Show us your Devonian Epizoans & Pathological Brachiopods!

[Brach3]

@Mediospirifer

 

Devonian (D3)

Tomaculum sp. (peloids into the brachiopod Cyrtospirifer and 2 - into the gastropoda)

if you interesting i can photo some new samples , but it's ichnofossils. The scientist says  "In the photo - the coprolites of worms/crustaceans, i.e. fecal pellets, coprolites. Fossilized feces refer to fossilized footprints (ichnofossils). And your coprolitics are called, Tomaculum Groom, 1902."

- Bruthansova 2003
- Eiserhardt 2001

 

You have the same in Ordovician 

https://kirj.ee/public/Estonian_Journal_of_Earth_Sciences/2020/issue_1/earth-2020-1-1-19.pdf  

 

Devonian (D3)

Talpina sp (sponge) - sponge passages inside the brachiopod valves

only 1 sample

 

Devonian (D3)

Arachnostega sp - worm passages inside the brachiopod sediment

 

About worm trails (mud-eater)......

one collector from Russia has found a couple of finds )))

and formatted the brains of all the collectors and scientists in the world...

without exaggeration 

 

please see his photos (his name Roman but i dont know the surname)

 + 

 

 + 

 

and fatality:  ...

 

 

 

i see here worm trails but everyone want to see a pedicle (the mud like "pedicle", the pedicle has dissolved, and the void is filled with sediment = a cast of the pedicle). may be they are right ))) i dont know  

 

the pedicle of the Cyrtospirifer is too short 

 

 

 

and not flexible, not wriggling because we have the pressing, deepening on the area 

 

and modern pedicles

may be they have seen these modern pedicles

  

 

i dont know but everyone wants  "tubular pedicle collars"   

I don't mind )))

 

 

from Ordovician 

 

 "tubular pedicle collars" from Sinospirifer sp

http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:366/FULLTEXT01 

 

and after that another newcomer to paleontology came along and posted this:

 

i dont know that is it 

"These formations are not so common, but are preserved in the fossil state in atripids and spiriferids."

may be you have the same samples ))))

 

)))

Edited April 11, 2021 by Brach3

[Misha]

I haven't posted here in a while so here are some interesting lower Devonian brachiopods:

This first one may be a bit hard to see but I believe it is an orthid, it comes from the Kalkberg formation in NY.

The interesting thing about this one is the very round hole of considerable size that is drilled near the hinge of the shell. 

This formation actually also has quite a big amount of platyceratid snails fossilized along with the brachiopods which led me to think it may have been a sign of predation from one of those animals. At the same time, brachiopods are not the best prey and there are other borings you can see in the shell which occured after death so it is possible that this too came from some other organism after the brachiopod had already died.

this next one is an Atrypa reticularis from the Birdsong formation in Tennessee, it has a nice bryozoan attached to it. There is also the small round object (Crinoid?), I am not sure if it is actually attached to the shell or just stuck to it during fossilization.

[Brach3]

it looks like some traces of the worm and drilling hole after death 

 

 

 

may be it is the same fossils, we have found something not described  

nothing is clear, but very interesting )))

 

[Mediospirifer]

I've taken a lot of close-up photos of this specimen. This is the Mediospirifer sp. that I mentioned (and showed a few images of) before.

 

I still need to do some editing of the images (including selecting which ones to share), but here are a few.

 

First, the whole specimen images. I chose this one to document because of the epizoan community it supported, despite being broken around the edges.

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple pairs of images where the difference between the two members of each pair is that I used the polarization filters built into the microscope differently. The first of each pair is with the polarization aligned, the second is with the polarization at 90 degrees (crossed). The first setting highlights the surface texture, the second highlights the fossil's translucency. The second settings really enhance the Ascodictyon--it fuzzes out the surface texture, and highlights the red of the fossil under crossed polarization. Some interesting minerology going on here.

 

Ascodictyon:

 

 

 

And Cornulites:

 

 

 

And a small feature that might be the bud of a Cornulites (crossed polarization):

 

 

I'll post more after I finish editing the photos. 

 

[Crusty_Crab]

14 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

I've taken a lot of close-up photos of this specimen. This is the Mediospirifer sp. that I mentioned (and showed a few images of) before.

 

I still need to do some editing of the images (including selecting which ones to share), but here are a few.

 

First, the whole specimen images. I chose this one to document because of the epizoan community it supported, despite being broken around the edges.

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple pairs of images where the difference between the two members of each pair is that I used the polarization filters built into the microscope differently. The first of each pair is with the polarization aligned, the second is with the polarization at 90 degrees (crossed). The first setting highlights the surface texture, the second highlights the fossil's translucency. The second settings really enhance the Ascodictyon--it fuzzes out the surface texture, and highlights the red of the fossil under crossed polarization. Some interesting minerology going on here.

 

Ascodictyon:

 

 

 

And Cornulites:

 

 

 

And a small feature that might be the bud of a Cornulites (crossed polarization):

 

 

I'll post more after I finish editing the photos. 

 

Thats an amazing amount of detail you can see. Do the brachiopods from that locality require any cleaning at all or do they look like this straight out of the field?

[Caverat]

I get a kick out out of these brachiopod hitchhikers!

  

 

 

 

 

[Misha]

3 hours ago, Caverat said:

Wow! Those are fantastic, what formation do they come from?

[Caverat]

3 hours ago, Misha said:

Wow! Those are fantastic, what formation do they come from?

They are Cornulites corrugatus from the Middle Ordovician Decorah fm. in Missouri, USA. I wish I had an identification for the dark round mass sitting on the other brachiopod. I'm not sure if it is a organism or a nodule....

Edited April 15, 2021 by Caverat
Location was uncertain.

[Mediospirifer]

7 hours ago, Crusty_Crab said:

Do the brachiopods from that locality require any cleaning at all or do they look like this straight out of the field?

 

That's straight out of the field. I have scraped a little matrix off in spots, but I haven't really cleared any areas that weren't already exposed. This is from a fragile shale area, so the fossils weather out in good shape without need for extensive prep. 

 

The areas with more encrusting fossils usually have matrix filling the crevices. Like this area (Hederella sp.):

 

 

You can see some scrape marks at lower left where I used a dental pick. The matrix is fairly soft, and there's probably more micros hiding under it, but it's a tedious process. 

 

Here are a couple more Cornulites:

 

 

And a couple small features of Idunno whatsis. These are the closest I've seen to Sphenothallus, but at 0.2 mm diameter I think they're too small. Maybe?

 

 

7 hours ago, Caverat said:

I get a kick out out of these brachiopod hitchhikers!

 

Very cool! 

 

It looks like the Cornulites found that site to their liking. 

 

3 hours ago, Caverat said:

I wish I had an identification for the dark round mass sitting on the other brachiopod. I'm not sure if it is a organism or a nodule....

 

I'd say nodule. It looks to me more like a pebble of igneous origin (granite or basalt rock type) than a fossil. I could be wrong.... 

 

[Brach3]

 

Everything is perfect in these photos  relationship "epizoan - epizoan"

 

this finding proves that the tubes towered over the brachiopods (we see only the preserved part)

it's very interesting sample, we have discussed them before LINK

 

3 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

but it's a tedious process. 

The best is the enemy of the good. sometimes clearing damages the aesthetic appearance, and how many samples were damaged... sometimes it's better to leave things as they are.

 

"I've seen to Sphenothallus, but at 0.2 mm diameter I think they're too small. Maybe?"

why not, it can be anything. often, too small samples are not diagnosed at all due to calcite substitution (crystallization) 

 

   

 

in the continuation of the conversation and drilling: This is a photo of Yuri Kuzmichev-brachiopod Raunites sp from the Ordovician.

We can see the drilling inside the valves. it's realy beautiful and revealing when you look at the brachiopod at the lumen (Diana's idea).

 

 

this thread is getting more and more interesting :D

Edited April 15, 2021 by Brach3

[Brach3]

@Mediospirifer

 

Today Denis Ometov's sent me some photos.  Please see the tightness of the settlement and the second ear appeared (the ledge of growth)

I think it is a very good sample visual

 

  

Edited April 16, 2021 by Brach3

[Mediospirifer]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:07 AM, Brach3 said:

 

in the continuation of the conversation and drilling: This is a photo of Yuri Kuzmichev-brachiopod Raunites sp from the Ordovician.

We can see the drilling inside the valves. it's realy beautiful and revealing when you look at the brachiopod at the lumen (Diana's idea).

 

Beautiful! 

 

The shadows of the tubes reveal that the tubes are full of opaque sediment. I would expect a void to show as a lighter streak. Very nice!

 

I also collect other rocks and minerals, and many are translucent. I've developed the habit of holding things up to the light if I think they look at all translucent. There are some mineral specimens in my collection that show amazing colors when backlit, while looking like an ordinary chunk of dark glass otherwise. That habit is what led me to hold a calcified fossil up to the light. The results are interesting!

 

On 4/16/2021 at 2:56 AM, Brach3 said:

Today Denis Ometov's sent me some photos.  Please see the tightness of the settlement and the second ear appeared (the ledge of growth)

I think it is a very good sample visual

 

  

 

Cool!

 

Do you know if the other valve shows a similar "second ear"? The middle image hints that it might, but doesn't show the extent if it does.

 

This might be the bioimurred impression of a neighboring brachiopod's ear (or wingtip, as I like to think of it)? Or do you think it's a bite mark? In either case, it doesn't seem to have impaired the brachiopod's growth by much.

 

Here are a couple more images of the encrusters on my Mediospirifer above. I'm still learning how to use my microscope to best effect, and I want to retake some pictures before I post them. For some reason, I find myself getting distracted by specimens from our meteorite collection appearing on the table when my husband notices that I have the microscope plugged in... 

 

I've shown a photo of this area before, but I like this one better. Here we have what look like two different species of Hederella with filaments of Ascodictyon growing through the tangle. We have some points where the Ascodictyon was overgrown by the Hederella, and others where the Hederella came first:

 

 

And the same view with crossed polarization:

 

 

Enjoy! I'll post more when I have things ready. 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Mediospirifer
Added comment

[Mediospirifer]

I finally had some time to do a fairly complete photo documentation of the epizoans on my Mediospirifer specimen. 

 

I'll start with some images from the cardinal area. First, the overview:

 

 

Lots of Ascodictyon present here. Here are a few examples. I'm posting pairs of images for each area, first with aligned polarization, second with crossed. The crossed polars enhance details that aren't obvious in the aligned polars images.

 

#1: Beak area

 

 

 

#2: Left of #1.

 

 

 

#3: Below #2.

 

 

 

#4: Right of #1.

 

 

 

And #5: Below #4.

 

 

 

More to come, later this evening.  

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by Mediospirifer
Removed extra images

[Mediospirifer]

Here are the details of the brachial valve. First, the overview:

 

 

#1: The beak area.

 

 

 

#2: Working down the valve midline. I see an epizoan that resembles Hederella canadensis, but doesn't seem to grow long branches. I'm wondering if this is Hederella, with the zoaria growing vertically rather than along the brachiopod valve, or if its something else. We'll see more of this species elsewhere on the fossil.

 

 

 

#3: Continuing down the midline. We see the open end of the hederelloid, and two small bumps that may be Sphenothallus, although they are very small (around 0.2 mm diameter). Until I get a positive ID on these, I'm calling them Idunno whatsis.

 

 

 

 

#4: Further down the midline. We have here two Cornulites, a roughened area of valve surface near the mouth of the larger Cornulites, and an Idunno whatsis.

 

 

 

#5: Further left along the hinge. Cornulites overgrown by Hederella (?), with a whitish tube along the left side (another type of Idunno whatsis?), and Ascodictyon growing around and over everything. Multiple interactions going on here!

 

 

 

#6: Left of #5, continuing along the hinge. At right, we see the Cornulites / Hederella (?) / Idunno cluster, with another Cornulites at left and more Ascodictyon growing over it.

 

 

 

#7: Below and to the right of #5, we have another Cornulites.

 

 

 

#8: Along the hinge to the right of the beak, we can see a couple of small bumps and some dark features that appear to be embedded in the shell material. The crossed polars photo highlights their presence.

 

 

 

#9: Just to the right of the bottom of the valve midline, another (possibly different species) Idunno whatsis.

 

 

 

Next up, the pedicle valve and its hitchhikers.  

 

[Mediospirifer]

And here is the pedicle valve, starting with the overview. There's a lot going on here:

 

 

#1: The beak and the area to the right. We can see two different hederelloids (H. canadensis? and H. filiformis) with Ascodictyon growing over and under. It's a tangle!

 

 

 

#2: Hinge area left of the beak. We see the left edge of the Hederella and Ascodictyon tangle.

 

 

 

#3: Further left along the hinge. We can see what looks like the impression of an Ascodictyon star (clearly visible in the crossed polars image) where the actual fossil is absent.

 

 

 

#4: Left of #3, more Ascodictyon and a Cornulites. Also some black speckles that appear to be embedded in the shell.

 

 

 

#5: Below #2, left of the midline. We have here some Hederella filiformis, Ascodictyon, and short segments of possible H. canadensis.

 

 

 

#6: Below #5, and more of the same.

 

 

 

#7: Left of #6. Ascodictyon, possible H. canadensis, and a couple of Idunno whatsis bumps.

 

 

 

#8: Hinge area to the right of the beak. We have a network of Ascodictyon and what may be a single Hederella segment (or possibly Cornulites, it's difficult to tell).

 

 

 

#9: Below #1. Back to the tangle of hederelloids and Ascodictyon. There may be a Cornulites or two tangled up in here, too. 

 

 

 

#10: Below #9. More of the tangle, with something at the left side that I don't recognize. This is one of the areas that I would really like to remove the matrix from, if I can do it without damaging the fossils. As it is, I can't tell if that feature group is several microfossils, or a set of ridges on a single one. I may pick at it (delicately!) at some point.

 

 

 

#11: Finally, at lower right on the overview, we have yet another type of Idunno whatsis, along with Hederella and Ascodictyon. This area I have scraped some matrix away, and the feature only gets more interesting as it gets exposed! Any ideas what this might be? 

 

 

 

Not a bad community for one 2 cm (broken!) shell!  

 

[Brach3]

On 4/17/2021 at 9:27 AM, Mediospirifer said:

Do you know if the other valve shows a similar "second ear"?

 

This is my answer without photo. i am going to do them on these holidays

Yes we can see the #2 here

 

"neighboring brachiopod's ear (or wingtip, as I like to think of it)"

i think the same  

 

On 4/17/2021 at 9:27 AM, Mediospirifer said:

Enjoy! I'll post more when I have things ready. 

 

thank you for your photos, very interesting

I'm dreaming more and more of a microscope 

 

you exactly have Sphenothallus in ordovician

why not, but they no calcite 

we need more samples!  

  

 

  nothing is clear, but very interesting )))

I do not exclude that in an adult form this settlement would be familiar and immediately obvious

 

On 4/27/2021 at 7:31 AM, Mediospirifer said:

Not a bad community for one 2 cm (broken!) shell!  

 

a whole museum on one brachiopod (pocket museum) 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Brach3

[Crankyjob21]

I think it is a brachiopod, it came from Texas, which could be Permian in age.

[Mediospirifer]

On 4/30/2021 at 9:16 PM, Crankyjob21 said:

I think it is a brachiopod, it came from Texas, which could be Permian in age.

 

Could be; it's hard to tell from one photo. That dark band could be the commissure. Can you post images from other angles, and show other sides of the rock?

 

On 4/30/2021 at 7:07 AM, Brach3 said:

you exactly have Sphenothallus in ordovician

 

Middle Devonian, in this case. 

 

I've spent some time clearing some of the matrix away from my mystery epizoan above (this one):

 

 

Here's a cleaner view, with lighting from one side to enhance the 3-dimensional shape:

 

 

It looks like there are two different critters here. The larger specimen is a Cornulites, with the lip broken off in a way that (to me at least) made it look like it has a head. The knob that looked like an eye appears to be the tip of a hederelloid growing next to the cornulitid.

 

Mystery solved! Now I just have to clean matrix off a few other areas. I'll photograph some horn corals next, some of them have extensive colonies of epizoans. 

 

[Brach3]

On 5/8/2021 at 9:24 AM, Mediospirifer said:

Mystery solved

my congratulation, it seems like true! 

 

so today is 3 days holidays and what does it mean? it means some new photos )))

these brachiopod from 2021 years, I have just received some Cyrtospirifer sp.  (a gift)

 

#1 with ulceration. and we can see on side is ok,  but another is in ulceration.

it can be non-preserved fouling (bioerosion)

sometimes it looks like an old brachiopod (when there is not enough strength to allocate the shell substance to the whole shell) But 

but here we can see only one side ))) so may be algue, may be sponge, or whatever

 

next 2 brachiopods (the same, only 1 side)

  

 

#2 with broken-off sash (please see valve damages, shell chipping)

 

 

#3 tightness of the settlement + epizoans (secondary in this case)

so beautiful deformation )))

    

 

#4 and here please see Hederella sp, but we can see the mouths rise above the surface (rather than lying flat and smooth on the shell)

I have two such specimens, perhaps two options: 1. elevation above the bottom sediments, when the shell was in the silt 2. or the Hederella could grow and rise  @Mediospirifer

 

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Brach3

[Misha]

This topic has made me fall in love with brachiopod epibionts, they are so fascinating.

A few days ago I received 2 nice brachiopods in the mail, both from Ohio and with some nice organisms attached.

The first is a Protoleptostrophia perplana with a Petrocrania hamiltoniae and Hederellids:

The other is a pyritized Paraspirifer bownockeri, it is a very dense brachiopod with lots of fine detail preserved. Along different areas of the brachiopod especially near the commissure there are some small structures attached but I am not yet sure as to exactly what they are.

[Misha]

As an update to the previous post, I have examined the epbionts on the Paraspirifer under a digital microscope and they appear to be mostly hederellids as well.

[Mediospirifer]

19 hours ago, Misha said:

As an update to the previous post, I have examined the epbionts on the Paraspirifer under a digital microscope and they appear to be mostly hederellids as well.

 

Looks like hederellids. Cool specimen!

 

Both of your Ohio specimens are really nice. I love the detail! And Petrocrania are always fascinating.

 

[Brach3]

On 5/31/2021 at 9:04 PM, Misha said:

This topic has made me fall in love with brachiopod epibionts, they are so fascinating.

 

Every letters in this sentence are beautiful  

it's not for nothing that we suffered with Mediospirifer and took pictures of the samples! 

 

 

 this is a really beautiful sample...

i think it's a intravital settlement 

 

I know word "gold rush", but if in english is word "fossil rush" then your photos is a provocation on the start of the paleo season... ))) 

 

 

very interesting shell structure

please see and may be Noetlingia sp. from Ordovician

2 new structure for me in one day 

very unusual 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Brach3

[historianmichael]

I don't think I have ever found a brachiopod encrusted with an epibiont before, so it was with great surprise and joy that I found quite a few at one site during a trip to Western NY this past weekend. Here are some of my favorites:

 

Tropidoleptus carinatus with Hederella canadensis

 

Tropidoleptus carinatus with Ascodictyon(?)

 

Mucrospirifer mucronatus with Cornulites hamiltoniae

 

Devonochonetes coronatus with Palaeoconchus angulatus

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by historianmichael

[Misha]

3 minutes ago, historianmichael said:

 Tropidoleptus carinatus

That's a beautiful brachiopod with a really nice epibiont as well! Never heard of this genus, very interesting!