Fossil ID. No clue. Hamilton group, Wanakah shale. Buffalo, New York

[Al Tahan]

Hey everyone,

 

Ive had this odd fossil for years and I do not know what it is. It’s from the Hamilton group, more specifically the lower Wanakah shale, Lake Erie shore Buffalo New York. I have a pic from a great publication I bought (got it in the mail today!) that shows a really great close up of the stratigraphic interval I found it in (Miller year?) it came from one of the 4 trilo beds, I think the top one. I rediscovered it while going through and organizing some old fossils. Now that I’ve joined the forum I have access to more resources! 

 

This fossil is 19mm (.75in) long....the length matches the diameter of a US penny. It appears segmented (4 segments) and I actually had to glue 2 segments back together. Each end segments have a peak of some sort. One end has a tall single peak and the other end has a segment with a double peak (but much smaller peaks than the tall single peak on the opposite side). The middle segments are more rounded. The fossil itself seems like remains you would see with trilobites.....that black colored exoskeleton remain on one side and shale on the other but I don’t think it’s a trilo. It just seems like it persevered in a similar way so I think it’s the remains of something “hard” made of calcium carbonate but idk what.

 

I cant even guess.....I only had Grabau’s geology of 18 mile creek book for reference and I don’t see a match. Maybe I just don’t have the access to the paper/book describing this or I do and don’t know it. 

 

My guesses (not confident guesses lol) consist of.....conodont? Placoderm? Coprolite? Lump of nothing? Tooth of some kind?

 

 

Thanks for reading and thank you to anyone that tries to ID this!

 

Al

 

[piranha]

Phyllocarid mandible

 

[doushantuo]

good call!!!

possibly an antennular endopod,and (could be wrong)pretty rare.

Would it be beside the mark to say that it would have been a large phyllocarid?

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Not an expert on this stuff.. but I'm definitely getting an arthropod vibe from your specimen - the above 2 posts reinforce that

Nice specimen, by the way!

-Christian

[Al Tahan]

6 hours ago, piranha said:

Phyllocarid mandible

 

@piranhaThank you!! I think these are on the mark!!! Looks like the same exact mandible fossil part.....one end has a high peak and the other end has 2 lower peaks....this has to be it. I’m re attaching some photos on this thread from that thread you tagged so people can see the comparison . My guess is this is pretty rare? 

 

[Al Tahan]

@The Amateur Paleontologist Thanks! My friends joked said it was nothing when I collected it lol. I knew it was something odd lol.

[minnbuckeye]

Interesting piece! Something so "unimpressive" becomes a great find once identified. Shows the value of our TFF members. Nice job to the finder and nice job to those that IDed this!

[Fossildude19]

Great phyllocarid mandible, Al!  Very cool!   

[Al Tahan]

Thanks!!! @Fossildude19

[Al Tahan]

10 hours ago, doushantuo said:

good call!!!

possibly an antennular endopod,and (could be wrong)pretty rare.

Would it be beside the mark to say that it would have been a large phyllocarid?

I wonder what the mandible to body ratio was like?...the fossil evidence isn’t that great from what I’m seeing online. There are a few very nicely preserved specimens out there I’ve seen. Maybe it munched on trilobites? I don’t know the feeding habits of these creatures...I’m now much more interested hahah

[Jeffrey P]

Wonderful find! Congratulations. Since I found my first phyllocarid four years ago they've become a special interest of mine. Deep Springs Road Quarry in Lebanon has produced quite a few that are in mine and Fossildude19's collections. Usually it is the carapace that is found. Yours is the first mandible I've seen. 

[Kane]

41 minutes ago, Al Tahan said:

I wonder what the mandible to body ratio was like?...the fossil evidence isn’t that great from what I’m seeing online. There are a few very nicely preserved specimens out there I’ve seen. Maybe it munched on trilobites? I don’t know the feeding habits of these creatures...I’m now much more interested hahah

Check your PM.  

[piranha]

Here is the description and figures from Hall & Clarke 1888:

 

Hall, J., & Clarke, J.M. 1888

Palaeontology VII. Containing descriptions and figures of the trilobites and other crustacea of the Oriskany, upper Helderberg, Hamilton, Portage, Chemung and Catskill Groups. Geological Survey of New York, Natural History of New York, 7:1-236  PDF LINK

 

Mandibles of Phyllocarida - Associated with Echinocaris punctata, in the locality which has produced the greatest number of specimens, viz., Pratt's Falls, and near Pompey Center, Onondaga county, large masticatory organs have been found quite abundantly, which, judging from a general similarity to the mandibles found in situ in this species, may be regarded as undoubtedly belonging to some species of the Phyllocarida. Beecher has described and illustrated these bodies (loc. cit.), and has indicated the fact that if bearing the same proportion to the carapace as do the mandibles in E. punctata, they must have belonged either to large individuals of this species or to some gigantic species yet unknown to us.

 

 

[Al Tahan]

@piranha amazing!!! I really need more resources. How did you get access to so much? I have had the pleasure of looking at an original “Eurypterida of New York State” publication....hall has great stuff but it’s from so long ago I can’t even find his work 

[piranha]

1 hour ago, Al Tahan said:

How did you get access to so much?...

 

I'm always up to my eyeballs doing research...

 

1 hour ago, Al Tahan said:

I have had the pleasure of looking at an original “Eurypterida of New York State” publication...

 

I was lucky to acquire a pristine set from an antiquarian book dealer 20 years ago.  Some of the pages were still uncut and judging the near perfect condition, I doubt that either volume was ever opened since publication in 1912.  Every couple years or so it is nice to admire the atlas volume of plates (very carefully), the volumes are quite heavy and spectacular! 

[Al Tahan]

5 hours ago, Jeffrey P said:

Wonderful find! Congratulations. Since I found my first phyllocarid four years ago they've become a special interest of mine. Deep Springs Road Quarry in Lebanon has produced quite a few that are in mine and Fossildude19's collections. Usually it is the carapace that is found. Yours is the first mandible I've seen. 

I like firsts!! Haha. I’m suddenly more interested in them! I’m almost sure I’ve looked over odd looking fossils that may have been........moving forward, Ill be far more observant of things that may be a phyllocarid...I did some digging again in my old Wanakah shale stuff earlier and I found something odd I may post in the next day or so. It’s definitely a preserved “ hard part” of some kind....maybe part of a phyllocarid!? 

[Al Tahan]

@piranha jealously level 1000/10 with you having that book lol

[doushantuo]

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 142, 83–90. With 5 figures

J. DZIK ET AL .EARLY DEVONIAN MALACOSTRACANS

Oldest shrimp and associated phyllocarid from the Lower
Devonian of northern Russia
JERZY DZIK1*, ANDREY Yu. IVANTSOV2 and YURIY V. DEULIN3
is the source of SOME of the imagery posted

[Scylla]

Color me impressed ! Amazing ID skills there.