DE&i Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Quoted from the excellent ukfossils.co.uk website below, to help describe these fossils found forty years ago and currently going through some much needed TLC from team DE&i “These graptolites (pictured above) Didymograptus murchisoni are from Abereiddy Bay, Pembrokeshire in Wales and they are a species known as the ‘tuning-fork’ graptolite. They existed for only a relatively short period of time, during the latter part of the Middle Ordovician, about 470 to 464mya. Therefore, it used as an index fossil for this period of time, which geologists refer to as the Llanvirn stage 9 after a farmer’s cottage on the lane leading to Abereiddy).” Now judging by the paragraph above and the newspaper pages that this large box of shale’s was carefully wrapped in. You kind of get this sense of wonder, for some further interesting, perhaps not so apparent fossils that theses shale’s could contain. I’ve excitedly established that there is indeed hundreds of Didymograptus murchisoni graptolites packed into these shale’s. Continued in reply : Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 Continued : At the moment under closer inspection of the same shale’s (but I’ll still look deeper) I’ve discovered to unknown fossils that I can’t seem to find a match to help with further research. Any assistance with the fossil photos below would be very much appreciated indeed. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Is that last image the structure of graptolite zoothecal tube preserved in 3D? That would be rare. The first images may be overlapping superimposed fragments? The others are a tiny bit like arienigraptus but I'm just guessing. Either way that is a fantastic collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Isograptid manubria? Glossograptids? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I believe the last one is the border of a trinucleid cephalon. They do occur there occasionally - I found a similar, more complete one but no longer have it I'm afraid. 4 Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 2 hours ago, westcoast said: Is that last image the structure of graptolite zoothecal tube preserved in 3D? That would be rare. The first images may be overlapping superimposed fragments? The others are a tiny bit like arienigraptus but I'm just guessing. Either way that is a fantastic collection! Thank you @westcoast for your very helpful descriptions . That's interesting that you may think there is some sort of overlapping, I find it intriguing that they seem to have the same pattern to them, as these are just two I picked out. And i'm sure if I split some more shale's there would be more of these odd almost uniform shapes. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 To be clear I wasn't suggesting the latter images were overlapping just the first two of the last batch of images which look a bit different but like I said I'm guessing so hopefully some graptolite expert will chime in shortly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 59 minutes ago, TqB said: I believe the last one is the border of a trinucleid cephalon. They do occur there occasionally - I found a similar, more complete one but no longer have it I'm afraid. Thank you @TqB your description fits perfectly as like you say, this is indeed a fragment of Trinucleus fimbriatus (pictured below is a museum example). Among the rarer fossils recorded at this location are planktonic trilobites called agnostids Trinucleus fimbriatus are these one and the same would you know. 1 Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 35 minutes ago, westcoast said: To be clear I wasn't suggesting the latter images were overlapping just the first two of the last batch of images which look a bit different but like I said I'm guessing so hopefully some graptolite expert will chime in shortly Sorry for the confusion @westcoast and thank you for pointing this out. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 5 minutes ago, DE&i said: Thank you @TqB your description fits perfectly as like you say, this is indeed a fragment of Trinucleus fimbriatus (pictured below is a museum example). Among the rarer fossils recorded at this location are planktonic trilobites called agnostids Trinucleus fimbriatus are these one and the same would you know. Trinucleus isn't an agnostid if that's what you mean (google agnostid trilobites for images). I haven't seen any agnostids from Abereiddy but I've only ever spent a couple of days there. Trilobites of any sort are rare there (as usual with graptolitic shales). Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TqB Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I wonder if the others are crystal rosettes, though they are the same colour as the graptolites... 1 Tarquin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I think those are juvenile isograptid manubria,slightly reminiscent of I .Dumosus edit: for "are" please read "could be" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Very interesting specimens! A possible resemblance (as Tarquin suggested - "crystal rosettes") could be something similar to this, but the geological age and the dimensions are not proper. pictures from here " 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...
Wrangellian Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Just a couple weeks shy of 40 years out of the ground! (A couple days before my brother's birth and I was pretty young...) I acquired a small specimen of this from an ebayer in UK some time ago, but yours is/are better. Is that quote saying that the Llanvirnian was named for a farmer's cottage along that lane? And that all tuning fork graptolites are restricted to that stage, or just that particular species of tuning fork? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Because of ,among other things,graptolite provincialism,a lot of biostratigraphic zonations tend to have diachronous F(irst)O(currence)'s and L(ast)O's or FA(ppearance) and LA's In the type artus and bifidus MIGHT be restricted to their eponymous zones to be absolutely pedantic:the ending -"ian"is erroneous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 type-specimen-of-didytus-murchni.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 15 hours ago, doushantuo said: I think those are juvenile isograptid manubria,slightly reminiscent of I .Dumosus edit: for "are" please read "could be" Given the scale provided are they not too large to be juveniles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 yeah. I must say it's a while ago since i read any Jenkins Come to think of it,I think synrhabdosomes for these objects might be more likely 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 J. C. Gutierrez-Marco, A. C. Lenz. 1998. Graptolite synrhabdosomes biological or taphonomic entities? Paleobiology, 24(1), pp. 37-48 2 " 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...
westcoast Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Hats off to @doushantuo and @abyssunder. That's something I didn't know this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 Dear all, Thank you for you valuable input, I've made notes from all your replies. And will process the information to the best of my abilities. In the hope of shedding more light on these intriguing finds. And of course post back here any additional information I come up with along the way. Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE&i Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 While we all wait for further expert opinions. Enjoy a paleocast on graptolites. http://www.palaeocast.com/episode-71-graptolites/ Regards.....D&E&i The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty. https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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