Fossil Fragments From Hamilton Group Shale

[Mediospirifer]

I collected some Hamilton Group shale to search for microfossils (Middle Devonian), and some of the pieces I ended up with showed an odd structure after I washed the mud off:

The largest rock is 3 1/4" long.

Breaking up a large chunk of shale, I also found a very nice brachiopod. I haven't looked it up yet, but I thought I'd share it here. It's 1 1/4" long:

It's interesting what odd things I find when I grab random rocks for microfossiling!

[mikeymig]

The bottom picture looks like a grammysia bisculata clam. They get squished like this because like modern clams they "plow" through the sediment to feed.

Mikey

[Mediospirifer]

The bottom picture looks like a grammysia bisculata clam. They get squished like this because like modern clams they "plow" through the sediment to feed.

Mikey

Okay. I thought it was a brach because of the asymmetry. I'll look up Grammysia bisculata and make a tag for it.

[FossilDAWG]

That first bit (specimen on right) is interesting, The regular segmentation sure looks like an arthropod of some sort, but somehow not really trilobite-ish. The segments look too flat, curved, and large, for any Hamilton trilobite except perhaps Diplura thoracic segments, and in that case I'd expect to see obvious pores.

Don

[Mediospirifer]

That first bit (specimen on right) is interesting, The regular segmentation sure looks like an arthropod of some sort, but somehow not really trilobite-ish. The segments look too flat, curved, and large, for any Hamilton trilobite except perhaps Diplura thoracic segments, and in that case I'd expect to see obvious pores.

Don

The only Devonian arthropods I have any information on besides trilobites are eurypterids. While it does put me in mind of one of those, I would seriously be surprised to find one around here!