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Any ideas identifying this brachiopod? Lower wenlock, Illinois.

Unknown possible pygidium. Joliet formation. @piranha

Ever since the Cambrian Explosion, the continent of Laurentia (what is today Eastern North America and Greenland) had been colliding with Baltica (what is today Northern Europe and the Barents Sea). They clashed over millions of years, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and the usual, creating new large bodies of land. Still, at the same time, another miniature continent was forming, which would eventually become one with the two. This tiny landmass was called Avalonia, a long island that today makes up the middle to the upper eastern coastline of the U.S. and Maritime Canada. This body of land helped form a shallow sea between Laurentia and itself, providing a haven for many extinct organisms. This shallow sea was filled to the brim with life, everything from jawless fish to sea scorpions to trilobites, even orthocones. It would continue to exist until around the late Carboniferous and early Permian, when Laurentia, Baltica, and Avalonia were finally attached, causing the sea to become one with the newly-formed landmass of Pangea, creating the same swamps and lush forests unearthed in the Bay of Fundy. So, why do I bring up Avalonia and this long-lost ancient sea on the landmass' western coastline? Well, remember how I said all of Avalonia makes up the eastern U.S. and Canada? You see, Southwestern Avalonia made up what is today the states of New Hampshire and Vermont, which were both part of the shallow sea and the small continent, and small fragments of a formation from the Silurian exist today. This formation is called the Clough Formation, and it makes up most of the Northern Connecticut River Valley, with fossils dating back to both the Mid-Late Silurian and the Early-Mid Devonian. The problem, however, is that because New Hampshire and Vermont mainly consist of metamorphic and igneous rock left behind from the days of those volcanic eruptions I mentioned earlier, there are very few sedimentary formations or rocks in those states. However, that is not to say there aren't any fossils; no, no, no. The Clough Formation is a unique case in geology and paleontology, as the rocks and minerals in this formation are entirely metamorphosed sedimentary rock. Despite the rare chance of finding fossils in such a formation, the impossible was proven. Records dating back to around the late 1800s up to today tell tales of weird shapes and patterns in the semi-metamorphic slate, all of which point back to the organisms that once roamed that shallow sea millions of years ago, and guys, I believe I may have just found one, but I am still not sure. I drove out to southern Lebanon in New Hampshire, just a mile south of Whaleback Mountain, to walk the bike path alongside the highway. I knew that fossils had been reported there, so I brought my trusty geology hammer to break open some rocks. After about 30 minutes to an hour of searching, I came across an intriguing find. On the top-most part, I found a unique pattern that completely stood out from the rest of the rock. It appeared jagged and sharp, small bristles pointing out like tiny syringe needles. Just underneath it, small pill-shaped oddities held on to it, almost as if they depended on the strands to survive. I do not know if this is just a mineral deposit or a part of some metamorphic locality, but whatever it is, it looks interesting. I feel that I may have found one, but just for clarification, I have hopped on the forum to ask you all this question; do you guys think I may have just found a fossil? Let me know in the comments what you all think. Oh, also, if anybody can identify what kind of rock this thing came from? It would really be helpful, as I could use this as a helpful tip for finding fossils out here in the great wilderness of New England.

I visited a well-studied outcrop of the Silurian Keyser Formation in Altoona PA (USA). This is the historic quarry of the Altoona Furnace, right in the town of Altoona PA. Its a big reach for me (a relative noobie) to go through the tech reports and guides and understand it all. But its fun to try. Anyway, on a recent picture only trip, I stopped by one part of the wall with loads of stromatoporoids. I ran into another forum member and her husband a few days earlier up there. And they pointed out some structures on the top of this wall. I may ask a photographer friend to get better pics, but this was the best I could do with my phone from a safe spot. Besides some bioherm or stromatoporoid, what else might these be? The reef write up includes crinoids, bryazoa, various brachiopods etc

Twenty years ago, I went on a field trip with my college geology class. We went to Mazourka Canyon in Owens Valley, Ca. The formation here is a grungy limestone, dated Silurian-Devonian, with abundant invertebrates that have often been tinted a brown-rust color. On this trip, I picked this up.. and 2 decades later, I *still* don’t know what it actually is, and nobody I have taken it to has been able to give me an ID.. I have always assumed some kind of coral but thats as much as I have ever gotten. attached are two medium-size photos, top and side views. I can get better photos if requested but I can’t find my phone for better clarity, dangit.

It took some time, but thanks to Covid-19 (!! - see acknowledgements) its out now: A Systematic Study of upper Silurian (Ludfordian) Nautiloid Cephalopods from the Eggenfeld Section (Graz Palaeozoic, Styria, Austria) (pdf, external site) Here is my last visit to that site: Visiting some of the oldest fossils of Styria, Austria (Silurian orthocerids and brachiopods) - Fossil Hunting Trips - The Fossil Forum Best of all, some of my former specimens are pictured in that paper, especially some polished sections (see acknowledgements). Franz Bernhard

Hello Everyone In June last year I went on a trip with my parents to the Late Ordovician / Early Silurian-aged Cotton Formation at the Cotton Hill quarry in Forbes. All relevant permission was obtained from the local council prior to attending. I have heard that the Fossil Club of Australia (formerly NSW) do trips here as a group as well, that's probably the easiest way to attend. I planned to post this in August, however due to Covid I didn’t have access to the fossils to take pictures. Also, I only just recently bought some macro equipment to take photos of the fossils which is why my post took so long. Be sure to zoom in on each photo as they are all highly detailed. (open in a new tab) For useful previous expeditions and information by others see: For those unaware, the fauna is dominated by Sinespinaspis markhami, a small odontopleurid trilobite. Unfortunately, I found no specimens with their free cheeks attached, nor did I find any specimens of the rarer Aulacopleura pogsoni or the even rarer Raphiophorus sandfordi. We had two days of digging, and the temperature was a cool 14-15C on both days, but once the sun came out and with long-sleeve shirt and pants on, we definitely started sweating. As soon as we got out of the car, I found a partial trilobite negative lying on the ground. It was 8mm long and looked like it was left behind by another fossicker. Once we realised where the designated fossicking area was (back near the road entrance, and not in front of the parking area) we could start properly searching for fossils. The first ones we found were on the surface on the westernmost boundary. It’s amazing how big the actual site is. Considering how deep the hole in the ground is, there probably would’ve been thousands or millions of fossils unearthed and used in road material over the years. Both the plates seem to be death assemblages, with hundreds of “trilo-bits” on them along with what looks like tiny shells. When I got home, I wanted to split the L-shaped to expose more of the second layer (you can see one set of cold chisel marks) but the matrix must have been unstable as it cracked into five pieces and exploded. It did set free a new trilobite though, which is cool.

I straightened up my Riker show case of the Calceola (Rhizophylum) tennesseensis I've found in Wayne County TN. I have a few more and a couple more operculum (lids). Here's an article on pages 6 & 7 in this link: http://www.memphisgeology.org/images/rocknews1116.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2tOxbcyxSpHnOp5uRY6aW7DJUhvFmkQEmghhdSasT6_wNB40U8ptICOIY Thanks for looking and Rock On!!

Hi all, I know this is a tall order, but does anyone have any Canadian eurypterids they'd be interested in trading? Here's on piece I could offer in exchange (see attached). It's a slab with Archaeocrinus and Pleurocystites, over a foor tall. I'd also trade this for rare trilobites... Cheers!

Near the shores of the south-eastern Randsfjorden in Norway is a loaction with an Early Silurian outcrop. Last summer I found some gastropods and this nautiloid in a road-cut on a rock which seems to be sandstone, of very hard material. It seems to be an orthocone, although very slightly bended with the siphuncle visible on the top cross-section, placed in a semi-central position. Could it be possible find out which order and family it belongs to? I guess it is not an endoceras, because the siphuncle is not very large. The lenght of the speciemen is about 12cm. At the same location I found a very beautiful rock with several animals, two nice gastropods, which I not know the order of, and one or two other nautiloids. The rock is about 7cm broad. One big and one very small gastropod:

Hey everyone!!! I haven't posted anything here since I joined but why not introduce myself. Hello I'm Dean I'm 15 years old and from Pennsylvania, I mainly collect eurypterids!!! I have been able to pursue my eurypterid addiction through having access to Langs quarry, me and Allan Lang are close friends. He's extremely generous and lets me keep just about everything I find, I have only went on 1 trophy hunt, I have spent 10 days at the Quarry in total Allan is very kind : ) . Anyways ill attach some of my favorite eurypterids and scorpions from my collection below. Ill probably post more stuff here like trip reports etc. in the future. First is a Dolichopterus, then Eurypterus Laculatus, Proscorpius, Acutiramus (Pterygotid). All self collected.

Hello to all. 3 samples from my collection. Place of find - Ukraine, Khmelnytsky region; age - Silurian, Ludlow Series (425-427 Ma). All samples have retained positive and negative. 1. Slab with several sea-scorpions Eurypterus Tetragonophtalmus. I think a good preparation will open as many as 2 or 3 sea-scorpions.

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of measurements in these photos, I’ll be sure to upload some soon once I get the chance to. This is my favorite find so far in my early adventure of fossil hunting in western New York. I am more well versed in vertebrate paleontology in the central plains, so I apologize for my lack of knowledge on these earlier guys. I found this one in a rock exposure along a parking lot adjacent to Bennet Quarry- this is where hundreds of eurypterid specimens have been collected. I assume that the rock this is from is similarly aged, and a part of the Bertie formation. It is a bit over an inch long, but I will come with more measurement photos. Note the spiral pattern- is this a straight shelled nautiloid or something else entirely? This was just my best guess. Thank you!