GeschWhat Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 Here are some images from the lower resolution data that appears to be parasite eggs and worm segments. There forms are more clearly defined in the higher resolution data. I will post better imagery once I'm finished with the extraction process. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDinosaur Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Much fun. More studies like this should be done. If our local enterprising coyotes' 'deposits'...here... ever end up the future fossil record? It will nothing but apricot & plum pits. Might make for some interesting coprolites, if the organic material could "stick around". We are what we eat, I s'pose? Fascinating post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 (edited) Much fun. More studies like this should be done. If our local enterprising coyotes' 'deposits'...here... ever end up the future fossil record? It will nothing but apricot & plum pits. Might make for some interesting coprolites, if the organic material could "stick around". We are what we eat, I s'pose? Fascinating post. Welcome to the forum! It really is fun! I had two Triassic coprolites from your neck of the woods(or should I say dessert) scanned. I haven't done much work on them yet, No plum pits, just fish scales...possibly a jaw section. I posted preliminary images of one of them HERE if you are interested in taking a look. Edited June 20, 2016 by GeschWhat Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I'm sure. It is getting even cooler...I think I found parasite eggs and a worm in this particular one also. I am still working on the CT data trying to separate everything out. I just got higher resolution images from the lab last week so I can possibly confirm what I'm seeing. In the higher res images, it looks like there is even some sort of tendon or possibly a blood vessel opening in some of the hooks. Once I get all the data sorted, I plan on sending photos to a guy in Zurich that specializes in cephalopods. Hopefully, he will be able to shed some light on some of the strange things I'm seeing. There is a total of 241 hooks that are relatively intact, plus many more partially digested fragments. 18 small egg-shaped structures, 3 larger egg-shaped structures (3 of which look like they something hatched out...like the weevil cocoons from Australia), 5 segments that look like they could be from a parasitic worm, large, flat plate-like structures. Here are some images from the CT data. most of these are from the low res data. It will be a couple more weeks before I am able to separate everything out in high resolution. If anyone has any ideas about what the plate-like structures could be, I would love to know. Superb images! Maybe the plate structures are bits of a thin, chewable gladius. 1 Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Here is a website with a photo of a cephalopod arm with hooks: http://tolweb.org/accessory/Cephalopod_Hooks?acc_id=1983 My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Ammonite Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 GeschWhat or others, a question, should there also be some hard beaks (like squid) present in the coprolites? My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned. See my Arizona Paleontology Guide link The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Your CT images are fantastic. I sent a link to your post to Adrian Hunt, a renowned coprolite expert, who is studying a large group of marine coprolites that I donated. There are a number of coprolites in the group with visible bone inclusions on the surface and I asked Adrian if he planned to CT scan any of them. He replied "Thank you for the fascinating link – the CT image is really impressive. I had not initially thought about imaging the Fisher/Sullivan coprolites but this definitely makes me think that it might be a good idea." Thank you for your post. Marco Sr. 2 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 Your CT images are fantastic. I sent a link to your post to Adrian Hunt, a renowned coprolite expert, who is studying a large group of marine coprolites that I donated. There are a number of coprolites in the group with visible bone inclusions on the surface and I asked Adrian if he planned to CT scan any of them. He replied "Thank you for the fascinating link – the CT image is really impressive. I had not initially thought about imaging the Fisher/Sullivan coprolites but this definitely makes me think that it might be a good idea." Thank you for your post. Marco Sr. That is wonderful. I have read a number of his papers. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 GeschWhat or others, a question, should there also be some hard beaks (like squid) present in the coprolites? I read somewhere that scientist have been in a bit of a quandary regarding this. Evidently beaks are commonly found in the stomach contents of modern whales, but no hooks. In the fossil record they are finding hooks, but no beaks. I haven't finished processing all the data in this coprolite. It is a very long process...especially using the free software available (very glitchy and corrupts easily). Right now I have been concentrating on the low density inclusions. The higher density inclusions are harder to extract using the software I have available. So it is possible that it is there, but I haven't isolated it yet. I have one other coprolite that I believe has cephalopod parts. However, that specimen is larger and more dense, so the resolution of the CT data isn't very high. In addition, I believe more than one type of prey item was eaten. I Another specimen that I believe may contain beaks was too large/dense to scan with the equipment at the U of Mn. It is also possible that the beaks were regurgitated along with rostrums/phragmocones. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 Superb images! Maybe the plate structures are bits of a thin, chewable gladius. Thanks for that, Tarquin. My knowledge of cephalopod anatomy is rudimentary at best. I had never heard of the gladius. Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 (edited) Here is a website with a photo of a cephalopod arm with hooks: http://tolweb.org/accessory/Cephalopod_Hooks?acc_id=1983 I was working on separating out the lowest density material last night. This is part of thee different hooks. While not all hooks in this coprolite include this structure, There are quite a few that do. Any ideas? Edited June 21, 2016 by GeschWhat Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Hi GeshWhat, I thought you might like to see my latest Oxford Clay Jurassic marine coprolite find from another Brick Pit quarry in Peterborough UK. Can you see what I see.... Coprolite.jpg coprolite with fish vertebrae inclusions 1a.jpg coprolite with fish vertebrae inclusions 1b.jpg Nice fish verts in the coprolite, Darren! Thanks for posting that - pretty cool. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 (edited) Hi GeshWhat, I thought you might like to see my latest Oxford Clay Jurassic marine coprolite find from another Brick Pit quarry in Peterborough UK. Can you see what I see.... Coprolite.jpg coprolite with fish vertebrae inclusions 1a.jpg coprolite with fish vertebrae inclusions 1b.jpg I second Tim's comment...very nice vertebrae! That's a nice sized one too! I would love to see more photos after you clean off the rest of the matrix. Edited July 31, 2016 by GeschWhat Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 (edited) I second Tim's comment...very nice vertebrae! That's a nice sized one too! I would love to see more photos after you clean off the rest of the matrix. It's a cracking find isn't it. But due to its delicate nature I'm not sure if I can clean it further without dislodging any of the verts. Edited August 1, 2016 by DarrenElliot Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 Nice fish verts in the coprolite, Darren! Thanks for posting that - pretty cool. Regards, Thank you Tim as it's certainly food for thought. As I now can assign a probable genus of fish to it. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 With coprolites like yours I usually soak them and then gently clean away the matrix under the microscope with soft brush. If the matrix is harder you could gently clean it away under the microscope with an x-acto blade. There could be even more interesting surprises under there. This one had vertebrae exposed, but under the matrix there was an intact fish tail. I had to stitch together microscopic images, so the photos aren't the best...but you get the idea. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAtoPA Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 This is all so exciting! Thank you for sharing this, GeschWhat!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 This is all so exciting! Thank you for sharing this, GeschWhat!! You are so welcome. We are living in such a wonderful time of discovery! Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barerootbonsai Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Wow man really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Wow man really cool. It is so much fun! Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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