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Mazon Creek Best Of The Best Kottixerxes Gloriousus Schram, 1971


RCFossils

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Kottixerxes belongs to a fascinating group of problematic arthropods named Euthycarcinoidea. The current thinking is that they are marine cousins distantly related to insects and myriapods.
When Schram first described Kottixerxes in 1971, the Euthycarcinoidea were only know from 2 Triassic aged sites in Germany and Australia. At the time it was described, Kottixerxes was the oldest known Euthycarcinoid. Since that time, Euthycarcinoidea have been found in strata dating back to the Cambrian. In fact there is evidence from a site in Wisconsin that Euthycarcinoids may have been the first creature with the ability to walk on land. Trackways and body fossils have been found that suggest they may have made brief trips out of the water for feeding and possibly egg laying.

Based on gut contents, Kottixerxes was a bottom dwelling detritus feeding organism.

Kottixerxes is one of the rarest Arthropods found in the marine portion of the Mazon Creek deposit.

In 1985, A faunal study was done by Gordon Baird, John Anderson and others to try and determine relative abundance of different Mazon Creek fauna. Using a small army of volunteers, they collected and split nearly 230,000 concretions from the Essex portion of the deposit.

Approximately 145,000 of these were “duds”. The other 85,000 were identified and recorded to determine rarity.

Out of these 85,000, 2 specimens of Kottixerxes were found making up approximately .002% of the fauna found.

The specimen shown  may be the finest and largest ever collected. 
Schram was able to locate nine specimens for his original description. Most are poorly preserved as the carapace must have been quite thin. The largest from his study measured 4 centimeters. They normal average between 2 and 3.

This specimen measures slightly over 7 centimeters and is the largest that I am aware of.

 

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, Phevo said:

Very nice specimen, do you have an estimate of how many concretion you have split? 

I really have no clue.

i would think well over 100,000.

I did not personally collect this specimen.

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That is a nice piece in a really funky concretion, I have 1 and possibly 2 in my collection. If you allow on your post, I will post pictures.

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Sure

44 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

That is a nice piece in a really funky concretion, I have 1 and possibly 2 in my collection. If you allow on your post, I will post pictures.

Sure, would love to see them.

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They are both quite nice.

The second one has interesting preservation.

Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully this string of posts will also help as an identification guide.

The more specimens that can be added the better.

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2 minutes ago, RCFossils said:

They are both quite nice.

The second one has interesting preservation.

Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully this string of posts will also help as an identification guide.

The more specimens that can be added the better.

I agree and will add to your pieces if I have examples. Though I collect and love Mazon Creek fossils, you are really into them far more than I have ever been, and you can speak eloquently about the different species- I commend you for that.

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2 hours ago, Nimravis said:

I agree and will add to your pieces if I have examples. Though I collect and love Mazon Creek fossils, you are really into them far more than I have ever been, and you can speak eloquently about the different species- I commend you for that.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

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4 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Though I collect and love Mazon Creek fossils, you are really into them far more than I have ever been, and you can speak eloquently about the different species

Indeed!

But both of you are presenting us (the rest of the world) the marvelous world of Mazon Creek fossils. Thank you so much for that, @Nimravis, @RCFossils!
Franz Bernhard

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I always need to click on a Mazon post, and it's usually worthwhile.

What do both of you plan to do with your specimens? Donate them to an institution, I assume...

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What a wonderful topic on a rarity from Mazon Creek. Hopefully, any fossil hunter on this forum who finds one of these will locate this post and realize what a special fossil this is.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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6 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

What do both of you plan to do with your specimens? Donate them to an institution, I assume..

My son wants my better animals and ferns, but since I never plan on dying, I will probably hold on to them - lol.

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7 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

I always need to click on a Mazon post, and it's usually worthwhile.

What do both of you plan to do with your specimens? Donate them to an institution, I assume...

I Have already donated a few rarer/unique items and will continue to do so.

The rest I will probably eventually sell to other collectors.

My kids will probably want a few pieces as well.

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Love this post and series! How wonderful for a new collector like myself. All of these specimens are just amazing. I keep opening up the Arthropleura topic and looking at it each day, now I'll be doing the same with this one! Thank you so much @RCFossils for the time and care you put into these posts! Chris

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