Pennsylvanian Fossils from the Glenshaw Formation

[Wrangellian]

Is 'sea pen' the right name for those bivalves? I think they are Pinna or a relative. To me a sea pen is one of these:

 

 

[cngodles]

On 1/18/2020 at 1:47 AM, Wrangellian said:

Is 'sea pen' the right name for those bivalves? I think they are Pinna or a relative. To me a sea pen is one of these:

Yeah, the shell portion of the sea pen is all under the sand. Most of these are found in what is considered life position for them, since they were already buried nearly completely in the sand. You can see some of their shells here: https://www.google.com/search?q=sea+pen+shell&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwipus27iuvnAhVXGlkKHdGvCcAQ2-cCegQIABAA

[cngodles]

Here is the 6th Petalodus Tooth I've found. It is much more a mold than the tooth. There is a very small piece of the enamel left at the top left of the impression.

 

 

 

[cngodles]

And here is a Metacoceras shell specimen.

 

[cngodles]

A large cephalopod shell piece. The squares in the photo are 1 inch x 1 inch.

 

[cngodles]

And lastly, a Brachycycloceras sp.

 

U.S. Quarter for scale.

 

 

[Wrangellian]

3 hours ago, cngodles said:

Yeah, the shell portion of the sea pen is all under the sand. Most of these are found in what is considered life position for them, since they were already buried nearly completely in the sand. You can see some of their shells here: https://www.google.com/search?q=sea+pen+shell&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwipus27iuvnAhVXGlkKHdGvCcAQ2-cCegQIABAA

That feathery thing that I showed is not part of the pen shell at all, but a cnidarian. I think there is some confusion around the name 'sea pen' for the cnidarian and 'pen shell' for the bivalve, which apparently some call a 'sea pen'.

[cngodles]

1 hour ago, Wrangellian said:

I think there is some confusion around the name 'sea pen' for the cnidarian and 'pen shell' for the bivalve, which apparently some call a 'sea pen'.

Ah, pardon my ignorance. I was told when I first started out that these were sea pens. I see the difference now. The genus is Aviculopinna I believe, although in research it’s been said that the whole genus needs reorganized. Thank you again!

[Wrangellian]

No worries! That's why we have scientific names for everything. 

[cngodles]

The tiny clam, Palaeoneilo oweni from the marine shales a few feet above the Brush Creek Limestone. This specimen is 3mm wide and 1.5mm long. It includes both sides of the clam still fused together, as seen in photos below.

 

 

 

https://fossil.15656.com/2020/02/27/tiny-clam/

[Kurufossils]

@cngodles Amazing finds! Really love the plant material, pelatodus, and sea pen it's all awesome. It would be great to hunt Pennsylvania or at least expand my own PA material someday.

[cngodles]

Here is a polished piece of the limestone, assumed to be Brush Creek.

 

 

[cngodles]

A near complete Metacoceras Whorl.

[cngodles]

Three highly interesting finds since the quarantine started. These all come from my back yard/surrounding area, so I’m able to still discover.

 

First, a Solenochilus with a lateral spine. Most specimens are lacking these, and in matrix like this limestone, they don’t survive removal. Lucky for me I realized the lateral spine was still there and worked around it.

 

 

Specimen with a scale:

 

 

 

Piece of matrix removed to reveal lateral spine steinkern:

Write Up Here:

https://fossil.15656.com/2020/04/05/solenochilus-iii-with-lateral-spine/

 

 

 

 

 

[cngodles]

Second, a 7th Petalodus tooth. This one is unique as I was able to remove it from the matrix. I had to glue the root back on with some Paraloid B-72.

 

Tooth as discovered:

 

Removed Tooth with Scale

 

Tooth sans scale in lingual view

 

Tooth sans scale in labial view

 

Write Up Here:

https://fossil.15656.com/2020/04/02/petalodus-vii/

[cngodles]

And my favorite find, a Solenochilus with probable "shark" bite marks. I've only found three identifiable Solenochilus specimens since I started fossil hunting over the past year and a half. This was my second one. I rescued the rock from a fire pit ring, where excess brush creek limestone was used to contain the fire. I sent the photos of it to an expert in Cephalopods and he pointed out that the three holes in the aperture were likely shark bite marks. I did not noticed the holes, but there they were, the right size and in a reasonable equal distant position in a straight line.

 

The red and melted plastic are residue from the fire.

 

Specimen with scale:

 

Underside:

 

Additional view:

 

The bite marks up close:

 

 

Write Up Here:

https://fossil.15656.com/2020/03/20/solenochilus-ii/

[cngodles]

A much larger array of specimens all in one rock. I started by digging out a nice Petalodus ohioensis, but later explored a large buried rounded piece of shell. Turns out, there was a whole cephalopod in there.

 

Solenochilis (4th found, largest)

 

 

Here was the Petalodus tooth, my 10th. It was 28mm wide.

 

 

The rock also has a Metacoceras, visible in the 1st photo. Not easy to see if a trilobite tail. Any trilobites locally are tiny, the tail being maybe 1/2 an inch.

[deutscheben]

That's a nice assemblage! The crown on that tooth is particularly lovely. 

[taj]

Fantastic !

Are you going to / is there more to prepare for the Solenochilis?

[cngodles]

On 4/27/2020 at 1:28 PM, taj said:

Fantastic !

Are you going to / is there more to prepare for the Solenochilis?

I’m afraid to prep it much further. I only have about a year of prep experience, and I don’t want to ruin it. I figure for now, it looks nice and the metacoceras next to it makes it even more interesting. I’m not sure if it will be dimensional as well, as a lot of fossils usually are ground down on the bottom along bedding planes in the rock.

[taj]

Good choice . Better safe than sorry . And you can still prep it further down the road , when you will have more experience /better tools ...

[cngodles]

A possible Pennsylvanian Mourlonia from Pennsylvania

 

The shell pattern on this one caught my eye last week and I sent photos of it to a friend who is a long time snail (gastropod) expert, and has professionally named a few new snail species.

 

It appears to be a Mourlonia, and if so, it will be the first one found in the Pennsylvanian strata anywhere near here. Snails are difficult to free from limestone here, the shells often break and the delicate spires shatter. This one snapped the smallest bit of spire off as part of a several pound limestone boulder split. I saw the resulting shell pattern and focused on cutting it from the rock as a small rectangle. I went back the next day (literally a limestone boulder pile I've made in my driveway) and found the spire tip. In correspondence I've sent photos and a short video, as I can't easily get it to him with current distancing mandates, but he is convinced that it's highly likely a Mourlonia. He is also reserved, waiting to examine it in person before giving a full opinion.

 

So now I wait until things open back up, and I can deliver the specimen to him.

 

 

After some light matrix removal. There was some broken shell litter that was easy to remove. I was very careful not to harm the specimen.

 

 

The closest described one from the Pennsylvanian is an unfigured specimen from a list of found fossils in Kentucky. And it's location in the stratum has 5 formations between it and my stratum (Brush Creek Ls). They forgot to mark it in the Appendix, so I highlighted blue where it should be.

 

 

Full Write-up

https://fossil.15656.com/2020/05/04/pennsylvanian-mourlonia-from-pennsylvania/

 

Adding my new temporal range scale

 

Reference:

1991, Chesnut, Donald R. Jr., “Paleontological Survey of the Pennsylvanian Rocks of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field: Part 1, Invertebrates”. Kentucky Geological Survey Information Circular. 46.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very interesting to have that possible Mourlonia from a new location. 

Exciting.

[cngodles]

Another Solenochilus I found today.

Pre-Prep

 

Mid-Prep

Staring to remove matrix to expose the rest of the shell. Only about 10 minutes into it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cngodles]

Pennsylvanian Trilobites from the Pine Creek and Brush Creek Limestones.

 

I haven’t identified these yet, and I’ve only found the pygidium (tail).

 

These are either Ameura missouriensis or Ditomopyge scitula

 

Pine Creek specimen.

This is still Glenshaw Formation. Several hundred thousand years after the sea that laid down the Brush Creek left, the sea that built up the Pine Creek showed up. I haven’t found it yet locally, but there is an excellent outcrop 15 miles due South from where I dig that is easy to access and has several Gastropods and corals. The limestone is very fissile, so pieces I bring home are easy to split.

 

 

Brush Creek Specimen

 

 

More about my local trilobites here.