Adam's Cambrian

[Wrangellian]

Oh.. I wasn't sure what you were referring to by 'Chinese'.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Anything from China, really! But, yes, Cambrian would be best. I've seen a few droolworthy ones. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Fairly recently I acquired two more Middle Cambrian trilobites from @Huntoniaat a bargain price. Lovely! 

This one is Achlysopsis sp. from Utah. 

9 mm long. 

Before prepping :

 

After a spot of pin prep : 

I may do a little more prepping, but quite pleased so far.  

[Huntonia]

Incredible work Adam!! You really brought that bug to life. If I'd known it would have prepped out so nicely I probably would have held onto it myself 

I'm glad it found such a nice home, and seeing how well you've handled it has made my day, and with a pin vise nonetheless! You must have some truly steady hands 

[Tidgy's Dad]

4 hours ago, Huntonia said:

Incredible work Adam!! You really brought that bug to life. If I'd known it would have prepped out so nicely I probably would have held onto it myself 

I'm glad it found such a nice home, and seeing how well you've handled it has made my day, and with a pin vise nonetheless! You must have some truly steady hands 

That's very kind of you to say. 

I only used the pin vice towards the end. 

It was mainly done with board pins.

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 11/23/2020 at 5:32 AM, Huntonia said:

Incredible work Adam!! 

Here's the other one you sent me.

Modocia sp. from the Upper Middle Cambrian, House Range, Millard County, Utah. 

I think it's from the Weeks Formation and is Modocia weeksensis. 

As it came :

After poking with various pointy objects :

Close ups :

Pretty bug, I reckon. 

 

[jeannie55]

Wow!  You are a true artist. I am so impressed.

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 hours ago, jeannie55 said:

Wow!  You are a true artist. I am so impressed.

Thank you, but I'm just following the lines of nature's beauty with a pin! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

I was recently fortunate enough to receive a nice selection of Wheeler Shale fossils, Middle Cambrian, Nr. Antelope Springs, Utah from the delightful Debra @Paleome to add to my Elrathia kingii and Itagnostus interstrictus. 

First up, a nice selection of pieces containing Morania fragmenta. These are cyanobacteria, often referred to as blue-green algae. 

In some pieces the little colonies are really closely packed together :

An Elrathia kingii cranidium from this piece :

Bit of an agnostid, I think :

I did find a tiny agnostid in this piece, see later in this thread. 

 

A second sample of rock with overlapping Morania fragmenta colonies :

The other end of the same piece has the colonies much more widely spaced on a slightly different layer :

Another agnostid bit or two, I think : 

The other pieces also have more widely spaced colonies :

Another rock :

And the last piece of shale :

And a trilobite thorax, Elrathia kingii, I expect :

 

[FossilNerd]

On 11/23/2020 at 4:16 AM, Tidgy's Dad said:

only used the pin vice towards the end. 

It was mainly done with board pins.

Adam,

You are a shining example of what one can do with time, patience, and a pin. You don’t need fancy and expensive equipment to achieve some fantastic results! 
 

Beautiful bugs by the way.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

22 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

 

You are a shining example of what one can do with time, patience, and a pin. You don’t need fancy and expensive equipment to achieve some fantastic results! 

Is there a blushing emoji? 

Thanks, Wayne, much appreciated. 

You too, @KaneThank you. 

 

And look! 

Brachiopods! 

Acrothele subsidua, the brachiopod most commonly found in the Wheeler Shale, but my first specimens. 

They are all 8 to 9 mm wide. 

Specimen one :

Specimen two : 

I think they are both squished ventral valves. 

Specimen three I think is a dorsal valve interior with muscle scars each side of a short median ridge : 

Lovely. 

[Kane]

Well, it's certainly not Adam's [insert geologic period] without brachiopods!  

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 5/12/2021 at 10:25 PM, Kane said:

Well, it's certainly not Adam's [insert geologic period] without brachiopods!  

Absolutely. 

I do have a couple of Cambrian brachiopods from Spain and one I found myself in Wales that I posted earlier in this thread, but this is my first American one so it has made me very happy. 

 

It also wouldn't be Adam's [insert geologic period] without something I am unable to identify. 

I posted these in the Fossil ID thread, but no conclusive answers yet. Maybe a sponge, algae, worm, burrow, something geological.............? 

The interior is orange and the exterior crust is yellow, with a stain of the same yellow colour around the specimen. Evidence of bacteriological action post mortem? 

Close up of the end. A living chamber? Holdfast? Head? It has crystals in it that could be pyrite, although it has been suggested that some of them resemble sponge spicules. 

The main body of the object also has these 'crystals' : 

The join between the main body and the surrounding stain : 

The join between the stain and the regular shale :

The thinner end where it is broken off :

There is another one of the same things on the same bedding plane :

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

This is from a different piece of Wheeler Shale. Similar in some regards but smaller, no signs of a stain around it and it has a big kink in it. 

It's 2 mm wide at its widest and would be 2.4 cm long if it didn't have the kink in it. 

The big end seems to be partly composed of echinoderm-like plates : 

And it seems to be segmented? 

Snake's head? 

'Segmented body'. 

Some of those crystals, again : 

The 'tail' or holdfast? 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

This last rock has los of black shiny Blobby's in it. 

I think at least some of them may be agnostid bits, but there are no clear trilobits in either rock with my mystery objects, not even a recognizable Elrathia kingii molt.

[FossilNerd]

I wish I could be of help in your mystery object Adam, but I haven’t a clue. It is very intriguing though! I’m hoping someone chimes in. I’m almost as interested to know what it is as you are.

[Tidgy's Dad]

22 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

I wish I could be of help in your mystery object Adam, but I haven’t a clue. It is very intriguing though! I’m hoping someone chimes in. I’m almost as interested to know what it is as you are.

Thanks, Wayne. 

Best suggestion so far has been dragon tongue. Hmmmm.

 

Talking of pin prep, I mentioned when I was posting the Morania fragmenta that I'd found a tiny agnostid. Less than a millimetre of it was showing :

So I gave it a poke : 

And a prod :

And a few more pin :

And a sweet little Itagnostus interstrictus appeared, a fraction over 2 mm long. 

Nice spine : 

There's lovely. 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

From tiny to pretty big. This Itagnostus interstrictus found among more of the Morania fragmenta cyanobacteria colonies is 9 mm long, the biggest I have.

Perhaps it got this big from munching on all the cyanobacteria. 

Trilobits : 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Tidgy's Dad

[Huntonia]

Looks nice, there's something to be said for finding that perfect specimen from a common species. 

[Top Trilo]

I know you like the brachs but I do enjoy the trilobites

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 5/16/2021 at 10:30 PM, Huntonia said:

Looks nice, there's something to be said for finding that perfect specimen from a common species. 

Thank you. 

Though I love this one as well; 

And this one . 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 5/16/2021 at 10:37 PM, Top Trilo said:

I know you like the brachs but I do enjoy the trilobites

Indeed. Brachiopods are my faves but everyone loves a trilobite. 

I do. 

Three more species from this formation to follow once I've finished poking them with my pins. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

The third most common trilobite from the Wheeler Shale Formation would seem to be Asaphiscus wheeleri. 

I love the way that these Wheeler Shale bugs vary in size from the tiny agnostids the the little Elrathia and now the larger Asaphiscus.

It isn't brilliantly prepped as i found that the exoskeleton was quite brittle and fragile.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

A brief interruption to the trilobites as I recently received more Acrothele subsidua brachiiopods from an auction win.

Thanks @Misha, lovely.

This is the positive and negative of the same piece.

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Tidgy's Dad

[Tidgy's Dad]

Since, like Tidgy, I am unable to count above three, I am not certain if this one is an Elrathia kingii or, I am hoping, Bolaspidella housensis. Bolaspidella has 15 thoracic segments and Elrathia only 13. I don't know, but it's a pretty little bug, embedded in a field of Morania fragmenta cyanobacteria. The trilobite is exactly 1 cm long.

Morania fragmenta :

The trilo :