Invertebrate ID help requested

[Gramps]

All,

This is my first post, although I have been reading with interest for some time. As I approach retirement, I find myself returning to the hobbies of my youth, including fossil hunting. I found these fossils in a single rock in Northeastern Oklahoma (a few miles South of Tulsa). It came from demolished concrete structure, so I do not know where the rock originated. The rock is very hard and very fine grained. It reminds me of chert or a very hard limestone. The first photo shows one end of the rock, where the closeup photos were taken. The fossil in the upper left is about one inch (2.5 cm) in length and about one-half inch (1.3 cm) in height. The second photo shows a close-up of this fossil.  I am nearing the file size limit, so I will attempt to reply to this topic with additional photos. I would be grateful if forum members can help me with identification.

Best wishes.

[Gramps]

Here are more photos The fossil in the lower right of the first photo is shown from various angles here. Photo #3 shows how this fossil seems to wrap around the end of the rock, with a total length of about four inches (10 cm).  Photo #4 shows a section of this fossil that is about one-and-a-half inches (3.8 cm) long and three-eights inch (1 cm) wide. I am hitting the upload limit again, so I will reply one more time with the final pictures.

[Gramps]

I have two additional photos of the fossil in the lower right of the first photo; however, I seem to have reached an overall file size limit for this topic. If the additional photos would help, I will try again to upload them.

I look forward to any help the members can provide with identification.

Best wishes.

[Fossildude19]

If you refresh your web browser, you should be able to add more photos. 

You have a 4 mb size limit. You can resize your images to 800 x 600 to add multiple files to one post or reply.  

 

[Gramps]

Thanks for your help, Fossildude 19.  I am uploading the last two photos. Both of these show the fossil in the lower right of the first photo. Again, the section of fossil shown here is about one-and-a-half inches (3.8 cm) long and three-eights inch (1 cm) wide. I should have said before that most of the sedimentary rock in our area is of Pennsylvanian age (however, this specimen may be of a different age and location since it was in concrete and has a different appearance from the other local rocks).

[GeschWhat]

I'm getting a burrow vibe from this.  The one that was filled looks like it is lined and then filled with coprolites. This one looks like it was lined with something, but I'm not sure what. It is possible that they are fecal pellets, but the curved shape leads me to believe it is something else. I recently read a paper where ocean invertebrates used bits of sponge to line their burrows in soft sediment. It will be interesting to see what others think.

10 hours ago, Gramps said:

 

 

[Gramps]

Thanks, GeschWhat. Burrows would explain why one of these seems to have a long and tortuous path.

Best wishes.

[JamieLynn]

just taking a total stab in the dark since i am not an expert, but it made me think of feeding ichnofossils.But then I I found this image about burrows. Not sure its the right era though.

[Gramps]

Thank you, Jamie. These are intriguing possibilities. I was wondering if you might be able to say where the drawings came from? They are very informative.

Before posting this on fossil forum, I had not considered the possibility of burrows or feeding ichnofossils. Now that you and GeschWhat have suggested these ideas, I am thinking about making some slices through the material to see if the fossil in the upper left of the first image winds its way through the rock.

Best wishes.

[JamieLynn]

it was from this forum topic: 

 

[Gramps]

Thank you, Jamie.

[Missourian]

These are probably the sponge Cystauletes mammilosus, which occurs in the Pawnee Limestone of northeast Oklahoma.

 

See this publication for the description:

 

http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Bulletins/47_1/Bull47_1.pdf

(page 32)

 

And here is a specimen from Oklahoma that I have acquired:

 

 

 

[Gramps]

Thank you, Missourian. That is a very interesting possibility.

Best wishes.