Show us your Devonian Epizoans & Pathological Brachiopods!

[Brach3]

Dear all, if Devonian Epizoans (Epibionts) & Pathological Brachiopods (all the periods) are a fascinating group of fossils for you and you want to discuss anything about their paleoecology, please post your photos (specimens) in this thread. 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Brach3

[Mediospirifer]

Okay, this is Ordovician, not Devonian, but if it's epizoans and pathological brachiopods you want, check out this specimen:

 

 

Glyptorthis insculpta, with unidentified bryozoan encrusting the valve right next to the bite scar.

 

Is this what you're looking for? 

 

I'll post some other cool specimens later, when I have time to take more photos and do some image stacking.

 

[Mediospirifer]

I'll just add a few links to my threads with related topics.

 

Pathological Brachiopods! (LINK)

Community on the Half-Shell (LINK)

Encrusted With Mystery: Can Anyone Tell Me What The Pattern Is? (LINK)

 

And a teaser, until I can get this specimen under the microscope. Are Ordovician epizoans welcome?

 

[Peat Burns]

On 1/20/2020 at 12:19 AM, Mediospirifer said:

 

[Brach3]

12 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

Is this what you're looking for? 

 

 Yes, thank you! It's so nice when the morning starts with a new photo of Epizoans.

 

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

And a teaser, until I can get this specimen under the microscope. Are Ordovician epizoans welcome?

Yes, but I don't know Ordovician epizoans )

There is a desire to watch them (very big difference with Devon)! 

 

Pathological Brachiopods (all the periods) are the same, but epizoans...  

D2 (USA) and D3 (Russia) are very different, that's why I am here (something new).

 

№2 Crinoid holdfast 

"?" Can it be Phylum: Echinodermata  Class: Edrioasteroidea?

 

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

Pathological Brachiopods! (LINK)

Community on the Half-Shell (LINK)

Encrusted With Mystery: Can Anyone Tell Me What The Pattern Is? (LINK)

 

"Pathological Brachiopods! (LINK)" - my answer link and link

"Community on the Half-Shell (LINK)" - my answer link

"Encrusted With Mystery: Can Anyone Tell Me What The Pattern Is? (LINK)" - my answer link

 

Some papers: Epizoans on late Ordovician brachiopods from Southeastern Indiana Richard R. Alexander  & Carl D. Scharpf, 1990 (unfortunately there is no such epizoan) and Autecology of Richmondian Brachiopods (Late Ordovician of Indiana and Ohio) R. Peter Richards, 1972 with life assemblage (life position) of some brachiopods (life assemblage are welcome too!!!)

[Mediospirifer]

20 hours ago, Brach3 said:

"?" Can it be Phylum: Echinodermata  Class: Edrioasteroidea?

 

Yes, it is! My only edrio find, and a juvenile at that. And yes, there are crinoid holdfasts there, too:

 

 

1: Crinoid holdfasts

2: Edrioasteroid

3: Cornulitid

4: Possibly bryozoan

?: Possibly another crinoid holdfast

 

I'll get some higher magnification photos of these and post them when I can. 

 

[Brach3]

Diane has sent me a very interesting link: Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A brachiopod with a heavy burden (Upper Ordovician of southeastern Indiana) 

It's a very great & rare specimen ("the bryozoan had encrusted a living brachiopod, and the brachiopod stayed alive, keeping the essential commissure (the gap between the valves) open for feeding.") 

 

There are some specimens from Russia:

 

Ordovic

 

Devon

 

Perm

 

These "life assemblages" confirm that bryozoan can cross commissure when brachiopods are alive ("keeping the essential commissure (the gap between the valves) open for feeding")! it's really a very rare specimen!!!   

 

See for more (3 pics) it's modern sponge with behavior like bryozoan... fantastic!!!   

 

 

Do you have the same specimens?

 

@Mediospirifer @Shamalama @Al Tahan @Fossildude19

[Mediospirifer]

Here are some more detailed photos of my edrioasteroid specimen. 

 

First, the edrio (species unknown):

 

 

Next, the cornulitid:

 

 

And the bryozoan (I think!) that lurks between them:

 

 

More to come! 

 

[Mediospirifer]

Here are some close-ups of the crinoid holdfasts:

 

 

 

 

And a photo of the mysterious bump that I thought (before I looked at it under the microscope) might be another crinoid holdfast. It isn't. Anyone recognize this feature? Another type of bryozoan, maybe?

 

 

Considering that this entire specimen fits into a two inch gemjar, it has a lot going for it! 

[Mediospirifer]

On 1/21/2020 at 7:51 AM, Brach3 said:

Do you have the same specimens?

 

Well, I have this. I found it last night when I took a closer look at some Vinlansostrophia sp. brachiopods. 

 

I haven't had a chance to take an image stacking run with this, so my photos aren't the best possible. When I have time, I'll see what I can do better.

 

Here are a few more views:

 

 

 

 

 

And a few more close-ups in the next post.

 

[Mediospirifer]

Here's what I have for now:

 

 

 

 

 

In the last image, we can see that this specimen has a finely-granulose surface texture on the clear side. This is very different from the coarser texture of the epizoan that covers most of the other valve. I'm not sure what that is; I don't see the pores I'd expect from a bryozoan or coral. I do see a definite bryozoan in the third photo here (and the first photo above), which also comes right up to the aperture but doesn't cross. This brachiopod had at least two different kinds of hitchhikers while it lived! 

 

[Brach3]

 

it's  so beautiful!!!

 

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

which also comes right up to the aperture but doesn't cross

"It is apparent that the bryozoan had encrusted a living brachiopod"

 

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

I don't see the pores I'd expect from a bryozoan or coral.

I haven't understood, is it an epizoan?  or like this situation link ?

 

hm, there is no Vinlandostrophia sp. in Treatise ...

oh, Vinlandostrophia = Platystrophia King, 1850

 

 

"costate and finely granulose" - ok

 

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

I don't see the pores I'd expect from a bryozoan or coral.

and I  only pixels... 

 

 

 

It looks like epizoans...  

 

[Mediospirifer]

3 hours ago, Brach3 said:

it's  so beautiful!!!

 

I agree! I was rather startled when I saw that.

 

3 hours ago, Brach3 said:

and I  only pixels... 

 

Yes, these photos were taken and posted quickly. I brought my standalone digital microscope in to work with me yesterday, and took the pictures during my lunch break! I wanted to share something immediately.

 

I'm thinking it might be an algae. The bumps appear to be pyritized.

 

I'll plan some time to photograph them in as much detail as I can and do image stacking. It'll be next week before I have results to post; the image stacking software is on my computer at work.

 

[Misha]

Although I am not sure that the brachiopod was alive when this guy attached here is a Crinoid holdfast on top of the upper valve of a Mediospirifer I found in Penn Dixie this summer:

This other one is not on a brachiopod but still attached to another organism so I think it still fits here, a bryozoan attached to a horn coral from the silica shales of Ohio:

[Brach3]

13 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

I'm thinking it might be an algae. The bumps appear to be pyritized.

 

 

For @Mediospirifer:

 

Pyritization is something new for me. I haven't met such Epizoans before. In this paper (link) sciences write: "However, due to locally low pH, dysoxic microenvironment within the sulphate-reduction zone, the soft thalli underwent pyritization and their delicate calcified sheath dissolved. This may be supported by some of the associated encrusters having calcitic skeletons, which have also dissolved and underwent pyritization. (e.g., Brett et al. 1991; Marynowski et al. 2007; Bond and Wignall 2010)", "Only those thalli which entered a specific microenvironment had a chance to be pyritized and thus fossilized. Such reducing microenvironment in the sediment is uncommon in most shallow, well-oxygenated waters within the photic zone." 

 

There is an other very interesting specimen from Middle Devonian (Silica Formation) and also Pyritization! It's a very rare chance to be saved for fossil!  

 

If expected an Algae on Vinlandostrophia's valve then we must have paper (article for ideal to check hypothesis) and more detail photos  so I'll wait for it

 

For @Misha:

 

 

 wow

 

Is it a common specimen for your fields (gathering place)? I have seen only one such big "Crinoid holdfast" from D3 (Russia). Mostly there are only small specimens. About your "Crinoid holdfast" it can be "Relationships to live hosts" because a larva of crinoid attached to the brachiopod when the brachiopod was alive. Why not? We don't have any contradictions. And Crinoid could grown when brachiopod was alive and after it's death.  

 

It's interesting. I call shuch fossils "sandwiches" because "coral1 + algae + coral2 + another organisms and etc".

 

 

Sometimes it's very interesting to see the suitable substrates, interspecific interactions and trying to predict the competitive outcomes... absorption of one by another.

  

 

Have you found any variants o "the classic bioclaustration" in D2? (example from Ordovic link).

 

@Al Tahan@Shamalama@Fossildude19

[Misha]

4 hours ago, Brach3 said:

Is it a common specimen for your fields (gathering place)? 

I actually have no idea, this was found at the Penn Dixie fossil park from my first trip, but I have not seen other holdfasts like it from there.

 

5 hours ago, Brach3 said:

Have you found any variants o "the classic bioclaustration" in D2?

I personally have not found any examples of bioclaustration in any of my fossils.

[Mediospirifer]

13 hours ago, Brach3 said:

Pyritization is something new for me. I haven't met such Epizoans before. 

 

It's fairly common in the Devonian shales of New York (such as the site Misha's specimens are from). The Vinlandostrophia doesn't actually show the right color under higher magnification, though. It turns out that was an artifact of the photography.

 

Here's a closer view, at full magnification for my microscope and camera:

 

 

It's not pyritized. It's a similar color to the brachiopod.

 

Looking at the smaller patch of bryozoan, I see that it has a pattern of small bumps on its surface that could be the same type of structure seen above:

 

 

So, the large patch is probably a different species of bryozoan with larger zooecia. I'll scrape off as much of the matrix as I can (it's fairly soft; I should be able to remove it with a plastic toothpick) the weekend and take more images when I see what it looks like.

 

Apologies for the blurry images, I'll be able to do better with image stacking. I might be able to do that on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are a couple of closeups of the aperture with small bryozoan:

 

 

 

I also want to experiment with my lighting to see if I can highlight the structural features. My ring light tends to lose all shadows and make everything look flat.

 

[Mediospirifer]

5 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

It's fairly common in the Devonian shales of New York (such as the site Misha's specimens are from). The Vinlandostrophia doesn't actually show the right color under higher magnification, though. It turns out that was an artifact of the photography.

 

I should clarify, pyritization of hard fossils, burrow infillings, or coprolites is fairly common. Pyritized epizoans attached to non-pyritized macrofossil is much less so. I haven't seen one in my collection, although I should take a closer look at a couple of specimens... They're not immediately accessible, so it will be a few days before I can get them under my microscope.

 

Here's and example of a few tiny pyritized fossils I collected at Penn-Dixie back in 2014. Not epizoans or pathologicals, but you might like the one left of center:

 

 

 

[Brach3]

10 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

Looking at the smaller patch of bryozoan, I see that it has a pattern of small bumps on its surface that could be the same type of structure seen above:

 

Yes, it looks like similar / identical specimen, how old & young bryozoan.

I haven't found similar specimens from data photos from Russia. 

See "Cincinnati, Ohio, US" (red circle) + "Saint Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, RU" (There is our planet in different periods ). 

May be it was so far, May be our paleo-hunters don't post/photo their specimens I don't know... but we can make 5-10 photos of different specimens and show them.

I've seen such "bubbling" in D2 (Stromatoporoidea, but I can't show these pictures)...

 

And here link I don't understand what it is. 

 

I get the impression (maybe wrong) that everything in Ordovician was "bubbling" and covered with"buttons". 

 

"Edrioasteroids are not common at that site. This is the only one I've found."

 

My Congratulations!!!

 

I had an erroneous/wrong understanding about such specimens. I didn't know they were rare

Because some users (from one paleo forum from Russia) post these specimens and I thought it was an ordinary find 

 

Edrioasteroidea:

 

Ordovic

Carneyella pilea (Hall, 1866) on the Rafinesquina cf. nasutam  valve

Manchester, Indiana, USA

 

Canada:

Belochthus orthokolus Bell, 1977

Brechin, Ontario, Canada

 

Isorophusella incondita (Raymond, 1915)

 

Cryptogoleus chapmani (Raymond, 1915)

 

And it's a very rare for D3 Russia too. It has been found only 2-3 for 100 years (only 2-3 were found in 100 years).  

These specimens are from different papers for 100 years

 

 

@Al Tahan from D2 (Silica Formation)

 

@Mediospirifer @Shamalama @Fossildude19 @Misha

 

[Monica]

Hello there!

 

I'm a fan of epibionts, too!

 

Here are some pictures of items I found at Hungry Hollow near Arkona, Ontario, Canada.  They are mid-Devonian in age.

 

Enjoy!

 

Monica

 

A Mucrospirifer brachiopod with a couple of hitchhiking Spirorbis worms:

 

A Favosites placenta tabulate coral with a bunch of epibionts on it including some echinoderm holdfasts and a cute little Philhedra crenistriata brachiopod:

 

A solitary rugose coral with a Botryllopora socialis bryozoan to keep it company:

[Brach3]

7 hours ago, Monica said:

I'm a fan of epibionts, too!

 

@Monica 

 

7 hours ago, Monica said:

a couple of hitchhiking Spirorbis worms:

I have written this before somewhere but don't know there... so I'll repeat 

 

* addition: it was here link, please see there is a discussion ("Relationships to live hosts / Relationships to dead hosts") 

 

Genus: Spirorbis sp. (Class: Polychaeta Order: Canalipalpata)  (from the Cretaceous to today)

Genus: Palaeoconchus sp. or Microconchus sp. (Class: Tentaculita Order: Microconchida)

 

 

If we don't know genus then usually use name Microconchida (from the Upper Ordovician to the Jurassic, was once thought to have a fossil record extending back into the Early Paleozoic, but now all pre-Cretaceous spirorbins are known to be microconchids). 

 

See for detail: 

1. Invasion of freshwater and variable marginal marine habitats by microconchid tubeworms–an evolutionary perspective M Zatoń, O Vinn, AMF Tomescu - Geobios, 2012

2. Fossils explained 62 Microconchids, Michał Zatoń1 & Olev Vinn2

 

 

1. Microconchida (It looks like Palaeoconchus sp., how in USA and place of gathering is near Detroit). I know Microconchus sp. from the Middle to Late Devonian of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (see Palaeoecology of Devonian sclerobionts and their brachiopod hosts from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin KM Barclay, CL Schneider, LR Leighton - Palaeogeography …, 2013). 

 

2. Can you photo "2" I don't understand what is it? It looks like calcite worm tubes or Hederella specimen (more similar) or Cornulites specimen. The behavior and size of the epibionts are different and new to me. it's very interesting... Please, photo them.

 

What is it? It looks like Subphylum:Crustacea (single valve of Ostracoda or Conchostraca)?

 

 

Holdfast is very nice!!!  

 

What is this "1"?

"2": and there is something under "Favosites", very very long... what substrate is it for Favosites (What is it under Favosites)?

 

And there is something else ...

 

The Botryllopora sp. is like flowers! it's very beautiful 

 

Do you have rugose coral specimen like coral-epizoan?

 

@Mediospirifer And specimen №2, It looks like a common specimen (2 for 100 years)  and also pirit 

 

What's wrong with this brachiopod? I see pits, dents on the other side.

 

@Al Tahan @Shamalama @Misha @Fossildude19

[Monica]

@Brach3

 

Here's another photo of #2 on the Mucrospirifer - I can't seem to get a better photo than this, but it does appear to have openings so perhaps it's something like Hederella as you have suggested:

 

Here's the other unknown on the Mucrospirifer - I think it is indeed an ostracod:

 

As for the holdfast on the Favosites - it's about 9mm long.  I'm not sure what the item above it is (#1) - perhaps a brachiopod valve?  And the long thing "underneath" (#2) appears to be nothing when viewed in person.

 

I did take some pictures of other epibionts on the Favosites...

 

A cute little plate from a crinoid calyx (I think) along with some bits of branching bryozoans (I think):

 

Another little holdfast (I think) and an encrusting bryozoan (I think):

 

The "something" else that you referred to is here on the bottom of the photo - perhaps a brachiopod valve?  And what do you think is the round object in the centre of the photo?  Could it perhaps be an upside-down button coral?  Microcyclus is found at Hungry Hollow...

 

Another holdfast (I think) and another little hitchhiker near the bottom of the photo - what do you think it is?  A tiny rugose coral or a cornulitid?  It's about 3mm long:

 

A microconchid (I think) near the centre of the photo:

 

Another holdfast (I think) and something towards the upper lefthand corner of the photo - it looks like a coral, but more spherical in shape than F. placenta:

 

[Mediospirifer]

11 hours ago, Brach3 said:

What's wrong with this brachiopod? I see pits, dents on the other side.

 

I'm don't know the genus of that one. I found it in Windom shale micromatrix. If I remember correctly (this is a photo taken several years ago), the specimen is about 2 mm across.

 

I have seen pitting like that in some species of brachiopods where the fossil has delaminated (lost a surface layer). That looks more like an endocast or inside surface than an outer valve layer.

 

The brown color is typical of Penn-Dixie pyritized fossils. The Windom shale is a layer that has common pyrites. I understand that they form when organic material (flesh, feces, mucus, or anything else) is buried in an anoxic environment (such as a mudslide). 

 

Here's another example from the same matrix. This image has three Ambocoelia umbonata brachiopods, and two unidentified pelecypods:

 

 

Here's a different specimen (another Glyptorthis insculpta) with a cleft:

 

 

And a nice bryozoan holdfast on the exterior:

 

 

 

Here's a closeup of the bryo with an ostracod valve:

 

 

This one was found last June. I think I have another similar holdfast in the collection; I'll have to look for it and take a few photos. 

[Brach3]

On 25.01.2020 at 10:50 PM, Monica said:

but it does appear to have openings so perhaps it's something like Hederella as you have suggested:

@Monica Yes, it looks like Hederella sp., but I suggest watching/observing and other similar specimens. Because there are mentions/references in papers(articles) about calcite worm houses (tube-worms). In D3 we have the same situation: strange dwellings of worms. And I don't know why scientists don't describe these tube-worms it's exactly new genus... so let's watching.

 

 

It looks like single crinoid segment from the stalk/stem  or I can't see crinoid calyx

 

It's very interesting, because I couldn't see the difference yesterday (coral Favosites sp. VS bryozoans Atactotoechus sp., Leptotrypella sp., Fistulipora sp.)

Now I see, but I can't determine the bryozoans, they are similar...  

It's really problem ... we will read the articles...

 

It's very interesting to see the behavior of coral, how Favosites sp. encrusts the valve. 

 

"Could it perhaps be an upside-down button coral?  Microcyclus is found at Hungry Hollow..."

Why not? It looks like button coral, but I don't see the build-up rings/growth rings. May be it has been erased by sand in the Devon (sorting and transferring)

 

I don't see septa of a coral and no the scar caused by the adherence / the scar of attachment. I don't know how it is in D2... the 2 picture from the paper (article) show us 2 rugosa, but it looks like taphonomy. That why I've asked - do you have samples from D2 with coral-epizoans?  to check scientists... it's look like their mistake. 

 

Carboniferous (С3): 

 

There are samples from D3:

 

Your specimen (one small part, it was more longer) looks like Cornulities sp., because it has broken edges

 

"A microconchid (I think) near the centre of the photo:" Yes 

 

What is it? It looks like productida (brachiopod) 

Do you have productida in D2?

 

@Mediospirifer "What's wrong with this brachiopod? I see pits, dents on the other side."

It can be barnacle borings on valve. Please check this specimen with paper. Why not?

1. BARNACLE BORINGS IN LIVE AND DEAD HOSTS FROM THE LOUISIANA LIMESTONE (FAMENNIAN) OF MISSOURI JOAQUIN RODRIGUEZ AND RAYMOND C. GUTSCHICK

2. Host‐specific acrothoracid barnacles on Middle Devonian platyceratid gastropods Gordon C. Baird , Carlton E. Brett  & Jack T. Tomlinson  

3. A DEVONIAN BRACHIOPOD WITH EPIFAUNA1 R. D. HOARE AND D. L. STELLER

 

I can't see the holdfast it's look like the rise of bryozoans

 

Or bryozoan has encrusted something (may be plants) in Ordovic, is it empty inside? 

 

or like this hold fast of bryozoans (Dittopora clavaeformis Dybowski, 1877 from Ordovic) ?

Please see your fossils, I think you have similar fossils... 

 

@Al Tahan @Shamalama @Fossildude19 @Misha

 

[Mediospirifer]

19 hours ago, Brach3 said:

It can be barnacle borings on valve. Please check this specimen with paper. Why not?

 

I'll have to access the first two from work (on Tuesday). 

 

The borings in the figures of the third paper appear to be fairly randomly placed, as well as partly overgrown by shell deposition. They're also much larger than the pits in my specimen. Remember, my specimen is only about 2 mm wide. The pits follow a fairly regular pattern, so I think they're a feature of the species. They may be an indication that the specimen had spines on the surface.

 

19 hours ago, Brach3 said:

I can't see the holdfast it's look like the rise of bryozoans

 

This is the base of a bryozoan that probably looked a lot like the first photo on this page: LINK. That one is Devonian (I have a couple like it), while this is Ordovician, so not likely the same species. I don't see evidence of a hollow core to this specimen.

 

19 hours ago, Brach3 said:

or like this hold fast of bryozoans (Dittopora clavaeformis Dybowski, 1877 from Ordovic) ?

 

Possibly. I may have to grind the broken end to see what the internal structure looks like. That might allow an identification. 

 

I think the ostracod was a free-living organism that happened to drop a shell on the bryo, rather than an epibiont. It's a nice little specimen, I just don't have a reference guide to ostracod identification.

 

I'll try to get some better photos, and access the papers you've linked. I'm going to be very busy at the lab for the next couple of days, so downloading papers and stacking photos may have to wait until the current project deadline is past.