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Maybe 6-7 years ago, I was at a local gem/mineral show.  There was really just one dealer with a variety of fossils.  it was a mix of what was left of a family collection that he had bought plus other stuff he picked up.  He had lowered the price on whatever hadn't sold at the previous show.  He had several Mazon Creek specimens - mostly small "ferns" in nodules plus a weird arthropod-looking thing.  I had hardly any Mazon Creek stuff other than what I think is a Paleoxyris so I asked him what he would take for the group.  It was super-cheap so I bought the pile.  

 

I thought it was cool that I got both halves as it makes it a more interesting display piece.  The nodule is about 2 1/2 inches (58mm) long  It was labelled simply as "Will County, IL cone" so I was left to assume it's a Mazon Creek piece just out of what it looks like.  is it a cone?  If so, what plant?.  If not, what is it?  I have an older reference for the plants of the deposit, "Guide to Pennsylvanian Fossil Plants of Illinois" by james R. Jennings but it's buried in a box somewhere and may be outdated.  I'll still try to dig that out just to see what it says.

 

I request the opinions of the "Mazon Creek regulars," the names I see pop up when the subject of the fauna and flora comes up, plus anyone else with an interest.  @RCFossils @Nimravis, @deutscheben, @connorp

 

Thanks,

 

Jess

mazon_cone.jpg

Edited by siteseer
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50 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

I am thinking it might be Lepidostrobus lancifolius, but wait for others who are better at identifying things than me. If it is this, it is a very rare cone.

 

I'm leaning in that direction. Definitely Lepidostrobus. Entire cones in profile position are rare, and this is one of the rarer of the rare ones. Nice catch!

Edited by Mark Kmiecik

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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5 hours ago, connorp said:

Could you post some closer ups of the individual bracts?

 

If you click on the photos, you'll see you can magnify.  If you need a closer shot, I can try doing that.

 

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8 hours ago, Nimravis said:

I am thinking it might be Lepidostrobus lancifolius, but wait for others who are better at identifying things than me. If it is this, it is a very rare cone.

 

@stats @Mark Kmiecik

 

Thanks, Ralph.

 

Jess

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7 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

 

I'm leaning in that direction. Definitely Lepidostrobus. Entire cones in profile position are rare, and this is one of the rarer of the rare ones. Nice catch!

 

Thanks.  I showed the arthropod to a friend.  He said it was a disarticulating shrimp.  I was hoping for "oddball insect" but I've been collecting fossils long enough to know that mystery fossils are usually something common.  At least I got lucky with the cone.

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