Hungry Hollow fossils!

[Monica]

Hello all!

 

It's a dreary day, so I'm trying to organize some of my fossils into my new display cabinets, and I was hoping to get some help with identifications.  All of the fossils below were found in the south pit of Hungry Hollow near Arkona, Ontario.  The age is mid-Devonian.  Thanks in advance for all of your help!

 

Monica

 

Photo #1: Definitely a coral, but which one?  A type of Favosites, perhaps?

 

Photo #2: Another coral - perhaps Alveolites goldfussi?

 

Photo #3: Still another coral - perhaps Platyaxum frondosum?

 

Photo #4: I have no idea what this brown thing is - help!

 

Photo #5: A trilobite pygidium - can anyone tell which trilo?

 

Photo #6: A brachiopod - no idea which one...

 

Photo #7: Three brachiopods - again, I don't know their identity/ies 

 

Photo #8: Two brachiopods - I used to think they were both Devonochonetes scitulus, but up close they appear to look a little different to me - what do you think?

 

Photo #9: The back of the rock from Photo #8 - any idea what those black fragments are?!

 

Photo #10: A pyritized bivalve (thanks, Adam @Tidgy's Dad!) - again, I'm at a loss as to what its identity is 

 

Photos #11 and #12: A Mucrospirifer brachiopod, but I'm wondering - is that the lophophore that I see inside of it, or is it just the valve that's been crushed inwards?

[piranha]

19 minutes ago, Monica said:

Photo #5: A trilobite pygidium - can anyone tell which trilo?

 

 

 Eldredgeops sp. 

[Kane]

Photos 4 and 9 are trilobite fragments; the first likely being the ventral side fragment of a Pseudodechenella sp. glabella (or possibly Crassiproetus canadensis) and the second being thoracic segments of Eldredgeops rana partially buried in the matrix. 

 

#10 may be Paracyclas sp.

[Ludwigia]

Hi Monica. Afraid I can't help you all that much, but I'm pretty sure you've got the first two corals right. #4 is probably a piece of trilobite and Piranha beat me to it with Eldredgeops. I don't see a lophophore in that last brachiopod. It would be underneath the shell if it's there.

[Tidgy's Dad]

1) Yes. If the colony is sort of flattened it may be Favosites alpenensis. 

2) Yes, I think you're right.

3) The bryozoan Lichenalia, perhaps? 

4) Don't know. Part of the interior of an upside down trilobite cephalon, perhaps? 

5) Eldredgeops rana ?

6) Looks like an internal mold of Atrypa reticularis to me.

7) Don't know so guess at Rhynchotrema ?

8) I think Devonochonetes for the one on the left and Tropidoleptus for the one on the right.

9) definitely a brachiopod and not a bivalve mollusc? If a brach, maybe an athyrid.

10) Just crushed inwards. 

 

Lovely finds!  

[Kane]

I'll take a running guess on a few more: 

 

Photo #6: Pholidostrophia nacrea?

Photo #8 - the right brach is different from the left. The one on the right has a little concentric ring, which might make it Tropidoleptus carinatus

[caldigger]

1 hour ago, Monica said:

Photo #7: Three brachiopods - again, I don't know their identity/ies 

Moe, Larry and Curly?

[piranha]

The morphology and size of the specimen in photo 4 is a good match with the glabella of: Dipleura dekayi

 

 

[Kane]

17 minutes ago, piranha said:

The morphology and size of the specimen in photo 4 is a good match with the glabella of: Dipleura dekayi

 

Hm. The only issue is that I don't think they have been reported in the Hungry Hollow Mbr. I'll have to double check...

 

Albeit a dated reference (using the previous genus names), the reported trilobites from the Hungry Hollow Member (when it was its own standalone Formation). [Note for the curious: Phacops spp. are now Eldredgeops, Dechenella = Pseudodechenella, Greenops boothi = Greenops widderensis]

 

From 

Stumm, E. and Wright, J. (1958) CHECK LIST OF FOSSIL INVERTEBRATES DESCRIBED FROM THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN ROCKS OF THE THEDFORD-ARKONA REGION OF SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology - University of Michigan. V. XIV, 7, p. 109:

 

 

[piranha]

2 minutes ago, Kane said:

Hm. The only issue is that I don't think they have been reported in the Hungry Hollow Mbr. I'll have to double check...

 

 

I already looked at the checklist.  It is listed in the Widder.  in any event, the specimen appears to match best with Dipleura.

[Monica]

32 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

1) Yes. If the colony is sort of flattened it may be Favosites alpenensis. 

2) Yes, I think you're right.

3) The bryozoan Lichenalia, perhaps? 

4) Don't know. Part of the interior of an upside down trilobite cephalon, perhaps? 

5) Eldredgeops rana ?

6) Looks like an internal mold of Atrypa reticularis to me.

7) Don't know so guess at Rhynchotrema ?

8) I think Devonochonetes for the one on the left and Tropidoleptus for the one on the right.

9) definitely a brachiopod and not a bivalve mollusc? If a brach, maybe an athyrid.

10) Just crushed inwards. 

 

Lovely finds!  

 

Hi Adam!

 

I think you're right about Photo #10 - it's a little crushed, but I do think it's a cute little bivalve!  Any ideas as to its identity, then?

 

Thanks!

 

Monica

[Kane]

7 minutes ago, Monica said:

 

Hi Adam!

 

I think you're right about #9 - it's a little crushed, but I do think it's a cute little bivalve!  Any ideas as to its identity, then?

 

Thanks!

 

Monica

Well, like I offered above, thoracic segments of Eldredgeops is a possibility. I can make out some pustulose texture in the image... Using a sewing needle to remove some of the matrix may confirm?

 

This is what I'm seeing: 

[Monica]

1 minute ago, Kane said:

Well, like I offered above, thoracic segments of Eldredgeops is a possibility. I can make out some pustulose texture in the image...

 Oops - I meant to say #10 is a bivalve and not a brachiopod - thanks for catching my error (I'll go and fix it in my other post...)

[Kane]

3 minutes ago, Monica said:

 Oops - I meant to say #10 is a bivalve and not a brachiopod - thanks for catching my error (I'll go and fix it in my other post...)

 

I blame the freezing rain we're getting.  

 

I do run into that bivalve a lot weathered out and glinting in the sun. This post by @Shamalama made me think Paracylas sp. but I'm not absolutely certain yet.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I got my numbers wrong! 

Number 9 is the trilo fragments and 10 is the possible bivalve,11 the crushed one. 

Sorry for the confusion, Kane.

The bivalve could be Peracyclas sp but i don't know if it's found at Hungry Hollow. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Just now, Kane said:

 

I blame the freezing rain we're getting.  

 

I do run into that bivalve a lot weathered out and glinting in the sun. This post by @Shamalama made me think Paracylas sp. but I'm not absolutely certain yet.

Beat me to it by a second, but i think you're right. 

[piranha]

 

Also, based on the 3 cm length, a conservative estimate for the total length (if it was a proetid) would be approximately 9 cm.   Seems a stretch, literally! 

[Kane]

8 minutes ago, piranha said:

 

Also, based on the 3 cm length, a conservative estimate for the total length (if it was a proetid) would be approximately 9 cm.   Seems a stretch, literally! 

True, unless they called him Stretch on account of his gigantism.  

If it is a Dipleura, that would definitely be the first I've seen down there tangled up in the coral biostrome! 

 

[Peat Burns]

#7 looks like order Atrypida, possibly Spinatrypa spinosa?

[piranha]

52 minutes ago, Kane said:

True, unless they called him Stretch on account of his gigantism.  

If it is a Dipleura, that would definitely be the first I've seen down there tangled up in the coral biostrome! 

 

 

I'm not certain either.  It is mysterious! 

[Monica]

Thanks for all of the replies, everyone!  I'm sure I'll be back with more requests for identification help as I continue to sort through my fossils and decide what goes on display and what doesn't...

 

Just a little shout-out to @middevonian so he can have a little look-see at my HH stuff...

 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone!

 

Monica

[piranha]

Perhaps the symmetry is not quite right for a trilobite.  After enhancing in photoshop, it also looks like a possible gastropod fragment.

 

[Kane]

1 minute ago, piranha said:

Perhaps the symmetry is not quite right for a trilobite.  After enhancing in photoshop, it also looks like a possible gastropod fragment.

 

(You know, I had initially typed that out as a possibility but deleted it! I should go with my gut! )  

 

These big brown pieces do occasionally occur in this member, and both the gastros and trilos share visible similarities at the fragmentary level when there is not enough diagnostic detail as they can come out the same colour. Sometimes you pick up a piece of matrix and second guess it being one or the other. Of course, apart from the corals, a lot of the thin-shelled fossils look like they have been thrown in a Devonian blender and set on puree, making intact specimens of particular species a challenge to find.

 

Two prominent gastropods in this member do frequently show up: Platyceras arkonense and P. conicum. Both can get moderately large.

[Monica]

Okay, I have another item that I'd like to get your expert opinions on...

 

Photo #13: Trilobite fragment?  If so, which trilobite?

 

Perhaps @piranha and/or @Kane would like to have a look?

 

Thanks again!

 

Monica

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Good morning, Monica! 

You're right, i'll leave it to the others, my poor eyeses can't see a trilobite bit here, just crinoid bits, bryozoans and maybe corals.