jforbes Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 (Edit: properly formatted below.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 I have just recently started fossil hunting my home state of Illinois after a few fossil trips I have done on vacation in Florida. After a trip to Mazon creek last year I decided to switch it up with some road cut hunting down in southern Illinois. There were an unbelievable amount of fossils in this road cut. I collected plenty and left plenty more. Here are a few of my favorites and just an overview of what seems to be the most abundant fossils in this formation. I was at the site for a little less than three hours. Of course, this site is littered with crinoids. Here are a couple longer crinoid stems as well as what I believe to be crinoid calyx. Archimedes screws were a little less common, but still a fairly easy find. The fossil I was hoping to find was a blastoid, and I managed to find a few. Here is an image of all the blastoids collected and an up-close of the biggest. Here are some Brachiopods. I don't know much about these so any info would be appreciated. I really like the small guys. Just some little pieces of bryozoan to show proof they were there. These dominated some matrix slabs on the road cut. Last I have what I believe is the back end of a trilobite. I have always wanted to find one of these guys so maybe this is just wishful thinking. Please let me know your thoughts on this! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas.Dodson Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 20 minutes ago, jforbes said: Last I have what I believe is the back end of a trilobite. I have always wanted to find one of these guys so maybe this is just wishful thinking. Please let me know your thoughts on this! You're correct, this is a trilobite pygidium. Any idea on the formation this was found in? I have a general guess of where you were collecting but verifying the formation (just the formation) will aid identification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Kaskia sp. is a fairly common trilobite in the Mississippian of Illinois. Brezinski, D.K. 2008. Phylogenetics, Systematics, Paleoecology, and Evolution of the Trilobite Genera Paladin and Kaskia from the United States. Journal of Paleontology, 82(3):511-527 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Welcome to the Forum. You found some very nice fossils! I especially like the crinoid calyx, that is an excellent find, but the blastoids are not shabby either. Actually, nothing is shabby! Three hours well spent I think. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, Thomas.Dodson said: You're correct, this is a trilobite pygidium. Any idea on the formation this was found in? I have a general guess of where you were collecting but verifying the formation (just the formation) will aid identification. Piranha seems to be on it! It is a Mississippian formation and is likely the road cut you have in mind. It is about as popular of a location as it gets for road cuts in southern Illinois. Edited January 29, 2023 by jforbes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 hour ago, piranha said: Kaskia sp. is a fairly common trilobite in the Mississippian of Illinois. Brezinski, D.K. 2008. Phylogenetics, Systematics, Paleoecology, and Evolution of the Trilobite Genera Paladin and Kaskia from the United States. Journal of Paleontology, 82(3):511-527 Wow thanks for the side by side. This is very cool to see. So this would essentially be the bottom third of a trilobites exoskeleton? Is it common for the fossils to break into these well defined segments of head, thorax, or pygidium? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 1 hour ago, FossilDAWG said: Welcome to the Forum. You found some very nice fossils! I especially like the crinoid calyx, that is an excellent find, but the blastoids are not shabby either. Actually, nothing is shabby! Three hours well spent I think. Don Thanks for the kind words Don, happy to be here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilNerd Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Nice finds and report! The crinoid calyx are especially nice, and your blastoids are from the genus Pentremites, which are well known from Illinois. Congrats on the successful hunt. The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. -Neil deGrasse Tyson Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Great finds! Especially the crinoid crown with arms and calyx, but the brachiopods and blastoids are cool too. Congratulations and thanks for posting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearLake Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Nice finds, it looks like fossils from a roadcut I visited last summer (hopefully the chiggars were all in hiding this time of year!). Here is a website that you may find helpful: http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KPS/poky/pages/pokych05.htm Look especially at the plates for the Chester Series. I know it is based in Kentucky, but its jus across the river and the same stratigraphy. Piranha (as he always does) has already nailed the trilobite for you, the blastoids are indeed Pentremites (you have at least a couple different species there), the crinoid calyx looks similar to one I called Delocrinus (but crinoid nomenclature is complex and I'm no expert) and I can pull out my box of them later and give you some names on the brachiopods, but I see Composita and Cleiothytridina sublamellosa in there as well as others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collector9658 Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 Great finds. That calyx is very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 On 1/30/2023 at 6:06 AM, FossilNerd said: Nice finds and report! The crinoid calyx are especially nice, and your blastoids are from the genus Pentremites, which are well known from Illinois. Congrats on the successful hunt. On 1/30/2023 at 2:11 PM, ClearLake said: Nice finds, it looks like fossils from a roadcut I visited last summer (hopefully the chiggars were all in hiding this time of year!). Here is a website that you may find helpful: http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KPS/poky/pages/pokych05.htm Look especially at the plates for the Chester Series. I know it is based in Kentucky, but its jus across the river and the same stratigraphy. Piranha (as he always does) has already nailed the trilobite for you, the blastoids are indeed Pentremites (you have at least a couple different species there), the crinoid calyx looks similar to one I called Delocrinus (but crinoid nomenclature is complex and I'm no expert) and I can pull out my box of them later and give you some names on the brachiopods, but I see Composita and Cleiothytridina sublamellosa in there as well as others. Thank you both for the kind words and helping with the IDs. Super helpful for a newbie like myself! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jforbes Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 On 1/30/2023 at 12:56 PM, Jeffrey P said: Great finds! Especially the crinoid crown with arms and calyx, but the brachiopods and blastoids are cool too. Congratulations and thanks for posting. On 1/31/2023 at 11:17 AM, Collector9658 said: Great finds. That calyx is very nice. Thank you both for the kind words. The calyx was definitely a welcome surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 On 1/29/2023 at 9:56 PM, jforbes said: Is it common for the fossils to break into these well defined segments of head, thorax, or pygidium? Yes it is. The majority of these types of finds are so-called molts, where the creature "shrugged off" and crept out of the old exoskeleton during the regular renewal process as do many arthropods up to the present time. The segments usually separated during the process and were often drifted away from each other by the currents. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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