Birthday fossil hunt in central NY

[Misha]

Hello everyone,

This weekend on Sunday my family and I made a short trip out to Central NY to do some fossil hunting. I was planning on doing this on my actual birthday which was on Monday but due to the weather we decided to do it earlier. As a result the trip ended up being more spontaneous, shorter than expected but still very enjoyable.

The first stop was DSR, this was my second time at the quarry and although I didn't get as diverse of a selection of fossils this time (probably just being more picky), I got some nice specimens of a few new species as well as ones I already had.

Here are some highlights:

It was a great day for Spinocyrtia granulosa, lots of specimens, a number of complete ones.

I especially like two of these

This one is complete with very nice preservation and it's quite large.

This one is the largest specimen I've seen. It's only one valve but in width from the wing tip to the end it measures right around 7cm, had it also had the other wing tip it would probably reach around 8cm.

It also has some kind of borings around the commissure, I assume these occured after the animal died and the shell disarticulated, although I am not sure what kind of organism this comes from. I really love specimens like this as they tell such an interesting story of this long gone environment.

Found a few nice Athyris spiriferoides, I really love these brachiopods and was excited about that. They were quite common this time but for some reason last trip I didn't collect a single one.

A pretty nice, complete Mediospirifer auduculus 

This specimen I was very excited to find, I am not 100% sure but I think it might be Eoschuchertella arctostriata? Very beautiful in my opinion 

this is only an impression but I don't have any other specimens so I thought it was worth keeping. I believe this is Hyolithes striatus?

Found a number of nice bivalves

This slab has an Athyris and two bivalves, Pholadella radiata I believe 

Doesn't show up to well in the photo but this was a pretty nice Retispira leda I found

I think this is Pleurodictyum americanum? Corals seem to be pretty uncommon here, and I don't have any Pleurodictyum in my collection so I was excited about this one.

 

This last specimen for today left me confused, I found it exposed on the surface in pretty much the same condition it's in now. What confuses me is that the form of preservation looks very much like that seen in many lingulids, shiny black shell material. And the growth patterns also could fit that, but I've never seen any of this size or shape from DSR, so I was wondering if maybe it's some kind of bivalve, I'm really not sure with this one.

I'll likely split this off into a different ID post with some other stuff later.

 

I'm still sorting through and photographing the finds so I'll definitely update this topic more.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Misha

[Manticocerasman]

Nice haul, and Happy B-day 

[Lone Hunter]

Some great finds as well as great pictures, and Happy birthday! 

[Fin Lover]

Happy belated birthday!  What a great way to celebrate!

 

[Ludwigia]

Happy birthday!

[Fossildude19]

Great report and finds, Misha!  (Happy Birthday, as well!)

Looks like you did pretty well.

 

Not sure about that last one, but the rest of your ID's are solid.

Possibly Lingula spatulata ?

 

 

Maybe @Jeffrey P  could weigh in.

 

[FossilNerd]

Happy birthday, Misha! Not a bad way to celebrate. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[connorp]

Happy birthday!

The last one looks like a linguliid to me.

[Stingray]

Nice haul happy birthday 

[Misha]

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!

Here are some more specimens I just photographed:

A section of Spyroceras, nice preservation not sure how complete it is under the matrix

A number of bivalves:

Some trilo bits, I didn't focus on finding these but these bits were neat

This tiny spiriferid is interesting, I haven't Identified it yet.

Some other small miscellaneous fossils, the Tropidoleptus in the front was a nice surprise, it was the first of this genus I've found myself 

Some of the better Chonetids specimens from the day

This piece I was confused about in the field so I decided to take it to get a closer look. Probably just an impression of a large Strophomenid?

This bryozoan was a small but pretty one, I don't have too many different bryozoa from DSR

I think that may be it for the more interesting DSR finds. Some Skaneateles Fm. fossils are coming up next

[fifbrindacier]

Happy birthday man, you offered yourself a great gift.

[Jeffrey P]

Happy Birthday Misha,

Looks like you had a very productive time collecting at DSR. Some corrections on your IDs- the Retispira you found is actually a bivalve- Pholadella radiata- which is rarer than Retispira. Pleurodictyum I thought was rare at DSR having only seen one ever that somebody else found. But then I found one in July and now you found one, so maybe not so rare. The brachiopod in the picture below it I believe is the Athyrid, Meristella. Not sure which species, but the very first one I've ever seen from DSR. Big congrats on that- having expanded the list of brachiopods found at this prolific site. Also, that could be Orbiculoidea inside the shell, since that Lingulid brach is most often seen attached to other brachs shells. I agree about the big partial Strophomenid you found. Not sure what genus or species but I have very large Mesoleptostrophia textilis from there so it could be that. Lastly, the small spirifer you found, resembles Cyrtina hamiltonensis which I'm guessing it is and these have been found at DSR. All in all, a very good day! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[Misha]

Here's a few CHR fossils to finish off this post. It isn't everything I found, but a few things I liked.

There was a few of these hash plates around the site, most were large and due to the toughness of this rock I was unable to collect or break them down. It has a number of Rhynchonellid brachiopods as well as a rather large Paleozygopluera which is difficult to make out in this picture but you may able to see it on the right of the piece 

Found a number of these bivalves, I believe they are all Actinodesma erectum, of varying sizes and preservation quality. I quite like these bivalves and think they are very interesting.

These two I was going to place together with the previous bivalves but now that I look at them their shape and angle of the hinge seems different, maybe something like Actinopteria or Leiopteria?

Goniophora sp.?

Cypricardella sp. is my best guess for this one, I found a few of these but this is the largest and best preserved.

Paleoneilo sp.? This is the largest specimen I've seen if that's the correct genus

Prothyris lanceolata? The field guide I'm looking at only seems to mention these coming from the Moscow Fm. but I cannot find anything else similar to this specimen

This piece I really like, I believe it is Cimitaria recurva, very beautiful bivalve and I believe this is the first one I've found

Pseudoaviculopecten sp. Lovely tiny shell, not sure what species it belongs to 

This one I am not too sure about, very large, strongly inflated partially pyritized bivalve, unusual triangular shape. My best guess is maybe Glosselettia triqueter? Nothing else I've seen really matches this shape.

One of the best Bembexia specimens I found, I love how you can see both sides of the shell with the way it is located in this thin piece of matrix 

Spyroceras partial

And a number of Dipleura bits, didn't really come here looking for trilos but these were all over the place and I picked up a few.

 

Also I'll add this, this didn't come from CHR or DSR, I actually just stumbled upon this on the ground while travelling to the locations at a quick stop near the town of Walton. I have no idea what formation it may have come from but was neat to come across. It's a Strophomenid brachiopod with a few other partials on a piece of fairly soft dark colored matrix.

 

[Misha]

On 8/24/2022 at 8:36 PM, Jeffrey P said:

the Retispira you found is actually a bivalve- Pholadella radiata- which is rarer than Retispira.

Thank you for the help with the IDs! I may have messed up the post but I found both a slab with two Pholadella radiata as well as a smaller piece of matrix with a flattened Retispira leda on it.

 

Here's the Retispira:

[Tidgy's Dad]

I somehow missed this thread.

Some brilliant finds, Misha, beautiful brachiopods. 

And a very, very belated