Adam's Ordovician.

[Douvilleiceras]

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 6:54 AM, Tidgy's Dad said:

...in other specimens I have seen the rostral spine or horn at the front is molded into the glabella as if an extension of it , but here it is just a point at the anterior of the pre-glabella area. 

 

You are correct - trilobites such as Ampyx  in the Family Raphiophoridae have median cephalic spines sprouting from the glabella, not the anterior border as in your specimen. 

 

Fortey (1999) has some info on Ampyx and an explanation of its morphology in the section concerning filter feeders. 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thank's everybody for all the comments.

This next one's an external mould of the tabulate coral, Favosites fibrilla, from the Dufton shales, Cross Fell, North Pennines, UK. It is thus Caradoc, Upper Ordovician in age from roughly 455 mya. 

Oh, the fossil part is 3.5 cm in diameter. 

[Bobby Rico]

Nice coral with great detail.   

I have recently been finding corals really interesting and I have starting polishing some sliced specimens too great results.

 

cheers Bobby 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thanks. 

I did a bit of polishing many moons ago with varying results! 

I will be posting some of these efforts (mainly Carboniferous) at a later

date. 

[Bobby Rico]

Looking forward to seeing them. I am really new to corals but have enjoyed sanding and polishing the specimens I have by hand . I do think all coral I have are Carboniferous. 

 

[Douvilleiceras]

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 2:06 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

Labelled as Trilacinoceras hunanense, I reckon it's actually Lituites lituus....

Cool nautiloid! I was lucky to get one of these with barely any prep a while back. They have nacre with amazingly fine ribbing when unpolished, but the visible chambers on the polished ones make for a nice example too

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lovely, I would love to get one without prep to go alongside mine, I do prefer natural state over polished, but this one is quite pretty. 

. 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Here is the Upper Ordovian, Caradocian bryozoan Constellaria antheloidea from the Cincinnati group of Williamson County, Tennessee. Age about 450 mya. 

Sadly the star shaped, depressed, stellate maculae don't show up so well on photo as they do in real life. I had a better one with a bend in the middle but it seems to have vanished in my move to Morocco , like so many other things. (not just fossils) 

Still, here you go : 

 

 

[Bobby Rico]

Great collection thanks for showing us

[Tidgy's Dad]

9 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

Great collection thanks for showing us

Thanks, Bobby! 

There's a lot more of my Ordovician stuff to come,plus a couple of bits I've received from TFF members, when i get round to it, but first I need to catch up with the Cambrian.

Also need to do a minerals section when I have time:! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Having finally caught up with my Cambrian stuff it's back to the Orodvician and first up some lovely brachiopods from the Cummingsville Formation of Rochester, Minnesota and so late Middle Ordovician about 451 to 453 million years old. These were sent to me by the enormously generous Doren, @caldigger and are show some beautiful preservation and detail. They are listed as "Rhynchotrema sp." so knowing that brachiopod identification without internal structures is difficult to say the least, especially for some of these rhynchonellids, I started to do some research online, particularly as the two large specimens seemed to be very different from each other, more than just inter-species variation would account for. I particularly studied pictures and photos from the web, posts on TFF and several papers by The Minnesota Geological Survey as well as Weiss' 1955 work on the Ordovician brachiopods of Minnesota. 

So, i think this first one is Rhynchotrema ainsliei, on the basis of it's size, shape and more specifically the fact that it has a whopping 30 costae overall and 5 on the fold which is within the species range of 26 to 34 in total and 5-7 on the fold. No other rhynchonellid brachiopod listed for this area quite fits this. So here is Rhynchotrema ainsiei,maximum width 1.4 cm at the widest point

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

So, the second one, judging from the first is a juvenile Rhychotrema ainsiei, it has 32 costae, 5 on the fold, but is flatter and smaller as the species develops the sulcus (and fold) as it gets older. 1 cm across. 

 

 

[Kane]

Rhyncotrema sp. always seem like Ordovician Valentine's (except the ones I find here are grey, and not the lovely BBQ crisp colour you have here!). 

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 2/19/2018 at 9:48 PM, Kane said:

Rhyncotrema sp. always seem like Ordovician Valentine's (except the ones I find here are grey, and not the lovely BBQ crisp colour you have here!). 

Yup, they're beautiful, a warm colour and heart shaped. 

The third one was a lot more difficult and it took a while to narrow it down to two species from two different families, Rhynchotrema wisconsinense (Rhynchotrematidae) and Rostricellula minnesotensis. (Trigonirhynchiidae). They both have very similar characteristics and the only way to be sure is by internal structure, but due to slight variations in shape and a characteristic lack of obvious growth line ornamentation, plus it seems that the former does not occur in the same beds as Rhynchotrema ainslie, I'm leaning towards Rostricellula minnesotensis. But I wouldn't bet my fez on it. Anyway, here it is, width 1.3 cm at widest point. 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

And 

So thanks again to Doren @caldigger

Very much appreciated! 

[Bobby Rico]

@Tidgy's Dad beautiful colours. Very nice my friend. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Actually,

 @Bobby Rico
@Kane

I have to confess these are not the natural colours but the lighting I used for the photographs, though I still think they're very pretty in grey.

[ynot]

4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

these are not the natural colours but the lighting I used for the photographs

Your choice of background also contributed to the color change. 

A solid neutral color background would help.

[Tidgy's Dad]

5 minutes ago, ynot said:

Your choice of background also contributed to the color change. 

A solid neutral color background would help.

Still practicing my photography. Until recently I had never photographed anything much.

And I quite like the orange colour. 

Thanks for the advice, like in everything, i am always trying to learn. 

[Bobby Rico]

@Tidgy's Dad still some beautiful  Branchiopod . Nice, I am enjoying this thread. Thank you

[Tidgy's Dad]

And here is a beauty. 

An Upper Ordovician eocrinoid, Lower Caradoc, First Bani Group, Izegguirene Formation from Bou Nemrou, El Kaid Errami, Morocco. Age about 455 mya. 

Here's Ascocystites sp, notice how the bigger, older ones have more sections to the theca and more brachioles than the smaller, younger ones. Roughly aligned to the direction of the mudslide that buries them. Full length of the biggest one - 9cm from tip to tip, block 11 cm long. 

   

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

[Tidgy's Dad]

[Miocene_Mason]

14 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Roughly aligned to the direction of the mudslide that buries them.

That is so cool! Helps you envision the environment where they lived, and the exact moment they died. Amazing.

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

That is so cool! Helps you envision the environment where they lived, and the exact moment they died. Amazing.

The other common fossils found with them are Ophiuroids 

(not my photo).

One can imagine this little echinoderm community with the brittle stars foraging on the substrate and the eocrinoids filter feeding in the current a few inches above.