hitekmastr Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 WHY ARE THESE DEVONIAN MARINE SHAPED LIKE FERN LEAVES? These fossil marine creatures were found on our trip to our favorite Tully formation site in central New York and they look like Neuropteris leaves, although they have to be a marine creature because they are on a very large (18 inches long) rock covered with marine fossils. Will post more after I clean it up but wanted to get these online so someone can take a crack at identification. We were lucky this trip to find three of these small fossils with very delicate features, preserved in the rock, and this is one of them. There are three specimens on this rock, all close to each other. This is from Devonian shale found in an area in Central NY in the Tully formation, where there were quite a few trilobites (I'll post those in a separate thread). Any ideas what these Neuropteris-shaped creatures might be? FOSSIL 1A FOSSIL 2A-B-C FOSSIL 3A I'll post more pix after cleaning these. This is a large rock and may have more inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indy Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Fossil 3A ... Coral ? Flash from the Past (Show Us Your Fossils)MAPS Fossil Show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwilson Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 They look like cross and longitudinal sections of the bryozoan Atactotoechus or similar species. Karl A. Wilson (NY Paleontology): http://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~kwilson/home.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted August 11, 2013 Share Posted August 11, 2013 Bryozoans - trepostomes I think... Edit: Karl beat me to it Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 You had me convinced of Neuropteris before the idea of bryozoan came up. It looks a lot like mine from Jacksboro Texas. It was also found in marine deposits but in a nodule that I thought was a fern seed and about the same size. Fern seeds have been found in this site before. I guess they floated out and sank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitekmastr Posted August 12, 2013 Author Share Posted August 12, 2013 As an avid fern collector, I was struck by the resemblance to Neuropteris, yet I knew it couldn't be a fern because it was found on a very large rock in the middle Devonian. There are brachiopods, cephalopods, lots more on that rock which may yield more when I crack it open. All of these fossils are on the same rock, a short distance from each other. I saw one bryozoan online that looks very much like these, but it didn't have a name attached to it. I'm in the bryozoan camp because of where these were found and the other marine fossils on the rock - it's just that I haven't seen a bryozoan shaped like a Neuropteris leaf! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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