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elcoincoin

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Hello all,

 

As each year i made my trip to Troyes and her albian layers in Champagne.

 

On the first day, we decided to head to a first exposure on the bank o the lake.

We didnt find much : a few small ammonites, gastropods, bivalves and corals ..... also a few crab fragments, but definitly not much to brag about....

Most of the spot was covered by a layer of dead waterweed, hiding everything.

After a quick meal we decided to head to spot 2, another spot by the lake. At second spot, it was even worst : the whole exposure was buried under dry weed.

 

Since there was not much reason to keep on we decided to call it for the day ....with  a very very poor loot.

 

On second day i headed alone to our third spot, harder to reach. After a quite long walk in the mud, i reached the exposure. That one was totally free from weed.

 

The spot was very rich. 90 % of the stuff i collected were crustacean parts. Actually the only intersting stuff... but very interesting

 

As a teaser, here come a group view of a part of the etyus martini carapaces i found. The most abundant crustacean of the day.

 

large.etyus-martini-group.JPG.8ae4e9f0bb

 

Stopping it for today, to be followed a trip in the numerous species of crustaceans i was able to find....

 

See you soon

 

 

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Let s start with the specie thas was the more abundant. Prolly found more in 1 afternoon more than i ever get in total, the biggest ones ( well big = 3 cm) and amongst the better preserved.

 

Etyus Martini : samples here got still the thin carapace layer with the "globulous" aspect

 

sample 1 .

 

large.etyus-martini-4-view-1.JPG.5369a00

 

sample 2

 

large.etyus-martini-5.JPG.1f78050c11b151

 

Back side :

 

large.etyus-martini-4-view-2.JPG.6cd2e71

 

Next specie : Notopocorystes stokesii

 

Its also usually a common specie but this year, we found a lot of fragments, only a few complete or semi complete ones.

On this sample, u can see a bit of the remaining thins carapace layer (bottom left quarter), the rest being internal cast.

 

large.notopocorystes-stokesii-1.JPG.32f8

 

Last specimen for today :

 

Cretacoranina broderipii : with half  of the carapace layer still present.

 

large.cretacoranina-broderipii-3.jpg.aaf

 

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Excellent finds! :drool: 

Thanks for showing them. 

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

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This time ill finish with crab species found during that trip

 

next specie is Eucorystes carteri, not many specimen this year

 

large.eucorystes-carteri-2.JPG.8a85a6772

 

Next one, is one than eluded me for quite a long time. Very small fellow.... Very hard to spot. I found my first and only so far last year. I actually picked a bit of "Its prolly nothing but lets bring it and figure it once cleaned". It appeared after a good bath that it was actually Sabellidromites scarabaea. This year i found 10 specimens...

 

large.sabellidromites-scarabaea-3.JPG.27

 

 

Next one was a first timer for me. I had nailed it in the book, as the one to find this year.... And actually managed to find one : Dioratopus spinosus aka "Pikachu".

 

large.dioratopus-spinosus.JPG.f8a3e8b140

 

I also found big amount of claw bits, some that can be attached to a shrimp specie, some not.

 

Here s a few....

 

With one finger of the claw

 

large.shrimp-claw-7.JPG.70c482a830d17cb8

 

With the other

 

large.shrimp-claw-6.JPG.a33d7cd90892603a

 

 

and with the arm articulation

 

large.shrimp-claw-5.JPG.cb35ac34024b7888

 

 

and to finish for today an example of the smallest and smoother ones.... which are attributed to the genus Calianassa .

 

large.calianassa-claw-1.JPG.4601ca3e8f8c

 

If you dont have a crab indigestion yet, you can see more pictures either on my TFF galery

or on my flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHskGSsvyW

 

Next time last part of the trip : shrimps and barnacles !

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Wow...I dont recall anyone showing that many carapaces of diff species without showing lots of separate concretions/nodules. Are theyactually weathering out in an actual bed? Aticulated/Are there lots of legs/appendages as well? Fascinating! Thanks for showing us. Regards, Chris 

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Yes they weathering out from the bed.

They are a lot of claw / leg bits but  according to litterature they are from shrimps, not crabs, and everything is disarticulated.

 

That leads me to the last part of the topics :

 

Shrimps (and barnacles)

 

This year i found quite a bit of shrimps body parts, more than i ever collected in total (12 or so) (specie : Hoploparia longimana )

 

like those :

 

large.hoploparia-longimana-1.JPG.7a90cfd

 

and

 

large.hoploparia-longimana-2.JPG.aa67325

 

 

and also  this more or less complete one (head and body are always separate) (both side)

 

large.hoploparia-longimana-4-view-2.JPG.

 

large.hoploparia-longimana-4-view-1.JPG.

 

To finish with crustaceans found during this trip :

 

A piece of barnacle goose : Cretiscalpellum unguis

 

large.cretiscalpellum-unguis-1.JPG.06e21

 

After that day in the albian and the 2 other unproductive spots, we decided we were done with the albian clay and that we would head to B plan for the last day in the area.

Driving 1 hour and and half from there toward North and the lutetian sands of  Epernay area and specially the site of Fleury La Riviere, but this will be a story for another post.

 

 

I hope you had enjoyed the crustacean trip.

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