JJGunks Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Hello Fossil Forum, I am in need of some help in the identification of a couple invertebrate fossils. Any and all information is greatly appreciated. The photos of my fossils are attached. Thanks! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Hi James! Welcome to the forum from a southern Canuck Just a quick note for now: the items circled in red below are brachiopods (since the two valves are not identical) while the item indicated with a blue rectangle is a bivalve shell (since I think that when it was once alive, it would have had a second valve that was identical to this one). These two types of organisms are part of different phyla - Brachiopoda (former) and Mollusca (latter). When I get home I'll try to look into what possible species you might have... Where were these found, by the way? General location would be helpful for identification purposes since different species lived at different times... Thanks for sharing! Monica PS - I'm not sure about the un-circled item... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The black one, circled in red, is the classic shape of the "lamp shell" brachiopod, in the order of Terebratulida. That still leaves a lot of research to do, because that is a large order! And the one circled in blue will be hard to define. Will need a picture of the inside, showing the hinge and muscle scars. Otherside, it is a "hard clam", and might be a modern Quahog clam. There are so many with that general shape. The one that looks like a big, ugly yellow toenail might be a Devil's Toenail oyster. With a shape and texture like that, it is an oyster, alright, but is it the Devil's? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The red-circled one below the first red circle is a spiriferid. You're a bit north of me, and so I think @Pumpkinhead is going to be able to better pinpoint an ID if you found these in Thunder Bay. The spirifers are somewhat diverse and widely spread in Ontario. I find buckets of them in the Devonian, but they were kicking around from the Ordovician up through the Permian. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yeah, Spiriferida, another large and complex order. http://www.google.com/search?q=Spiriferida&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1&tbm=isch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJGunks Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 Thank you Monica and tmaier for the very timely responses. Monica, unfortunately I've no information on where the fossils originated from. As a beginner I'm definitely aware that such information would drastically help with my quest of identification. Any and all insight is greatly appreciated I will definitely follow up on all suggestions to try and hone in on what I may or may not be looking at! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmaier Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Those brachiopods look very "classic" to me... the black lamp shell and the flinty-looking Spiriferida. I think they come from very prolific fossil sites, and are commonly sold in stores. There are some fossils of this common type that end up in fossil-samplers that people buy, and they are often not labeled as to their origin, and sometimes just labeled "Fossils". =) You often find the classic Wheeler Shale and Green River fossils treat that way in trinket shops. But they are very nice brachs! Eventually somebody might recognize them... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 I am going with Mucrospirifer sp. I'd have to know where it came from to give a species ID. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 They certainly are not from around Thunder Bay, which is Precambrian Canadian Shield territory and a very long way from any potential source for the fossils. Also the fossils almost certainly represent a wide range of ages and so collecting sites (Devonian for the spiriferid, anything from Silurian to Tertiary for the terebratulid, probably Cretaceous (and I would guess Texas) for the gryphaeid (devil's toenail), and anything from Cretaceous to Recent for the bivalve. On the other hand there are some good mineral sites in the area, especially some pay-to-dig amethyst mines. Don 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Nice ones ! I agree with the others. It's not clear for me if the oyster is Gryphaea or Exogyra. Could you please post other views of the specimen ? " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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