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This is embedded in hard calcified sandstone layer of the upper Eutaw fm. I have been collecting from the site for years but have never encountered anything like this. The paleontologists I have shown it to are also stumped. The cell structure is similar to a pelecypod, but this is no bivalve. The shape is reminiscent of an egg but fairly sure it isn't that. The diameter is 12 cm. I know that photos cannot capture all the details. Any guesses?
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Hey everybody! I'm Korey and I'm a bit new here (and to the world of paleontology in general) so I apologize if things might be a little messy. Regardless, I'll try my best in keeping things as crisp as possible. I was hoping I could have some help identifying a few fossils on the exterior of these rocks I found. The following three fossil matrices were collected in a single trip along Cape Fear River in the Wilmington area. Each one contains numerous fossils of a variety of species embedded within a limestone matrix. Mineral composition was confirmed by a professor of paleontology (specialized in microfossils) at UNC Wilmington, meaning they likely originated from the Castle Hayne limestone deposit. I would really appreciate some help in identifying some of the fossils found in these matrices, as while a decent number are somewhat recognizable, there are some that are completely mysterious. Specifically in matrix B and C. Matrix A: Measuring roughly 61mm in length, and 40mm in width, this is a cluster of what appears to be remnants of steinkerns and their remaining impressions. I counted over 10 individual snail shells, the exact number being a bit unclear, and a single bivalve impression. The snails appear to be some form of teribridae, while the nature of the bivalve impression is unknown. The largest snail impression measured at roughly 14mm in width. Length was unfortunately not easily measured as there are seemingly no complete impressions left behind. Much of them simply stretch across the entire matrix. The bivalve impression takes up much of it's side of the matrix, measuring at a rough 38mm. Matrix B: Measures roughly 52mm in length, and 43mm in width. This matrix is host to an intact unidentified bivalve shell, what appears to be a pair of concretions, encrusting bryozoa, and an unidentified organism. The bivalve shell is roughly 25mm wide. A bryozoan colony is visible to the left of the shell's beak. You can also see the concretions top right of the shell. What species of bivalve is it? Each concretion is roughly 5mm in width. The edges of the concretions appear to be encrusted by bryozoa. (It is very hard to get good pictures of this feature, I'm sorry). The final feature of Matrix B is this unusual shape closely resembling a reverse impression of a coral cup. Measures 17mm at it's widest and 10mm at the thinnest. Seems to consist of a central undefined and weathered shape surrounded by a series of 10 striated symmetrical structures resembling the septa of a coral polyp cup. There is no other apparent evidence of similar structures within the matrix, and it seems to be entirely on it's own. Matrix C: Measuring 174mm long, and 97mm wide, this chunk of limestone has some heft to it. Contained within is the fossil of highest interest to me, what I originally thought to be petrified wood. Also present is what appears to be a eutrephoceras shell, and a single unusual ring-shaped organic artifact. This particular matrix was discovered under the water, where only a small part of it was sticking out of the submerged mud. Jutting out of the matrix is a partly exposed branch-like structure of unknown biology. This picture depicts the anterior end of it where it appears to have been broken off, revealing the interior cross section of the branch. This structure is roughly 25mm at it's widest I had originally thought it to be petrified wood, but the paleontologist I consulted disagreed, stating that petrified wood typically looks different. It is most certainly not coral either, so perhaps it is a species of branching bryozoan? Here is a side view of the branch structure, showing the deep striated appearance of it's exterior. At this point it looks almost more geological than biological, but the interior shapes tell a different story. I honestly suspect that it may have been eroded. A scant 19mm of this structure is exposed from the surrounding substrate, which I suspect might be hiding a much longer specimen. Here is another branch that appears similar to the prior one, only much smaller. Measuring a mere 5mm in width at it's widest point. Unlike the larger branch, the entire 25mm of this structure has been left exposed, revealing a very similar striated exterior. Could both of these have belonged to the same organism? This little limpet-like organism was hiding in a tiny recess, merely 4mm at it's widest. Not sure what it is, really. I appear to have forgotten to measure this one while I had my fossils out so I apologize, but this appears to be some form of coral-like structure. If you look closely you can just barely make out what appears to be a defined exterior ring nigh indistinguishable from the surrounding limestone. And finally we have what appears to be Eutrephoceras or at least some other similar mollusc. It's fairly small and measures around 18mm wide from the lip to the anterior of the whorl. Only three chambers can be seen, though there might be one or two more. I'm excited to see what everyone thinks of these fossils, and what they think they might be. It's a mystery that's been nagging at my mind for weeks now, and I have unfortunately yet to find answers. Please let me know if any more angles or pictures are needed, and I will try my best to provide.
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Final Moments of 2023 - Double Waccamaw Hunt, Holden Beach, and A Triassic Surprise
Echinoid Express posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've had a chance to give a fossil hunting update, the Holidays took over in quite a hurry, and coupled together with taking on some new responsibilities, the shorter days, cooler weather and a scramble to get the end of the year work done, it was quite difficult to get everything organized! I'm hoping to be more efficient with my cleaning and preparation this year, and though I have some life hurdles to overcome I think this year could be even better than last one with my fossil hobbies. I'm hoping to add more additions to my echinoid album, and I'd like to make some albums for some of my other fossils sometime this year. Not long after my last trip to the Waccamaw site I once again found myself out there collecting more specimens. I went with a slightly different group for the weekend, where we doubled up and went to the ever popular Holden Beach to look for some more Cretaceous goodies. And in addition, I did get to check out a different Waccamaw site at a different time as well, which had slightly different specimens, and an array of unusual color preservation. I think it was another successful month, and I found a lot of really cool specimens. I even got an opportunity to obtain some neat fossils from a fellow collector and friend in the midst of everything, and I'd like to include some of that briefly as well. While we were wrapping up for the weekend, I ended up trading him some of my Virginian Ecphora shells for some really cool Triassic plant specimens from the Pekin Formation, as well as some grey and black shales from the Cumnock Formation. It's a positive update to my quest to obtain local Triassic fossils I can take on the road to display, and with these acquisitions I was able to do just that recently! I feel like they get overlooked at times, but there are some really cool fossils from the Triassic Basins. I did manage to acquire some other cool specimens as well, but I'll save them for the mailbox scores thread. Here are some of those plant specimens and shales. Most are hard to identify, but there are some partial Otozamites fronds. The shales were a gamble, and I ultimately did end up splitting some, while retaining the last two intact, as they contained visible coal, and are somewhat significant to my home area's history in regards to the Cumnock Formation and all the historical coal mining that occurred. However, I did manage to find this little guy in one shale. I made a post a while back, and my current idea is that it's some form of Metoposaurus tooth. It's badly fragmented, though I have been offered by a friend to try and repair it, which I may take him up on. Although these second hand fossils were greatly appreciated and will serve well as display items, I also attempted to steak out a potential Triassic site right down the road earlier this week! Unfortunately, though it did indeed have Triassic geology, it was a conglomerate of Sanford Formation with a small bit of Pekin Formation mixed in, which did not immediately appear to contain much, at least on the surface. The old Triassic report mentioned it was mostly a mixture, so I wasn't too disappointed; it was still fun to check out a new area. In addition to the hunt for a fossil site, the area was also home to a small copper mine that last operated in the very early 20th century. I had not been exploring there since I was a boy over 20 years ago, so it was interesting to check out again! I ended up collecting some malachite from the spoil piles before heading home, so I at least found a few things to keep on that trip. I'm really grateful the landowner was kind enough to let me check it out. I hope to return there again sometime during lighter hours to look for some copper ore fragments as well. Now, onto the actual fossil tips! I'll start with Holden, as I have less to show off from there. It was fairly tame as far as crowds go, since the Holidays were kicking into gear. Despite a single day to collect, I think I did alright! I made a new friend during that part of the trip, and I was able to collect some nice modern mollusk shells as well, some of which could be used to compare to my Waccamaw finds. I did find an interesting sand dollar of some variety embedded in a stone, but I dropped it in the rapidly rising tide as I was collecting another specimen, so I ended up losing sight of it. To start, these are two Glycymeris americana valves, one from Holden, and the other from the Waccamaw site, as a comparison. These are some of the Hardouinia mortonis echinoids I found that day. I had many more, but it was hard to get them all pictured! On the topic of those echinoids, I found a few really good pathological specimens that day! This is the more extreme of them, with the side being somewhat compressed into the part, and the peristome off axis and off center. I'm not sure if this is something genetic, or if this was evidence of some kind of repaired biologic damage. It's probably my most pathological specimen to date. This was another specimen with similarly placed deformities, but much less extreme. And this one was a really unusual one, with an "elongated" periproct, giving it a more heavily sloped appearance compared to the standard ones. Moving on, this was probably my favorite find from the Holden part of the trip. This is a partial Anomoeodus phaseolus mouth plate and jawbone, which is a fairly uncommon find. I had previously found two teeth attached together, but this one is by far my best one yet. I found some individual "teeth" from these reworked into the Waccamaw formation site as well, but they were very small. I also found a few things I had not found myself since 2022, namely a nice, whole Mosasaur tooth, and a fragment of a Sphenodiscus lobatus ammonite. I found a few shark teeth, but I was honestly so focused on other finds I didn't emphasize looking for them as much as I normally would. I gave a few that I picked up to my new friend I made while I was hunting, as well as a small mosasaur tooth. This is an Enchodus jaw fragment with the base of a tooth I found, this might be the largest jaw fragment I found to date. I haven't found a tooth and jaw fragment attached together yet, but I'll keep looking! A turtle shell fragment I found out there. This is one of the more defined ones I've found, and appears to be from the edge of the shell. This was a cool steinkern I found, from what appears to be a Naticidae snail. This one is a bit heftier than ones I've found previously, and it almost seems to have some of the innermost shell preserved on one section, but this could be some other material. This is one Exogyra costata I found on the beach. I did pick up a number of them, but there weren't as many good specimens this trip for some reason. I took a couple of pictures of the same shell under UV light as well. And the last of my notable finds, this is a Striaticostatum harbisoni, a Peedee Formation Wentletrap Snail that was preserved due to recrystalization! Next to it is a steinkern of another one, which is usually all that is preserved; this is the first one I've found like this. It's broken toward the base, but it lets people see the tiny crystals inside the shell that grew during the process. I also found a second partial one, but it's in a much more worn condition. Now, onto the Waccamaw site finds! This site is slowly growing on me, as well as a greater appreciation for mollusks. It's becoming one of my favorite sites to visit. I've been utilizing a out a book that was published just last year titled Photographic Atlas of Waccamaw Formation Mollusca to identify my finds. It's a great resource for identifying the various mollusks of the formation, of which there are over 1000 different varieties! I found so much this time that I had to cut back on sharing them, though I do hope to do an album on everything when I get time. Starting off, here are some of the paired Lirophora varicosa athleta, AKA Imperial Venus Clams, I found. Here are a couple of pathological valves I found, as well as a sponge damaged valve and a valve with an oddly placed gastropod drill hole. Here is an intact Chama macerophylla, also known as the Leafy Jewelbox Clam. It's less common than the Arcinella cornuta Spiny Jewelbox Clams from what I've noticed. This is a Neverita duplicata, also known as the Shark Eye Moon Snail with some particularly beautiful shell preservation. This is a Naticarius plicatella, an extinct moon snail with an interesting spiral groove pattern along the whorl. Although the aperature (opening) is broken, this is my largest specimen of this snail found at the site to date. Here are two paired bivalves, a Trachycardium emmonsi (Cockle Clam) and a species of Diplodon clam (Diplodonta acclinis?) A Crepidula fornicata, also known as the Fornicating Slipper Snail. This one was unusually thick and large compared to the ones I normally find, around 5.715 cm (2.25 inches) long. Another worn Crepidula fornicata with a couple of Septastrea marylandica coral colonies growing on it. There appears to have been a third between the two but it probably broke off when it was originally extracted from the earth. Two valves from two different Ostrea lawrencei oysters that have a lot of small coral colonies and singular corals. This one is interesting because they were both attached to a relatively small scallop valve, as seen by the impression on their hinges. A really cool Ostrea lawrencei that has a Septastrea marylandica colony over nearly the entire outer surface. I didn't realize that it was covered in coral until I washed it, as the amount of sand and dirt that covered it almost covered it completely! The uncovered inner surface was the only exposed part of the oyster when I collected it. A large oyster, Ostrea compressirostra, that was found paired in the Waccamaw site, a fairly rare find. Unfortunately, the upper valve had a lot of bore damage on one side, but it's still a cool, paired find nonetheless! A Pleuromeris decemcostata, a pretty cool, small species of clam. It almost has a beaded structure to its ribs. In addition, the same Pleuromeris decemcostata under UV light. It's hard to see in this picture, but some of the "beads" in the ribbing have a UV reaction, in a somewhat random order.The Waccamaw stuff has some decent UV reaction, but it's no where near the level of the Florida Pleistocene shells of a similar age. A very small intact Arcinella cornuta, also known as the Florida Spiny Jewelbox. This is the smallest intact one I've found yet, at around 1.9 cm (.75 inches) across. One of my favorite finds from the Waccamaw site part of the trip, a Pterorytis fluviana, a type of murex with very frilly spires. Usually the spires are broken down, but this one as fairly intact aside from a hole in the side! A Radiolucina waccamawensis, an extinct hatchet clam. It measures about 7.62 mm (.3 inches ). These are pretty interesting little bivalves with a neat crossed structure to them. Some Eupleura caudata, a small species of murex snail. These had some nice shell preservation as well! A Neoterebra dislocata (Eastern Auger Snail) on the right, and what I believe is a Calliostoma tuomeyi (Calliostoma Top Snail) on the left. The Calliostoma Top Snails, like the Cone Snails and the Murexes, seem to vary a good bit and have very subtle differences, which makes it hard for me to identify. Two different extinct Nassa Mud Snails (or Dog Whelks); a rare Ilyanassa porcina on the left, and a somewhat uncommon Ilyanassa scalaspira on the right. A bryozoan-encrusted gastropod shell. I'm wondering if this is a variety of Bryolith (or Plagurized Gastropod), or if it it is simply a colony that covered an empty shell; either way it's really cool. Two Waccamaw Formation Conasprella oniscus cone snails, with a UV light comparison showing the remnants of their color pattern. This pattern can be used to differentiate the different species found in the same place to some degree. Here's a cool Arcopsis adamsi, a type of Ark Clam with an interesting beaded sculpture instead of the coarse ribs of the more common species. Next, a case of miscellaneous micros: on the right are three Biflustra savartii, a species of "Erect Form" Bryozoans, on the bottom left is an interesting and unknown Archohelia coral branch, and the upper left is some unknown, extraordinarily fragile fossil of some sort. It was probably 30-40% larger before I tried moving it to this case; it had a fragility not unlike that of the ill-fated microfossil echinoid I found on the previous trip. Another little case containing an assemblage of various paired microfossil bivalves from the Waccamaw site. The beaked Nuculana acuta (Pointed Nut Clam) are probably my favorite of the micro-sized bivalves. Kalolophus gibbesii, a medium-sized clam related to the modern Kalolophus speciosus, also known as Gibb's Clam. I've found similar clams in Virginia, but this is the first one I found in the Waccamaw Site. An Aurinia obtusa, a type of Volute Snail. This is the most common species from the Waccamaw, I've been told the other two are exceptionally rare. This is also the first mostly whole one I've found in the site. Next is a large Mercenaria mercenaria valve, which I took pictures of to show the progression of cleaning it out for it's inner contents. About halfway through cleaning I discovered a partial Rhyncholampas sabistonensis echinoid, with part of the side plating and the entire oral surface. It's overall in poor condition, but serves as another good example of the rare things that can be found inside other shells. There were quite a number of other things as well, such as whole Lirophora varicosa athleta (Imperial Venus) Clams, barnacles, and more. However, a lot of stuff was attached with a tough sediment, which made extraction difficult. The last image in this series shows the contents found inside waiting to dry off. And the last thing I wanted to share from the site is a juvenile gastropod of uncertain identity I'm thinking it's likely a Pliculofusus sparrowi (A type of gastropod related to the Tulip and Spindle Snails), but also somewhat resembles a juvenile Scaphella precursor (A rare species of Volute). While that's all the Waccamaw stuff from the normal site, that's not all the Waccamaw Formation fossils I found last month! I had a chance to check out a different location of the formation at a different time, and while there were a lot of similar things, there were some things different about this other site as well. Oysters were much more common, I found a few species I hadn't seen before, some varieties of gastropod were larger, and there were a lot of really interesting mineralization colors as well. There were a lot of red, yellow and orange colored shells, likely from iron oxides in the soil. There were also some interesting blue-grey colored shells, which I'm not too sure of the process that made them this way. Some were comparable to the blue shells found in the Bone Valley area of Florida. Here's a really cool and large Anadara lienosa Ark Clam valve from the secondary Waccamaw site. This is the largest Ark Clam I've found from the formation yet. It has some of the unusual orange-yellow iron oxide coloration. Here's a paired Arcinella cornuta (Florida Spiny Jewelbox) from the other Waccamaw site. This one came apart while I was cleaning it but I've got the two halves paired together still. I found some other paired specimens but they had a lot of spines missing. A very big Mercenaria mercenaria (Hard Clam) valve that was in the portion that had the blue mineralization. The outer surface is heavily worn but it has a very dark grey-blue coloration to it. A very hefty and thick Glycymeris americana (American Bittersweet) that has buried in the sediments containing a lot of iron oxides, and has a very cool yellow, orange and red marbled coloration. Two Septastrea marylandica corals from the other Waccamaw site. Both have some yellow coloration, and one has splotches of red, all from the iron oxide present in the site. Here's a Crepidula fornicata (Fornicating Slipper Snail) and two Neverita duplicata (Shark Eye Moon Snails) with some pretty cool blue-gray coloration. The rightmost is an especially pretty dark grey-blue! Two worn Crepidula fornicata specimens (Fornicating Slipper Snails), with Septastrea marylandica coral colonies growing on them. They also both have bryozoan colonies and Polychaete worm tubes on them, as well as a lot of boring sponge damage; These were the home of a number of animals, even after their death. An unusual paired oyster from the other Waccamaw site. Due to the larger quantity of oysters in that site, and paired ones like this could be found in a much higher frequency. Here's what I believe might be a juvenile Triplofusus giganteus, also known as the Horse Conch. It's over 3.81 cm (1.5 inches) long. A somewhat rare Trigonostoma elizabethae, an unusual type of Nutmeg Snail. This came from the other Waccamaw site, but I did find a larger specimen at the primary site that I forgot to take a picture of before storing it away. This one has some of the blue-gray coloration. Two neat Ensis clams, also known as Razor Clams, from the secondary Waccamaw site. They're usually broken like this due to their thin, fragile structure. The top one may be a Ensis directus, and the bottom may be a Ensis megistus. An assortment of microfossils from the other Waccamaw site with various mineralization colors. I'm hoping to find a new technique for extracting these, as my current method results in some of these getting broken. And my last find from the site, An unusual bone of some variety; I almost want to think it's a turtle shell fragment, but I'm really not sure. It has some odd, rib-like structuring on the longer outer edges. And that's all I've got for now! 2023 was a really fun year for collecting, but I feel like 2024 could potentially be even better. As I wrap this post up, I'll be getting ready for tomorrow, where I'll be displaying some of my finds from the last two years at a park for an event, after which I'll be heading back to Holden Beach once again for a weekend to unwind from work and hunt for fossils with a couple of friends (I'll save my modern echinoid hunt for another time). I might post an update on that here, or I might wait until I go to Aurora, NC fairly soon. Further out, I've got a trip planned for Virginia once again in the early summer (Super excited for this one!), another extended Holden Beach trip in the spring, and there's a chance I might be able to tag along with a small group to go hunt fossils in central / northern Texas around the time of the solar eclipse, with some stops in Oklahoma and Mississippi! It'll be the first time I've ventured west of the eastern coastal states, so it'll be interesting if I do end up going. It'd require a lot of time off of work, so I'm still working out the logistics of it.- 12 replies
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- beach finds
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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 ;
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- aguion formation
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Tagged with:
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- atrypid
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- becraft formation
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- costellisprifer concinnus
- crenulipora
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- la vid group
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- leptaena acuticuspidata
- leptaena rhomboidalis
- leptotrypella
- levenea
- levenea subcarinata
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Triassic Troubles, Waccamaw Winnings, and A Short Break in Aurora, NC
Echinoid Express posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Hello everyone! I've hardly had downtime this November, between work and my fossil hobbies! I've been from one end of the state to another, from doing a display with my fellow club members towards the Appalachian mountains, to hunting by the coastal plains with others. It's fun, but also a bit tiring! I've got just a little more planned before the holidays get into full swing, but for now I'll just show off a little of what I've been doing. It'll kind of be all over the place, much like I have been! I don't want to focus on it too much, as I'm mostly just showing off my finds, but this is a shot of my display I did for a club event in Hickory, NC early in the month. It was mostly comprised of my best finds from the past two years with a few fossils I received from fellow collectors, and I think people enjoyed it! I met a few new friends and got acquainted better some some others, and I was able to snag a sweet piece of literature, which I'll mention again later. Ultimately, it was a great event, and being in the western side of the state for it had put me in a good position to swing out and hit an unusual Triassic spot I've been checking out on my way home. On to the Triassic Troubles; I've, unfortunately, hit a snag with finding a good local spot. Some of the ones recorded in literature are either inaccessible or in a risky location, and the two more well-known areas have been a no-go with the landowners. I got really close on one, but I was cut from contact at the last minute for unknown reasons. It's unfortunate, but I'm not giving up yet! I might try one more time to reach out after the new year, and I still have one potential site near home that I might be able to access once deer hunting season has passed, though it seems to be mostly a conglomerate based off of geological reports, so there may not be much. I'm also heavily considering trying out kayaking, as there may be river exposures as well. I did, however, achieve one goal I was aiming for with local Triassic fossils, in a roundabout way. A fellow club member gave away some of her old Otozamites specimens from the Pekin Formation, so I was able to give it to the local historical museum for their collection. However, I did find a different kind of Triassic spot, which is the one I hit on my return trip! The Triassic spot I have been able to visit, which is from the Cow Branch Formation, is just a small exposure of brown to black shale off of a road in the northern part of the state. It isn't very big, and so far I haven't found much of anything specific, just a lot of little "somethings". It could just be odd minerals, but I think some of it could be random loose plant remains. However, the first one pictured I have I've been told by several people may be fish scales, so it's probably the best contender yet. The rest are just examples of the random little "somethings" I've found in the shale. Now on to the Waccamaw Winnings; I joined a few friends and some new acquaintances on a trip to a former pit in the southeastern part of the state only a week after the first event. It's a spot I've previously been to back in the spring, but like most first time trips I was plagued with stomach issues and was mostly getting familiar with the site's contents. And much like other trips, it seems like the second time is the charm! I found a lot of really cool things, including my third North Carolina Echinoid species. The whole cleanup took almost two weeks, which took a lot of my free time up (and is also why sharing the highlights has taken so long). Unlike my previous trips, I've better identified a lot of the finds from this site, in part due to a book that was recently published, the Photographic Atlas of Waccamaw Formation Mollusca by Timothy David Campbell. I picked it up from him at our fossil even in Hickory, NC, and It's been a really neat little guide for the things you can find in the formation, as far as mollusks go. Here are some of the specimens I had after cleaning, where I left them to dry overnight and sort the next day. There are microfossils in two of the compartments of this box. Here are some assorted microfossils in a different box, while I was trying to sort them. These are super fragile, and I have to be careful how I pick them up with the tweezers to avoid crushing them. There are bivalves, gastropods, barnacles, bryozoan colonies formed around grains of sand, crab dactyls, echinoid spines, and a couple of scaphopods. Here are some bagged microfossil bivalves and gastropods. I currently don't have them sorted down to genus / species, but I'm hoping one day I'll find the time to do it. They can get quite small, and I've found some that were around .635 to 1.27 mm (.025 to .05 inches) in size. Now onto some specific finds. The first specific things I have are the Lirophora varicosa athleta, also known as Imperial Venus clams. I really enjoy the variable ridges on these clams, and in a way they remind me of Ecphora in regards to their structure. These are exceptionally plentiful in the site we were at, and I ended up snagging perhaps a few too many specimens, haha. I did have a good reason for, which I'll get to later. Most are loose valves, but I did find a few nice intact specimens as well. I had more that I didn't photograph, but this is a good representation of the ones I did collect. These little shells can hold a surprising amount of microfossils to boot! I did also find an unusual, pathological specimen, with some unusual curvature to the valve, and flattened ridges. Onto another plentiful bivalve in the site, Glycymeris americana, also known as the American Bittersweet. These are very fun to collect, because they have the potential to contain a lot of microfossils inside their shells if they are covered in the dirty matrix, especially the larger ones. These are found intact as well occasionally. Now for an unusual one, this one has small little bumps all over the interior surface. I'm not sure if it's some sort of pathology, a bunch of blisters, or something else. However, this particular specimen had something neat inside the matrix that once filled it; a small shark tooth! These are fairly uncommon in the formation, so it was a nice surprise to find while cleaning it out. This was not the first shark tooth I found, though. I found this slightly larger tooth in the dirt while I was hunting the site, as well as this fish skull of unknown species. Unfortunately, the skull was once more intact and pristine, but some unfortunate accidents while showing it off to relatives and transporting it caused it to fracture into four pieces. I was able to reform it with three, but the last one was permanently lost. I believe both shark teeth are from a Mako, but I'm still not the best at identifying them. One friend managed to find a sizable shark vertebrae in the site as well. While on the topic of surprise finds, arguably my best find and the biggest surprise was my first "whole" echinoid of the formation, and my third North Carolina species found! This Mellita caroliniana was hiding inside of a matrix-filled Dinocardium robustum also known as the Atlantic Giant Cockle. I had to have the shark-vetrebra friend help me retrieve this shell, as it was up on the side of a dirt wall I couldn't quite alone fully reach. I was jumping with joy when I discovered this thing hiding inside it! It was a bit of a good twist of fate as well that I had to change my cleaning method for this trip as well; we only have well water where I live and we were in severe drought conditions, so I was forced to clean my specimens with a spray bottle rather than a water hose (which is also why it took so long). I think if I had been using a hose it would have destroyed the specimen. The aboral surface is crushed in and the petaloids are a little fractured due to this, but I still think it's a great specimen! It's currently sitting in a cabinet until I can get the wisdom of my fellow fossil club friends on how to best preserve it with consolidant, as I'm worried it'll fall apart if I'm not careful. It's likely going to stay in this cockle as well, which I think makes for a good pairing, as well as a demonstration as to how things get buried together in the formation. I did find what I believe was an intact microfossil echinoid as well, likely a juvenile Mellita. However, I unfortunately have nothing to go off of other than my words, as it tragically broke apart after it had dried and I attempted to move it to a coin case. It was probably less than 6mm (.236 inches) in diameter, and I believe I had misidentified it as one of the small bryozoan colonies at a first glance. Now that I know it's a possibility to find them, however, I'll try to be even gentle while cleaning out my finds, so I'm likely to stick with my current bottle method for the foreseeable future. On a brighter note, while it isn't a whole specimen I did find most of the oral surface of a Rhyncholampas sabistonensis. It's enough of a specimen that I feel good displaying it in a case! Back to mollusks now, the site has a fair number of these Arcinella cornuta, also known as Florida Spiny Jewelboxes. The ones from the Waccamaw Formation seem to have much larger spines. I was fortunate enough to find two intact specimens of these this trip! One did come apart while washing, but I kept the pair together after cleaning the microfossils out from inside. These shells hold a lot of microfossils as well, both on the interior and between spines. They often have barnacles as well, though, which fall off easily if care isn't taken while cleaning. Next are some of the Americoliva carolinensis gastropods I found. They're extremely similar to the living Oliva sayana, also know as the Lettered Olive. These seem to have the best odds of holding up the best out of all the different mollusks from the site, which suffer from deteriorating aragonite. Two very pristine and large specimens I found have quite a sheen to them still! They're both exactly 6.1 cm (2.401 inches) long. Here are some Chionopsis cribraria valves, an extinct species of Lady-In-Waiting clam, from the site. The slightly frilly ribbing on these makes them quite attractive, but the sediment that settles between them is often times difficult to remove without damaging them. Next is a scallop of the Argopecten genus, which contains the modern Atlantic Calico Scallop (Argopecten gibbus). There are several species present in the formation, and many have very subtle differences, so I'm having difficulty differentiating them. This one specimen is fairly interesting due to the outer layer being almost entirely covered with a type of bryozoan. Here are few slipper snails, mainly Crepidula fornicata, a common slipper snail from the formation. They're really "arched", and can curve strangely when they're larger. The upper right specimen is likely a different species, but I was having trouble identifying it. In addition to the standard slipper snails, I found a Crepidula plana (on the right), which is a flat slipper snail, and two Bostrycapulus aculeatus (on the left), a type of spiny slipper snail. I have a soft spot for slipper snails, as an older gentleman at the beach gave me some really cool modern specimens and explained to me what they were when I was younger. Here were two neat oysters I have yet to identify. One has a lot of different coral growths all over the outer surface. These are a whole bunch of intact Plicatula marginata, a type of Kitten's Paw Clam. Out of all the intact bivalves in the site, these are by far the most common, and they tend to have a lot of "personality". I've seen some with some crazy ridge variation, and I've seen some with only one or two large ridges (Timothy Cambell had a really interesting one that was basically one giant "U" Shape) Here is a Gemophos basidentatus, an extinct Cantharus snail. This is probably one of the larger ones I've found, most of the ones I've found are microfossils. Some more interesting gastropods. The top two are Ilyanassa irrorata (Extinct nassa mud snails), the bottom Left is a Cinctura evergladesensis (An extinct banded tulip snail), and the bottom right is a Ilyanassa scalaspira (A larger, extinct nassa mud snail with some cool ridges). Some small predatory gastropods. From Left to right: Strictispira ? acurugata (An extinct turrid snail), Turritella virginica (An extinct turrited snail), Turritella beaufortensis (Another extinct turreted snail), a pathological Turritella beaufortensis with an unusual curve, Neoterebra dislocata (Eastern Auger Snail), Neoterebra protexta (Fine-ribbed auger snail), and another Neoterebra dislocata. Here are two Neverita duplicata (Shark eye moon snails). These can sometimes be really well preserved as well, but in other cases they're some of the most deteriorated mollusks. This is a Naticarius plicatella, an extinct species of moon snail with an interesting spiral groove pattern. I, for the life of me, cannot nail down the murexes very well for some reason! The bottom three are members of the Urosalpinx genus (All three may be Urosalpinx miamiensis?), the top right is a Eupleura caudata, and the top left is currently unknown. Several whelk and other gastropod species from the site. The top row are all Busycon contrarium contrarium (A left hand, or sinistral, whelk), middle left is a Busycotypus amoenus (A knobby, or nodose, whelk), middle right is a Heilprinia carolinensis (An extinct gastropod related to the tulip and spindle snails), the bottom left is a Fulguropsis floridana (A type of whelk with a recessed canal on the top spiral), and the bottom right is a Ficus papyratia (A fig snail) with a broken tail. And finally, the cone snails. The top one in the first picture might be a Conus anabathrum, but the rest are some species of Conasprella, (Mostly Conasprella oniscus?). These are also some gastropods that have been particularly tricky for me to differentiate. However, the two in the second picture are a couple of rarer Conasprella adversaria, which are a species of left hand, or sinistral, cone snails. Their left hand morphology makes them easy to identify, and I'm heard someone say that they can get quite large at times. I picked up a lot of the cone snails, too, but most of them went unpictured. And just as a fun bonus, while we were cleaning up and getting ready to depart I discovered this interesting shell under a sheet of metal! It's not a fossil, but rather a shell from a Euglandina rosea snail, also known as the Rosy Wolfsnail or the Cannibal Snail. These land snails are native to our forests, but they're a particularly nasty invasive species elsewhere, especially in Hawaii, where they've wiped out at least eight native species of gastropod. It's probably the largest land snail I've seen myself around here! And with that the Waccamaw trip is all wrapped up. As I said before, the cleanup took nearly two weeks, and was quite exhausting, but absolutely worth it. As for the hundreds of spare Imperial Venus valves and dozens of other species, I took a look back through all of my recent finds and my finds from April, and have separated out the specimens I wanted to hold on to. The rest have been donated to the Aurora Fossil Museum in Aurora, NC, where they'll hopefully find some good uses for them! It helps keep my collection at reasonable quantities, while also helping them out and hopefully giving others the opportunity to obtain some things they wouldn't normally be able to easily find. It also gave me a good excuse to spend the day relaxing while digging in the pits there, which contain a variety of cool fossils from many different formations, including the Yorktown Formation. I'm definitely a invertebrate kind of guy, but I like a good shark tooth hunt once in a while too! These were some of the more interesting finds I had that day, including an unidentified cone snail, two nice Hemipristis serra upper teeth, and a broken Otodus chubutensis tooth measuring about 5.969 cm (2.35 inches) long. And that's all my adventures I've had the past month! I still have one trip left planned for this year, which is combination return to the Waccamaw site, as well as a trip out to Holden Beach for one last go at the Hardouinia mortonis echinoids this year. Beyond that, I think I'll spend the rest of the holidays at home, spending time with family and working on some important projects. I might check out the one Triassic spot if the gentleman gives me permission, since it's only a short drive away, but I don't know if I'll go on any more "long trip" hunts until closer to the Spring. There are also some club friends from central and western North Carolina that may want to check out some different spots this winter, whom I may make an exception and try to tag along with, but there's nothing solid planned yet. I do have one potential beach trip that I really want to try come February depending on work holidays and the weather as well, but the focus would be on finding modern echinoids, particularly the elusive Rhynobrissus cuneus.- 9 replies
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I was wondering if I found an external mould of the Devonian gastropod Platyceras. The fossil curves in the rock which was hard to capture with the lighting. The rock was too big to carry back and I didn’t have a ruler with me so I apologize for lack of scale. Thanks!
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Hello, My name is Pascal Passionate about tertiary molluscs for 40 years Looking for contacts with other collectors Sorry for my bad English
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Yesterday I stumbled across Poricy Park Fossil Beds, which led me here after digging, but I was fortunate to find some of my own first fossils, and was even gifted four large ones from a passerby who stopped to make sure we got something good out of the experience. All of the said fossils are aquatic molluscs (or maybe sponges? But they definitely look like bivalves). Here are the four gifts: Here is a shell fused with a rock, although quite well: Some sort of clam piece? Another of the same/similar build And something very similar to the four fossils we were gifted, albeit much smaller, but we found ourselves! Also, is using 3rd party photo uploaders, such as flickr, allowed? I feel that may be easier for me to upload everything. Wasn't sure so didn't want to risk it :). Thank you for any help you give me!! It is greatly appreciated by the newbie :3
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I’m looking for fossil collecting sites within 3 hours’ drive from Seattle to visit and do a little hobby collecting while I’m in WA for work. I’m most interested in fossil plants, mollusks, or arthropods. Can anyone give me recommendations of where to go?
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- chuckanut formation
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Decalcified specimen from the Upper Ordovician of Italy. Scale bar: 5mm. It's possible to define at least the Order of this Mollusca, or it's pretentious to think so? It might belong to Gastropoda, Nautiloidea (i.e. Tarphycerida...),...? The attached image is formed by three pictures, the two on the left show the external mould, while the one on the right shows the internal mould.
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From the album: My collection in progress
Ceratites laevigatus Philippi 1901 Location: Héming, Grand East, France Age: 242 - 237 Mya (Ladinian, Middle Triassic) Measurements: 11,4 cm (diameter) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Cephalopoda Subclass: Ammonoidea Order: Ceratitida Family: Ceratitidae Are visible the peculiar smooth living chamber and the ceratitic suture pattern.-
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From the album: My collection in progress
Parkinsonia pachypleura Buckman 1925 Location: Saint-Benin-d'Azy, Bourgone-Franche-Comté, France Age: 168 - 166 Mya (Batonian, Middle Jurassic) Measurements: 4,2 cm (diameter) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Cephalopoda Subclass: Ammonoidea Order: Ammonitida Suborder: Ammonitina Family: Parkinsoniidae-
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From the album: My collection in progress
Myophorella clavellata Parkinson, 1811 Location: Villers-sur-Mer, Normandy, France Age: 166-163 Mya (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) Measurements: 2,8x1,7 cm Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Bivalvia Subclass: Palaeoheterodonta Order: Trigoniida Family: Trigoniidae -
From the album: My collection in progress
Gryphaea dilatata Sowerby, 1818 Location: Villers-sur-Mer, Normandy, France Age: 163-157 Mya (Oxfordian, Upper Jurassic) Measurements: 7x7x7 cm Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Bivalvia Subclass: Pteriomorpha Order: Ostreida Family: Gryphaeidae-
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From the album: My collection in progress
Cleoniceras sp. Parona & Bonnarelli 1895 Location: Atsimo-Andrefana, Madagascar Age: 157 - 155 Mya (Oxfordian, Upper Jurassic) Measurements: 4,5 cm (diameter) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Cephalopoda Subclass: Ammonoidea Order: Ammonitida Suborder: Ammonitina Family: Hoplitidae The ammonite is iridescent. In some parts is visible the elaborate ammonitic suture pattern. -
From the album: My collection in progress
Manticoceras sinuosum Hall 1843 Location: Erfoud, Morocco Age: 383 - 359 Mya (Upper Devonian) Measurements: 7,2 cm (diameter) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Subphylum: Conchifera Class: Cephalopoda Subclass: Ammonoidea Order: Agoniatitida Suborder: Gephuroceratina Family: Gephuroceratidae-
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Just a note that James Cullison's 1944 monograph on the rocks and fauna of the upper Lower Ordovician of Missouri and Arkansas is now freely available for download or perusal at https://archive.org/details/paper-cullison-1944-the-stratigraphy-of-some-lower-ordovician-formations-of-the This publication has always been devilishly tough to get a hold of. A nice systematic paleontology section deals with the many gastropods and other mollusks as well as the less diverse brachiopods, trilobites, and sponges. The monograph covers the following formations as currently accepted in Missouri: • Smithville Formation • Powell Formation • Cotter Formation • Jefferson City Formation Enjoy and share as you like. Full citation: J. S. Cullison, 1944: "The Stratigraphy Of Some Lower Ordovician Formations Of The Ozark Uplift." The University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy Bulletin Technical Series, Vol. 15, No. 2, 112 pp + 35 pl.
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Hello All, A friend of mine recently sent me some fossils he found near his home in Florida. It was suggested to us that they were from the Tamiami Formation, from the Pinecrest Beds. I’m relatively new to the paleontology of Florida so I have no idea if this is correct. I’m hoping that the community might be able to help identify some fossils. I apologize in advance for the quality of some of these photos. Because of the coloration, getting clear shots was sometimes difficult. I’d be truly appreciative if, along with the name of the fossil, you could include the citation from where you found it, if possible, as I would like to start building up a bibliography of Florida fossil resources. All fossils were taken from spoil piles and surface collecting around building sites in Manatee County, Florida.
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Request for a published plate from Palaeontographica Americana
pefty posted a topic in Questions & Answers
Hi, I am in search of Plate 8 from the following paper. Yes, the paper is published online at Biodiversity Heritage Library, but both Plate 8 and its accompanying "Explanation" (i.e., captions) page are unfortunately missing from the online edition. Please post a scan if you have easy access to Plate 8 from this paper, thanks. Driscoll, E. G. 1965. Dimyarian Pelecypods of the Mississippian Marshall Sandstone of Michigan. Palaeontographica Americana, No. 35.- 2 replies
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I recently came across a cool-looking piece with three different shells close together in a matrix, but despite my attempt to Google some pointers while I was pondering if I wanted it or not, I'm simply not trained up enough to determine if fossils are real. There's some parts that some articles were talking about that make me think it could be real, and others that make me think not so much... I have a feeling the matrix maybe isn't the original, but I'm hoping perhaps the shells themselves are still fossilized? But I'm really not sure -- anyways, the pictures I took are below. I hope they give you enough information/context to help me out, and that there aren't a whole bunch of superfluous details that I chose to focus on! Sorry for how big and in the way of the post they are, I'm still trying to figure out how to make posts look nicer ^^;
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A friend uncovered this oddball today in the Late Ordovician (Sandbian) of eastern Missouri, in the uppermost part of the Plattin Group (a Platteville equivalent) or possibly the lowermost part of the Decorah Group. He's been finding a lot of weird fossils in that zone, including articulated cyclocystoids, but this one I'm at a loss on. Too wobbly for an orthoconic cephalopod, too much space between calcite elements for a crinoid column. Given the size, is machaeridian a possibility? What other ideas should we be considering?
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Does anyone know if it’s possible for the meat; the edible part, of an oyster to be fossilised?
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Came across this specimen on an Ohio Fossils group. It was apparently found in south-central Ohio (Serpent Mound area) in 1958. What’s bothering me is that it seems to be a marine pelecypod with aragonitic preservation. All of Ohio’s exposed rocks are either Paleozoic or Pleistocene, and with vanishingly few exceptions, Paleozoic aragonite is simply not preserved. I know there are mollusks in pleistocene marine concretions, notably from Newfoundland, but not in the sediments representing Pleistocene Ohio’s terrestrial&freshwater environments. This is a marine clam, and there was no marine environment in pleistocene Ohio. Nor were there marine environments producing concretionary fossils in any nearby source area for glacial debris that ended up in Ohio, as far as I am aware. Nor in any of the Ohio River’s past source areas to the south during the Pleistocene. So....is this concretion then an object moved long distances by ancient humans? Does anyone recognize the concretion as similar to ones they’ve seen in some particular Formation? Or am I way off in terms of my preservational logic? Original post: “I collected this 60+ years ago from a tributary stream to the Miami River in SW Ohio - what is it and how old? Opinions please!”
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This one has me stumped. I think it is the body whorl of a gastropod (DSR, Middle Devonian, Hamilton Group, Moscow Fm., Windom Shale). It is smashed, but the full circumference of the whorl is present, which means the aperture has to be on the left (which is consistent with the direction of the growth lines) (see arrow). If that is the case, there should be a shallow furrow or ridge in the center of the whorl running parallel with the cords and perpendicular to the growth lines if it were something like Mourlonia or even a Bellarophontacea. I see no evidence of such, not even on the crimped / folded / smashed edges above and below. One would think that with such distinct surface detail that this one would be easy... Any thoughts? The fossil is about 46 mm in length. Scale in mm. @Jeffrey P, @Fossildude19, @Darktooth, @Kane Here is outer side of the shell. Here is the shell flipped over to show the other side of the whorl. I think the broken area on the right is where the body whorl continued to the second whorl (which is missing). Here is both views side by side: Here is where I believe the aperture is located (I have prepped to the edge of the shell, and the shell ends there).
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