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Today I was supposed to go Fossilhunting in the Silurian Rochester Shale, but plans got changed. All of the people I was supposed to go with came down with one of the many illnesses going around CNY. One of my friends, Tim, was going to my favorite Devonian site so I decided to go with him. My friend Tim is also a member of my local club and I have known him about 20 years. We met up at one of the thruway exits and he followed me to the site. The day was great, without a cloud in the sky. It was still a bit chilly until the sun got higher. Eventually i was able to take my long-sleeved shirts off and put on my t-shirt. Another club member named Sue, who lives only about 5 minutes from the site showed up unexpectedly after about an hour or so. So the 3 of us chatted it up for a couple hours. The finds were pretty typical of the site and many of the usual suspects showed up. I was very happy to find a complete Eldredgeops roller, which has a disarticulated pygidium, right of the bat. I was even more happy when just a short time later I found another Dipluera which looks so similar to the one I found last week. It was partially covered exactly like last week's that at first I thought it was the negative of that one. After a closer look I realized it was a different one all together. I also found a couple Greenops, that might turn out ok as well. All in all it was another great day with good company. I am really liking how 2024 is turning out for me fossil wise and I hope this streak continues. I hope everyone is doing well.

Today was a totally awesome day for fossilhunting here in Central New York! The weather was great for March and I had great company. And I haven't even mentioned the fossils yet. I had made plans to get out on a Devonian dig with my friends Stephen( @Buffalopterus ), Trevor, and Gary. I got to the site around 8am and was delighted that it was nice and Sunny. I was surprised when another car showed up and it turned out to be Eric, ( I can't remember forum name). The other guys showed up around 10, followed by Eric's friend Cassie. I really enjoyed everyone's company we all were joking around and laughing the entire day. As the sun got higher it kept getting warmer. And it seemed that everyone was finding stuff. Trilobites were very abundant today. Everyone found multiples I think 5 mostly complete Dipluera's were found today even though they were all small. I lost track of how many Greenops were found, but it was alot, and there were a couple Eldredgeops in the mix. I will say the the Greenops that were found by Trevor were the biggest and nicest ones that I have ever seen from there. He probably found the most Trilos out of everyone today. Lots of nice Brachs, Bivalves, and Gastros, as well. Just a great day all around. Here are my finds. And yes I got another Dipluera!

After almost 2 years I finally got my swam blaster up and running. Got to prep my first fossil since June 2019! Here are a few pieces I’ve done so far.

The popular collected trilobite Phacops rana is well embedded in literature for over a hundred years. Then in 1990 it was renamed Eldredgeops rana. A lot of collectors did not understand why the name change and I would like to attempt to clarify why the change. The purpose of this post is to point out the differences I have observed between Phacops and Eldredgeops and explain why "rana" is an Eldredgeops and not a Phacops. The literature on phacopid systematics is in a mild state of disarray. Authors have built on the errors of previous authors. There is no good English diagnostic description of Phacops based on the type species of P. latifrons. This has resulted in different English definitions of Phacops and causing much confusion. I'll first start with a review of what are the types and where they come from. Types: 1. Phacops Emmrich (1839) described the genus Phacops based on the species Calymmene latifrons Bronn, 1825 from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian Junkerberg Formation), Gerolstein, Germany. Because the holotype has been lost, it has not been clear what to base the diagnosis of Phacops on over many years. Then Struve (1982) illustrated topotype material but it was Basse (2006) who designated the neotype of Phacops latifrons. Now there is a definitive specimen to base the description of Phacops on. I have been fortunate to have traded for a topotype cephalon of Phacops latifrons Definition of topotype - a specimen of a species collected at the locality at which the original type was obtained 2. Eldredgeops Stewart (1927) described Phacops rana milleri from the Middle Devonian (Givetian Silica Shale), Sylvania, Ohio. Struve (1990) designated Phacops rana milleri the type species of Eldredgeops. I believe the different subspecies of Phacops rana described by Eldredge (1972) are different species and are assigned to Eldredgeops. I will to refer to these different species Eldredgeops as the "rana group" as a way to simplify the naming of all the different species. Observed different characters: I do not know what are the diagnostic generic features of Phacops or Eldredgeops. All I'm doing is listing some of the differences I have observed between these two trilobites to show they are different genera. Pictures of Phacops latifrons and Eldredgeops milleri are below for comparison with numbers pointing to the different features. Pictures of Eldredgeops rana from New York are also included so one can compare the two species of Eldredgeops and see how they differ. Now for the first time a topotype specimen of Phacops latifrons is compared with a topotype specimen of Eldredgeops milleri. There is no place in the literature where this is done. 1) marginulation - a raised ridge along the ventral margin of the cephalon. It is present in the "rana group" and absent in P. latifrons. It has been used by Flick and Struve (1984) as a diagnostic feature for their tribe Geesopini. Note: The value of this feature for the tribe has been questioned. McKellar and Chatterton (2009) state "This feature has never really been evaluated from a phylogenetic standpoint" 2) The post ocular ridge is prominent in P. latifrons and is absent in the "rana group" 3) The palpebral area is smaller in P. latifrons than in the "rana group" 4) The palpebral lobe is smaller in P. latifrons than in the "rana group" 5) The number of eye files in the "rana group" ranges from 15-18. E. milleri has 18 and E. rana has 17. In P. latifrons the number of eye files is 14-15. The topotype specimen has15 files with a maximum number of 5 lenes. 6) The maximum number of lenes in P. latifrons is between 4-5; E. milleri has 8-9; E. crassituberculata has 6 or less; E. rana 6 Note: Both P. latifrons and E. norwoodensis from the Cedar Vally Formation have the same number of files (15) in the eye. One might determine that this would result in the palpebral lobe being the same size but this does not happen. P. latifrons is smaller than E. norwoodensis. So there is some other factor affecting the size of the palpebral lobe. 7) The subocular pad is present in P. latifrons and absent in the "rana group" 8) The glabella is inflated and its front wall varies from vertical to slightly overhanging the anterior border in the "rana group" and is not as inflated in P. latifrons 9) Lateral preoccipital lobe is round in P. latifrons and is rectangular in Eldredgeops. To summarize the differences: Eldredgeops is marginulated, has an inflated glabella, a rectangular lateral preoccipital lobe, the palpebral area and palpebral lobe are larger than P. latifrons, and does not have a post ocular ridge and subocular pad. Phacops latifrons is not marginulated and the glabella is not inflated, has a post ocular ridge and a subocular pad and a round lateral preoccipital lobe. the palpebral area and palpebral lobe are smaller than Eldredgeops. Other observations: These two genera occur in different time periods. Phacops latifrons is in Middle Devonian Eifelian and Eldredgeops milleri is in the Middle Devonian Givetian It appears all the phacopid of North America disappear at the end of the Eifelian and Eldredgeops migrates from the Old World fauna into North America in the Givetian. Eldredgeops does not evolve from any North American phacopid. Eldredgeops is in the Tribe Geesopini and all the genera of this tribe have not been validated. If these genera are reexamined, it is possible that Eldredgeops could become a junior objective synonym of an another genus in the Tribe Geesopini. Hopefully, now collectors will understand the differences between Phacops and Eldredgeops and why the "rana" group is now referred to as Eldredgeops.

Last year, while looking around a quarry in Upstate NY (Middle Devonian, Moscow fm), I stumbled across a trilo-bit I have had trouble placing. It’s some kind of phacopid, but not an Eldredgeops, and it just doesn’t feel like a Greenops. Found at a site with associated Dipleura dekayi, Greenops, Eldredgeops, Tornoceras, orthocerid nautiloids. The first photo is the mystery bug in question, followed by a Greenops and an Eldredgeops from the same site for easy side-by-side comparison. The final picture is a close visual analogue I’ve found online, though it is Moroccan and I am unsure of the location of origin.

I first became interested in fossil collecting while living in Michigan, so any fossils I find in the state are somewhat special to me. Last summer I took a quick trip up to Alpena, MI to collect the Devonian in the area. Lots of interesting things were found, including two Eldredgeops. Neither is complete, but I was still quite happy to find bugs in a state that does not give them up easily.

Hi all, about 2 weeks ago during my spring break my father and I made the 6 hour trip up to Buffalo NY to collect at Penn Dixie. Our main focus is to bring back blocks for our weathering pile in the back yard, so we worked from around 11am to 5pm moving chunks and transporting them to the car. Here is a photo of me driving a wedge into the huge row of rock we were working on, it was pinned and took probably 30 min and a lot of thinking to break it free. Ill attach photos of some finds from the day below. Disarticulated Eldredgeops and a complete Greenops (I have done some exploratory prep and uncovered a genal spine) Another Eldredgeops This beautiful prone Eldredgeops had an unfortunate encounter with Murphy’s Law, and when I tried to split down the chunk to a more manageable size the whole bug shattered. In hindsight I should’ve just deadlifted the rock as a whole into my wagon, but hindsight is 50/50. The next day was a bit short, we had pretty much ran out of room for chunks and I was sunburnt and fatigued (Despite regularly applying sunscreen and drinking lots of Gatorade). If you zoom in on the image below you can see the sunburn on my arm. View of the spot we were digging before we leave (Kompsfossilsnminerals for scale) As we were packing up, I started tapping on some of the rock from the layer above where we were working. On my second or third chunk, this beautiful Eldredgeops rana popped out! Only missing a little of the cephalon’s shell as well as an eye, which I think I can recover from the negative. 1/2

I’ve spent about a year now combing through PA’s Mahatango, attempting to collect all of the trilobite fauna present in the formation. At this point I have all but one, Odontocephalus being the only that’s eluded me thus far. A big thanks to @Dean Ruocco for showing me around and in general refining my craft man. IMG_0717.MOV

These are some trilobites I’ve done over the past month. Been cranking them out!!

Hi everyone, I was wondering if there was an easy way of differentiating Viaphacops and Eldredgeops, as apparently Viaphacops is in the Needmore shale. I am heading down to Lost River in WV to do some hunting and since it is Needmore, I wanted to know. Any help appreciated.