could be M. laevis again, but they go down as Meristella sp. for now. 

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Very nice growth lines but no striae.

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The second specimen

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And the third one

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With a bit of bryozoan

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These Catskill fossils are really cool! I haven't had much opportunity to do so, but I think I'll have to do some research into this formation as I've only really explored the Kalkberg so far.

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On 8/2/2022 at 5:17 AM, Misha said:

These Catskill fossils are really cool! I haven't had much opportunity to do so, but I think I'll have to do some research into this formation as I've only really explored the Kalkberg so far.

Apparently, the Catskills' Quarry (Colorado Quarry?) on Becraft Mountain has pretty much all of the Helderberg Group exposed, including the Kalkberg, so some of the current batch of specimens that I'm posting may actually be from the Kalkberg Formation. As many of the species are found in several formations it's hard to be sure. 

Talking, as we were elsewhere, about Megakozlowskiella .....................

 

Here are some Catskills spiriferids

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The one on the left is Megakozlowskiella perlamellosa. Here are some better pics

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Stunning interarea. 

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