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Cross section of Clypeaster


VStergios

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Found what appears to be a cross-section of a Clypeaster fossil in Pliocene sea deposits, on the Greek island of Kythera. The length is 16 cm. Any help and suggestions on the species would be much appreciated! 

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Looks like an echinoid or sea urchin.  :) 

 

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1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

Looks like an echinoid or sea urchin.  :) 

 

Thanks for the quick reply! It's  a Clypeaster, largest echinoid I've ever found - now I just have to find the species  :) 

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8 hours ago, VStergios said:

Spot on! Thank you so much for the ID :) - any guess on the species? 

It would only be a guess until you've prepped it out. A member from Crete who is no longer active on the forum found a lot of large Clypeasters here and here for instance. Maybe you can refer to that once you've freed it up.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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6 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

A member from Crete who is no longer active on the forum ...

Anybody know what happened to Astron?  He used to be quite active on the Forum.  

 

Don

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7 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

It would only be a guess until you've prepped it out. A member from Crete who is no longer active on the forum found a lot of large Clypeasters here and here for instance. Maybe you can refer to that once you've freed it up.

Thanks again! Will certainly look into it - can't wait to see what comes out of the prep :)

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3 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Anybody know what happened to Astron?  He used to be quite active on the Forum.  

 

Don

Can't quite remember. I don't think it was anything drastic. Just had other priorities I think.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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2 hours ago, Sanrique said:

Nice, can’t wait to see it prepped 

 Me too - I'm always anxious on the result since I don't have an air/chisel pen , just a small chisel, hammer, brush and needle... If it survives my I'll make sure to send you pics :D

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2 hours ago, VStergios said:

 Me too - I'm always anxious on the result since I don't have an air/chisel pen , just a small chisel, hammer, brush and needle... If it survives my I'll make sure to send you pics :D

Lol. We’ll give you credit just for tackling that job

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On 5/9/2019 at 10:12 AM, Ludwigia said:

It would only be a guess until you've prepped it out. A member from Crete who is no longer active on the forum found a lot of large Clypeasters here and here for instance. Maybe you can refer to that once you've freed it up.

 

On 5/9/2019 at 6:15 PM, Sanrique said:

Nice, can’t wait to see it prepped 

 

On 5/9/2019 at 11:11 PM, Sanrique said:

Lol. We’ll give you credit just for tackling that job

After 8 hours of carefully picking away at sand particles that had at some points completely merged with the shell and applying paraloid to the seams to avoid separation of the plates, my work is done! Any suggestions on the species?

DSC_0160s.jpg

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On 7/9/2019 at 8:30 PM, Ludwigia said:

Nice work. As far as species is concerned, I'd tip C. brevior, but your guess is as good as mine :)

Clypeaster Brevior looks like a solid candidate! Thanks again!

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  • 1 year later...
On 7/9/2019 at 8:30 PM, Ludwigia said:

Nice work. As far as species is concerned, I'd tip C. brevior, but your guess is as good as mine :)

Hello Roger! 

I was searching on Google "how to find urchin fossil in sandstone" and Google led me to this post. 

 

I am right now in Kythera for vacations, we count 68th of August in Greece. My second visit here, reason of course fossils. 

 

I believe it is C. Pliocenicus . The other urchin (two different urchins of equal size both broken, retrieved from quarry wall as cross section) is C. Altus. The first is more spheroid while the latter looks like a cone. Both can reach big diameters. Largest found 18cm. 

 

The determination is based on the book of PhD A. Bartziokas "Paleontology of Kythera". 3 extinct urchins have been found, 2 of the genus Clypeaster and one more I forget now. More urchin fossils have been found within tertiary layers, these are extant species. 

 

I have encountered C. Pliocenicus exposed on dirt road. Only the upper part is visible like a beautiful pebble. Within seconds with a heavy pick axe and you have it. The other fellas though are harder to find. Usually within hard sandstone, closer to layer of conglomerate. This may indicate that Pliocenicus is older species and Altus newer. 

 

Sorry to revive such an old post. It's one summer plus a month old. 

FB_IMG_1602087363366.jpg

Edited by Dimitris
Messed species
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1 hour ago, Dimitris said:

I believe it is C. Pliocenicus . The other urchin (two different urchins of equal size both broken, retrieved from quarry wall as cross section) is C. Altus. The first is more spheroid while the latter looks like a cone. Both can reach big diameters. Largest found 18cm. 

 

Thank you for the additional info! Great finds, especially the two halves - love the preserved detail!

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You are welcome! I wish they were halves of the same echinoid. 

Here is a whole altus preserved for more than 5M years and I broke it. :shakehead:

I think all or most Altus from this island have this distinctive orange colour. 

The island has a third species as well, don't remember name but genus is Kythericus or something similar. Does not belong to Clypeaster sp. 

IMG_20200728_204513_748.jpg

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10 minutes ago, Dimitris said:

You are welcome! I wish they were halves of the same echinoid. 

Here is a whole altus preserved for more than 5M years and I broke it. :shakehead:

I think all or most Altus from this island have this distinctive orange colour. 

 

Happens to everybody at some point - I have decided to always carry a light mix of paraloid and acetone in a spray bottle. Helps consolidate and even glue back pieces before final extraction (avoid spraying fossils in moist matrix as it usually clouds the resin). Will definately have to do some more digging myself next chance I get to visit Kythera. I also have only half of a clypeastyer and would really love to dig out a complete specimen! Would love if you could pm your digging coordinates for future reference!

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9 minutes ago, VStergios said:

Happens to everybody at some point - I have decided to always carry a light mix of paraloid and acetone in a spray bottle. Helps consolidate and even glue back pieces before final extraction (avoid spraying fossils in moist matrix as it usually clouds the resin). Will definately have to do some more digging myself next chance I get to visit Kythera. I also have only half of a clypeastyer and would really love to dig out a complete specimen! Would love if you could pm your digging coordinates for future reference!

I yet don't have paraloid. Essential, yet I didn't know where to buy this. A friend told me there is a shop in Thessaloniki so I will stop on my way to Sofia. 

 

C. Pliocenicus, you will definitely find. You need car with good ground clearance and strong stomach to tolerate the sounds of the rocks crushing beneath your car and the branches scratching your paint - or lots of walking. Other than that you can access all those locations even with a little yet ground. 

 

Text me on Sunday when I will be back in Athens. I had marked locations through Google maps and until now, I haven't verified every section. Once completed, I will tell you locations and results. 

 

NNW of the airport, the formation switches to river alluvial deposits and brackish water. There you will find different shells but no echinoids. The section goes until Avlemonas but taking into account echinoids live in shallow waters, again no echinoids. Their habitats were shallow warm waters. What we call nowadays Tortonian deposits, emerged after an elevation of +200m. What is today sea level back then was 200m below. 

 

Long story short, around airport but only southwest of it. The other direction is older sediment. Yours was found less than a km from Paleopoli, right? 

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