Bellacartwrightia whiteleyi WIP

[DevonianDigger]

I wanted to enter this one into the IVFOM, but I technically collected it the last day of March, and I didn't take a picture of it before I started prepping it, so that's out. But I will try to chronicle the prep on here.

 

It’s a decent-sized Bellacartwrightia whiteleyi that I pulled from the Windom shale just above the Bay View Coral bed at the site.

 

[DevonianDigger]

 

As you can see, it's not in perfect condition by any means, but there are some nice details already visible on it. I believe that the body is enrolled underneath. The genal spines appear to be intact but the tips are still under a lot of matrix. Slow and steady on this one as they are obnoxiously fragile. 

[Macrophyseter]

Looking good so far  Good Luck on the rest of the prep!

[DevonianDigger]

[DevonianDigger]

1 minute ago, Macrophyseter said:

Looking good so far  Good Luck on the rest of the prep!

 

Thank you! Fingers crossed. This one will never be perfect, but it's good practice and a nice sized Bella.

[izak_]

Looking great! 

[Malcolmt]

Looks like it will come out ok

 

[RJB]

It dawned on me that that red thing is a lighter, then I realized how small this little critter was!  That has to be scary to go on the prep attack?  Im trying to figure out what tool you are using by the tool marks? 

 

RB

[Darktooth]

Can someone please explain how to tell the difference between a Bella and a Greenops?

[Kane]

Coming right up, @Darktooth!  

 

 

This is a table from

Whiteley, T., Kloc, G., and C. Brett (2002) Trilobites of New York. Cornell UP, page 129: 

[Kane]

18 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Can someone please explain how to tell the difference between a Bella and a Greenops?

And here are comparative images from the AMNH. Keep in mind the Greenops here is G. boothi which is very similar (but not identical) to the Greenops found at Penn Dixie, which have yet to be fully described, and are listed as Greenops sp. The second image is a Bellacartwrightia whiteleyi.

[Darktooth]

Thank-you, kind Sir!

[DevonianDigger]

54 minutes ago, RJB said:

It dawned on me that that red thing is a lighter, then I realized how small this little critter was!  That has to be scary to go on the prep attack?  Im trying to figure out what tool you are using by the tool marks? 

 

RB

 

It’s nerve-wracking because of how fragile it is, but I’m getting pretty good at prepping PD material and I’m fairly comfortable even with this fella. 

 

As for tools, I’ve used a few to get to this point. The tool marks your seeing that are probably throwing you are from my new scribe. It came with an industrial diamond stylus, which I was using to remove the bulk of the matrix while I wait for my carbide stylus to arrive. This particular bug was only visible as the hint of the occipital ridges in the matrix and is actually in at about a 45 degree angle, so there has been a lot of matrix to remove. Aside from that, I use my trusty tattoo machine to do the details and my Paasche AECR at about 40 psi with dolomite, and another air eraser running at about 60 with some very fine aluminum oxide just to clean out a few of the tight furrows. (Have to be really careful with that last bit!)

[Peat Burns]

Oh boy... Nice specimen!  Coming along nicely 

[Ludwigia]

Looking good so far. How hard is the matrix?