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Yesterday I had my first well-preserved Didontogaster cordylina split. It's not complete, but I'm happy to finally have a good example of this common Mazon worm. 

 

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Very nice, @deutscheben!!! It looks like under a 10x loupe you would see some nice detail. You can see that even from this distance. I've found a few of these, always so excited to find another! Chris

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Thanks @RuMert and @bigred97

 

There were a few other things I have had split over the last month that I have not posted yet. First are some more of the titular bivalves of Chowder Flats- a pair of Mazonomya mazonensis together, and then a single one. 

 

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This next clam could be a large, flattened Mazonomya or possibly what is called Sedgwickia sp. in the ESCONI guidebook... it's hard to tell. 

 

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Finally, although it lacks pretty much all detail, I think this is my first shrimp from this site. 

 

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24 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

Thanks @RuMert and @bigred97

 

There were a few other things I have had split over the last month that I have not posted yet. First are some more of the titular bivalves of Chowder Flats- a pair of Mazonomya mazonensis together, and then a single one. 

 

5e7017aa39280_2020-02-1708_31_38.thumb.jpg.5e63375291f6c61414f2e1f50302d513.jpg

 

5e7017bc0f23a_2020-02-1708_29_01.thumb.jpg.1872e1213de1971866805a2940772b1f.jpg

 

This next clam could be a large, flattened Mazonomya or possibly what is called Sedgwickia sp. in the ESCONI guidebook... it's hard to tell. 

 

5e7019e6965dc_2020-02-1708_30_05.thumb.jpg.a3352a3b0c03c4e8423534b37b8506fc.jpg

 

Finally, although it lacks pretty much all detail, I think this is my first shrimp from this site. 

 

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I agree that this appears to be a shrimp.

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Such nice bivalves! I have so many that didn't split very well, I think Chowder Flats has been very kind to you with those!

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9 hours ago, bigred97 said:

Such nice bivalves! I have so many that didn't split very well, I think Chowder Flats has been very kind to you with those!

I have definitely had more clams split poorly than not as well. I actually just had two concretions that split into multiple pieces that were filled with a bunch of Aviculopecten, but they were largely crushed and crumbling. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are a couple examples of interesting  concretions with bivalves. The first is another one with multiple Aviculopectenbut these shells are not too smashed up, with one preserving very fine detail. They also have some interesting mineralization present as well. 

 

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The next is yet another Mazonomya, but this one split into three pieces- one piece is the positive of both valves still closed, and the other two pieces are the negative impressions both sides. 

 

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I had a few other really nice concretions that have split as well. The first is yet another shell, although this one belongs to the branchiopod crustacean, and possible winner of longest Mazon Creek genus name (18 letters?), Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni. 

 

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Am I the only one finding these? I have found more of these than Cyclus at this point. 

 

The next is a nice little piece of Lepidodendron bark, preserved with some excellent dark on light contrast. 

 

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Okay, I had a look at the index to Richardson's Guide and I found 1 genus equal in length- the millipede Myriacantherpestes (appropriate!) and one with 1 more letter- the scorpion Palaeopisthocanthus. So that leaves Pemphilimnadiopsis tied for second place. 

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Such goodness in your last few posts! I don't think I have found any Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni. How funny that you are finding a lot. Are you finding them in Pit 11? Are all these specimens from Pit 11?

Very jealous of the Lepidodendron bark, that has eluded me as well so far - congrats!!!

Chris

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18 hours ago, deutscheben said:

... possible winner of longest Mazon Creek genus name (18 letters?), Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni. 

Lepidostrobophyllum  --  19 letters.

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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3 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Lepidostrobophyllum  --  19 letters.

Good point, I only looked at the fauna. :) 19 letters ties it with Palaeopisthocanthus.

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20 hours ago, bigred97 said:

Such goodness in your last few posts! I don't think I have found any Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni. How funny that you are finding a lot. Are you finding them in Pit 11? Are all these specimens from Pit 11?

Very jealous of the Lepidodendron bark, that has eluded me as well so far - congrats!!!

Chris

Thanks! I have found 2 at Chowder Flats and 1 from the Braceville pile. Everything I have posted since January has been from Chowder Flats, actually. 

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Really super finds.:)

You certainly are finding some goodies.

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Really super finds.:)

You certainly are finding some goodies.

Thank you so much!

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@bigred97 I was very happy to find an Esconites zelus polychaete worm of my own this week- I really like the color and the jaunty curve of the tail. The jaws and some bristles are preserved decently too.

 

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I also found another Cyclus- I don't know if it's well-preserved enough to identify the species though. 

 

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Here are three more representatives of some of the most common fauna from this site. First is Essexella asherae, one of a few I have found with red pigment concentrated at one end of the creature. This is by far the most common faunal element of Chowder Flats, and also the Mazon Creek Essex biota overall. 

 

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Next is the clam Mazonomya mazonensis- this species is the most common bivalve at Chowder Flats and also in the Essex biota. This example actually contain two clams- the fairly complete one laying flat along the split, and then there is a second partial one preserved perpendicular on the top right/left corners. 

 

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The last fossil is the sea cucumber Achistrum sp. This is probably roughly tied with the bivalve Aviculopecten as the third most common animal I have found at Chowder Flats. This one preserves the body very well, and with a great deal more dimension and definition than I usually find, but the head seems to extend past the edge of the concretion unfortunately.  

 

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How funny that you found an Esconites zelus too! It's very nice, I love how it snakes around in the concretion. Great pics of all, and so much diversity, in just 5 pictures!

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On 9/19/2019 at 6:49 PM, TheRocksWillShoutHisGlory said:

It has a similar pattern to modern shark cartilage, so I tend to agree with your ID

 

The only other thing that came to mind would be reptilian/tetrapod skin which have been found at Mazon before. Jaw dropping find either way!

Doesn't look like any fish/tetrapod skin I've seen. I'm very comfortable with this being calcified cartilage.

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Wonderful examples of MC fossils, especially the two worms.  Nice finds.  Are you freeze/thawing these or tapping them open?

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3 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

Wonderful examples of MC fossils, especially the two worms.  Nice finds.  Are you freeze/thawing these or tapping them open?

Thanks! I go for freeze/thaw all the way. I have generally had close to zero luck hammering concretions open- the cartilage that @jdp was referring to above is one of very few ones I have hammered open successfully. I was lucky enough to be able to get a chest freezer last year, so I can just keep cycling my trays year-round. 

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I'm leaning towards obesus  for the Cyclus  just by general outline, but like you said, the preservation is not good. Cyclus americanus  is generally more axially compressed. I don't remember if there are other species present in the Francis Creek Shale -- I only recall these two. If there's more species, then it's anybody's ball game, so to speak.

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Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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I found a few more worms in the last week. The first has some very unusual preservation- the concretion is an olive green color and fairly soft, and the worm inside is a bluish-silver metallic color - definitely not typical for Mazon Creek. I think it is an Archisymplectes rhothon ribbon worm. 

 

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The next worm is a small and faintly preserved polychaete worm. I believe it may be Fossundecima konecniorum, based on the short length, but the jaws are not preserved. 

 

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