Belemnites? Conodont?

[Pseudogygites]

Greetings again TTF! The Billings formation is just filled with stuff that I can't identify! This time, I have found some glossy, cylinder-shaped things in the Billings Shale. I know that conodont elements are known from some parts Ontario and Quebec, but I think that it might be a belemnite as well. They seen to be associated with crinoid stems, brachiopods, and one Pseudogygites Lantimarginatus pygidium. They are each roughly one centimetre long. They are in the centre of the first picture and the second picture.

[RyanDye]

Interesting... 

[Kane]

You'll have to indicate where with another photo, as I don't see what you are seeing. 

 

Also, it could not be a belemnite because they only arrived in the Mesozoic.

[Miocene_Mason]

Crinoid split through the middle?

[Fossildude19]

I wonder if they are broken pieces pleura from the Pseudogygites trilobites?  

 

[Pseudogygites]

Sorry. Here are some more pictures with a pencil for scale and indication.

[Kane]

5 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

I wonder if they are broken pieces pleura from the Pseudogygites trilobites?  

 

That's exactly what they are.  

 

Here is an example of those pleura lined up, cropped from a full Pseudogygites latimarginatus:

[Pseudogygites]

Wow! Thank you all! My guesses weren't even close! XD

[Kane]

38 minutes ago, Pseudogygites said:

Wow! Thank you all! My guesses weren't even close! XD

Our pleasure.  

 

Given the massive abundance of trilobite moults in that shale, it is a little like a jigsaw puzzle that has been tossed on the floor. Tons of little disarticulated bits. It might be helpful, for a little while, if you carry a little printed picture of Pseudogygites and one of Triarthrus with you when you dig, just to check the pieces against the pictures (just like the box cover of a jigsaw puzzle!). It won't take you long to be able to identify even the tiniest fragments automatically.