Periodic Paleo Posting - The Pie Cabinet

[NickG]

Agoniatites vanuxemi is what Burns said. I would need to double check House 1978 and some other sources. I’m not sure how many of the specimens I’ve seen from that site are truly assignable to a species in terms of diagnostic features being present. 

[bockryan]

5 hours ago, Al Dente said:

The apostrophe is almost always dropped on place names (Harpers Ferry for example). Greens Mill Run is the most common spelling.

 

The great whites are coming from the Yorktown Formation. 

 

Interesting - do you know why that is? The Yorktown material at the Aurora Fossil Museum doesn't seem to have Great Whites, or at least very few of them. Is that because they're the most fragile and get smashed up, or is it a different horizon maybe within the same formation? Does the Pleistocene material produce shark teeth at all? Thank you for replying though, I have been looking for info on this for a while, similarly with places like Holden Beach where lots of different time periods get mixed up. 

 

Edit - I should perhaps say that I have not found many Great Whites from the Yorktown vs. other species, which is more accurate than saying they don't seem to be there  

Edited October 4 by bockryan

[bockryan]

1 hour ago, NickG said:

Agoniatites vanuxemi is what Burns said. I would need to double check House 1978 and some other sources. I’m not sure how many of the specimens I’ve seen from that site are truly assignable to a species in terms of diagnostic features being present. 

 

I found it - Agoniatites oliveri is the name I was thinking of that appeared on the poster as a way of dating the site to the Emsian. Are multiple Agoniatites species present do we think? I haven't observed any that are obviously different, but of course that wouldn't capture more subtle variation.

[bockryan]

Next one is the first echinoid of the thread, and a species that has probably been added to many, many collections in the past few years: Hardouinia mortonis from the Late Cretaceous Peedee Formation, found on Holden Beach, North Carolina. A fairly recent beach replenishment initiative dredged a bunch of material from offshore and dumped it on the beach, which led to a great locality that still produces lots of good finds from the Cretaceous along with the usual Neogene material (plus apparently lots of good modern shells). Any beach where you can find a Mosasaur tooth next to a Great White is a good beach!

 

 

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Hardouinia mortonis

Holden Beach, NC

Peedee Formation

Late Cretaceous

 

Some pictures from the beach:

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8 by bockryan

[bockryan]

Next up is another purchased fossil, a pretty small example of Apateon pedestris, a temnospondyl amphibian from Permian rocks exposed in Odernheim, Germany. There are much better examples of these guys out there, but it was nice to add an amphibian to the collection without spending a ton of money. Salamanders are among my favorite living groups, so I have a soft spot for this specimen. As the paleoart at the end shows, they are envisioned as very salamander-like in life - pretty cool. 

 

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Apateon pedestris

Odernheim, Germany

Pfalz Formation

Permian

 

Some paleoart from Maija Karala:

 

[bockryan]

Another common fossil in many collections is Elrathia kingii, a trilobite excavated by the tens of thousands from the Wheeler Shale in Utah, most famously at the commercial U-Dig Fossils quarry. I have not been able to dig for any myself (Utah is a long way away), but I do have this one - perhaps one day I will make it out there to find more. I think I will try to do a mini-version of the "one fossil from each period" thing, so the next one will be Ordovician, then Silurian, and so on.  

 

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Elrathia kingii   

House Range, UT

Wheeler Shale

Middle Cambrian

[bockryan]

The next one I photographed is a return to the wild world of graptolites, who preempted the idea of the zipper by several hundred million years. This one is apparently Didymograptus murchisoni from the Middle Ordovician of Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

The label for this one is:

Didymograptus murchisoni

Abereiddy Bay, Wales, United Kingdom

Bifidus Beds

Middle Ordovician

[bockryan]

Fast forward to the Silurian - this is a small plate of Cupularostrum sp. brachiopods from a previously mentioned roadcut near Cumberland, Maryland that exposes the Middle Silurian Rochester and McKenzie Formations. This ID might be out of date as I'm just basing it on what Burns stated in his book from the 90s. Perhaps more research needed on these guys.

 

 

 

 

 

The current label for this one is:

Cupularostrum sp.

Cumberland, MD

Rochester and McKenzie Formations

Middle Silurian

Edited October 8 by bockryan

[bockryan]

Moving forward into the Devonian, we have a tiny fossil I received in an exchange I did with a few people I met from the UK at the NAPC conference this year. This is Palaeospondylus sp. from the Middle Devonian of Scotland. I will quote the Wikipedia page for this one, as it seems there is still a lot of debate as to the identity of these creatures:

 

Quote

 

Palaeospondylus ("early vertebrae") is a prehistoric fish, a fossil vertebrate. Its fossils are described from the Achanarras slate quarry in Caithness, Scotland.

The fossil as preserved is carbonized, and indicates an eel-shaped animal up to 6 centimetres (2 in) in length. The skull, which must have consisted of hardened cartilage, exhibits pairs of nasal and auditory capsules, with a gill apparatus below its hinder part, and ambiguous indications of ordinary jaws.

The phylogeny of this fossil has puzzled scientists since its discovery in 1890, and many taxonomies have been suggested. In 2004, researchers proposed that Palaeospondylus was a larval lungfish. Previously, it had been classified as a larval tetrapod, unarmored placoderm, an agnathan, an early stem hagfish, and a chimera. A 2017 study suggested that it was a stem chondrichthyan.

 

In 2022, researchers reported, based on studies using synchrotron radiation X-ray micro-computed tomography, that the neurocranium of Palaeospondylus was similar to those of the stem-tetrapods Eusthenopteron and Panderichthys, and concluded that Palaeospondylus was between those two phylogenetically. Brownstein (2023) criticized this study, suggesting it would be basal gnathostomes instead. Hirasawa and Kuratani, who are authors in 2022 study, replied to that and reviewed phylogeny again, resulted it would be closer to Acanthostega instead.

 

 

 

 

The label for this one is:

Palaeospondylus sp.

Caithness, Scotland (Achanarras Slate Quarry)

Achanarras Fish Bed

Middle Devonian

[bockryan]

I think it would be too easy to do another plant for the Carboniferous, so up next is an interesting plate that includes a few examples of the pelecypod Palaeoneilo sulcatina from the Marshall Sandstone. These fossils are from the Early Mississippian. This specimen was found on a NAPC field trip to Jackson, Michigan to a quarry where glaciers had transported variously sized pieces of the Marshall Formation. It was baking hot but I still managed to find some nice pieces and had a fun trip. The excellent website put together by the Friends of the UMMP is worth highlighting, it's a great resource with lots of good photos and IDs: http://michiganbasinfossils.org/search?fm=Marshall

 

 

 

 

My label is:

Palaeoneilo sulcatina

Jackson, MI

Marshall Formation

Carboniferous (Early Mississippian)

Edited October 10 by bockryan

[Fossildude19]

On 9/20/2024 at 12:19 PM, bockryan said:

 

There is some Miocene material coming up! Can't live in Maryland and avoid the Calvert Cliffs.

The next fossil though is one of my favorites, although visually it is not particularly impressive. It is Diplurus newarki from the famous Late Triassic Old Granton Quarry locality in North Bergen, New Jersey. This quarry is composed of approximately 50% Lockatong Formation and 50% poison ivy, with a few very thin (and, by the time I got there, mostly mined out) layers of fish-producing material. I believe several reptiles, including strange gliding forms, have also been recovered here but I was happy enough to find something that resembles a fish. I believe this one is mostly complete, with the head at the top and most of the tail at the bottom of the first image. 

 

 

 

VERY nice example of Diplurus newarki, Ryan!

Lucky find, what with the area so picked over! Well done!

 

Here is the correct orienation of it:

 

 

[bockryan]

16 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

 

VERY nice example of Diplurus newarki, Ryan!

Lucky find, what with the area so picked over! Well done!

 

Here is the correct orienation of it:

 

 

 

Thank you @Fossildude19!! Your assistance was extremely helpful, it is legitimately one of my favorite fossils as I have loved Coelacanths since they appeared in the original Animal Crossing. Thanks again and glad to have the ID confirmed  

 

  

[bockryan]

OK I'm skipping the Permian and the Triassic as I've already posted most of my fossils from those periods. So we're jumping to the Jurassic - queue the Jurassic Park music. This is an ammonite I purchased that comes from Boulemane, Morocco. @Ludwigia very helpfully suggested it could be Emileia sp. from the Middle Jurassic. The shell has been replaced with hematite so this one is extremely heavy.

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Emileia sp.

Boulemane, Morocco

Unknown Formation

Middle Jurassic

[bockryan]

Moving into the Cretaceous, we have another echinoid and another fossil that was included in the exchange I did with some NAPC folks. I believe this is the very common Offaster pilula from Newhaven in the UK. These come from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Newhaven Chalk Formation. This one has a bonus bit of bryozoan and the preservation is really nice, lots of detail to be seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Offaster pilula

Newhaven, United Kingdom

Newhaven Chalk Formation

Late Cretaceous

[bockryan]

Next up is the Paleogene, and actually we'll start with the first epoch - the Paleocene. Purse State Park (now Nanjemoy WMA) is probably the best locality for fossils near DC and it was where I found my very first ones. The most common teeth are the Sand Tiger and Goblin Shark (and they are *very* common), but real prizes are Paleocarcharodon orientalis and big examples of Otodus obliquus. This example of O. obliquus is not a particularly big one, but it is nicely preserved and was a nice find to pull out of the sifter.

 

 

 

 

 

The label for this one is:

Otodus obliquus

Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area (Purse/Douglas Point), MD

Aquia Formation

Paleocene

[bockryan]

Next period is the Neogene, and the next fossil is the state fossil of Maryland: Ecphora gardnerae. This one comes from the already mentioned Miocene exposures at Matoaka Beach Cabins in Maryland. The cliffs here expose both the Choptank and St. Mary's Formations and produce some shark teeth and a nice array of invertebrates, along with the occasional marine mammal. There are a couple of species within Ecphora, this one looks like E. gardnerae to me, but curious if anyone thinks differently?

 

 

 

 

 

My current label for this one is:

Ecphora gardnerae

Matoaka Beach Cabins, MD

Choptank and St. Mary's Formations

Miocene

 

Edited October 9 by bockryan

[bockryan]

Final entry in this series is the Quaternary - the fossil is an example of Equus sp. dredged up from the North Sea, dated to the Pleistocene. I am spending Christmas in Florida this year and will hopefully have a chance to find some of my own in the Peace River, weather permitting.

 

I don't think there's much chance that this one can be ID'd more specifically, given the preservation. Still, a nice first appearance for mammals in the thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The label for this one is:

Equus sp.

North Sea

Unknown Formation

Pleistocene

[bockryan]

Returning to the Devonian, we have a heartbreaker from the Mahantango Formation exposures in Gore, Virginia: the familiar Eldredgeops rana. This one is missing the head but would have been pretty massive if it was complete. I have found a few medium-sized complete rollers, a few large heads, and then this large body, but unfortunately no complete, prone, large trifectas yet. I say "yet" because I go here pretty often and someday the rock will crack open and out will pop a perfect one. Someday!

 

 

 

The label for this one is:

Eldredgeops (Phacops) rana

Gore, VA

Mahantango Formation

Middle Devonian

[bockryan]

Next up is a lovely red brachiopod from the Middle Pennsylvanian Naco Formation, exposed in Payson, Arizona. I have it listed as Composita sp. based on the useful guide put together by Arizona State University: http://www.savalli.us/BIO113/113downloads/FossilIDGuide.pdf

 

Edit: based on the below post, adjusting this to Antiquatonia sp. as suggested.

 

 

 

 

 

My adjusted label for this one is now:

Antiquatonia sp.

Gila County, AZ

Naco Formation

Carboniferous (Middle Pennsylvanian)

[bockryan]

@Fossildude19 I'm noticing some problems with pictures earlier in the thread, I assume that's because they weren't uploaded properly and now the external links are failing? Is there any way to fix that easily or do I have to just redo those posts entirely? What a mess

 

Also - could I request an edit to the label for Danaeites on page 2? The correct label should be:

 

Danaeites emersonii

Catlin, IL

Carbondale Formation

Carboniferous (Middle Pennsylvanian)

[Fossildude19]

36 minutes ago, bockryan said:

@Fossildude19 I'm noticing some problems with pictures earlier in the thread, I assume that's because they weren't uploaded properly and now the external links are failing? Is there any way to fix that easily or do I have to just redo those posts entirely? What a mess

 

Also - could I request an edit to the label for Danaeites on page 2? The correct label should be:

 

Danaeites emersonii

Catlin, IL

Carbondale Formation

Carboniferous (Middle Pennsylvanian)

 

Label is fixed, but your images need to be uploaded to the Forum directly.
WE HIGHLY DISCOURAGE use of linked content for images.

LINKS ALWAYS END UP GOING BAD.

 

PM SENT.

[bockryan]

6 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

Label is fixed, but your images need to be uploaded to the Forum directly.
WE HIGHLY DISCOURAGE use of linked content for images.

LINKS ALWAYS END UP GOING BAD.

 

PM SENT.

 

A good lesson to learn  Thanks, will fix them

[DPS Ammonite]

2 hours ago, bockryan said:

Next up is a lovely red brachiopod from the Middle Pennsylvanian Naco Formation, exposed in Payson, Arizona. I have it listed as Composita sp. based on the useful guide put together by Arizona State University: http://www.savalli.us/BIO113/113downloads/FossilIDGuide.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

My label for this one is:

Composita sp.

Payson, AZ

Naco Formation

Carboniferous (Middle Pennsylvanian)

It appears that the brachiopod has been silicified and the original exterior surface may not have been preserved in good shape. It does not look like Composita since they do not have ribs. Consider possibly Antiquatonia even though the shape looks odd.

 

Also, the locality should be just northern Gila County since the Naco Formation is several miles away from Payson. There are many small communities that are closer.

 

See picture of silicified Composita and Antiquatonia near Christopher Creek.

[bockryan]

21 minutes ago, DPS Ammonite said:

It appears that the brachiopod has been silicified and the original exterior surface may not have been preserved in good shape. It does not look like Composita since they do not have ribs. Consider possibly Antiquatonia even though the shape looks odd.

 

Also, the locality should be just northern Gila County since the Naco Formation is several miles away from Payson. There are many small communities that are closer.

 

See picture of silicified Composita and Antiquatonia near Christopher Creek.

 

Interesting! I think you are right, the lines should have been a pretty obvious clue but the shape really threw me. Thank you for the detailed and very helpful response, learned something

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

On 10/3/2024 at 3:53 PM, bockryan said:

the most common find are these goniatites, which I currently have ID'd as Agoniatites vanuxemi

Could they be Ponticeras perlatum?