Malcolmt Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 In the past month I have had some really nice trilos pass through my workshop and this one will be no exception. Unfortunately , yet once again it is not mine to keep. It was found by Quarryman Dave on the forum here on Monday May 22, 2017 at Penn Dixie. Penn Dixie does obviously have the potential for you to find something more than the common eldgregeops that it is known for. Jason a forum member who works at Penn Dixie spent his afternoon off getting to know us crazy Canadians. Unfortunately he left shortly before this was found. This find turned a relatively unproductive day into actually a pretty good one. Unfortunately for us we excavated an area that had particularly ugly smoke creek matrix that really did not want to split or break out ......... even with 3 strong guys , multiple pry bars and the diamond rock saw. We probably left 10 good blocks for the next group foolish enough to try to muscle them out. Between Dave and myself, I think we found 3 complete prone eldregeops and 6 or 7 enrolled ones all in matrix. We generally give anything that is not in matrix or 100% to the kids that are always at this fossil park. If you have never been , plan to get there some day, it is worth it and they are all good people that run it. On Monday when we were there they had about 300 grade 6 students on a field trip and we were kept busy handing out goodies to them and answering their question "What is this" As for this greenops under consideration, its not quite as rare as the bellacartwrightia that is up for consideration for the May Fossil of the Month but it is rare enough that I have never found a complete one myself. I have a couple that are like 90% complete. This one although a bit twisted looks to be 98% complete. It is in a quite typical 2/3 enrolled position with the genal spines flying out to the sides. It has some minor damage on the pygidium , the very tip of one of the genal spines is missing and it has 3 broken pygidial spines. I will likely repair all of those defects as this will be a display piece and is unlikely to ever be sold. It was found as just a pygidium (tail) poking through the matrix. They always break in the same place for a molt or incomplete so I would always recommend taking home any greenops pygidium that sneaks under the matrix before the start of the pygidium. Perhaps one in 100 of the pygidium's will continue into something very very nice. You can see here (lol) that this one will be a real beauty ....... not really, just kidding but the best specimens are always pretty much completely buried. At that point I had about 1/2 hour invested in the prep. Here are some pictures at about 3 hours with probably another 3 to go. The eyes on this one are amazing with some pyritization on one of them that makes it real interesting. I will make this somewhat into a flying trilo and will try to preserve the pyritized worm burrow that you can see. Stay tuned for more pictures as I make progress on this bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Very nice Malcolmt. Looking forward to seeing your repair job. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil-Hound Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Reminds be of the Bellacartwrightia you just finished. I know a lot of folks are all about prone trilobites, but I really like this slight bend and curvature. Splendid job @Malcolmt With the pyritized burrows and detail this one is definitely a keeper. Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Great prep job and really good photography too. What talent!! I on the other hand, don't have the patience to do this kind of prep work. Cutting grass is more my speed..... Instant gratification. Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Lookin good Malcolm Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnBrewer Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Oh wow! John Map of UK fossil sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Great work! Looking forward to the end result! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Very nice. Isn't this the curse of the fossil preparator? Always a bridesmaid but never a bride so to speak? Well done on the preparation. Can't wait to see the final product. 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryK Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 For your updated information, your trilobite is a Greenops barberi, not Greenops boothi 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aek Posted May 25, 2017 Share Posted May 25, 2017 Awesome - nice prep so far. I'm heading to Penn Dixie for the first time this Saturday...can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted May 25, 2017 Author Share Posted May 25, 2017 Thanks GK, you certainly would know better than me. Is the main difference that the barberi have more triangular pygidial spines . Is boothi even used anymore the Arkona ones also got renamed. Gets very confusing... guess I need to reread the 1997 paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest11596 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 14 hours ago, Malcolmt said: Thanks GK, you certainly would know better than me. Is the main difference that the barberi have more triangular pygidial spines . Is boothi even used anymore the Arkona ones also got renamed. Gets very confusing... guess I need to reread the 1997 paper A study of asteropygine evolution by means of cladistic analysis... The systematics and phylogeny of the Devonian subfamily Asteropyginae (Trilobita: Phacopida) http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772019.2013.804008 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil-Hound Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 18 hours ago, aek said: Awesome - nice prep so far. I'm heading to Penn Dixie for the first time this Saturday...can't wait! Be prepared for some very hard work if you want to get the good stuff out. It takes a lot of hard shale to split and you'll find a few but they will look really good. Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Greenops barberi - axial lappet is narrow, relatively long, triangular. Greenops boothi - axial lappet is broad with a triangular termination. from: Whiteley, T.E., Kloc, G.J., & Brett, C.E. (2002) The Trilobites of New York. Cornell University Press, 380 pp. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted May 26, 2017 Author Share Posted May 26, 2017 Thanks P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 18 minutes ago, Malcolmt said: Thanks P. Glad to help with another informative post! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryman Dave Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Looks awesome Malcolm. Thanks for the amazing prep. Got to submit for fossil of the month. So glad I decided to see if it's all there. After the kind of day we had splitting rocks and finding very little its easy to say the heck with it!! Had absolutely no idea it would be the find of the year! ! Quarrycomber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 36 minutes ago, Quarryman Dave said: Looks awesome Malcolm. Thanks for the amazing prep. Got to submit for fossil of the month. So glad I decided to see if it's all there. After the kind of day we had splitting rocks and finding very little its easy to say the heck with it!! Had absolutely no idea it would be the find of the year! ! That's often the case with such special finds. One learns through experience to take anything suspicious home as long as it weighs under 10lbs. Well done, Dave and Malcolm and thanks to Gerry and Scott for the id. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerryK Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 On 5/25/2017 at 7:33 PM, Malcolmt said: Thanks GK, you certainly would know better than me. Is the main difference that the barberi have more triangular pygidial spines . Is boothi even used anymore the Arkona ones also got renamed. Gets very confusing... guess I need to reread the 1997 paper The Greenops from Arkona are called Greenops widderensis. From New York, Greenops barberi is found in the Windom Shale. This is the species that is found at Penn Dixie. From the trilobite beds in the lower Wanakah Shale is Greenops grabaui. Both of these species are found in Western New York. Greenops boothi is found in Central New York. It occurs in the Moscow Formation from an undescribed unit between the Windom and Kashong Shale. Most of the Greenops specimens that come from New York are either G. barberi or G. grabaui. Sometimes specimens of Greeops are collected from the Kashong Shale which are an undescribed species. If you have "Trilobites of New York," all the New York species are nicely illustrated and differences described. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 Thanks GK.. Unfortunately that book is still on my Christmas wish list. The description on Amazon definitely makes me want to have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Trilobites of New York is a must-have for all you Ontario trilobitophiles. Greenops boothi was originally described from a Pennsylvania Mahantango Formation locality, and subsequently the name was applied indiscriminately to all New York and Ontario asteropyginid trilobites. Lieberman & Kloc (1997) revised these trilobites and found that most New York and Ontario asterpyginids differed from Greenops boothi, some so much that new genera (Bellcartwrightia and Stummia) had to be established to receive some of the species. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 Unfortunately it is quite pricey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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