Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!

[Nimravis]

33 minutes ago, Innocentx said:

Nice clams. I especially like the sea cucumber. However, I'm pretty sure that's Santa's boot.

You are correct, I knew it was something familiar and just thought Cowboy, it is definitely Santa’s- all I Han say is Ho Ho Ho.

[Nimravis]

I was able to find a little time this evening to crack open a few concretions between the rain storms. I open concretions from Pit 4 (Braidwood Biota- Freshwater) and Braceville Shaft Mine (Essex Biota- Marine).

 

I will start out with my favorite find of the day, a beautiful Annularia from Pit 4.

 

 

 

The rest of the finds from Pit 4 are not even worth showing, but I try to show most things that I come across.

 

A poorly preserved Macroneuropteris, this leaf was was encased right at the outer edge of the concretion.

 

 

2 bracts of cones-

 

 

 

Bark-

 

 

Here are my finds from the Braceville Shaft Mine-

 

Myalinella meeki-

 

 

 

A large mass of Myalinella meeki

 

 

Mazonomya mazonensis Bivalve-

 

 

 

A poorly preserved worm, I am thinking Didontogaster cordylina.

 

 

And that's it folks, not much to write home about today.

 

 

 

 

[Plantguy]

More amazing stuff..even if you wouldnt have written home about it..that last Macroneuropteris aint too shabby. Are any of the diagnostic hairlike structures present?.I like it! 

Regards, Chris 

[Nimravis]

40 minutes ago, Plantguy said:

Are any of the diagnostic hairlike structures present?

Thanks, and There are and it would probably clean up okay, I will see if I get around to it.

[Nimravis]

Today I continued with some concretions from Pit 4.

 

I will start out with my favorite find of the day, a very nice stem- I love these kind of pieces.

 

 

 

Next are some Pecopteris Ferns that I found, some are not in the great state.

 

 

 

A couple of Neuropteris, the first one is pyritized.

 

 

 

Lycopod leaves-

 

 

 

Here are two great looking concretions that I could guess with a 99% certainty that they contained a fossil.

 

 

 

The one on the left was a Pecopteris, again not with the greatest preservation.

 

 

 

The one on the right side was a little more difficult. It broke in the center and I was having my doubts until I saw the telltale sign of a fossil inclusion (Red arrow)

 

 

 

Though this concretion did not break the way that I wanted it too, I was able to piece it together to reveal a Lycopod leaf. I think I could have Freeze / Thawed this piece for 20 years and it would not have opened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Innocentx]

There's something photographic about all of it, except the pictures were taken hundreds millions years ago

and left to develop in the earth.  

[Wrangellian]

Well said!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Love the Annularia and the little possible worm. 

The stem in the last batch is very nice too. 

[Nimravis]

Today I decided to open a few of the concretions that I collected at the ESCONI Braceville Shaft Mine trip yesterday as well as a number of larger concretions from Pit 4.

 

I will start out the the Braceville concretions.

 

 

Here are some Essexella asherae Jellyfish- the first one had an outer crust around it that is found on numerous concretions.

 

 

 

 

A couple pieces of coprolite-

 

 

I believe that this is a poorly preserved portion of a worm.

 

 

I thought that this would have been a Neuropteris Leaf, but it turned out to be void.

 

 

 

Here are three groups of concretions that I opened from Pit 4.

 

 

There were no WOW fossils today, it was a bark day.

 

 

 

Pecopteris Fern-

 

 

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Pecopteris

 

 

 

Coprolite-

 

 

 

I have to check of this piece, not positive on it- I am thinking Odontopteris, please correct me if I am wrong.

 

 

Annularia-

 

 

Lycopod Leaves-

 

 

 

[GeschWhat]

Is that a seed in with the Odontopteris?  

[Nimravis]

14 minutes ago, GeschWhat said:

Is that a seed in with the Odontopteris?  

I was thinking that too Lori, but I think that is the was the concretion broke.

 

Here is a close up- I have had concretions that broke this way in the past and I do not see any detail on that section.

 

[GeschWhat]

That's too bad, but interesting. 

[stats]

On 9/9/2018 at 6:40 PM, Nimravis said:

I have to check of this piece, not positive on it- I am thinking Odontopteris, please correct me if I am wrong.

 

 

I like your id.  But, it could be Odontopteris, Mariopteris, or even Laveineopteris...   Maybe a little cleaning will help?  It can be tough to tell these apart.  The shape, top pinnule's shape, location of the pinnules on the stem (opposite or alternating) are all important.  The seed ferns seem like the right place, but I have to admit that every time I think I have these down, someone corrects me...

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, stats said:

 

I like your id.  But, it could be Odontopteris, Mariopteris, or even Laveineopteris...   Maybe a little cleaning will help?  It can be tough to tell these apart.  The shape, top pinnule's shape, location of the pinnules on the stem (opposite or alternating) are all important.  The seed ferns seem like the right place, but I have to admit that every time I think I have these down, someone corrects me...

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

I totally agree with you, it gets very difficult at times.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I very much like some of those pieces of bark. 

And the possible Odontopteris is interesting. 

 

[Nimravis]

4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I very much like some of those pieces of bark. 

And the possible Odontopteris is interesting. 

 

Thanks Adam, no time to open anything yesterday and tonight I am climbing, so most likely I will not get a chance today, but on a good note- I counted my buckets and I am down to 65. 

[GeschWhat]

On 9/2/2018 at 10:48 PM, Nimravis said:

I come across a lot of concretions that have what I consider plant matter. Even though I do not keep these, I always look at them closely with a "loupe" to check for insects or spiders.

 

It is early days, but I suspect these could be coprolites. I have only examined scat from 3 different species of millipedes so far, but with those that I have, their pellets are almost completely comprised of undigested plant material. The individual pieces of plant material are quite large compared to the size of the bug. When I look at them under high magnification, they all even appear to retained their cell structure. Bottom line, these are keepers!

[Nimravis]

@GeschWhat I am 99.9% certain that these are not coprolites, but when I come across them again, and I should, I will put them off to the side and mail them out to you.

[Innocentx]

6 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

their pellets are almost completely comprised of undigested plant material. The individual pieces of plant material are quite large compared to the size of the bug. When I look at them under high magnification, they all even appear to retained their cell structure.

That's interesting. I wonder if they extract plant juices for nourishment.

[Nimravis]

Well my climbing partner had to work late today so we cancelled and I will climb with her Thursday, this allowed me to open some concretions that I collected in 1996 from the Braceville Shaft Mine.

 

I will start out with my favorite finds of the day.

 

A tip portion of a fertile Pecopteris.

 

 

I have started to second guess some of my ID's on Bi-Valves that I have been finding. I have been calling some of them Mazonomys mazonensis, now I use to always find these in the open "Death Position". There is an area, a short distance away from Braceville and all of the concretions that I collected from there are "Death Position" Mazonomya mazonensis. Now on with the mis-ID, I think that some of the Bi-valves that I recently have been finding may be Sedgwickia. I will have to check past recent finds to find examples, but I believe that this extremely large Bi-valve is a Sedgwickia. Another favorite find from today.

 

 

Another couple possible examples-

 

 

 

Here is one that I opened on 7-3-18, that I know to not believe is a Mazonomya meeki.

 

 

Here are a few Myalinella meeki Bi-valves-

 

 

Multiple Essexella asherae Jellyfish-

 

 

Here is another Essexella asherae , in years past, collectors referred to this type as a "Blob with Character". The reason for that name is because they are just not flat Jellyfish that are the norm.

 

 

 

 

Coprolite-

 

 

 

Today was a bad day for worms- every concretion, and I believe that there were 6 did not open properly, this is the case many times with the concretions from Braceville. These concretions may have opened properly if I did the Freeze / Thaw method.

 

 

 

Also today I ran across a number of concretions with various mineral inclusions.

 

 

This concretion here, I decided to put aside for Freeze / Thaw method, I have a feeling that there may be something nice, but it most likely will be an Essexella asherae, but I would be fine with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Innocentx]

Good results with the clams, more details than usual, and the fern spores are pretty cool.

[Nimravis]

Adam @Tidgy's Dad , I thought you might like to see a couple examples of these that are in my collection-

 

Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni - Branchiopod

 

 

 

Mazonomya mazonensis in the "Death Position".

 

 

Acharax radiata- notice the lines radiating out.

 

 

I have one example of Edmondia ovata, but I cannot locate it at the moment.

 

Aviculopecten mazonensis Pecten

 

 

I believe that this is a Dunbarella striata Pecten

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

13 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Well my climbing partner had to work late today so we cancelled and I will climb with her Thursday, this allowed me to open some concretions that I collected in 1996 from the Braceville Shaft Mine.

 

I will start out with my favorite finds of the day.

 

A tip portion of a fertile Pecopteris

 

I have started to second guess some of my ID's on Bi-Valves that I have been finding. I have been calling some of them Mazonomys mazonensis, now I use to always find these in the open "Death Position". There is an area, a short distance away from Braceville and all of the concretions that I collected from there are "Death Position" Mazonomya mazonensis. Now on with the mis-ID, I think that some of the Bi-valves that I recently have been finding may be Sedgwickia. I will have to check past recent finds to find examples, but I believe that this extremely large Bi-valve is a Sedgwickia. 

Interesting! 

Very nice Sedgwickia, if that's what it is.

Love the fertile fern and always fond of Essexella. 

Shame about the worms, though. 

Some nice stuff today. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

12 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Adam @Tidgy's Dad , I thought you might like to see a couple examples of these that are in my collection-

 

Pemphilimnadiopsis ortoni - Branchiopod

 

 

Mazonomya mazonensis in the "Death Position".

 

Acharax radiata- notice the lines radiating out.

 

I have one example of Edmondia ovata, but I cannot locate it at the moment.

 

Aviculopecten mazonensis Pecten

 

I believe that this is a Dunbarella striata Pecten

 

Thanks very much for sharing those, Ralph.

They are gorgeous, and some of them quite rare, I should think.