Jump to content

Very rare weird echinoderm goniodont/tooth Mississippian UK,


TqB

Recommended Posts

Anguloserra sp.

Brigantian (Mississippian) marine shale, Co. Durham, UK.

I was scanning a lovely hash plate of bryozoan and Archaeocidaris bits under a binocular microscope when this odd but very distinctive piece leapt out at me.

They don't seem to have been recorded from the UK Carboniferous but I had found one a few years ago at the same locality and it took ages to track down an ID.

It's two overlapping goniodonts or teeth from an ophiocistioid.

This is a group of strange Palaeozoic echinoderms known largely from their tooth elements which form overlapping ranks, a good overview is here:

http://echinoblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/ophiocistioids-weird-mystery-fossils.html (One like this is pictured about halfway down).

Hash plate jumble, the goniodont pair is arrowed.

Brass scale is 1cm.

post-4556-0-01962300-1466328100_thumb.jpg

Overlapping pair of goniodonts pointing downwards, next to a couple of Archaeocidaris spines.

post-4556-0-42166100-1466328098_thumb.jpg

Closeup:

post-4556-0-10885800-1466328097_thumb.jpg

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Roger! I don't really have any professional colleagues but am in contact with one or two echinoderm specialists who might or might not be interested :).

Doushantuo - thanks for the link, Volchovia is an early weird one in an already weird group...

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is goniodont and conodont the same thing? When I ask the computer for goniodont images, conodont images come up. By the way, great find. This is why I love hash plates. Always loaded with surprises if one looks closely!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is goniodont and conodont the same thing? When I ask the computer for goniodont images, conodont images come up. By the way, great find. This is why I love hash plates. Always loaded with surprises if one looks closely!

Thank you! No, they're completely different - goniodonts are echinoderm (and exclusively ophiocistioid as far as I know) while conodonts are vertebrate.

I agree about hash plates, I haven't finished with this one yet!

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm havnt heard of those before. I'll have to take a closer look at my Mississippian hash plates!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Roger! I don't really have any professional colleagues but am in contact with one or two echinoderm specialists who might or might not be interested :).

That's actually what I meant.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From one "scanner" to another...

post-420-0-47403800-1466347244.gif

Excellent images, Tarquin.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From one "scanner" to another...

attachicon.gifbowing.gif

Excellent images, Tarquin.

Many thanks, John. I've just ordered some extension rings for my macro lens so hope to get in closer soon. :)

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks, John. I've just ordered some extension rings for my macro lens so hope to get in closer soon. :)

I picked up a set in January and love the versatility/magnification. ;)

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I've just prepped this a bit (with a pneumatic dental descaler) and photographed it wet which shows clearly the interlocking pair.

post-4556-0-36907100-1467367970_thumb.jpg

post-4556-0-41593200-1467367995_thumb.jpg

Here is a reconstruction of part of a tooth, also showing its location in the echinoderm.

They had five teeth, like an ordinary echinoid, but each tooth was made up of an interlocking row of up to twenty goniodonts.

It seems that these were produced conveyor belt style and that the outer ones were shed, hence they turn up relatively often in some sediments.

I think these are a first for the UK Carboniferous though!

post-4556-0-40249400-1467368226_thumb.jpg

From Haude & Langenstrassen, 1976, "Winkelzahne von Ophiocistoiden aus Silur, Devon und Karbon." Lethaia 9

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:wub:

Thank you for sharing this, Tarquin. Hopefully, you can get confirmation regarding the geologic occurrence. :)

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome find. Great photos....I was just commenting in another thread about having a scope and looking at things when I was much younger. Good eyes! thanks for showing us another oddity!

Regards, Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, John, doushantuo, Chris!

Microscopes and hash plates were made for each other. :)

Tarquin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...