Jump to content

Winged insect or scales? Or not fauna at all?


JTCatskills

Recommended Posts

Hi all.  We found this on the rocky Pacific Ocean beaches about 50 miles south of Mendocino, CA.  To my untrained eye it looks like a winged insect or perhaps scales.  Or am I seeing what I want to see? ;)  The photos give dimension and one shot is 7X macro.  Any thoughts or comments are always greatly appreciated!

 

 

IMG_3007.jpg

IMG_3017.jpg

IMG_3054.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the Forum. :)

 

You have a fossil echinoid there. Similar to modern era sea urchin .

Regards,

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, an echinoid for sure. The middle pattern makes it a fairly easy to identify. Nice photography new members often have problems with getting clear images making it harder to ID.

rydysig.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you Virgilian, Fossildude19 and Ryan Dye.  Much appreciated!   And thanks, Ryan, for the compliment on the photogs.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, JTCatskills said:

IMG_3054.jpg

 

 

I confirm that it is a sea urchin fossil, doubtless an internal mold. What you see there is called interambulacral plates.

 

Coco

 

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a nice example of a worn irregular fossil echinoid. The magnified area reveals the calcite cleavage planes.

 

" Fossil echinoderm plates are generally secondarily mineralized, with the 'holes' in the stereom becoming infilled by calcite that develops as an overgrow on the skeleton. Because the secondary calcite has the same crystallographic orientation as the original calcite of the plate, plates of fossil echinoderms are still single crystals. A characteristic of fossil echinoderm plates is that they break along calcite cleavage planes. The flat or stepped fracture surfaces are lustrous and provide a useful means of identifying unknown fossils as echinoderms. " - P. D. Taylor, D. N. Lewis - Fossil Invertebrates

" 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

Neat find. We used to find sand dollars from San Fran northward that had a similar preservation. I always liked how the plate outlines were very distinct and showy. Might be the Scutellaster genus that shows up in alot of the Pliocene outcrops.

 

Regards, Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

I have several of these which I found in Northern CA, Pacifica.. Thanks I now know what they are!

Roberta

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all,  speaking of sand dollars, is it true that every sand dollar contains five "dove-like" shells inside.. I've found that to be true (broken many) and if so what are they?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Roberta NJ CA said:

Hi all,  speaking of sand dollars, is it true that every sand dollar contains five "dove-like" shells inside.. I've found that to be true (broken many) and if so what are they?

The "dove-like" shells inside might be parts of the "Aristotle's lantern", so the mouth region of echinoids. I think, you are referring to the "Pyramids". :)

 

more details here

 

LanternBooth.jpg.965082bb8873a0bb0bdd0cbf8d807b8b.jpg

" 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

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...