I thought I picked up a crinoid, now not sure.

[davidcpowers]

I picked this up Wed. I thought this was a crinoid. After cleaning not so sure about it being a crinoid. Arms are unsegmented and no pinnule are present. Rather these are very fine needles. It is from the Woodhurst Member of the Lodge Pole Formation, Madison Group Limestones. This rock is calcareous mudstone.

[ynot]

I am thinking plant material, but not sure.

[davidcpowers]

Thank you ynot. The rock is marine in origin. There are bryozoan, brachiopod and crinoid stem and pinnule bits on this plate. These needles are something different. I don't know of a plant that could leave these as fossils.

Edited September 1, 2018 by davidcpowers

[Auspex]

Lebachia offers similar form, but its occurrence in the Lodgepole Fm. would take some explaining...

What is the scale of the images?

[davidcpowers]

These look like long cactus needles. They are hair thin and three inches in length.  They are translucent. This being Lodgepole FM I would not expect to see anything like  Lebachia. Wrong place and age. This stone is too old for Lebachia.  

[TqB]

They look like hexactinellid sponge root tuft - loosely called Hyalostelia.

[davidcpowers]

Post from TqB, "They look like hexactinellid sponge root tuft - loosely called Hyalostelia."

 

I have been looking up Hexactinellid sponges. They look very much like these fossils.  Doing more research I found this page, http://www.lakeneosho.org/Miss31.html.

The image looks similar to my fossils.  The age listes on fossilworks is a little older. Mine is a little younger around 354 Mississippian. But   Hyalostelia (sponge)  fits.