Need your help to id this Kansas fossil

[lesliejoycarter]

Location: Cherokee County, Kansas, at the edge of Shoal creek. Found this in most most extreme southeast corner of the state.

 

 

[Novak]

Nice find! 

[westcoast]

What you have here is a very nice portion of a fenestellid bryozoan. Others more familiar with your location may be able to say a bit more. 

[lesliejoycarter]

1 minute ago, westcoast said:

What you have here is a very nice portion of a fenestellid bryozoan. Others more familiar with your location may be able to say a bit more. 

 

Can you tell me a bit more about what a fenestellid bryozoan is? Is this a plant or animal? Forgive my ignorance

[westcoast]

Bryozoans are tiny aquatic animals that live in colonies. They build complex structures such as the one you found, to live in. The oldest ones date back to 500 million years ago and there are plenty alive today. I'm not familiar with your location so can't say how old your one is, but somebody will shortly.

[lesliejoycarter]

1 hour ago, westcoast said:

Bryozoans are tiny aquatic animals that live in colonies. They build complex structures such as the one you found, to live in. The oldest ones date back to 500 million years ago and there are plenty alive today. I'm not familiar with your location so can't say how old your one is, but somebody will shortly.

Wow, thank you

[doushantuo]

what you have is an aquatic invertebrate,so an animal without backbone. living in water,and probably PALEOZOIC,so pretty old

In principle ,they live in all seas and lakes,and at various depths

Fenestella:(LATIN!!) tiny window,because of the window-like spaces between branches,hence "fenestellid".

It is ramose(branching) erect ,foliose(mor or less shaped like a leaf)  and unilamellar(one layer of branches)

It is a colonial animal: so the shape you are seeing is the result of the coordinated action of multiple animals

The animals didn't live in those "windows",but in the branches themselves

Below: how a single animal might have looked**, and how it stuck out its tentacles using some muscles(in purplish pink)

**based on how recent zooids look

Edited May 11, 2023 by doushantuo

[Tidgy's Dad]

Although fenestellids appear in the Ordovician they are rare as fossils until the Middle Silurian, becoming more common through the Devonian and reaching a peak of species and numbers in the Carboniferous before declining in the Permian and the few possible survivors becoming extinct in the early Late Triassic. 

 

The most likely for your location would be Pennsylnanian, the latter subperiod of the Carboniferous so about 323 to 299 milliom years old. 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Tidgy's Dad

[doushantuo]

Adam,in that particlar post your spelling is even worse than mine,which is no mean feat!

edit: the misspelling here is a fine example

Edited May 11, 2023 by doushantuo

[Tidgy's Dad]

10 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

Adam,in that particlar post your spelling is even worse than mine,which is no mean feat!

Yes, I'm a touch typist and have just obtained a new lapdancer laptop which has a QWERTY keyboard. 

I've been using a French AZERTY keyboard for nearly 20 years so I keep making errors, particularly with 'a' and 'm; 

I normally notice the 'a' being typed as a 'q', but my fading eyesight often doesn't notice 'n's being typed as 'm's. 

I shall try to pay more attention, 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Tidgy's Dad

[doushantuo]

I type with my nostrils,Btw bud so fap noone has notixed.

I have a FWLJDH&*^% keyboard,which is Armenian

Edited May 11, 2023 by doushantuo

[Tidgy's Dad]

Just now, doushantuo said:

I type with my nostrils,Btw bud so fap noone has notixed.

I would notice 'fap'. 

[doushantuo]

BTW: LeslieJO , that is a pretty nice find!!!!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Indeed, it would certainly warrant a place in my collection. 

[lesliejoycarter]

4 hours ago, doushantuo said:

what you have is an aquatic invertebrate,so an animal without backbone. living in water,and probably PALEOZOIC,so pretty old

In principle ,they live in all seas and lakes,and at various depths

Fenestella:(LATIN!!) tiny window,because of the window-like spaces between branches,hence "fenestellid".

It is ramose(branching) erect ,foliose(mor or less shaped like a leaf)  and unilamellar(one layer of branches)

It is a colonial animal: so the shape you are seeing is the result of the coordinated action of multiple animals

The animals didn't live in those "windows",but in the branches themselves

Below: how a single animal might have looked**, and how it stuck out its tentacles using some muscles(in purplish pink)

**based on how recent zooids look

Oh wow, thank you!

[doushantuo]

lo and behold(fig4 in this pdf,):

3,5mb

Palaeocorynid-type structures in fenestellid Bryozoa from the Carboniferous of Oaxaca, Mexico
Sergio González-Mora1, Patrick N. Wyse Jackson, Adrian J. Bancroft and Francisco Sour-Tovar

recommended

1951956850_Gonzalez-Moraetal2020BryozoanStudies2019(1).pdf

[lesliejoycarter]

Would anyone be able to provide more context about the significance of the location I found the fossil? Also, any guess about what kind of rock the fossil is in?

[Kane]

I would hazard to guess it is in limestone. One way to confirm this is to apply just a tiny bit of vinegar (nowhere near the fossil!), and if it fizzes, then it suggests the presence of calcium carbonate (which reacts with vinegar). 

[Fossildude19]

Geologic map of Kansas: