Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!

[Innocentx]

I'm not sure if I may have missed it, but did you find a shark egg case yet?

[KimTexan]

Sometimes the vein pattern in the wing, the wing shape and how many wings can give an indication as to what type of insect wing it is. If there is not an insect index for Mazon fossils maybe an entomologist could give some idea as to what type of insect it came from.

The size of the wings are quite remarkable. That alone could rule out quite a few insects. 

May we have a closer pic of the bottom of the right half when you get a chance?

Do you think there is a possibility it could be prepped further and a portion of the insect could still be there? 

 

Very cool fine Ralph! I think that is the coolest I’ve seen yet, just for the delicate nature of wings and that they are so large.

[Innocentx]

The insect looks like a moth. Incredible that it was fossilized, whichever it turns out to be.

[Nimravis]

3 hours ago, Innocentx said:

I'm not sure if I may have missed it, but did you find a shark egg case yet?

Yes - I found 2 recently, here is s pic of one that I found on 7-4-18.

 

[Nimravis]

1 hour ago, KimTexan said:

Sometimes the vein pattern in the wing, the wing shape and how many wings can give an indication as to what type of insect wing it is. If there is not an insect index for Mazon fossils maybe an entomologist could give some idea as to what type of insect it came from.

The size of the wings are quite remarkable. That alone could rule out quite a few insects. 

May we have a closer pic of the bottom of the right half when you get a chance?

Do you think there is a possibility it could be prepped further and a portion of the insect could still be there? 

 

Very cool fine Ralph! I think that is the coolest I’ve seen yet, just for the delicate nature of wings and that they are so large.

Thanks Kim- I would not have it prepped out anymore.

[Nimravis]

Due to house painting, I have not been able to crack anything open, hopefully in a day or two I can get back to it.

[Innocentx]

10 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Yes - I found 2 recently, here is s pic of one that I found on 7-4-18.

 

Wow, cool looking. Thanks for showing me(again)!

[Nimravis]

After painting for an hour today, I decided to stop and crack open a few concretions before it rained again. I was opening things fro the Braceville Shaft Mine and Pit 4. I did not have much luck and nothing special was found, but I decided to post everything that I found out of about 50 concretions.

 

Braceville-

 

Mazonomya mazonensis Bivalve

 

 

Coprolite

 

 

Small Worm (?)

 

 

A cool concretion with pyrite.

 

 

Pit 4

 

Neuropteris

 

The first one cracked perfectly, but I could not stop the 2nd downward swing- 

 

 

Bark-

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Quite like the Mazonomya! 

[KimTexan]

I did go through and look at everything I have missed, which was oodles and oodles. You’ve been one very busy man, multitasking with work, painting, trips and splitting all those concretions and then taking the time to post them.

Since I was so far behind I wasn’t sure how appropriate it was to go ooo and aaah over all the cool stuff, but there was a lot of fossil eye candy there.

I keep saying one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Even the ones with bits and pieces in them are cool in their own right.

 

So out of all you’ve been opening what are your top 5 favorites so far? I guess I should qualify since you started this thread in May was it?

 

Then what are your top 5 Mazon’s you’ve ever found over the last 20 or so years since you started collecting?

 

Hope those top 5 aren’t too much to ask.

 

All of its very cool Ralph. Thanks for sharing these with us as you open them. It’s a very good tutorial on Mazon fossils. We should all be highly familiar with them by the time you’re said and done.

[Nimravis]

12 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Quite like the Mazonomya! 

Ditto Adam- They are my favorite bivalves and really like them in that position. Today, I was driving down to Bloomington, Illinois on Interstate 55 and I was passing by the Braceville Shaft Mine and a vacant area that I use to collect Mazonomya. I stopped at the vacant area and I just might stop again to see if I could find more. I never found anything else there except Mazonomya and I found a lot. I will let you know if I do stop.

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, KimTexan said:

So out of all you’ve been opening what are your top 5 favorites so far? I guess I should qualify since you started this thread in May was it?

 

Then what are your top 5 Mazon’s you’ve ever found over the last 20 or so years since you started collecting?

KIm,

 

How about if I give you 3-

 

Favorite so far with this thread my favorites are the 2- Fish and 1- Insect Wing.

 

 

 

Now my 3 favorite finds from the past are hard to pick, but I will pick these 3-

 

First up is a rare find that i found at Pit 11 "Tipple Hill", while I was sitting on the ground waiting for other collectors- unfortunately, I sold this fossil.

 

Ilyodes inopinata (Onychophoran)

 

 

Adelophthalums mazonensis  (Eurypterid)

 

 

I have so many other great Mazon Creek fauna, and this is a very common fossil from the Mazon Creek biota, but these have always been one of my favorite faunas. Here is my favorite Essexella asherae (Jellyfish) that I have ever found. It is really hard not to see that this is a Jellyfish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

All droolworthy finds. 

I think the onychophoran is my favourite but the others are all seriously great, too! 

[KimTexan]

On 8/2/2018 at 8:39 PM, Nimravis said:

KIm,

Both fish are very cool and I think anyone of us would be thrilled to have found them.

The insect wings are my favorite so far, but you’ve got some other serious contenders. Have you figured out what kind of insect it is from? Do you have a reference with Mazon insects?

I stumbled across some examples last night in a book I have while looking for something else. It’s Index Fossils of North American: Invertebrates.

You can find it digitally here:

https://archive.org/stream/northamericanin02shimgoog#page/n450

It is a scanned reproduction. They do have higher quality editions on the same site which you can borrow for something like 2 weeks. The book is amazing for many other invertibrates, giving more info than you’d care to have.

The insect wings start on page 444 ish

This is a pic from the book of a Mazon fossil

I had asked in an earlier post for a close up of the bottom of the right half. I thought I could see other insect parts there, but am not sure.

Quote

Now my 3 favorite finds from the past 

Ilyodes inopinata (Onychophoran)

 

I am not familiar with Onychophoran at all. So I can’t fully appreciate the rarity of it. It looks pretty cool. It’s a shame you sold it if it was such a high ranking favorite.

Quote

Adelophthalums mazonensis  (Eurypterid)

 

I can appreciate this. That is awesome! Wow! Very cool. Words can’t express how amazing that is even with it a little rough. It’s just cool. 

There is quite a bit on Eurypterids in the book too for those who may not have good reference fossil books. While nomenclature may be outdated on some stuff in the book the sheer volume of scientific info with regards to the species and so much more is invaluable. It’s like going back to my university text books and studying them again.

 

 

 

Oops deleted too much.

Here is my favorite Essexella asherae (Jellyfish) that I have ever found. It is really hard not to see that this is a Jellyfish.

Quote

 

 

Yes, that is amazing and so very cool! It’s quite large too! It is a wonder and mystery how something so delicate and soft could have fossilized with such great detail. It’s kind of mind blowing to try to comprehend. 

 

Over time the few that you’ve sent to me have really grown on me and I have developed a greater appreciation for the impressiveness of them as I’ve tried to wrap my mind around how they could have been preserved.

 

Congratulations for so many awesome personal finds. 

 

Thank you so much Ralph for taking the time to reply and share these with us. It’s the first time I’m seeing some of them. You’re doing us a service by educating us with the amazing diversity of the flora and fauna of Mazon fossils.

 

I remember the first month I was on TFF someone posted something found in Mazon Creek I think it was, for an ID. I googled Mazon and didn’t come up with anything helpful. I needed to add fossil in the search terms. I had no idea what I was in for.

 

Kudos to you Ralph:

You’ve helped me develop a great fondness for Mazon fossils by your diligence of sharing with us your many finds and experience with them.

 

Truly, thank you for being such a prolific, consistent and humble teacher Ralph. I truly appreciate your many contributions to myself and so many others here on TFF. You’re a great example to all of us.

 

Kim

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, KimTexan said:

can appreciate this. That is awesome! Wow! Very cool. Words can’t express how amazing that is even with it a little rough. It’s just cool. 

Kim- I think I posted something before on this  Eurypterid, but I will post it again. I collected this concretion at Pit 4 years ago and I brought a bucket full to my parents house to open with my young niece. When I grabbed this concretion out of the bucket and cleaned the mud off, I told her - “this one will not have anything in it”, it was a sandy type concretion. I went ahead and hit it anyway and I was so surprised what was inside. From that point on, I started taking every concretion that I found no matter what it looked like.

[KimTexan]

That’s a cool story. I find it interesting the various stories people tell of what sparked their passion for fossils. I love to hear people tell their stories. Hum, sounds like a good post for a General discussion topic. 

[stats]

6 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Kim- I think I posted something before on this  Eurypterid, but I will post it again. I collected this concretion at Pit 4 years ago and I brought a bucket full to my parents house to open with my young niece. When I grabbed this concretion out of the bucket and cleaned the mud off, I told her - “this one will not have anything in it”, it was a sandy type concretion. I went ahead and hit it anyway and I was so surprised what was inside. From that point on, I started taking every concretion that I found no matter what it looked like.

Great story!  For me it was a horseshoe crab from pit 2.  It took 2 years of freeze-thaw and when it opened, you guys probably heard my yell.  It had an unexpected shape.  I've heard that story too many times.  I tend to keep most of the concretions I find.  All it takes is once... you don't want to miss the next one!

 

Cheers,

Rich

[HB2]

5 hours ago, KimTexan said:

That’s a cool story. I find it interesting the various stories people tell of what sparked their passion for fossils. I love to hear people tell their stories. Hum, sounds like a good post for a General discussion topic. 

My daughters and I just started collecting this past Spring.  We live 30 minutes from the collecting areas. We weren't exactly sure what to look for or where.  Then we stumbled across some open halves on the east side of Monster Lake.  This was one.  An exciting find for us and we're now anxiously waiting to go back before the season is over.

[Nimravis]

10 hours ago, HB2 said:

My daughters and I just started collecting this past Spring.  We live 30 minutes from the collecting areas. We weren't exactly sure what to look for or where.  Then we stumbled across some open halves on the east side of Monster Lake.  This was one.  An exciting find for us and we're now anxiously waiting to go back before the season is over.

Beautiful example- I have so many that I love and that is why they are my favorites, keep searching, there are more to be found.

[HB2]

22 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Beautiful example- I have so many that I love and that is why they are my favorites, keep searching, there are more to be found.

I have a great appreciation for your posts. Thank you!

[KimTexan]

I was looking at someone else’s bugs from B.C and one person mentioned this web site as a useful tool for bug ID. Thought I’d share it in the event it’s helpful.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/191

 

[GeschWhat]

2 hours ago, KimTexan said:

I was looking at someone else’s bugs from B.C and one person mentioned this web site as a useful tool for bug ID. Thought I’d share it in the event it’s helpful.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/191

 

...and checking out the page that came up, I discovered dragonfly nymphs breath and propel themselves through gills in their rectum. I thought it was uncomfortable when to accidentally breath while eating or drinking, glad I didn't start out life as a dragonfly nymph. 

 

On a more serious note, thanks for posting the site Kim. I have a feeling it will be useful.

[Nimravis]

Today I was able to find some time to go through a bunch of concretions from the Braceville Shaft Mine (Essex Biota).

 

Here is the bucket that I was going thru and what I ended up disposing of.

 

 

 

It was not what I call a successful day, because I did not anything special, but it was better than a sharp stick in the eye. Here are some of the finds of the day and I will start with my favorite piece-

 

Partial Cone- Possibly Macrostachya sp. but I am not holding my breath, as it is more likely Calamostachys.

 

 

Here are some of my other finds.

 

Myalinella meeki Bivalves

 

 

Mazonomya mazonensis Bivalve with internal mold.

 

 

 

 

Bark-

 

 

Lower portion of a Macroneuropteris leaf.

 

 

Essexella asherae Jellyfish with Pyrite.

 

 

Annularia

 

 

 

Something that I do not collect- a mixture of plant material, I guess you could call it a Mazon Creek Hash Plate.

 

 

[KimTexan]

On 8/5/2018 at 12:38 PM, GeschWhat said:

I discovered dragonfly nymphs breath and propel themselves through gills in their rectum. 

Evidently I didn’t read that much de-tail on the page.

Sounds a little bit like passing gas. It would give a whole new meaning to gas propulsion. But they do it in a liquid media and not air. Gills in the rectum that’s just crazy sounding and cool at the same time. I’d never heard of anything like that before. Thanks for the education.

On 8/5/2018 at 12:38 PM, GeschWhat said:

 

On a more serious note, thanks for posting the site Kim. I have a feeling it will be useful.

You’re welcome.

[caldigger]

1 hour ago, Nimravis said:

It was not what I call a successful day, because I did not anything special, but it was better than a sharp stick in the eye. 

Really?  Why there's nothing I enjoy more than spending a nice quiet evening sitting down to a snifter of brandy and a sharp stick in my eye.