Shark, Onychite, Belemnites And Other Micros From The Jurassic Kellaways Clay From The United Kingdom Part 3

[MarcoSr]

I want to thank Darren for sending me 1 kg of raw Jurassic Kellaways clay matrix from the Lower Oxford Clay of Peterborough, UK. This is the third time that I have searched Jurassic Kellaways clay matrix. I found several more different species this time.

I found 5 very small shark teeth, a good number of Onychites (Cephalopod arm hooks), several coprolites, several pieces of worm tubes, a good number of Belemnite pieces and an unknown micro specimen that needs id. I did not find many fish teeth or otoliths or fish vertebrae like in the last batch but did find Belemnite pieces for the first time

I used boiling water and then 3% H2O2 to break down the clay. This batch of clay did not have as many shell fragments and did not break down as easily as the last batch.

Any help in identifying the micros is appreciated. I have looked at multiple Underwood papers in trying to identify the shark teeth. I am not really familiar with the UK Jurassic shark species. If you move your cursor over each picture you will see a file name that will contain the species id as best that I can id it, or a name like “Unknown1” and the size in mm. You can reference these names if you have an id.

Each matrix that I search makes me more of an avid micro tooth collector. If anyone has or can collect good matrix with shark, ray, and fish micros please send me a PM. I am especially interested in obtaining Eocene, middle Lutetian matrix from the Miretrain quarry, Landes, southwestern France and Cretaceous, Albian matrix from Texas.

Shark Teeth:

Onychites (I found a good number of these although most were damaged as they are extremely fragile.):

Belemnites:

Coprolites:

Annelid worm tubes:

Unknown (Probably fish, any id help would be appreciated.):

Marco Sr.

[John Hamilton]

Great post as always Marco. Shark tooth 1 looks very interesting. Can you post additional photos of angles to include the root? Based on the photo my first guess at unknown 1 is a partial fish skull element.

[fossilized6s]

Good stuff! I especially like those Onychites!

[DE&i]

Thank you Marco Sr,

Youve set me another nice example of a very difficult i.d. situation.

I love a challenge.

Thinking cap on.

Regards,

Darren.

[MarcoSr]

Great post as always Marco. Shark tooth 1 looks very interesting. Can you post additional photos of angles to include the root? Based on the photo my first guess at unknown 1 is a partial fish skull element.

John

Thanks for the id help on unknown1. It definitely does look like fish and I don't normally see skull elements so I'm not that familiar with them.

I've looked through a good number of Charlie Underwood papers including several on Jurassic shark teeth of the UK. I didn't find anything that looked like a definite match for Shark Tooth1. The size of the tooth and depth of field issues made it hard to get good pictures of it, but see below. It was fragile so I didn't clean it and it could still have some clay on the root.

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Thank you Marco Sr,

Youve set me another nice example of a very difficult i.d. situation.

I love a challenge.

Thinking cap on.

Regards,

Darren.

Darren

Thank you again for the matrix. The package to you has been sent. Unkown1 is in the small baggie. Hopefully your museum can also help with an id. I believe that John's id as a fish skull element is correct. But what fish?

Marco Sr.

[MarcoSr]

Good stuff! I especially like those Onychites!

Charlie

The Onychites are really neat looking. I haven't been able to find much written on Onychites. I used a paper on Onychites from the Jurassic of Poland to id these UK specimens as Onychites.

Marco Sr.

[John Hamilton]

Marco,

After seeing the Onychites pictures in this post I went back and looked at some micro fossils i have from the St. Marys formation. I wanted to get your opinion on the item in the attached photos. I had originally identified it as a crustacean claw but now I'm not so sure.

Edited May 9, 2014 by John Hamilton

[MarcoSr]

Marco,

After seeing the Onychites pictures in this post I went back and looked at some micro fossils i have from the St. Marys formation. I wanted to get your opinion on the item in the attached photos. I had originally identified it as a crustacean claw but now I'm not so sure.

gallery_6248_1933_74330.jpggallery_6248_1933_165648.jpg

John

I've found similar specimens to yours in both the Choptank and St. Marys formations of VA. I believe that there are at least three possibilities: worm jaws, crustacean claws and onychites. I've been searching this matrix for vertebrate studies. The researchers aren't really interested in these types of specimens so I'm not sure if I'll ever know for sure. From looking at multiple PDFs and doing other on-line research these three can look very similar. Hopefully a TFF member with expertise with specimens like these will chime in.

Marco Sr.