Hunting for trilobites south of Rennes (Britanny - France)

[elcoincoin]

Hi there.

At the end of february 2016, the local club which i belong to had a shot at a trilobite site. We were granted the authorization to spend the day at a landfilling site south of Rennes.

We were allowed to scout for the rock piles they take from the ground to dig the alcoves were the trash is buried. Those are indeed a bit off the burying place itself.

Gathering point was at the reception of the site. Once all there we drove to the back of the site, close to the shale piles.

Here's how the place looks like from the top of the piles (excuse the poor quality of the picture, only had my phone)

The site is ordovician (Llandeilian)

After some time spent to an older shale pile with not much luck, it was partially covered with grass. We headed to a pile that wasnt there last year : fresh pile with fresh rocks and fresh trilos.

Lots of trilo parts were lying on the ground : mostly Ectiallaneus (specially cephalons and pygidia) and Neuseretus species.

Here's a few In situ pictures : a little bit of "find the trilo - bit" instead of the usual "spot the shark tooth" !

Everyone present more or less found complete or nearly complete pieces. So at the end of the afternoon we left the spot exhausted but happy. Looking forward to go again next year.

That's all for tonight, i will post the results of the hunt once the definitive set of photos is taken

[BrettonCa]

What a fun trip you had! Thanks for posting! Maybe some day I canchec that place out.

[Manticocerasman]

nice trip report Elcoincoin. thx for sharing

[ynot]

Sounds like a good trip and finds.

Thanks for sharing.

Tony

[elcoincoin]

Hi there,

I finally managed some time for a proper shooting session. So here the result of the hunt in the shale piles.

Only found 2 species (2 of the 3 usual suspects)

Neseuretus tristani

(one is the one i posted for Feb fossil of the month)

Sample 1

Sample 2 :

Sample 3 :

and second specie :

Ectillaenus giganteus

Partial one (shame because the conservation was so nice)

nearly complete one :

I ll will add a last part soon with the result of another hunt a few kilometers from that spot.

[Wrangellian]

Nice report.

Have you ever tried stretching a photo of any of those squashed trilos to see what it would have looked like before the distortion? 'Paint' doesn't do a very good job but this is the idea:

BTW your pics are a bit small even for regular viewing.. like a lot of people's on TFF. (I don't know whether it's just my monitor, or if it's from the source - cellphone cameras with minimal settings?)

Edited March 25, 2016 by Wrangellian

[elcoincoin]

I did put "medium" pictures in order to make the thread easier to read.

For full size pictures u can go on my flickr : https://flic.kr/s/aHsktrnJc4

For the distortion thing a good exemple is this one :

Both are same specie ( Neseuretus tristani ) from the same site. First one was " elongated in width" second "in length". So no need to place with any picture software.

regards.

[Wrangellian]

If that was 'medium' I'd hate to see 'small'! I don't know if the large pics would make the thread harder to read, as long as there were thumbnails it wouldn't matter.

It's nice to have the two specimens, but it's still hard to imagine what it would have looked like without any distortion. I was thinking it would be fun to try taking a pic of a distorted bug with the line of distortion either vertical or horizontal (not diagonal) to the picture, and stretch it with PhotoShop or something. (I don't have PS, and Paint doesn't do a great job of stretching, so I can't do it now.)

Edited March 26, 2016 by Wrangellian

[Fossildude19]

The strange stretching of these fossils makes me think something is wrong with my eyes.

Great finds, and report, anyway.

Thanks for posting this.

Regards,

[vonfatman]

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy seeing where others hunt for fossils. I've never found a trilobite. Great photos too.

Bob

[elcoincoin]

And to finish this trilo topic a few pictures of the modest crop made during a previous trip (november 2015) a view kilometers of the first spot. Similar shale, similar bugs but a different preservation and repartition of species.

Neseuretus tristani :

Rolled up neseuretus tristani :

Anothe weirdly rolled up

And a Colpocoryphe rouaulti

[Wrangellian]

I appreciate the larger pics but I'm curious as to why they do not start as thumbnails first...

[elcoincoin]

Went back 3 times in the area in the last 2 monthes.

First trip was at the quarry and was rewarded by only one complete trilo, but still a shelfworthy sample.

Colpocoryphe Rouaulti found end of april and preped mid may

[Darktooth]

Nice finds!

[ynot]

Nice, love the deformation of those bugs!!

Tony

[elcoincoin]

Hi there

Bumping my trilo winter topic.

Starting with a before / after of a trilo found in february.

Will do a longer post with spring finds at the same site

Regards

[elcoincoin]

A few of the last founds. I had the opportunity to give the bigger blocks a bit of sawing so the size of matrix is more reasonable.

Was lucky enough to find quite a few decent "Ectilaenus giganteus".

First one : you can note the presence of a belerophon, fossil gastropod just stuck under the trilobite

Sample 2 : this one was at the surface of the same block as previous one that poped while i was splitting the shale

Sample 3

Sample 4 : rolled up one

A few more can be se in my TFF galery : http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/gallery/album/2568-la-dominelais-spring-2016/

or on my flickr album here

Edited June 30, 2016 by elcoincoin

[elcoincoin]

Second most abondant specie on the site : our usual suspect here in britanny : Neseuretus tristani

Sample 1 : it was perfect but took a hit on the cephalon during the reducing matrix process. lesson learnt, next time ill bring the big block with me for a bit of sawing

Next one was inside a nodule and is an Exuviae : the head and body are slightly separated.

Got to say i love the position a bit "prone" as you can see on this side view :

Also found this little fellow which still need some cleaning : Colpocoryphe rouaulti

And to be done with those 2 spring hunts :

2 pygidium from some asaphidae trilobites :

A stated above more views and more samples in my TFF galery : here

or on my flickr album here

Edited June 30, 2016 by elcoincoin

[Lori LuvsFossils]

Millions of years with a gastropod under the tummy. Ouch! Ha. Thanks for sharing!