Unknown sp Help needed please

[DE&i]

Hi everyone,

 

The only information I have for these dainty little fossils is :

 

Silurian-Hughley Shale’s, Hughley, Salop, UK

 

Any further help would be very much appreciated.

 

 

 

[gavialboy]

id say horn coral

[piranha]

They are very similar with the annelid worm tubes: Ortonia conica
Vine 1882 describes them from the Buildwas Beds (Hughley Shales).

 

 

Nicholson, H.A. (1872)
On Ortonia, a new genus of fossil tubicolar Annelides, with notes on the genus Tentaculites.

Geological Magazine, 9(100):446-449

 

Vine, G.R. (1882)
Notes on the Annelida Tubicola of the Wenlock Shales. 

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 38(1-4):377-393

 

[TqB]

I was wondering about Cornulites (similar to or synonymous with Ortonia?) but perhaps the annular rings aren't distinct enough.

Otherwise, a small rugose coral is possible though there are no septa visible in the photos..

A transverse section would be most helpful...

[Monica]

Hi DarrenElliot!

 

I agree with Tarquin - a view of the wide opening of your specimens would be helpful, but I think I may already see evidence of septa in your first image, which would support the suggestion that what you have are some solitary rugose corals (which were around during the Silurian, I believe) - see the red rectangles below for what I think may be septa:

 

 

Whatever you have, though, is pretty nice - thanks for sharing!

 

Monica

[DE&i]

23 hours ago, sorzano95 said:

id say horn coral

 

Hi @sorzano95 thank you for your suggestion.  

[DE&i]

22 hours ago, piranha said:

They are very similar with the annelid worm tubes: Ortonia conica
Vine 1882 describes them from the Buildwas Beds (Hughley Shales).

 

 

Nicholson, H.A. (1872)
On Ortonia, a new genus of fossil tubicolar Annelides, with notes on the genus Tentaculites.
Geological Magazine 9(100)446-449.pdf

 

Vine, G.R. (1882)
Notes on the Annelida Tubicola of the Wenlock Shales. 

Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 38(1-4)377-393.pdf

 

 

 

Fascinating @piranha the fossils you can learn about from the Silurian is boundless. Ive saved the PDFs for future reference. I think they are most certainly pointing towards rugose corals.

Edited December 29, 2016 by DarrenElliot
Typo

[DE&i]

22 hours ago, TqB said:

I was wondering about Cornulites (similar to or synonymous with Ortonia?) but perhaps the annular rings aren't distinct enough.

Otherwise, a small rugose coral is possible though there are no septa visible in the photos..

A transverse section would be most helpful...

 

Hi @TqB rugose corals seem to be the way forward for these fossils. Thank you for your input, I’ve now found another matchbox with similar small rugose corals in. The label for the contents reads they are called “Zaphrentid corals, Lower Carboniferous, Cawdor Shale’s, and Matlock. I’ll take some photos of them tomorrow as the detail on them is stunning.

 

I wonder how many species of these little rugose corals there are.

[DE&i]

18 hours ago, Monica said:

Hi DarrenElliot!

 

I agree with Tarquin - a view of the wide opening of your specimens would be helpful, but I think I may already see evidence of septa in your first image, which would support the suggestion that what you have are some solitary rugose corals (which were around during the Silurian, I believe) - see the red rectangles below for what I think may be septa:

 

 

Whatever you have, though, is pretty nice - thanks for sharing!

 

Monica

 

Hi @Monica thanks for looking I hope this photo is clearer for evidence of a septa.

 

 

[Monica]

Hi again, DarrenElliot!

 

Hmmm...your new images don't really show what I was hoping/expecting to see.  I can only make out one "septum" in each specimen, even though I would expect to see more than that.  I guess it's possible that the others are hidden beneath/within the rock that has filled the specimen, or maybe you have something other than solitary rugose corals...let's see what the others have to say...

 

Thanks again for sharing!

 

Monica

[abyssunder]

If they are rugose corals, the visible "septum" could be only the fossula.

[Monica]

23 minutes ago, abyssunder said:

If they are rugose corals, the visible "septum" could be only the fossula.

Hello again!

 

I just looked up "fossula" because I had no idea what it was, and I found the following image: 

 

I think that what I thought was a septum could indeed be the fossula, especially since it seems to be quite distinctly visible in each of your specimens.  So perhaps you do indeed have a bunch of pretty rugose corals 

 

Thanks, abyssunder, for sharing your insight!

 

Monica

[DE&i]

@abyssunder @Monica That was a massive team effort. Thank you to you all in this thread, I'm so happy to have these "Rugose corals" in my collection. And even more so for the added descriptions and research for future finds.