Archaeopteris tailgate party Oct.15,2016

[fossilcrazy]

This last Saturday was a repeat of the previous collecting day I had on Oct. 8 at Red Hill, PA. Once again a tailgate of specimens was found. The most of my digging is in the Green Shale layer. That is where I find the most plants. For the most part, the fossils were all Archaeopteris with one nice macilenta species. A species I don't find much of. The last close up pic is a textbook example of spore cases found on fertile branches of Archaeopteris.

[fossilcrazy]

This the Archaeopteris macilenta with it's finely split leaf pattern. I reminds me of a modern day Asparagus fern or even a Maidenhair fern. 

[Fossildude19]

Exquisite!

Thanks for showing these to us, John!

 

[Plax]

any vertebrate fossils the site is famous for?

 

[Jeffrey P]

1 hour ago, Plax said:

any vertebrate fossils the site is famous for?

 

I would trade a complete hyneria tooth (if I had one) for any of those fabulous fern plates. Congratulations, John on another spectacular day of Red Hill finds. Thanks for sharing. Those are just AMAZING!!!!

[fossilcrazy]

The top left corner of the tailgate has a Hyneria tooth. It was cut out but not prepped yet.

[Fossildude19]

9 hours ago, Plax said:

any vertebrate fossils the site is famous for?

 

 

 

Hey Plax,

 

The Red Hill site in PA is famous for the Devonian era fish and tetrapods.  

Regards,

 

 

[Plax]

Yes, the DVPS Newsletter has some great information on the site in recent newsletters. An amazing site for vert and plant material though I didn't know how well the plant material was preserved.

[fossilcrazy]

On 10/19/2016 at 8:13 PM, fossilcrazy said:

The top left corner of the tailgate has a Hyneria tooth. It was cut out but not prepped yet.

 

 

This tooth has since been prepared and submitted for the Fossil of the Month of October 2016. Not much prepping was involved. I needed to air abrade the Cyanoacrylic glue coating off that

I used to consolidate the fractured tooth and matrix. A trick I learned after ruining too many while out in the field.

[Plantguy]

Hey John, tooth is darn sweet..plants aint too shabby either! dang--congrats! Regards, Chris 

[fossilcrazy]

1 hour ago, Plantguy said:

Hey John, tooth is darn sweet..plants aint too shabby either! dang--congrats! Regards, Chris 

 

Plantguy,  I'm there for the plants, the fish parts are just a bonus. I really like Paleozoic plants, but you know I won't discard the other stuff.

 

To quote Paleobotanist Walt Cressler III:  "Always remember, in the ecological theater and evolutionary play, the plants are more than just the background scenery."