ID Request

[wolfy]

Hi all! I'm new and this is my first post. I've been interested in fossils since I was a kid and in an attempt to spend more time out in nature, have decided to try to get more serious about this hobby.

 

I currently live in southeastern Sullivan County, NY.

 

I grew up in Stony Point (Rockland County) and remembered finding fossils in a creekbed by my house, and so last year I decided to stop by the same spot on my way back to Sullivan after a visit to Rockland.

 

I found the hash pictured below that day and finally got around to partially cracking it open last night. (FYI: In the first photo, the has had already been cracked open in multiple places. I put it back together for the photo.) Any idea what these two little guys are?

 

Using Macrostat, it looks like the area contains Hornblende granite and granite gneiss from the mesoproterozoic. I used another geology map of New York and it shows the area is near the border of Silurian deposits and a little pocket of deposits from the Triassic. Again, this hash was found along/in a creekbed.

 

Please let me know if better photos are needed. I look forward to hearing everybody's thoughts and also being active in the fossil hunting community! :)

[Kane]

I would say these are brachiopods, although they are not my specialization to more than roughly guess at a genus level.

[Mark Kmiecik]

Look like bracchiopods to me as well. Not my field of specialty either, so no clue as to genus or species.

[Rockwood]

Leptostrophia ?

[Fossildude19]

That area appears to be mostly Upper Devonian.

 

 

I'm not seeing a straight hinge line, that would lead to a strophomenida ID.

Looks more like an orthida brachiopod to me.

Maybe something like Cariniferella tioga, or Thiemella sp.

 

[Rockwood]

Oh, and the top photo looks a little bit like Cornulites feeding traces.

[wolfy]

Thank you everyone for the responses so far!

 

@Fossildude19 That's the same map I was using! (: You are absolutely correct in that Sullivan County is pretty much entirely Devonian, with the exception of the southeastern-most tip of the county (indicated by the blue box). Re-reading my post, I realize that I may not have been clear that this fossil was found in Rockland County (Stony Point, specifically). I opened up Google Earth and did an image overlay with the geological map and was able to pinpoint where exactly I found it with much more accuracy (center of the red square). Precambrian I think (yellow and pink)? I'm going to assume lots of Devonian fossils ended up downstate as glacial deposits though.

 

There are additional fossils in the hash. I'll see if I can get it further apart to see what else may be in there. I'm worried about damaging it!

[Brian James Maguire]

I would second orthid brachiopod

[M3gal0don_M4n]

Brachiopod 

[Rockwood]

16 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

I'm not seeing a straight hinge line, that would lead to a strophomenida ID.

Looks more like an orthida brachiopod to me.

I don't see any exposed hinge line at all. I don't see the ribs and sulcus that would indicate orthida either.

[Fossildude19]

28 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

I don't see any exposed hinge line at all. I don't see the ribs and sulcus that would indicate orthida either.

 

It's an internal mold.  It is more rounded, and lacks a straight hinge line of a strophomenid.

Orthida is a best guess, based on what is visible.  
 

With the found in float provenance,  and poor preservation, ... best guesses are all we have. 

I'm open to better suggestions, as we all should be. 

 

Your mileage may vary. 

 

[Rockwood]

7 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

It's an internal mold.  It is more rounded, and lacks a straight hinge line of a strophomenid.

The one on the left in the bottom photo is a flat external mold that, to me, looks nothing like the posted examples. Can you point out a hinge line? 

[Fossildude19]

16 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

The one on the left in the bottom photo is a flat external mold that, to me, looks nothing like the posted examples. Can you point out a hinge line? 

 

 

 

Not sure which one of the two visible you were talking about, but there you are:

 

 

 

It is obviously the counterpart to the main item.

Still not seeing a straight hinge line.   

 

As stated, I am open to other ideas.  Do you have a better one? 

[Rockwood]

1 hour ago, Fossildude19 said:

till not seeing a straight hinge line. 

My point is that neither of us sees any hinge line at all. 

It just wasn't preserved or exposed in these examples.

Edited September 7 by Rockwood

[Fossildude19]

9 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

My point is that neither of us sees any hinge line at all. 

It just wasn't preserved or exposed in these examples.

Agree to disagree.

[Rockwood]

Is @Tidgy's Dad around to offer an opinion?

[Fossildude19]

49 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Is @Tidgy's Dad around to offer an opinion?

 

Hasn't been on in a while.