Fossils With Visible Internal Structures

[Ludwigia]

Lately we had a post where a crystallized brachiopod brachidium was shown: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/49242-quartz-fossil/

Sometimes internal parts of fossils are preserved in this way, and sometimes even the soft parts are retained. These are often relatively rare occurrences, although the find I'm about to show is actually pretty common. It's not uncommon for the phragmocones of ammonites to crystallize out and I've just finished preparing a Ludwigia haugi with a diameter of 14cm. from the Wutach Valley in Germany which is quite interesting. So I thought I'd start with this one and ask you who may have such finds in your collections to show us what you've got.

[Plantguy]

Very nice example Roger--thanks for the thread!

I know I have some somewhere and will look around. I know I have one of those common sectioned Madagascar ammos but somewhere I'm thinking I have something else probably a couple that I actually found...Its a terrible thing when the memory goes.... more as I run into it. Regards, Chris

[TqB]

Hi Roger,

Lovely namesake ammonite .

Back to brachiopods: the brachidia are quite often preserved in my local (NE England) lower Carboniferous but would need serial sectioning to work out the structure.

Pattern of hatch marks, 30 mm across:

Rather ghost-like, 10mm across:

And I couldn't resist buying this one, sold as Eleutherokomma diluvianoides from the Upper Devonian of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland:

23mm across

Edited September 6, 2014 by TqB

[Ludwigia]

I would have bought that one too, Tarquin! Great specimen!

Edited September 6, 2014 by Ludwigia

[Ludwigia]

Chris, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for...

[Ludwigia]

Here are cross and longditudinal sections of a Megateuthis gigantea belemnite rostrum from the middle Bajocian. The cross section was done near the top and one can clearly see how the calcite has infilled the space left behind by the missing phragmocone and built crystals in the druse in the middle. Its apex was filled in completely as can be seen in the longditudinal one. The typical striations or "growth rings" are nicely visible.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Ludwigia

[RyanNREMTP]

Here is one of my favorite rudists. Eoradiolites robustus.

This is the only one I have where you can see all the way through.

[BobWill]

Awesome finds everyone. Here's one from the Pennsylvanian of Jack County Texas. It's another brachiopod, Calliprotomia renfrarum.

[Plantguy]

Chris, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for...

Hey Roger, if you could only see the mess in garage you'd know why there was some uncertainty on my part!! Not sure if this qualifies for your category but it was on the top of one of the piles in the garage. It's an as-is, unprepped, surface find that shows the internal columella of a Turbinella possibly T. streami gastropod from the Plio/Pleistocene Tamiami Formation, Sarasota County, Florida.

I know snail propulsion is a bit on the slow side but I suspect this had a larger motor than most so I wonder what its top speed was?? I'm not saying it would leave a wake on the surface when it was going forward but I bet it could move when it wanted to, but chasing clams stuck in the mud and boring into them for dinner probably wasnt that challenging and I guess didnt really require that much get up and go!!

Nice thread...looking forward to seeing more. Nice ones already folks!

Regards, Chris

[Ludwigia]

Awesome finds everyone. Here's one from the Pennsylvanian of Jack County Texas. It's another brachiopod, Calliprotomia renfrarum.

Now that is cool!

Not sure if this qualifies for your category but it was on the top of one of the piles in the garage.

That's exactly what I meant. Very nice. You can even see the turboprop. Good thing it was at the top of the pile or did you need your climbing gear to get at it?

[Ludwigia]

Here is one of my favorite rudists. Eoradiolites robustus.

This is the only one I have where you can see all the way through.

A crystal telescope!

I made some cross sections of a couple of Hippuridae rudists from the Gosau Formation in Salzburgerland a few years ago. I find the forms of the chambers fascinating.

Vaccinites sp.

Hippurites (Batolites) tirolicus

Edited September 7, 2014 by Ludwigia

[RyanNREMTP]

Now those are very nice. I like them.

[TqB]

I've never had the opportunity to collect rudists, fascinating things.

Here's a little (1 inch) nautilus from the Upper Permian reef limestone of County Durham.

Siphuncle and septa coated with dolomite or calcite crystals.

[Ludwigia]

That's a nice one, Tarquin! I also have something similar found in the lower Jurassic Arieten Schichten at Frick, Switzerland. I photographed it lying on a "chair", which is actually one of the chambers of the rather large Cenoceras sp. nautilus out of which it fell.

[tmaier]

Well, I hate having to present this because the photo is so horrible, but it is the only photo I have at the moment. I need to re-shoot my collection, now that we have a new millennium.

It's a rugose coral that nature has carved away to beautifully expose the internal architecture. Also, it is naturally setting on a piece of matrix with a death assemblage of crinoid segments. I never had to touch this fossil at all, nature did all the work.

[Ludwigia]

Thanks for posting that, tmaier. As I'm sure you already know, the internal structure of corals is not only fascinating to look at, but also an analysis of these structures is absolutely necessary for a proper identification. Here's a very informative thread on the subject with some beautiful pictures in the UK Forum which has been going on for 3 years now. Maybe you'll recognize at least one of the participants.

http://www.discussfossils.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3326&PN=43&title=carboniferous-corals

Edited September 8, 2014 by Ludwigia

[Plax]

Eutrephoceras dekayi, Peedee Formation, Maastrichtian, NC, USA

[BobWill]

Great thread. Nothing like the insight you get from looking inside, to incite a passion for fossils

[Ludwigia]

Eutrephoceras dekayi, Peedee Formation, Maastrichtian, NC, USA

Eutrephoceras dekayi, Peedee Formation, Maastrichtian, NC, USA

That's nice! Calcified xx septa and siphuncle. Oops, for some reason I got a double quote.

Great thread. Nothing like the insight you get from looking inside, to incite a passion for fossils

Glad you're enjoying it. Got anything more up your sleeve?

Here's another one. Frontal view of a septal wall of a large Lytoceras sp. ammonite from Évrécy, Normandy. The hole in the center by the keel is where the siphuncle ran through.

[John K]

I really, really like the lophophores - on my bucket list to find

here's a couple that I own:

a pretty little scaphites with it's internal structure replaced with yellow calcite

baculites showing sutures, just under the MOP exterior

a partial Placenticeras showing a couple whorls and sutures

Edited September 9, 2014 by John K

[TqB]

Here's a scrap of belemnite (Cylindroteuthis) that I picked up in a field near Peterborough (UK) decades ago, showing a perfect 3D protoconch at the end of the phragmocone.

Scale in mm., protoconch about 0.6mm.

Edited September 9, 2014 by TqB

[Auspex]

I'm really, really liking this thread: thanks to all!

[Ludwigia]

here's a couple that I own:

Wish I owned some things like that. I'd just love to get into the Pierre shale someday, you lucky guy!

[Ludwigia]

I'm really, really liking this thread: thanks to all!

Glad you like it! Got any birdie scraps for us?

Edited September 9, 2014 by Ludwigia

[Ludwigia]

Here's a scrap of belemnite (Cylindroteuthis) that I picked up in a field near Peterborough (UK) decades ago, showing a perfect 3D protoconch at the end of the phragmocone.

Scale in mm., protoconch about 0.6mm.

Now that is really something special!

You've already seen the following one in the UK forum, Tarquin, but I'll post it here as well since it fits the theme. An Acrocoelites sp.belemnite, perhaps A. inaequistriatus from the lower Toarcian bifrons zone at Belmont, France showing the tip of the orthorostrum poking out of the epirostrum, the end of which is missing.