A first for me

[Malcolmt]

Well I was out hunting the Ordovician on Saturday and as it turns out I had a pretty awesome day. I found a plate with 5 flexicalymene trilos on it all essentially complete , a cyclocystoid complete with central plates, a partial piece of a cleiocrinus, a pleurocystites, a complete prone ceraurus with at least 5 small crinoid calyx on the plate, a bit mangled enrolled isotelus, a calyptalaux . You can see that fossils when they are found in the field are often nothing special to look at. Note that in the field I always circle what I am interested in with black sharpie marker (never leave home without one ) Many times I look at what I brought home weeks later and it really helps to know what caused me t carry it back to the car with me...... I also write the location and the date on the back because it is often weeks or months before I get to looking at them after getting home.

 

 

However what got me excited was  the rock 2nd from the top of this group but one that had just the faintest sign that it had something that looked like an echinoderm in it. Not much to look at and barely noticeable in the filed.All the pictures that follow are of approximately the same orientation as the original unprepped picture. Here it is under better light and closer up.

 

 

 After a while prepping I realized that I had something special

 

 

 Getting even more special

 

 

Starting to look quite cool

 

 

All done and the first ever Edriophus levis (Bather) for me and it is essentially complete. It is about 1 1/2 inches across. There were a few found a few years back but this is the first I have seen in quite a while.

Not exactly common......`These are quite rare and are found in both the Bob Caygeon and the verulam formations of Ontario. Note that the arms curve clockwise which is one of the distinguishing features , Lebitodiscus curves counterclockwise. It would also appear that the arms go further down the sides than Foerstedicus. The anus is composed of 9 to 15 triangular plates which you can see broken up on this specimen. Really had no clue what it was when I found it in the field. I thought it was going to most likely be a crinoid calyx... Was a very nice surprise.

 

 

As you can see from the last picture the specimen is sitting free on its original matrix. The reverse has also been prepped and is hollow with some plates visible. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of the underside yet. Maybe will try to do when I get a chance. But have a lot of really neat material under prep right now ... have spent 10 hours a day prepping material in the last few days ... If I can keep up the pace for a few weeks I can start to get my head above water.......

[FossilDudeCO]

FANTASTIC!
Absolutely gorgeous.

 

Congrats!

[Grimlock]

That is really cool. Great work

[Darktooth]

That is a very lovely piece! Great prep!

[Jeffrey P]

That's exquisite!!!! Congratulations. I agree, it looked nothing like that in the field. You have quite the eye for spotting rare treasures.

[Wrangellian]

Congrats on another new 'first'. Been a while since I've found any obvious firsts at my site..

I see the Trilobite, Cystoid, Cyclocystoid... I don't know how you can miss some of those things, the sharpie would hardly be needed! (on some)

I guess it takes longer to prep all the things that deserve it than it does to find them - Amazing that you ever get your head above water at all... But I guess you need to collect them while the collecting is good? That's what I'm doing at my site, before it's all built upon or eroded to crumbs.

[Raggedy Man]

Beautiful prep job. Cant wait to see that ceraurus prepped

[Fossil-Hound]

@Malcolmt excellent preparation and excited to see your trilobite preparation.

[Malcolmt]

Yikes the pressure is getting put on for me to do the ceraurus ..... maybe tomorrow after I do one for someone else....

[FossilDAWG]

All that from one collecting trip?  That would be a dream for me.  The Foerstediscus is fantastic!   That is one genus I have never found even a scrap of.

 

Don

[doushantuo]

Totally disagree.

That's an ugly edrioasteroid.

Where's the usual deep velvety purple sheen,and does it play "Ode to Joy" when you press all the ambulacra simultaneously?

[TqB]

Stunning material, I'd vote for the Foerstediscus as FOTY...

[Kane]

Excellent finds and top shelf prep work as always, MT. 

[Phevo]

Nice find, beautifully prepped

[Malcolmt]

Doushantuo... Its a Canadian one so it is a poutine yellow and only sings Justin Beiber songs.....

[Fossil-Hound]

10 hours ago, Malcolmt said:

Yikes the pressure is getting put on for me to do the ceraurus ..... maybe tomorrow after I do one for someone else....

 

No pressure sir. Just excited to see another polished specimen. 

[FossilDAWG]

Hope we see that Foerstediscus show up in Collections!

 

Don

[jpc]

wow, malcolm. I don't know much about the Paleozoic, but I can tell that is a really cool fossil.  

[RJB]

Very nice prep Malcolmt.  10 hours a day every day for a few weeks!  That would kill me!  

 

RB

[Malcolmt]

Unfortunately RB what I want to do and what I actually do are often very different......

[Northern Sharks]

Great Edrio Malcolm! I do think you should check your ID though. I'm 99.9% sure that what you have is an Edriophus levis

[piranha]

1 hour ago, Northern Sharks said:

...I do think you should check your ID though. I'm 99.9% sure that what you have is an Edriophus levis.

 

 

figures from:

 

Hessin, W.A. (2009)
South-Central Ontario Fossils: A guide to the ancient marine life of the region.
Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, 286 pp.

 

[Malcolmt]

Never found one before of either so the identification was somewhat iffy. I looked at both pictures in Hessin and for some reason went with Foerstediscus. I will change the name as I agree it looks more like Edriophus particularly in central oral area.

 

Thanks K. and Scott.... K. Will see you on Sunday . I will likely throw a few of my recent finds and preps in the car ... some are quite nice....

[JohnBrewer]

Congratulations on such a find and what superb prep too. 

[Ludwigia]

Even though JP beat me to it, I'll say it anyway: WOW! That's quite a harvest for one day, Malcolm! Congratulations! Sure does make up for the days where nothing much could be found.