Unidentified fossil from Middle Devonian Belgium

[EmileC]

I have no clue what this could be. Not a trilobite, not sure if it's a rugosan.

 

Age: Late Eifelian

Locality: Southern Belgium

Width: 1,3 cm

Length: 1,5 cm

Edited August 30 by EmileC

[Kane]

Possibly a fragmented rostroconch.

[EmileC]

27 minutes ago, Kane said:

Possibly a fragmented rostroconch.

That's very interesting. There doesn't seem to be any rostroconch find documented in the area it was found as far as I know, maybe I'm wrong. I couldn't find anything in the scientific literature.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Conulariid? 

[EmileC]

19 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Conulariid? 

I can't seem to find any documentation in the scientific literature of their presence in the region either. Although it does indeed resemble conulariids. Maybe a first?

[Tidgy's Dad]

Maybe. 

But it is more likely that I am wrong.

[Isotelus2883]

From Estonia, but you get the idea.

[FossilDAWG]

I think this is a type of solitary coral called Calceola.  These are distinctive in their shape, and also they are unusual for corals in that they had an operculum.  A closely related genus is Rhizophyllum.

 

Here is what they look like:

 

Image source: Galle A. & Ficner F. 2004. — Middle Devonian Calceola sandalina (Linnaeus, 1771)
(Anthozoa, Rugosa) from Moravia (Czech Republic): aspects of functional morphology,
gerontic growth patterns, and epibionts. Geodiversitas 26 (1) : 17-31

 

Also this paper is likely very relevant if you can get past the paywall:

AJ Wright, M Coen-Aubert, P Bultynck, & AP van Viersen 2011.  New data on occurrences of the Devonian rugose coral 'Calceola' in Belgium.  Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Paleontologists 39:121-129.

 

Don

[EmileC]

7 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

I think this is a type of solitary coral called Calceola.  These are distinctive in their shape, and also they are unusual for corals in that they had an operculum.  A closely related genus is Rhizophyllum.

 

Here is what they look like:

 

Image source: Galle A. & Ficner F. 2004. — Middle Devonian Calceola sandalina (Linnaeus, 1771)
(Anthozoa, Rugosa) from Moravia (Czech Republic): aspects of functional morphology,
gerontic growth patterns, and epibionts. Geodiversitas 26 (1) : 17-31

 

Also this paper is likely very relevant if you can get past the paywall:

AJ Wright, M Coen-Aubert, P Bultynck, & AP van Viersen 2011.  New data on occurrences of the Devonian rugose coral 'Calceola' in Belgium.  Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Paleontologists 39:121-129.

 

Don

Calceola sandalina was one of my first thoughts, but it's quite different from other C. sandalina specimens.

 

Here's a comparison with a C. sandalina from Middle Devonian Morocco:

 

1. It's way smaller;

2. In the last picture, there's a distinct groove in the middle, whereas the posterior side of the Calceola is flat.

 

Maybe it's another type of rugosan, but especially that groove makes me think it isn't Calceola sandalina. 

Edited August 31 by EmileC

[EmileC]

6 hours ago, Isotelus2883 said:

From Estonia, but you get the idea.

What species is this?

[Isotelus2883]

Mulceodens jaanussoni, from Gotland. I found it on Fossiilid.info. It was only meant to show generally what I thought it was, not an identification.

[EmileC]

1 hour ago, Isotelus2883 said:

Mulceodens jaanussoni, from Gotland. I found it on Fossiilid.info. It was only meant to show generally what I thought it was, not an identification.

It does indeed seem to be a rostroconch, then. I haven't found any record of their fossils from Middle Devonian Belgium. Is this a significant find?

[Isotelus2883]

It may be so. However rostroconchs are far from uncommon so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were found there.