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shiner

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I have a fossilized or agatized mushroom. It was found in estill co,KY. I would like to see if anyone on here might know what kind of mushroom it is and how it got like this. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

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Your photos are, unfortunately, very out of focus.  Can you try again?  Chances are that bright light, such as daylight, will help, but you should also ensure the fossil is in focus and not the background.

 

Your fossil is certainly not a mushroom, as they are extremely soft bodied and consequently are almost unknown as fossils.  Also the rocks in your area are marine, and too old for basidiomycete fungi.  I'm fairly sure your fossil is actually a crinoid calyx, which is a very cool fossil, but I can't be sure without better photos.

 

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

 

Don

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Welcome here.:D

I agree it might be a crinoid calyx, but also that without better photos, it will be hard to help you.

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I have researched the crinoid calyx and they look nothing like this. Those don't have a stem like this does. I will send better photos shortly.

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If there was a fossilized steak on that rock also, then I would agree with mushroom, but im gunna hafta go with these other guys today.  Calyx

 

RB

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1 hour ago, shiner said:

I have researched the crinoid calyx and they look nothing like this. Those don't have a stem like this does. I will send better photos shortly.

There are thousands of crinoid species. Most crinoids have a "stem" and it can be present in the fossil. Crinoids are also called "sea lilies".

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It's a crinoid calyx with partial column attached. Here is an example of a calyx, just to see the similar shape:

 

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The mystery solved: Agaricocrinus americanus

It is actually known as the "Mushroom Crinoid"

 

IMG.jpg.c5628b8b07ef41e4dd21209ad3b9bcf9.jpg

 

Meyer, D.L., & Ausich, W.I. (1997)

Morphologic variation within and among populations of the camerate crinoid Agaricocrinus (Lower Mississippian, Kentucky and Tennessee):

Breaking the spell of the Mushroom. 

Journal of Paleontology, 71(5):896-91

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I would agree, but Estill county it's a little far from the Borden Front and Lake Cumberland region. Here's another document which could help, with a comprehensive crinoid faunal list:

Elyssa Belding Krivicich. 2011. PALEOCOMMUNITY ANALYSIS OF CRINOIDS FROM THE FORT PAYNE FORMATION ( LATE OSAGEAN, MISSISSIPPIAN) WITH LOCALITIES IN KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, ALABAMA. - A Thesis

Unfortunately with no mention about Estill co.

" 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. "

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1 hour ago, abyssunder said:

I would agree, but Estill county it's a little far from the Borden Front...

 

 

According to the USGS, the Borden Group covers approximately half of Estill County.  

Perhaps a possible new locality.  Bill Ausich should be able to provide more info: LINK

 

 

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I have collected a lot of fossils from the Borden.

 

 

This is definitely a crinoid calyx, and as piranha mentioned, it is probably Agaricocrinus americanus. I have seen several like it in the area.

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Here is some better pics of it. The second one is the inside of the stem. The stem is one solid piece. It looks like a false morel mushroom from what I've seen and from the research I've done. Possibly 330 million Yrs old. There was a volcanic eruption Here in eastern KY at that time and could have possibly caused it to agatize. Just a thought, something to think about.

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Hi shiner!

 

I have to agree with the others that what you have is a very cool-looking crinoid - see image below (from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/echinodermata/crinmm.html) as a comparison to what you have:

morph.gifIMG_20170219_091855.thumb.jpg.6e04c824c34de312b8d5d6dae7bc4888.jpg.e644c712505498838a1adbc3861b7a26.jpgRed - calyx, Yellow - stem

 

I looked into where Estill Co, KY is and I think the rock there is probably Ordovician (or perhaps Silurian or Devonian, depending on exactly where you collected your specimen) - see below (from http://www.uky.edu/KGS/geoky/) for a geologic map of Kentucky:

kygeo.jpg.8f4aa83c91f93d617b0925da56a4e85e.jpg

 

Crinoids would definitely be found in Ordovician/Silurian/Devonian rocks - I find some up in my area where the rock is Ordovician in age and they are apparently a relatively common find in Kentucky, too.  See http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/index.htm - this website may be useful to you since it covers a bunch of information regarding the fossils of your state.

 

I hope that this helps!  Keep hunting and showing us your awesome finds!!!

 

Monica

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17 hours ago, shiner said:

Well how rare is it. How did get fossilized in the mountains of estill co.

Hi.  Nice fossil.  I can't say how rare it is but a long time ago, say during the Ordovician, that part of Kentucky and beyond was actually the bottom of the sea.  

 

I also see a sea urchin spine in your rock; the long straight yellowish spiny thing above the crinoid in most of your pix.  

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16 hours ago, shiner said:

Here is some better pics of it. The second one is the inside of the stem. The stem is one solid piece. It looks like a false morel mushroom from what I've seen and from the research I've done. Possibly 330 million Yrs old. There was a volcanic eruption Here in eastern KY at that time and could have possibly caused it to agatize. Just a thought, something to think about.

IMG_20170219_091855.jpg

IMG_20170219_091822.jpg

IMG_20170219_091806.jpg

IMG_20170219_091736.jpg

 

Thanks for the crisp photos. By now it's hopefully clear to you what you've got there. Here is some more information about the extreme rarity of fossilized fungi and related subjects.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

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Much better photos, thank you.  This is clearly a crinoid calyx, possibly Agaricocrinus as has been stated by others.  You can see the sutures (boundaries) between some of the calcite plates that make up the specimen.  Also you can see the elongated openings where the arms were attached to the calyx.  Your specimen belongs to a large group called Camerate crinoids, which were characterized by a fairly rigidly fused calyx; after death the calyx would often hold together whereas the stem and arms, being flexible and so made of less fused ossicles (small plates) would disarticulate.  For this reason, camerates are often found as the isolated calyx (like your specimen); intact specimens with the arms and stem are much rarer.  This is most likely a Mississippian aged fossil, indeed the Mississippian is sometimes called the "age of crinoids" because of the abundance and diversity of those fossils.  The central US, including Kentucky and surrounding states, were covered by a shallow, warm sea during much of the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, and some of the Pennsylvanian periods of the Paleozoic Era, and Kentucky is well known for its diverse fossils from those periods.  

 

Don

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Bill Ausich gives a tentative ID of Agaricocrinus? sp:

 

"From what I can tell quickly, if from Estill County, it could be a variety of ages, but Mississippian is likely.  I suspect that there are two crinoid specimens juxtaposed.  The white specimen beneath -- I cannot speculate on what that could be. The brown-red specimen is a camerate crinoid.  It is possible that it is some species of Agaricocrinus, but it could be some other camerate as well.  If you want a temporary name, I might say Agaricocrinus? sp.  I would need to look at the specimen and then compare it to the literature to provide a more accurate id, assuming that that is possible.  Sorry that I cannot be more definitive at this time, but it is a start."

 

 

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This fossil is 100% a crinoid, it probably came from the Slade Formation, St. Louis Limestone,  Coral is very commonly replaced by reddish orange chert from the Slade as this appears to be also. The Slade would be on the ridgetops in Estill co.  The other possibility would be the upper Borden, Cowbell/Nada Members found lower.  This is where the famous Kentucky Agate is found in Estill and Jackson Counties.  The crinoids could be found there but are not real common.

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Yes an Agaricocrinus calyx, a real nice one, from lower Mississippian strata, possibly the Nada or Borden Fms or more likely the Fort Payne Formation.

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:envy::envy::envy:

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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