Pennsylvanian Winterset Gastropod

[Kehbe]

Just a nice little gastropod. I like the algae thats growing on the matrix! Here it is from a couple different angles! I have been wrong on almost every gastropod ID I've ever attempted so I am leery to venture a guess. Gastropod is all ya get!

pic1 pic2

pic3

Found in the Winterset limestone, Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri.

(edit) possibly Meekospira ?

from http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Extension/fossils/gastropod.html

for comparison

This Pennsylvanian gastropod, which probably belongs to the genus Meekospira, has a shell with a very high spire. It was collected from the Leavenworth Limestone Member of the Oread Limestone in Douglas County.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Kehbe

[Wrangellian]

Cute, KB.. are we looking at the outer surface or just a steinkern? ID might be well nigh impossible if the latter.. in my experience. How many snails do you find as compared with other things?

[dragonsfly]

Nice Duo Micro KB!

[Kehbe]

Cute, KB.. are we looking at the outer surface or just a steinkern? ID might be well nigh impossible if the latter.. in my experience. How many snails do you find as compared with other things?

Wrang, I seem to find more trilobites than I do snails, thats why I get excited even over a small little guy like this! Maybe it is where I am looking because I am told there are areas close to home here that you can pick up as many gastropods as you can carry. Missourian talks about a hillside north of here with lots of gastros. I'll have to look back and find the post he mentioned it in. This little one has what appears to be part of the original outer layer of shell remaining that you can see in all three pictures but you see it best in pic2. You can actually see faint 'transverse stria'? lines on this portion. You can see this outer layer material down in the sutures and especially on the largest whorl but the exposed parts don't appear to be matrix either, the entire thing still looks and feels like shell. So I think it is not a steinkern! Here is a pic of another snail I found recently that sits beside a bivalve and brachiopod!

Nice Duo Micro KB!

Thanks Dragnsfly! I love micro/macros and I really like them when they have examples of several different types of fossils!

I printed up some small cards for my grandkids so they could organize their micro/macro fossils as they find them. When we get home, we research what we have found and after ID'ing them and gently cleaning our fossils up and knowing what we have found, we glue them to the card in the proper location. I know, I know, glueing fossils to a card probably makes some of you cringe but hey, we only glue the most common fossils to these cards. I actually made a template with no fossil names on it so that we can make different ones if we find something other than what is on this card.

[Bullsnake]

Well done my friend!

[Indiana]

Nice one Kehbe!

[Wrangellian]

That multiple is nice for sure. Any ID on that one yet?

[Missourian]

Here is a pic of another snail I found recently that sits beside a bivalve and brachiopod!

That is a really nice Naticopsis. The entire shell is present. Most Winterset oolite mollusks are internal molds like your first gastro here.

It looks like you hit one of the mollusk pockets. If you keep looking, you may pull out many different types of gastropods and pelecypods, and a few types of cephalopod. There are at least a few dozen genera in there.

Off the top of my head....

Gastropods - Naticopsis, Strobeus, Euconospira, Trachydomia, Paleostylus, Soleniscus, Shansiella, and more that I can't remember at the moment.

Pelecypods - Monopteria, Aviculopecten, Fasciculoconcha, Pteronites, Wilkingia, Schizodus, Parallelodon, Promytilus, and many more.

Cephalopods - Metacoceras, Liroceras, Ephippioceras, Titanoceras, Stenodomatoceras, Solenochilus, orthocones, Schistoceras, Subkargalites, Gonioloboceras, and a few more. Edited March 22, 2013 by Missourian

[Auspex]

"Mollusk Pockets" sounds like a brand of microwavable appetizers (or unappetizers, as the case may be).

[Kehbe]

Thanks for the ID on that Missourian! 'Naticopsis' I like the sound of that I found another one very similar but I haven't taken pics of it yet, it's not in quite as good of shape as this one! I like 'mollusk pockets' Been on a 'mollusk roll' here lately!

Oh and I wanted to post this pic of one of my Missouri Micros cards that I'm working on,

I wish I had a sweet and complete little trilobite for the arthropod slot! I'll have to settle for a pygidium! What are the chances of finding a macro crab? The beauty of these little cards is, all of the grandkids cards are a little different and no two are the same. As we find various classes, families and genus specimens of brachs, bryos, gastros and the different pieces of crinoids, (spines, plates, stems and calyx) each card takes on a character of its own! They all want to find a trilobite for thier own card but no luck yet! They all may graduate high school before they find it! Hey I was forty nine years old before I found my first trilo! Thanks for all the comments guys!

(edit) Maybe I should have called these 'Macro's' eh?

Edited March 28, 2012 by Kehbe

[Herb]

Nice cards, you might try sticking them on with that tacky gum like material that teachers use to stick pictures on the wall or a small piece of double sided tape.

Technically, they are not micro fossils, that term is usually reserved for fossils that require a microscope to id. (ie..conodonts,scolecodonts,ostracods, foraminifera,pollen etc). Fir lack of a better name I call them micro megas for what it's worth. The idea for the display is cool.

[Wrangellian]

Good idea KB, reminds me of those sticker books we bought as kids... there was always that one sticker that you could never find and could deplete your bank account to get, so you had to break down and mail away for it.

Aside from the micro/macro thing, if you really want to be technically correct, the Pennsylvanian should be referred to as a Period, or maybe Sub-period or even Epoch, but an Age is a subdivision of an epoch, eg. Moscovian or Desmoinesian age. But I guess everyone understands the general meaning of 'age' so it's all good..

Edited April 2, 2012 by Wrangellian

[Herb]

Kehbe. I can send you a small " .5in" crab carapace from the Certaceous if you would like one, and some small shark teeth (I have lots of teeth, how many do you want). Just let me know.

[Kehbe]

Wow Herb, thanks for the offer! I have no crab in my collection! It would be a welcome addition! If there is anything from the pennsylvanian of Missouri you would be interested in, let me know what it is and I would be more than willing to send what I might have. My collection is not extensive but let me know. Thanks again and I will PM you with my address!

[Kehbe]

Okay, preliminary results are in and they look pretty good! I tried affixing the fossils to the card with rubber cement. As long as you are not carrying the card around in your pocket, they seem to stick pretty good and when you do want to remove them, the cement rubs right off leaving no trace on the fossil! Bear in mind, this is after only one week. I don't know what the long term results may be but I'm hoping this proves to be a viable solution.