elolinon Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 (edited) Hi everyone! When I was a kid I found these two fossils on the island where I live, Gotland, Sweden. Since then I have always wondered what they are and about how old they are but never had anyone to ask. I hope someone can help me I believe they are some sort of trilobite? Super thankful for help! Their size is about 13 mm (the bigger one) and 7 mm (the smaller one). Edited July 22, 2014 by elolinon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattalic Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Those are awesome looking! Initially I was like "Yea, they look like some sort of trilobite" but then I noticed the area along the top-left (in the image) of the large piece. I will let the heavies chime in as I am merely an amateur. But the black color on gray rock - and how striking it is - is fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brewcuse Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Super cool looking, I agree, almost like small pieces of art. I won't pretend to know what it is, but now I'm intrigued! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 You are correct, they are trilobite "tails" (pygidia). They are some sort of an encrinurid trilobite, but I don't know the Gotland fauna well enough to offer a more precise suggestion about the genus without consulting some references. Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elolinon Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 I think they are really beautiful too! I wonder what made the black colour. We have lots of fossils in Gotland but I have never seen any ones with black patterns on white apart from these. I hope I can find a complete one some day as these seem to be missing some parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elolinon Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Wow, thanks FossilDAWG! My boyfriend told me there is a book about local Gotland fossils at the local museum, so I will check out that too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 As Don mentioned, the pygidia are encrinurid, but a species determination is difficult as the key features are worn away. There are a couple of genera and the overall features best match the genus Encrinurus. To help you find others, here is an excellent paper on the Gotland Encrinuridae: Ramsköld, L. (1986) Silurian encrinurid trilobites from Gotland and Dalarna, Sweden. Palaeontology, 29(3):527-575 OPEN ACCESS PDF Additional papers on Gotland trilobites: Ramsköld, L. (1984) Silurian Odontopleurid Trilobites from Gotland. Palaeontology, 27(2):239-264 OPEN ACCESS PDF Ramsköld, L. (1983) Silurian Cheirurid Trilobites from Gotland. Palaeontology, 26(1):175-210 OPEN ACCESS PDF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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