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Found 17 results

  1. Hi all, seeking some identification help from those familiar with marine vertebrates from the Pennsylvanian black shales (Nebraska, Missouri, etc.) I recently obtained a few ex. Ted White and Bill Rushlau specimens of Romerodus orodontus and a few very nice Iniopteryx rushlaui and one unidentified specimen was included. Just for context for some reading this, W.D. "Ted" White and Bill Rashlau were very prolific collectors of the Pennsylvanian black shales, primarily the states of Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. The specimens that they collected and cataloged are in many museum collections. The Iniopterygiformes were named as a new order by Zangrel and Case, 1973, with the type species Iniopteryx rushlaui named after Bill Rushlau. Ted White was a recipient of the The Paleontological Societies Harrell L. Strimple Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in paleontology by an amateur. Gerard Case also received this award in 1992. Location: Hansen Quarry, Papillion, Nebraska. Stark Shale, Pennsylvanian T. White collection notes: Sat., April 5th 1947. Spec. # 8284. "Shark - unknown sp. A 20 x 40 cm. mass of rough textured tissue. up to 7 mm thick in one area. No shagreen observed. General features this is a probable anterior fragment suggesting an individual approx. 1.5 meters in length. 50 or more distinctive teeth unlike any previously found in these shales. These teeth range in length from 5 to 10 mm. unlike the fairly common Cladodus tooth, these have a roughly triangular shape and have only 1 crown or cusp. About 40 of the teeth are partially separated from the mass and are more or less in a normal orientation. A circular 2.5 cm in diameter defined by some more calcified parts may be an orbit or the symphysial whorl." I do not see any features that point to elasmobranch, but the remains do more resemble some of the "blown out" shark remains I have seen from the Penn. black shales. The teeth, which are pretty distinctive, do not resemble anything I can turn up. I also considered that they may be dermal denticles, but the arrangement does not make sense nor can not find any Pennsylvanian aged denticles that match. The "teeth" indeed measure up to 10mm in length, as described in White's collection notes. I am hoping some of the forum members familiar with marine vertebrates from the Penn. black shales can help. Pic of full specimen (teeth circled in red), pic of area with teeth, and a close up of some of the more complete teeth.
  2. On Saturday I went fossil hunting with @Tales From the Shale in Utica, LaSalle County, Illinois! We drove for some time looking for roadcuts when we discovered an abandoned clay pit not too far away from the town itself. I learned later its rocks date to the Pennsylvanian period of the Carboniferous era. There were also a bunch of nodules there too, but mostly it was stark shale and Excello shale. We opened the shale rocks up and we found a massive amount of small fossil imprints. But we also found some likely Chondrichthyan spines which I was wondering if anyone could ID the genera? This first specimen I found after breaking open a large piece of Stark Shale. I asked @Tales From the Shale for an ID and he said it very likely a Listracanthus spine. Here is the specimen under a dissecting scope!!! The striations typically seen on chondrichthyans like Listracanthus or Cladodus are more visible here, but I'm a bit unsure if these could be matched to either of these genera?
  3. Hi Everyone, I’d like to share a few posts on the shales I’ve been hunting recently in Kansas City, Missouri. Long story short – my neighbor is digging a ‘pond’ to China. He has massive equipment from his business and so far he’s dug through about 35 feet (~10.6 M) of material. My land matches his where the dam to the pond is and I saw shale in it which really surprised me since I’ve never found shale on my property. Even in the creeks and gullies. I would also like to say that I have been really inspired by the posts from @connorp and @deutscheben about the shale they find in Illinois and wanted to show a similar collection from a specific location/member in Missouri. Here’s a rough Lithology table of my area: The pond was dug through the Winterset Limestone member through the Stark and I believe through the Galesburg shale members and into the Bethany Falls Limestone from the top of the hill we both live on! It’s absolutely magnificent. I asked him if I could take some of the shale that he went through and all he said was, ‘take it all,’ and so I did. I passed on the limestone since its way more readily available to collect in the area and I hadn’t ever hunted through shale. I’ve gone through about 250 lbs (113 kg) of shale within the last few weeks and would like to sporadically present my findings as I can make time for it. Completely unrelated to his digging I listed and sold my house and land and am moving my family to Texas. All of this has happened within a month or so. I feel that this last hurrah into shale is a way for me to say goodbye to the state I’ve lived almost my entire life in thus far. Here’s one of my wheelbarrow loads of shale. I am no scientist but will do my best to assign at least some family or species to my finds. I love the adventure of findings fossils, prepping them can be therapeutic at times and insanely frustrating at others, and assigning species is my least favorite. Probably because I am not naturally good at it. If you see a species you feel is wrongly identified please feel free to share. It’s my weak point so I’d appreciate anything that helps me get better at it. The Galesburg layer is really hard to hunt from because it’s mudstone/claystone at the top then turns into harder grey shale at the bottom. It brakes vertically into rounded blocks instead of horizontally when you try to cut or split it and destroys the fossils that it contains. At the slightest addition of moisture it crumbles and the paper thin fossils are lost. This is a chunk of it I accidentally left out one night that succumbed to the dew from one evening and following morning. It’s filled with material I am having a hard time placing but I am calling it plant material until I can more accurately identify it. Unfortunately I didn’t get hunting till a few weeks after this layer had been dug out and the vast majority if it returned to mud. Without future ado, let me begin my adventure into Missouri shale. Here’s what I believe may be part of a Calamites plant. From what I am calling the Galesburg claystone. Scale in cm/mm. Here is another unknown that I believe is some type of plant stem. The Galesburg material is so much harder to deal with that I have a lot of it in storage now to go through at a later point.
  4. So.....I was splitting my last piece of Pennsylvanian stark shale member, between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone from a 2x2' 2" thick piece, I found some cool conodonts, a lot of scolecodonts, and amassing a pile of split shale, when I came upon yet another listracanthus/fish spine, about 5-6cm in length and very slender (2-3mm in width). I have both positive and negative pieces (depicted here). I scan all of these to see the pattern, faint impressions of a wider segment (as seen in photo 6 ), and in this particular specimen noted the shiny black cracks and creases surrounding the fossil. I see this very commonly in shale (and my understanding is it reflects rapid cooling of heated material?). In addition however, I saw what simply appeared to be conglomerations of, for lack of a better term, "worms" (Circled in blue in photo 2 and red in photo 6). Now stay with me on this one! Under microscopic evaluation numerous ''nematode" shaped objects adjacent to the spine are present, measuring 0.3-0.8mm in length are noted. Most are broken but there are some mostly intact. Several demonstrate fine "annelid" rings, (denoted by arrows) but I don't think these are annelids? At first I thought the preservation was too good to be real, but I have denoted numerous impressions in the shapes of worms, even to the point of the "rings". In reviewing nematode and annelid taxa, I don't see any mouthparts to make these polychaetes, and found reference to "ringed" nematodes. I hope someone can confirm or tell me if these are something else. I have placed circles (blue and red) around the groups, and arrows on salient features of impressions and the worms themselves. Also labeled a couple more intact individuals with an "N", but most are broken. If this is a reasonable observation, then this is one of the coolest things I have ever found!!!!! Fingers crossed I am on the right track!!!....Worst case, it is a plant piece with adjacent plant nematodes, which are very common nowadays and worst worst case, I am totally off track . There are 13 photos, with some seemingly one image but if you look close, they are separate if that helps. as always, thanks all!!! Have fun with these and let me know!! Bone
  5. Bonehunter

    Pennsylvania microurchin?

    I put this on the general forum as well, but this is probably more appropriate!! In my search for conodonts in Pennsylvanian stark shale (between Winterset and Bethany falls limestone) I routinely find concretions/nodules-most are powdery but sometimes i find teeth and other microfossils. Well much to my surprise, upon splitting my thousanth shale, I found a 1cm nodule, and within it, this apparent micro sea urchin-one of two in the nodule. From spine to spine (7:00-1:00) it measures just under 2mm in diameter I am refining my photog techniques with a newly purchased leica M420, phototubes, and a sony A660 camera, which produced this nice photo of one of the conodonts. I am intrigues by these tiny urchins (if that is truly what they are! ). thoughts, comments and any hope of specific i.d. on this or the conodont appreciated!!!!! (and how this wound up in the anoxic shall layer)-wasn't a surface find contaminant, but found upon splitting shale.....so ~300million years? thanks again all!...... Bone
  6. Good evening all and thanks again for everyone's help and patience with my finds....to that end, here's another one. Stark shale between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone Pennsylvanian. I'm guessing a fish scale or shark denticle (it appears to be inversely ridged or elevated in deeper layers). I would still like to clean it a little better (the brown-filled divit) but wanted some thoughts prior-it will help me decide how to clean it. Thanks all!! Bone
  7. Bonehunter

    Unusual organism-tendrils?

    Again cleaning conodonts in Stark shale member and came upon this- it is elevated about 1-2mm and has what appears to be long "tendrils" or flagella like projections. I hesitate to try to clean this- it looks like a "carbonized" film over what ever it is and I will destroy it if I try....... any thoughts welcomed!!! One of the more unusual fossils, and the only one I've found. Untouched- the lines are not cleaning scratches-exactly how it appeared upon splitting the shale. I don't believe they are fissures/cracking-all of those are straight or parallel that I have seen....interesting eh? Thanks! Bone
  8. Bonehunter

    Fish skin imprint?

    While cleaning conodonts (and the next object to follow this topic), I came across this "imprint"? It isn't a defined shape, but has a very uniform pattern. Thinking fish skin? It looks a lot like the Iniopterygian I found a couple months ago but the "scales" are smaller?.....I'll let ya'll decide or comment!! Thanks!! Bone
  9. So......this stumps me on four levels (not a hard thing to do ) One- it is "sunken" into the shale (Stark Shale between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone (Pennsylvania); Two-it is cracked ( at the 7th segment/ridge), Three- how do I get this out? and Four- what is it? It does not appear to be a crinoid is my best guess! I sealed it with a very dilute solution of butvar but not sure next steps. Thanks all!! Bone
  10. Looking for conodonts, I found and meticulously cleaned this object-at first I thought insect wing, but then fish scale, then plant, then, nuthin special. Thoughts again appreciated!! What say ye? (Stark shale, between Winterset and Bethany Falls, Pennsylvanian) . Bone
  11. Bonehunter

    Shale nodule teeth or chelicerae?

    Hi all! I have been using my new scope and camera to get some better photographs of conodonts I've recently found in nodules in Pennsylvanian Stark shale between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone. I have found 4 of these 500-700micron, tooth-like structures-I destroyed several inadvertently removing the "carbonized film". Two of the 3 most recent are not connected to anything, but have a broad base. In the 3rd photo, you can see what appears to be a joint where the "tooth" connects. I am waiting on finer needles to clean this one. Though I call them "teeth", I don't really think they are-they are not conodonts that I can tell, and in a couple nodules, there are other "carbonized" pieces present (you can see portions in photo two). I think these are really cool!!! If anyone has even a thought about what they could be, I'd appreciate it, as always!! Bone
  12. Bonehunter

    Pennsylvanian microurchin

    I put this on the microfossil forum as well, but wanted to give a look-see to this intriguing fossil! In my search for conodonts in Pennsylvanian stark shale (between Winterset and Bethany falls limestone) I routinely find concretions/nodules-most are powdery but sometimes i find teeth and other microfossils. Well much to my surprise, upon splitting my thousanth shale, I found a 1cm nodule, and within it, this apparent micro sea urchin-one of two in the nodule. From spine to spine (7:00-1:00) it measures just under 2mm in diameter I am refining my photog techniques with a newly purchased leica M420, phototubes, and a sony A660 camera, which produced this first photo of one of the conodonts. I am intrigued by these tiny urchins (if that is truly what they are! ). Thoughts, comments and any hope of specific i.d. on this or the conodont appreciated!!!!! (and how this wound up in the anoxic shall layer)-wasn't a surface find contaminant, but found upon splitting shale.....so ~300million years? thanks again all!...... Bone
  13. Hi All, I'm having trouble identifying what I have here. It's from the Upper Carboniferous - Pennsylvanian Stark shale. It is in a phosphorite nodule. Dimensions are 1.5 inch (3.81 cm) long by 1 inch (2.54 cm) wide. Any ideas would be appreciated. Apologies for the green tint - not sure what that is except for maybe the camera picking up the radiation from this shale layer . Thanks,
  14. Hi Everyone, I've been working through quite a bit of shale from the Stark member and have a specimen I would like your thoughts on. My brain sees a crustacean claw due to the shape, but I think its more likely that it's a fin. What do ya'll think I have here? Dimensions are 1 cm by 1 cm. My "holding the phone camera to my microscope lens" method isn't working so well, so here's a rough outline of the shape: And the counterpart from the split Thanks,
  15. Bonehunter

    Conodont help

    Hi all! Hope everyone is healthy and Covid free! Been focused on conodonts now and need help with these two- found in Stark shale member between Bethany Falls limestone and Winterset, if I have that correct :), Stark shale for sure though. The first is a beautiful cone I cleaned the base of. There are no additional denticle structures at the base and it doesn't look fractured at the base either. It is just under 1mm in length. I could also be totally wrong and its a fish tooth .The second is also a Stark shale element, but I'm not going to guess what element-it doesn't resemble the few pictures I can find of conodont elements. It is about 500um in length. Any help as to which elements these are, and at least a genus would be fabulously appreciated!!!!! Bone
  16. Bonehunter

    Unknown "toothed" microfossil

    So...while splitting my thousandths shale and looking under the scope, I came across this organism, which appears to have interdigitating teeth?. At least most look interdigitating as opposed? Or , I just dunno. There is also a surrounding imprint on both sides. It was found in Stark shale Kansas City Missouri and is nearly 2mm long. I have two views, and can get the other split side, but this is the best images so far.....ANY thoughts, would be appreciated!....In my very limited (one month :)) experience looking at conodonts, this doesn't appear to be one, (S elements?) but, I've been wrong so many times on other fossils,, this would be a breakthrough:)…. Thanks for looking! Bone
  17. KCMOfossil

    My Kansas City conodonts

    The past month or so I have had a chance to examine some shale from the Stark Shale, Dennis Formation, Kansas City Group. I have found many conodonts and I’ve enjoyed the challenge of taking pictures of them while they are still embedded in the shale. I think I have over 100 specimens now. Below I have posted some of my results. I have tried to identify the element position (P, S, or M) according to Purnell, Donoghue and Aldridge’s “Orientation and Anatomical Notation in Conoodonts,” Journal of Paleontology, 74(1), 2000, pp. 113-122, although I have not distinguished among the various S elements. In addition, I have attempted a bit of genus and species identification using Baesemann’s “Missouri (Upper Pennsylvanian) Conodonts of Northeastern Kansas,” Journal of Paleontology, 47(4), 689-710. I am just now beginning to experiment with dissolving the shale to extract the conodonts. I’ve had a some luck just using a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution from a local drug store. If I can figure this out, I should be able to get some pictures of extracted specimens. It has been fascinating and I’ve learned some interesting things. I have no training in biology or paleontology, and I am just a fossil hobbyist, so I expect that there are mistakes in my understanding of the terminology and in the ID of specific items. This is likely exacerbated by my superficial reading of the articles I mentioned above. So, feel free to correct me and I will be grateful. Just a few things about the pictures. The conodonts are in the 1-3 mm range. Second, the places where the conodont appears to be black are actually where the conodont is missing. Conodonts leave a detailed shiny mold if they are broken out or removed. Third, certain presentations are common others are less so. For example the P element seldom presents its dorsal view. Fourth, depth of field is a special problem for the P elements since they tend to bulge upward--and out of focus. I hope to continue to develop this post as my understanding grows and my specimens increase. I have numbered each picture by means of the comment above it. 1. S element
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