Collecting Phantastic Trilobites at the Longgang Section (Shandong)

[Isotelus2883]

One of the trilobites I have been hoping to find for a long time is the extremely rare and unusual Phantaspis auritus. 

 

This trilobite is so far only known from the Longgang section at Linqu, Shandong. What makes it so rare is that it is only found in a single bed in the Honghe Member. This member is not so well developed (I think it was shallower) at the Jinan-Zibo region, so it has been divided into the upper and lower members in the recent revision. However, the Longgang section contains a quite complete series of strata starting from the middle part of the Lower Shale Member.

 

This may be the only place where this extremely rare trilobite can be found, and the Upper Shale Member contains many “soft” animals, and preservation of trilobite gut tracts. Some notable finds from the site include the first Sidneyia outside of Laurentia, Cambroaster, and of course Phantaspis. Overall this site offers a great collecting oppurtunity. Recently, I read a post on a Chinese forum where someone had visited there, and said that excavators had begun to dig out the shale. I had not high hopes of finding trilobites here.

 

Happily, I was completely wrong. I think the poster was writing about the bit south of here, where the Upper Shale Member was exposed. Thankfully, the Honghe member was wonderfully seen in this huge outcrop. 

 

 

 

This was not the best, though. I spent a very long time trying to find anything, even fragments. Bioturbation was very common in the sandy shale, and I picked up some well defined traces.

A grazing trail.

 

 

 

Probably made from some big Proasaphiscid?

 

 

 

 

This might be a trilobite attacking a worm. Would be really nice if it is.

 

 

 

Continued on next post...

[Isotelus2883]

2. 

After some time searching, possibly an hour, I finally found some tiny trilobite fragments on a block of shale. After some digging and splitting, I managed to find a great hash of more fragments, including many Proasaphiscid cranidia, genals, and rarer pygidia. 

 

 

A brachiopod, or possibly the operculum of a hyolith.

 

 

 

I did manage to find some small trilobites.

 

.

 

 

 

I don’t remember the genus of this one, but at least it isn’t a proasaphiscid. Some robust genals here.

 

 

 

I have no ideas.

 

 

 

Continued in next post...

[Isotelus2883]

3.

As I dug down, I noticed a higher amount of thoracic segments.

Then, as I pulled off another piece of shale, I noticed a trilobite, ... and then another,  ... and another.

 

 

 

 

These are the undescribed Proasaphiscids which are commonly found in association with Phantaspis!

 

 

 

Some of the better ones.

 

 

 

Continued on next post...

[Isotelus2883]

4.

These were preserved in some extremely thin calcite wafers, which took the place of the shell.

These often fractured when I looked at them too hard, but I managed to get some good ones.

Gold!

 

 

 

 

 

In situ, but it turned out to be partial. It for some reason had it’s hypostome in place, though.

 

 

 

 

 

More hypostomes.

 

 

 

Some muscle attachments on the thorax and glabella. This is pretty rare for these, they are much more common in the Upper Shale Member.

 

 

Continued on next post...

[Isotelus2883]

5. Some time near the end, my dad pointed out an unusual sedimentary structure, these gutter casts, extremely well defined and abundant.

I had seen an image of these gutter casts on the paper about Phantaspis, and these were seen to be near the layer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there they were! I found, just above the gutter casts, two tiny Phantastic (or should I say Phantastical) Phantaspis cranidiums. These are probably meraspid stage, and both have their “ears” broken. In Sun et. al. (2020), they write the reason is that the anterior portion of the cephalon has no special thickening like the Harpids or Trinucleids. However, I am perfectly happy with these, as I had gone here thinking that this site was destroyed by construction.

 

 

 

 

A good portion of the block remains, so I will hopefully return to the site later in the week, and try to find some better Phantaspis. This is a great place, and the wonderful and very rare trilobites certainly are worthy of further site exploration. 

To end the post, here are some “trilobites” I found.

Some very Neodrepanura looking bats at a temple in Chengdu.

 

 

Trilobite meraspis??

 

 

 

[Ludwigia]

Congratulations! Looks like you really struck gold this time around.

[Darktooth]

Great report and pictures! Congratulations on a good hunt!

 

[FossilDAWG]

Thanks for the excellent report.  Very nice trilobites!   Will you be able to bring them home?  I believe China has some very strict laws regarding exporting fossils.

 

Don

[Isotelus2883]

They will go to Shijiazhuang where they will stay with extended family.

[Isotelus2883]

A bit sad though, surely one or two examples don’t matter that much.

[SPrice]

Phantastic report and great images! Thanks for sharing them and good luck when you re-visit the site! 

 

Maybe you should have kept the Argulus fish louse to see if it would have grown  into its holaspis stage. lol!

 

 

 

 

 

[SPrice]

Oh... and the sidewalk sculpture of peaches and bats reminded me of my Bi sculpture with bats on it. 

 

Happiness and long life!

 

 

[Collector9658]

1 hour ago, Isotelus2883 said:

A bit sad though, surely one or two examples don’t matter that much.

Sad yes, but I think you are better off keeping your merit and not risking going down a slippery slope of taking one illegally. 

 

Nice finds, thanks for sharing.

[Isotelus2883]

That comment did sound a bit sketchy so I’ll clarify that I will not be taking any back home.

[FossilDAWG]

On 7/8/2024 at 12:13 PM, Isotelus2883 said:

That comment did sound a bit sketchy so I’ll clarify that I will not be taking any back home.

Sad, but the safest course of action.  I've thought about investing in a 3D scanning device of some sort, so I could print out a copy of anything I have to leave behind when I'm traveling.  Haven't done it yet, though, because I don't have time to fossil hunt when I'm traveling internationally (mostly due to teaching study abroad).

 

Don