Show Us Your Chinese Trilobites

[lavawing]

My small contribution:

Two tiny trilos in mud shale from Shihten in Baoshan, Yunnan, same locale as the Dindymene lookalike in the reply above.

The harpetid I suspect is Dubhglasina yunnanensis, with a well preserved brim but a badly bruised body.

The other is a Neseuretus, the exact species of which is unknown, and given that there are half a dozen kinds in the region I have just about given up in trying to narrow down the ID any further. 

BTW both trilobites are preserved somewhat softly on what feels like a brittle matrix, and I'm debating whether to try and give them a protective coating. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by lavawing

[Yoda]

Ductina vietnamica

Nandan Formation. Western Guangxi Province

Devonian 

 

 

[Kane]

20 minutes ago, Yoda said:

Ductina vietnamica

Nandan Formation. Western Guangxi Province

Devonian 

 

 

 

I think you mean Illaenula vietnamica, following Chlupác's classification.  From one of your original threads asking which genus was valid:

(To be fair, it took me almost two years before I made the correction in my database  ). 

[Yoda]

4 hours ago, Kane said:

I think you mean Illaenula vietnamica, following Chlupác's classification.  From one of your original threads asking which genus was valid:

(To be fair, it took me almost two years before I made the correction in my database  ). 

Yes, I need to change the label 

[lavawing]

Just came in the mail:

Two (possibly three) Pliomera sp. from Liexi, Hunan Province.
Early Ordovician

Note: I obtained these direct from a digger on the locale. From what I've heard, there seems two similar but distinct sites in Liexi yielding such fossils, colloquially referred to as 'the Old Quarry' and yes, the ever so imaginatively named New Quarry, a site discovered several years ago. Although these are usually traded as Liexiaspis zhengjiaensis, I do not see how that can be the case as Liexiaspis zhengjiaensis was a species described in 1982 from an old locale, and the taxon here is a new find as far as I can tell.

 

Unfortunately, I do not have the paper in which L. zhengjiaensis was described. I know that there is a Pliomerid in the Old Quarry, very similar to these, but dissimilar in having all three pairs of glabellar furrows being parallel to each other. There is also another Pliomerid in the New Quarry, with triangular cheeks and raised eye-stalks, but I don't know if that is a better match for Liexiaspis. 

In any case, I really don't see anything here indicating that it's anything but Pliomera. You see clearly the pentagonal glabella, widest at the front; even in the flattened state these bugs are preserved, you can see the characteristic head shape, very similar pygidium, same placement of the eyes. Granted, whatever this is, it does seem to have more punctillate cheeks than P. fischeri, so that at least suggests it might be a different species. The digger tells me that these are fairly common on this particular site.

Bug no. 1: big fella measuring 6.5 cm long, more weathered than the other, with a lighter coloured exoskeleton. 

Bug no. 2: eyes missing, otherwise complete, and fairly inflated for this site (~5.5cm). On the left, there's a raised white patch of limestone which the digger tells me contains another, slightly smaller Pliomera, but too tough and sticky to prep with the air scribe he had. There are bits of pyrite littered on the matrix which I'm not entirely sure what to do about. 

 

Lastly, I'm kinda wondering if any further prep should be done, either for aesthetic (since, though not that noticeable with this lighting, the trilos kind of blend in on the matrix) or preservation reasons. I'm told that this was a very quick prep done with an air scribe, but IMO it could look a lot better if, say, the surrounding matrix was flattened and the clutter from the pyrite removed. 

[Kane]

These are quite lovely, @lavawing. I've had the opportunity to have a few specimens of these in hand, and they are certainly impressive.  In terms of taxonomic assignment, I think mine clocks out at the 1982 reference of Leixiaspis for now (perhaps @piranha will have a more recent designation!). With respect to the matrix and possible smoothing, I suppose that is an aesthetic question up to your preference, but the trilobite does seem fairly distinct and not cancelled out by the "noise" of the matrix. I know there are some other examples of these pliomerids that are much more colour contrasted, but if it were mine I'd likely leave it as is. 

[piranha]

A few authors in the earlier Chinese literature listed "Pliomera" ingsangensis that was subsequently reclassified as Encrinurella ingsangensis.

Aside from that anomaly, Pliomera is not recorded as a valid genus in China.  Attached is the description of Liexiaspis zhengjiaensis Liu 1982:

 

 

Liu, Y.R. 1982. Trilobita.

In: Li, S. (ed.) Palaeontological Atlas of Hunan.

Regional Geological Research Team, Geological Bureau of Hunan.

Geological Publishing House, Beijing. Geological Memoirs (Series 2) 1:290-347

 

Zhou, Z.Y., Zhen, Y. 2008. Trilobite Record of China. Science Press, Beijing, 401 pp.

[lavawing]

1 hour ago, piranha said:

A few authors in the earlier Chinese literature listed "Pliomera" ingsangensis that was subsequently reclassified as Encrinurella ingsangensis.

Aside from that anomaly, Pliomera is not recorded as a valid genus in China.  Attached is the description of Liexiaspis zhengjiaensis Liu 1982:

 

 

Liu, Y.R. 1982. Trilobita.

In: Li, S. (ed.) Palaeontological Atlas of Hunan.

Regional Geological Research Team, Geological Bureau of Hunan.

Geological Publishing House, Beijing. Geological Memoirs (Series 2) 1:290-347

 

Zhou, Z.Y., Zhen, Y. 2008. Trilobite Record of China. Science Press, Beijing, 401 pp.

Thanks! I've been looking everywhere for the description. It seems that my hunch was not far off the mark: the other Pliomerid from the same site, with the raised eye-stalks, pictured below, is a far better match for Liexiaspis.




(Incidentally, neither the pictures nor the trilos are mine - I put them here to compare and contrast with the Pliomera lookalikes.) 
 

Since the Pliomera lookalikes do not have the eye stalks, I surmise that they cannot be Liexiaspis. 
Which still leaves the question of what they are, but I'm aware this isn't the ID thread. I bought these under the generic name 'undescribed Pliomerid', which I guess will have to stick for now.

Edited June 9, 2021 by lavawing

[lavawing]

6 hours ago, Kane said:

These are quite lovely, @lavawing. I've had the opportunity to have a few specimens of these in hand, and they are certainly impressive.  In terms of taxonomic assignment, I think mine clocks out at the 1982 reference of Leixiaspis for now (perhaps @piranha will have a more recent designation!). With respect to the matrix and possible smoothing, I suppose that is an aesthetic question up to your preference, but the trilobite does seem fairly distinct and not cancelled out by the "noise" of the matrix. I know there are some other examples of these pliomerids that are much more colour contrasted, but if it were mine I'd likely leave it as is. 

I think I'll leave them as they are then, at least until I find someone to prep the remaining trilo. About that, I can make out the outlines of the cephalon and the pygidium, but being horrific at prep work in general it would be best to leave that in more capable hands than mine.

[lavawing]

Befuddling Baoshan Bug (Ordovician)

 

Trilobite is small ~1.4cm
Seller thought Cyclopyge, but this looks clearly Illaenid to me. Panderia? Or some sort of juvenile Illaenid possibly? I don't know.

[Fossildude19]

21 minutes ago, lavawing said:

Befuddling Baoshan Bug (Ordovician)

 

      

 

Trilobite is small ~1.4cm
Seller thought Cyclopyge, but this looks clearly Illaenid to me. Panderia? Or some sort of juvenile Illaenid possibly? I don't know.

 

 

@piranha

[Paleorunner]

heeeyy! Nice collection of Chinese trilobites you have here!

I also have some, when I get a better tool to take photos, I will also expose them.

[Eyjafjalla]

Hi, I'm new here and nice trilos you guys got there!

Here's some of mine (black and white grids represent 1cm x 1cm scale):

 

Ciliscutellum ciliensis

Silurian, Llandovery

Rhuddanian

Longmaxi Fm.

Cili County, Hunan Province

They are usually found in nodules and are cracked open like this

 

Annamitella liexiensis

Lower Ordovician

Tremadocian

Yinchufu Fm.

  Liexi, Yongshun County, Hunan Province  

 

 

Duyunaspis jianheensis (Juvenile, stage 7)

Cambrian, Series 2, Stage 4

Balang Fm. (?)

Paiwu, Huayuan County, Hunan Province

 

 

Coronocephalus gaoluoensis

Silurian, Llandovery

Telychian

Xiushan Fm.

Wanmin, Yongshun County, Hunan Province

 

 

Redlichia chinensis

Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4

Balang Fm.

Paiwu, Huayuan County, Hunan Province

 

 

Changaspis elongata

Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4

Balang Fm.

Paiwu, Huayuan County, Hunan Province

 

 

Feel free to let me know if I have mislabeled any of their info