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The Devonian period is known as "The Age of Fish", but could also be known as "The Age of Brachiopods." In the Early / Lower Devonian, brachiopods reached the height of their diversity towards its end in the Emsian. We see the ancestral groups occurring, lingulids, craniids, orthids, protorthids, pentamerids, rhynchonellids and strophomenids, as well as the later successful groups we have seen before such as atrypids, athyrids and orthotetids, plus the rise of spiriferids, spiriferinids and productids and the beginning of the terebratulids. By the end of the Devonian , several of these groups are extinct or severely reduced in importance and brachiopods never quite recover. Also, the Devonian is the last time we see trilobites with such variation, large sizes and numbers and orthocerids too are much more uncommon after the rise of the goniatites. The massive tabulate coral reefs also disappear after the Devonian. Fascinating period and I hope to share some of its wonders with you. Equally, a lot of this is rather new to me, so I would be very grateful for any assistance, corrections or further information on my specimens. Thank you. The Early Devonian epoch is split into three stages, so let's start with the first of those, the Lochkovian, that began about 419 mya and finished roughly 411 mya. I have been sent a nice selection of brachiopods from the Kalkberg Formation, Helderberg Group by the Mighty @Misha, mostly. But the kind gentleperson also sent me this fascinating little bryozoan hash : It is dominated by fenestellids, which is usually the case in the Devonian, but other orders sill occur. These ones, I think, are Fenestella, but there are so many species in the formation that I wont take a guess as to species : Not sure what this one is ;

Hey, So I was planning on going on a fossil hunt this summer in Oklahoma. I thought "Black Cat Mountain" would be a great place to start but I can't find anything on how to contact the owner "Bob Carrol". I've been on their website which has a phone number but it says its no longer in use. If anyone has contact information like a email or phone number that would be great. Anyway thank you for reading this message and have a nice day. Sincerely, Carson Betancourt

To trilobite experts: I found some partial exoskeletons of trilobites at Black Cat mountain in Oklahoma, that after cleaning and prepping, appear to have an appendage attached that kind of looks like a head. But looking at complete trilobites, I don't see this "head" anywhere. I found 3 of them like this. Photos of two of them are attached. Is this "head" even a part of the trilobite, and if it is, what exactly is it? Thanks for any help.

On 3-18-17, Dallas Paleo Society had a field trip to the Black Cat Mountain quarry in Coal County, Oklahoma. Here are a few of my finds from the trip. The details on the site are as follows: Harangan and Bois D'arc formations. Age: Lower Devonian, approximately 419.2 to 393.3 million years ago. Brachiopods, and what I think may be some form of coral. Other side of the brachiopods, same side of the coral piece. Other side is just bare rock. Crinoid columnal section Brachiopod bits & crinoid columnal section Random broken bits on a hash slab, brachiopod shells at top. Brachiopod, Leptaena sp. Thanks for the ID help, @Kane! (Continued in next reply... )

I don't know how to really go about this, but I'll try my best... Yesterday, my father and I went down to Clarita, Oklahoma to look for trilobites with the help of Bob Carroll. I couldn't sleep Friday night- "It'll be worth it", Mr. Carroll said (it was our first time going). We started getting ready at 1 a.m. , then left town at about 3 a.m. Two deer nearly ran in front of us in the pitch dark on our way there. After almost four hours and a couple of navigation errors, we finally arrived at about 6:40 a.m. The sun had just come up and the air was crisp. Lovely time to hammer away on layers upon layers of rock. Mr. Carroll actually spotted us first, blundering about the small, ramshackle town, clueless as to where his shop was. He had given us no specific address (" a block west of the post office" ), and when he had spotted us, we still couldn't see his shop-it was quite craftily hidden! Thin, bearded, and dark-skinned from years laboring at the quarry, he guided us through the "Oklahoman outback" to his quarry. Dad kept trying to comfort his car, telling it he was sorry for putting it through such tough terrain . Upon reaching the quarry, Mr. Carroll showed us a few samples he had obtained for us to keep, gave us each a hammer, then began to tell his story. He had gotten a lease from the owner in 1986 after having heard of it from an author/friend prior, and had since been working it nearly every day for 26 years. He takes a three week vacation to sell all he's gathered and prepped at the fossil, gem, and mineral show in Tucson, AZ every year before working in the quarry again for the next. As if to give credence to his perseverance, dedication, and hard work, the entire quarry sports mounds upon mounds of split rock bits. After telling us what he did for a living, he wished us well and headed to his own spot, leaving us to explore. We traveled to the very top, surface collecting multiple fragments of Huntonia as we went-they were everywhere!!! We were warned of rattlers, so Dad and I wore gloves. Spiders were unnervingly abundant (I'm arachnophobic), but I managed to ignore them as they kept out of my way. As we didn't have heavy hammers, we had to chip at the thinner sections of rock. We were unable to obtain an armored worm and possible Dicranurus pieces because of this, but there's always next time . We still found a couple of worms, multiple brachiopods, shells, sponges, and various other, more common trilobites despite this. Many need prepped, others are halves of trilos that could be prepped. We began surface collecting more steadily as the day grew hot and humid, until we finally came back down to deposit our finds and gather new boxes. Took a break, guzzling bottled water from the ice chest and snacking on nuts under one of the shades Mr. Carroll had set up. Afterwards, we looked around the bottom layer a bit, not finding much. A couple of crinoid pieces was about it, though I did turn over a rock to find a pair of Mr. Carroll's glasses-one frame was missing. He had gone up farther to get a signal, but once he came back down, I returned them to their proper owner. He chuckled before thanking me and asking, "is it worth it?" .He knew of our drive. At this time, Dad had joined; both of us gave a resounding, "yes!". We talked a little, mostly of the pairs of lizards that lived in their designated spots or layers of the quarry, soon spotting one in the middle of the conversation. Afterwards, we decided to take another quick look further up the Haragan formation (the Bois de'Arc formation being at the very top and best to hunt in the cool morning hours) after applying more sunblock, as Dad and I both are fair-skinned. Even with a lot of water, the humidity and heat became a bit much, combined with little sleep and a good amount of 'work', so we finally retired for the day at about noon, ready to eat. Before leaving for Stillwater to eat at Red Lobster, Bob Carroll took us to his shop, eager to show us his finds for the year. None were prepped yet- he still had a few weeks, but nonetheless...the scope of his shop; the amount of trilos it held was breathtaking. What he did everyday, year after year-without fail-was unbelievable. Is. And will be. He is certainly a man to be respected in his field. He was also quite kind . We conversed a bit more, talking of coming again "whenever" before taking leave. "That wild red hair", he remarked, before we pulled out into the street, turning to wave at us. We waved back, calling out our thanks once more. We had had a brilliant day. Six hours of collecting: http://i.imgur.com/z0pQiKK.jpg More pics in the following posts Also: because I've err...now run out of room, I am willing to trade some of what I've collected to clear up some room....if interested, please see this link: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/48758-oklahoma-trilobites-and-other-fossils-for-trade/

Salutations! Found this at Black Cat Mountain in Clarita, Oklahoma. It intrigued me enough to bring it home, but I am rather puzzled as to what it is...any ideas?

On our way home I got in touch with Bob Carroll and obtained permission to visit Black Cat Mountain quarry. Met Mr. Carroll at his shop and he took us out to the quarry we only had about 6 hours to collect and we found trilobites, braciopods,cephalopods and a couple of mystery specimens. However my wife Kim found the find of the day with photo#1. Here are a few photos from the trip--note nothing is cleaned up yet.