KimTexan Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I found this clam a while back. The one side was pretty clean, but the other side and top were covered with something like mudstone. So I set about cleaning it up a little. I'm an amature wanna be so I didn't do that great of a job, but as I was cleaning off the mudstone like stuff I uncovered at least 3 other critters. I broke the fragile shell of creature # 2 attached to the top, before I realized it was another shell. I thought it was shell fragment in the mudstone. I uncovered creature # 3 a very tiny worm about 1 mm in diameter and maybe 2 cm long. I also uncovered creature # 4 a more robust worm about 6 mm in diameter. I'm not sure how long that one is, because I may have broken him in half before I realized he was there. I think it was wrapped around the clam on the top and side. There may be a 3rd worm down the side as well. I got distracted by something else and never finished cleaning it up. Anyway, can anyone tell me what type of clam this is? Can anyone tell if the worms are different species or is one just younger than the other? I don't think creature #2 is not really identifiable other than maybe a barnacle type or something. I don't know my creatures. I'm new at this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 I can't be of any help with the worm tubes, but they are really cool! And I think the 'clam' may be a brachiopod, Here is the general way to tell the difference. It's in the symmetry. https://palaeopost.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-difference-betweenbivalves-and.html Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 Thank you that is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 So maybe the fatter worm isn't a worm. Maybe it is one of the braciopods' feeding tenticals. Any thoughts on that? I had assumed that because I could see burrowing tunnels on the other side that the creature had already met its demise, which would rule out it being its own tentical. It's hard to tell if the burrowing tunnels are on the brachiopod's shell or if it's in mudstone that I haven't removed. Maybe they're in the stone and the creature was still alive at the time of the fossilizing event. It still has both halves of the shell. Here are a couple more pics. In the last pic there is a wormlike structure almost horizontal. See the red line. Sorry I inserted the same photo twice and can't figure out how to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 I may have to retract my assessment as brachiopod. If it is a brachiopod, this is what I'm observing: Possibly a pedicle attachment with the associated pedicle. However, I remembered the Deer Heart Clam from Texas, which this very much resembles! Need an expert to chime in here! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 @Uncle Siphuncle Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Thank you @ynot! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Were the vermetid worm snails (like Vermetus ) ruled out? Maybe it's one or more of them present on the steinkern. " 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...
KimTexan Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 21 hours ago, Bullsnake said: I may have to retract my assessment as brachiopod. If it is a brachiopod, this is what I'm observing: Possibly a pedicle attachment with the associated pedicle. However, I remembered the Deer Heart Clam from Texas, which this very much resembles! Need an expert to chime in here! Yes it does look a lot like the deer heart clam from the one side, I believe I have some of those in my collection. The ones I have the valves are still reasonably symmetrical and both halves equal in size. I think this is a brachiopod though, because one valve is significantly larger and the umbo more prominent than the other. I'll have to look when I get home to see if there is evidence of a pedical foramen. There is a small recess by the small worm, but that's the wrong location for the foramen as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 2 hours ago, abyssunder said: Were the vermetid worm snails (like Vermetus ) ruled out? Maybe it's one or more of them present on the steinkern. No. I'm a complete novice at identification. Although one of my degrees is in biology so I can pic up much of the language and stuff reasonably easily. I just don't work as a biologist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 I think this is from the Cretaceous Period if you found it near Lake Whitney. Did anyone determine the formation? I believe your first instinct was correct with clam, but since it is an internal mold it will not show any external ornamentation to help tell which one. Someone who collects a lot in the area may have some with this shape that have more detail to give you a better idea. I agree with abyssunder on worm tube, either vermetid or annelid, it may be hard to tell which. It is common to see them on fossils from the North Texas Cretaceous. Bring it to the October meeting of the Dallas Paleontological Society Wednesday and someone may be able to tell you more. We meet at Brookhaven College at 7:00PM. The speaker this month will tell us the new ideas about what killed the Waco mammoths! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 10, 2017 Author Share Posted October 10, 2017 Thank you. I'd love to attend. I just looked at the DPS calendar and mine. I'm already double booked for that time slot. Maybe next month. I haven't learned my formations yet. It was on a ranch not far from Laguna Park about 20 feet above the waterline. There were mostly bivalves, gastropods, brachiopods and coral all in chalk or limestone and mudstone type material. There is also a good amount of quarts crystal and pyrite. Higher up, maybe 50-75 feet are very few if any of those, but there are ammonites 8-15 inches in diameter in mostly top soil. Can't remember if it's clay or not. It was dry. I don't know if that helps with the formation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 from Ippolitov:Cretaceous serpulidae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobWill Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Laguna Park looks to be mostly Pawpaw and Weno Formations to the south and to the north are Denton Clay, Ft. Worth Limestone and Duck Creek Limestone Formations undivided which sounds right for all of that except the quartz. That may have been calcite. A hardness test will determine that easily with quartz hard enough to scratch a steel knife which will scratch calcite. A great help for formations is this series of clickable maps. The paper version available from the U.T. book store also has a booklet for each sheet with descriptions of the rocks and some fossil information. http://www.twdb.texas.gov/groundwater/aquifer/GAT/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 10, 2017 Author Share Posted October 10, 2017 @BobWill Thank you so very much! Truly, thank you. I have a book on Texas fossils with pretty basic maps in the back in black and white, but all it gives are periods and epochs. When I looked at the map with that general area it had it marked as Upper Cretaceous and it doesn't give the formations. I thought about going to the USGS, but I know you can spend a lot of time trying to find specific info some times. So this is a the perfect resource I've been wanting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimTexan Posted October 10, 2017 Author Share Posted October 10, 2017 10 hours ago, doushantuo said: from Ippolitov:Cretaceous serpulidae The little worm on the piece looks a bit like the one labeled as B. The larger worm looking things don't really look like anything there, but I'll have to sit down and compare the vermatid and analid fossils when I get time. Thanks you very much for the resource and input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.51c371f10936bbc883322324e44cc518.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now