Tristichopterid, Hyneria Lindae Fish Fossils, Red Hill, Pa

[devonIanfish25]

This is my first attempt at a trip report so bear with me. In May 2014 my dad lead a trip for Delaware Valley PS to Red Hill. We identified some fossil bone sticking out of the face in the shallow channel margin. Excavation of the layer produced a 12 inch Hyneria Cleithrum along with many large scales. Also we identified the end of the lower jaw of possibly the same fish. Doug Rowe of the Field Museum determined the Academy would definitely want to keep it so it was left in place. He was able to expose about 7 inches the following week before reburying it. We returned in Aug. to try and finish extracting it. Excavation also produced a fragment of the palate with about a 2 inch vomerine fang and many pieces of a head plate which were reconstructed. We took out about 10 inches of the jaw bone with a portion remaining in the wall. The final trip was with NYPS in Sep. because the remaining jaw fragment was going to be difficult to cut around we brought our generator and a rotory hammer. The extraction of the remaining jaw fragments also exposed what appears to be the other half of the jaw. Total length of the jaw is about 15-16 inches making the fish about 8 feet long. The jaw material was sent to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences where prep work was performed by Fred Mullison. The jaws will remain in the Museums collections and add to the knowledge of Hyneria. fig 1. Cleithrum exterior. fig. 2 Cleithrum interior. fig. 3 Jaw bone in situ lateral side. fig. 4 Jaw bone prepped, lateral side. fig. 5 Jaw bone prepped, medial side. fig. 6 Palate with vomerine fang, upper rt corner. fig. 7 Head plate, interior. fig. 8 Head plate, exterior. fig. 9 Scale. fig. 10 2nd jaw bone.

[Fossildude19]

Very cool finds - thanks so much for taking the time to post this.

Excellent that you were able to discover and help with the recovery for the museum.

Kudos to you and your father for your efforts!

Regards,

[obsessed1]

Excellent discovery!! That is a place I have always wished to collect and now through your post and photos I feel as though I have experienced a little of what it can be like to collect there. Thank you!

[enoscrawler]

Wow very impressive finds the scale is my favorite

[izak_]

I'm assuming that is not an everyday find lol - does anyone remember Hyneria Cleithrum from Walking With Monsters?

[izak_]

I'm assuming that is not an everyday find lol - does anyone remember Hyneria Cleithrum from Walking With Monsters?

Sorry about not acknowledging how cool this find is

[Paul1719]

Hi, this is Ian's dad. For anyone who is not aware of Red Hill, it is an upper Devonian (Famenian, 365 mya) fluvial site with both shallow channel margins giving it it's distinctive red color and the floodplain pond facies (green mudstone layers). Basically, PA was a large floodplain draining the high mountains to the east into the inland sea that covered much of western PA and NY. Some of the earliest amphibians were found here in the 1990's by Ted Daeschler, Doug Rowe and Neil Shubin. Hyneria is a close relative. One you wouldn't want to go swimming with.

[Auspex]

You aced the report; it's excellent! Killer fossil, too.

What a great experience, for all involved, and now for us

[Paul1719]

One of the great things about Red Hill is the number of classes of fish that can be found. All of the specimens below were found by my 15 year old son Ian (DevonIan25). Nice to have the vision. I'm mostly there to swing a hammer.

Placoderm, Mostly plates but we only have one impression so far and possibly this jaw?

Phyllolepis, jaw?

Acanthodian, Most common are the spines but scapulas are not uncommon.

Gyrocanthus, scapula and articulated spine spine

Chondrichthians, Teeth are common but tiny. Sharks are in their early development.

Ageodus: teeth

Actinopterygians, Limnomis: articulated fish. These are not uncommon but not not well preserved.

.... skunked on this one

and of course Sarcopterygians, Tristichopterids (Hyneria) and Megalichthiids.

Megalichthyes Scales Sarcopterygian jaw

The most common things are teeth and scales but there is also plenty of bone preserved.

[Shamalama]

Wow, fantastic finds. You guys have had some good luck up there. Thanks for the pictures and reports!

[Fossildude19]

Wow!

Thanks for posting these great finds as well, Paul!

Beautiful specimens!

Your son sure does have the eye for it.

Regards,

[megafever]

nice finds

[Jeffrey P]

And some say Red Hill is no longer a great locality to collect at. Your amazing finds prove that's anything but the truth. Red Hill still produces some true wonders. Big congrats on finding them!!!

P.S.- The sacropterygian jaw specimen is by far my favorite!

[Plantguy]

Ian/Paul, Very interesting finds! Congrats! Neat to make contributions to the cause like this.

Thanks for sharing the photos and knowledge. Continued collecting success!

Regards, Chris

[siteseer]

Thanks for the report. Great find. I hope I get to visit that site sometime.

This is my first attempt at a trip report so bear with me. In May 2014 my dad lead a trip for Delaware Valley PS to Red Hill. We identified some fossil bone sticking out of the face in the shallow channel margin. Excavation of the layer produced a 12 inch Hyneria Cleithrum along with many large scales. Also we identified the end of the lower jaw of possibly the same fish. Doug Rowe of the Field Museum determined the Academy would definitely want to keep it so it was left in place. He was able to expose about 7 inches the following week before reburying it. We returned in Aug. to try and finish extracting it. Excavation also produced a fragment of the palate with about a 2 inch vomerine fang and many pieces of a head plate which were reconstructed. We took out about 10 inches of the jaw bone with a portion remaining in the wall. The final trip was with NYPS in Sep. because the remaining jaw fragment was going to be difficult to cut around we brought our generator and a rotory hammer. The extraction of the remaining jaw fragments also exposed what appears to be the other half of the jaw. Total length of the jaw is about 15-16 inches making the fish about 8 feet long. The jaw material was sent to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences where prep work was performed by Fred Mullison. The jaws will remain in the Museums collections and add to the knowledge of Hyneria. fig 1. Cleithrum exterior. fig. 2 Cleithrum interior. fig. 3 Jaw bone in situ lateral side. fig. 4 Jaw bone prepped, lateral side. fig. 5 Jaw bone prepped, medial side. fig. 6 Palate with vomerine fang, upper rt corner. fig. 7 Head plate, interior. fig. 8 Head plate, exterior. fig. 9 Scale. fig. 10 2nd jaw bone.

CleithrumExteriorS.jpgCleithrumInteriorS.jpgRedHillJaw2014S.jpgHyneria jaw.rt sympysial.lateral.Dec 2014S.jpgHyneria jaw.rt sympysial.medial.Dec 2014S.jpgHyneria.PalateDec 2014.jpgHyneriaHeadPlate2014bS.jpgHyneriaHeadPlate2014cS.jpgHyneriaScale01S.jpgHyneriaMandible2aS.jpg

[izak_]

I love placoderms!

[Paul1719]

Ian and I went to Red Hill to meet up with Ted Daeschler, Doug Rowe and David Boussard (Lycoming College) this past week. Ted Daeschler brought a jack hammer with him and we took off about 4 feet of solid (non-fossiliferous) rock to get down to the layer with the left side of the Hyneria mandible. Its amazing what you can do with a jack hammer. Here is a picture of the jaw after extraction.

Again, these are being kept by the academy and will be prepped in their lab by Fred Mullison. This material will be used to re-describe Hyneria. Hyneria may have been part of the reason our ancestors wanted to get out of the water so bad.

And here is some of the material from above extracted and prepped last year. Notice the palate fragment with vomerine fang in Ian's right hand.

[jpc]

excellent stuff.

[MikeR]

Make sure to post in the "Members Contributions to Science" section.