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Trilobite ? and Coral ?


Rocky Stoner

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Hi folks, found a new one this AM.

There is a small piece of a cast loosely fitted in the first pic, then removed and flipped for the second.

Can you tell what this is ? Its about 1" wide.

Thanks.

Also, looks like another little trilobite, bit, butt, pygidium ?

IMG_9821.JPG

IMG_9822.JPG

ScreenHunter_01 Jul. 12 10.28.jpg

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It is in deed a trilobite pygidium. Any information on the location found for identification?

...I'm back.

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1 minute ago, Raggedy Man said:

It is in deed a trilobite pygidium. Any information on the location found for identification?

Eastern West Virginia, Devonian, Mahandango, Clearville Syncline.

Thanks.

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If your lucky, there might be a little more trilo in the matrix, might be a good idea to see if you can clear away some of the rock.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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4 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

If your lucky, there might be a little more trilo in the matrix, might be a good idea to see if you can clear away some of the rock.

I have tried. As you probably know, this stuff is very soft and extremely fragile. I have found at least 10 of these little pygidia but never a larger segment. I'm wondering if these were all separated at the articulation point before becoming fossilized.

Thanks.

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13 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

If your lucky, there might be a little more trilo in the matrix, might be a good idea to see if you can clear away some of the rock.

Its hard to see, but in the pic the fwd end of the pygidium terminates into a vertical wall of the mold of the cone coral cavity.

There was no matrix in that area.

Thanks again.

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1 minute ago, Rocky Stoner said:

I have tried. As you probably know, this stuff is very soft and extremely fragile. I have found at least 10 of these little pygidia but never a larger segment. I'm wondering if these were all separated at the articulation point before becoming fossilized.

Thanks.

Yeah, I'm not sure if this is right (beacause i am also relatively new to fossils as well) but I believe they are molts rather than the actual trilo, so they are often broken. I managed to separate some large brachiopods from the matrix rather clumsily with a screw driver and a hammer (I lost my scribe), but maybe a scribe could help take out the trilo, but that depends on how much time your willing to spend, and how impatient you are (I am incredibly impatient, hence using a hammer to prep delicate shells, but it worked surprisingly well).

best of luck finding a whole trilo, they are out there!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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I think what I am finding are "casts" of the trilo part. Many of the shells I find are a mold, and a cast with a thin void where the actual shell once resided.

My understanding ...." The difference between a mold fossil and a cast fossil is that mold fossil is formed when an object is placed into soft mud and is removed by decomposition or physical sources; a cast fossil happens when a mold fossil fills up with sediment ."

 

Thanks again, keep scratching .

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2 minutes ago, Rocky Stoner said:

I think what I am finding are "casts" of the trilo part. Many of the shells I find are a mold, and a cast with a thin void where the actual shell once resided.

My understanding ...." The difference between a mold fossil and a cast fossil is that mold fossil is formed when an object is placed into soft mud and is removed by decomposition or physical sources; a cast fossil happens when a mold fossil fills up with sediment ."

 

Thanks again, keep scratching .

I meant a molt like a shed skin. think of it like a cicada, the exoskeleton is shed and is brittle, this is I think what you are finding, not the trilo which in death is held together by connective tissue, which of course rots away soon after, so is found whole.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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currents in the water tend to collect parts of animals that are of the same weight. Which is most likely why you find only pygidiums there.

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1 hour ago, WhodamanHD said:

I meant a molt like a shed skin. think of it like a cicada, the exoskeleton is shed and is brittle, this is I think what you are finding, not the trilo which in death is held together by connective tissue, which of course rots away soon after, so is found whole.

Good info, I misunderstood, thanks. I wasn't aware that they shed like that.

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Nice Pygidium find!  Trilobite molts  are the most commonly found fossils of this arthropod.  They are also the most robust component, and do not fall apart so readily like cephalons or thorax sections.  BTW, current sorting of similar weight or flow characteristics is called "Winnowing".  

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Arizona Chris

Paleo Web Site:  http://schursastrophotography.com/fossiladventures.html

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13 minutes ago, Rocky Stoner said:

Does anyone have an idea on what the first item pictured is ?

Thanks.

Maybe a horn coral?

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/12/2017 at 0:56 PM, Rocky Stoner said:

Does anyone have an idea on what the first item pictured is ?

Thanks.

 

I think it may be a piece of a pelecypod shell. 

(Clam) Rather than a brachiopod or horn coral. 


The growth lines look more shell-like than horn coral like, to me. 

 

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