Fossil ID Required

[Georgie87]

 These little guys are super common when you break open the shale, along the banks of Lake Ontario, East of Toronto, in Whitby. I have scoured the internet trying to find what this can be, however the only other picture I found was on someones Blog with no identification. Any help would be appreciated, I'm so interested and this fossil hunting/identification may become a new hobby Thank you, Georgie

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

I think You have a trilobite cephalon (head).

There is also a small brachiopod it the rock.

[Kane]

This would be the cranidium of Triarthrus sp. 

 

This is Ordovician in age, and fairly common as moults.

 

Image from, Ludvigsen, R. (1979) Fossils of Ontario: The Trilobites

[Georgie87]

You have no idea how much I appreciate your responses! Thank you!

[Kane]

And here is an image of a near complete one from my collection as reference.

 

Welcome to the forum, by the way.  We have a surfeit of fossil collectors from Ontario here.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice find, a lovely little cranidium! 

Hello, Gerogie, and a very warm welcome to TFF from Morocco. 

[Georgie87]

So nice, and thank you for the welcome. I want to go back now and try to find a more complete one

[ynot]

2 minutes ago, Georgie87 said:

I want to go back now and try to find a more complete one

Good luck!

[Kane]

1 minute ago, Georgie87 said:

So nice, and thank you for the welcome. I want to go back now and try to find a more complete one now

Good luck! They are not easy to find complete. They moulted quite a bit, and complete ones would tend to disarticulate easily. This trilobite, and Pseudogygites latimarginatus occurred in deeper seas with less oxygen. Triarthrus had developed some unique adaptations suited to their environment. If you were ever curious about what they would have looked like with their appendages, I highly recommend looking up Beecher's Trilobite Bed. Here is one of several images that show the preservation:

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice little bug, my first trilo was the same genus. Welcome from Maryland btw!

[Ludwigia]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck at finding a more complete one, now that you know what to look for.

[Kane]

Just as a helpful reference, albeit somewhat dated, the Ludvigsen text I cited above is available online in many formats. The scans are not the best, but they may do the job and provide you with a great deal of basic information on trilobites: https://archive.org/details/fossilsofontario01bolt

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

I thought I'd point out the other fossils on your piece. 

They are almost as cool as the Triarthrus cephalon.  

 

[Auspex]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

I thought I'd point out the other fossils on your piece.

Ordovician scrapple!

 

Georgie87, I admire your curiosity & pro-action on it, and envy your accessibility to this wonderful shale.

Welcome to the Forum!

[Georgie87]

Fossildude19

Kane

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for all the feedback! I spent an hour or two there this morning and found some more fossils and you've already identified them for me I'm so digging this, I'm planning a couple trips this summer to Hungry Hollow and to Warsaw Caverns to find and see even even more. Last year I developed a passion for finding and identifying wildflowers and plants, and this year it's fossils. The people on this site are amazing!