A Whole Lotta Platteville

[Caleb]

This past weekend, 8-19-2012, my father and I decided to hit the Platteville Formation of Southwest Wisconsin again. As usual, we were looking for trilobites, but I decided to pick up some other stuff as well. I've been thinking of putting together some small collection kits to try and peddle to raise some money. Anyway, we found some great stuff, but were not so lucky in terms of complete trilobites.

We only hit one location and spent about four hours collecting. I was picking up quite a bit of stuff, while trying to keep it limited to nice specimens and more of the unusual. While I know the trilobites very well from this formation, I'm not so knowledgeable regarding the rest. This trip will certainly result in a massive research effort to get everything ID'd correctly... which will be fun!

Anyway, I'll start the photos off with the things I know... The trilobites!

First up are the Cheirurids. In order of the pictures, they are: Gabriceraurus mifflinensis, Gabriceraurus type 2, Ceraurinella scofieldi, and Bufoceraurus herrmani(free-cheek and right lobe).

Next up are the Asaphids: Basiliella barrandi, Nahania sp., and Isotelus simplex.

And that's not all!

[Caleb]

Next up is Amphilichas. Parts are all we find of this guy, and they are quite rare: Amphilichas sp.(free-cheek) and Amphilichas sp.(hypostome)

Now for the Illaenids: Thaleops ovata and Thaleops n. sp.Type B.

And now for the rest of the bugs: Hypodicranotus cf. striatulus, and Calyptaulax plattevillensis.

And the misc. fossils to follow...

Edited August 22, 2012 by Caleb

[Caleb]

And a bunch of stuff... I'll eventually get around to editing this group/naming things over the next week or so. Maybe sooner apparently.

1)Hash plate containing multiple Brachiopods and trilobite remains including a partial Thaleops ovata, a beat up Bumastoides milleri cephalon, and a Sceptaspis lincolnensis pygidium in the bottom right.

2)A large Richardsonoceras sp. cephalopod.

3)A hash plate containing a large Ostracod and multiple trilobite fragments from Isotelus, Thaleops, and Gabriceraurus.

4)An interesting Cephalopod, I'm thinking Beloitoceras sp., but something looks a bit "off" about it. Maybe I'll know more after prep.

5)A very cool gastropod, Ophiletina sublaxa. These aren't that rare to find, but good specimens are far and few between.

6)More hash of trilobite, crinoid, and brachiopods. Another partial Thaleops ovata in the middle of it all.

7)A nice group of Platystrophia(?) brachiopods.

8)Another hash plate with just about everything one may want to look at.

9)I'm not really sure what that is. I'm thinking a crinoid plate.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Edited August 22, 2012 by Caleb

[Caleb]

And the last batch...

1) Another fun hash plate with an Isotelus hypostome.

2) A large chunk of bryozoan.

3) I must have liked hash plates that day... Here's another one with Strophomena(?) brachiopods and a nice little Raymondites longispinus pygidium in the upper left.

4) It's a clam!! These are just kind of fun, not very rare, but fun.

5) Cornulites

1 2 3 4 5

And this I just haven't a clue... It's tiny and strange:

Edited August 22, 2012 by Caleb

[Auspex]

Great Googly Moogly! Awesome finds!

[trilobiteruss]

Great Googly Moogly! Awesome finds!

Yes what he said

[Caleb]

Thanks guys! I have updated my posts to include some basic ID's of the misc. fossils. The trilobite parts in the hash plates bring the final species count for the day to 15:

Gabriceraurus mifflinensis

Gabriceraurus sp. type 2

Ceraurinella scofieldi

Bufoceraurus herrmani

Basiliella barrandi

Nahania sp.

Isotelus simplex

Amphlilichas sp.

Thaleops ovata

Thaleops n. sp.type B

Hypodicranotus cf. striatulus

Calyptaulax plattevillensis

Sceptaspis lincolnensis

Bumastoides milleri

Raymondites longispinus.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Caleb

[mzkleen]

Wow! You found some really great fossils!!

[fossiladdict]

I like that gastropod...it's really cool. Of course all of it's cool but that one is really cool.

[tj102569]

wow. when should I come out and join you on your next trip out? lol

[piranha]

WTG Caleb

[Caleb]

Thanks! While the nice complete trilobites eluded us this trip, we came home with a nice variety of goodies. The Amphilichas material and Bufoceraurus herrmani parts were definitely the prizes of the trip. While just parts, they are very rare parts and we found two of each! I'm still holding out hope that the Thaleops ovata in the second set of photos is complete. The free-cheek is tight which is a good sign and certainly makes it worthy of exploration, but I've been fooled before.

[JimB88]

awesome stuff!

[Malcolmt]

15 different on a single day, sure wish I could find a place like that to hunt. I feel real good if I find 3 or 4 different trilo species on a single day, Heck I feel good if I take home a single complete trilo on a hunt......

Just love your posts......

[howard_l]

Great cephalopods, how common are coiled or semi coiled cephalopods in that area. I have been looking for over 45 years and I have only found one in the Ordovician of Kentucky.

[Missourian]

The hash plates are beautiful. It is always a delight when one has a chance to collect them.

[Caleb]

Great cephalopods, how common are coiled or semi coiled cephalopods in that area. I have been looking for over 45 years and I have only found one in the Ordovician of Kentucky.

The coiled ones are quite rare, I've only found one complete, but the Beloitoceras are more common. The genra of cephs in this formation are a mess right now, but I believe there is currently a paper in the works describing them. I look forward to finally having a decent paper to help me ID them more.

[howard_l]

Great, please let us know when it is published.

[hitekmastr]

This week I spent 2 hours at High Cliff State Park in eastern Wisconsin - apparently, I'm in the wrong corner of the state! Great finds and terrific explanation/description/IDs.

[Caleb]

My father gave me some exciting news the other day. It turns out the Thaleops ovata cephalon I picked up is complete!! He's got it roughed out, and it should be finished soon to go in my case.

Before and after pics:

[trilobiteruss]

Cool that is a nice specimen glad to see it was whole!

[squalicorax]

Shes gorgeous

[evren]

Nice specimens, and great tour of the Platteville.

[Caleb]

After a long wait and a new air abrasive unit, this bug is finally done.

As found

Scribe work revealing the trilobite is indeed complete:

Final result using air abrasive:

[Malcolmt]

Looking good......