bigred97 Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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deutscheben Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Outstanding! That is a really nicely preserved Paleoxyris. I like your detailed photos of it too. I believe the straight brown piece running alongside it is some kind of plant material- I know it has been hypothesized that the egg cases were attached to something underwater, so perhaps this branch is actually associated directly with it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Some of today’s rays and sharks circle the algae to attach their eggs during spawning. So they’re oxygenated by marine currents and don’t drift. That may be the case here. Coco 2 ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 @bigred97 have you seen this reference? https://fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org/guides/guide/978 It's a guide to the shark egg cases of Mazon Creek created by forum member @fiddlehead for the Field Museum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 @Coco and @deutscheben thanks so much! Very interesting, and I love the Field Museum guide, had not seen that before. Some beautiful specimens in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Next up two examples of Cyclopteris that I found opened in the Creek. The second one appears to be two leaves, the one on the right overlaying the bigger one, but I could be wrong - they are very faint. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 And another that I assume is Cyclopteris, although it is a little oddly shaped. This one opened via freeze/thaw. I'm wondering if it is showing signs of insect damage. There are pieces that seem to be missing. But I don't know how you would be able to attribute that to the work of an insect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Mark Kmiecik Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 On 10/5/2019 at 1:55 PM, bigred97 said: Only one leaf here. Take a look at the venation under magnification and you'll see that it is uninterrupted all the way from proximal to distal end. The upper left may be insect damage. The third one is probably not insect damage. Insects do not generally leave such irregular marks. 1 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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bigred97 Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Thanks, Mark! I took a closer look and I think you are absolutely right. There are some signs of weathering that I think I was interpreting as leaf outlines, but I could see under magnification there is venation that crosses them. Good catch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 1 minute ago, bigred97 said: Thanks, Mark! I took a closer look and I think you are absolutely right. There are some signs of weathering that I think I was interpreting as leaf outlines, but I could see under magnification there is venation that crosses them. Good catch! Also look at the upper left where the indentation is. That is how insect feeding damage normally looks. That's why I believe the third is not and just a product of how it split. 1 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Interesting. So is insect damage typically more rounded? And starting at an edge, not in the middle? That would certainly fit the second one better than the third. Thanks for your thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 4 hours ago, bigred97 said: Interesting. So is insect damage typically more rounded? And starting at an edge, not in the middle? That would certainly fit the second one better than the third. Thanks for your thoughts! Yes, in most I have seen. Not saying it's impossible, but if you look at what the "experts" have deemed insect feeding evidence it looks more like the 2nd specimen than the 3rd. I have never found one that I kept with insect damage so I never got the chance to check it under magnification and I don't know if individual bite marks can be seen. Check it with a loupe and let us know what you see. 1 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 Thanks, Mark. I checked the second one with a loupe and couldn't see any individual bite marks - the fossil is just too faint to make out much at the edge. The third one looks very ragged, but I think you are correct that it gets its irregular outline from its preservation, nothing more. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 4 hours ago, bigred97 said: Thanks, Mark. I checked the second one with a loupe and couldn't see any individual bite marks - the fossil is just too faint to make out much at the edge. The third one looks very ragged, but I think you are correct that it gets its irregular outline from its preservation, nothing more. Chris @Nimravis Ralph, have you ever looked at the edge of insect bites on MC plant fossils under maginification? I haven't come across any info in my years of MC experience, probably because I never really looked for it. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 This next one I found opened in the Creek. I believe it is a very-weathered horseshoe crab. I sure wish I would have found this before it opened! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 That crab woulda been nice! what did the compound eyes thing end up being? "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred97 Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 Thanks, Ash. The compound eye thing remains a bit of a mystery, although it looks similarly preserved to the two other body parts, which certainly appear to be modern - a water-penny beetle. So I would say it is also modern, just some other type of insect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Looks like at least five years of water wear. Would have been a beauty and quite a rare find from the creek itself. It looks different than Euproops danae, the most common MC horseshoe crab species. It may be one of the rarer MC species of crab. Do you have a copy of Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek? 1 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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