Waldron Shale Plate

As I mentioned before I purchased a couple of plates of Silurian aged Waldron Shale from a local show recently and this is the plate that yielded the numerous brachiopods that I've been illustrating these last few posts.



As you can see it's chock full of fossils with the star of the show being a Eucalyptocrinus crassus calyx.


It's not fully exposed but the arms are still intact and articulated with the rest of the body. You can see another small Crinoid cup lying next to it (I'm not sure of the species).


The back side of the plate has some surprises as well. There is a large crushed Platystoma gastropod and yet another base of a Crinoid.


A close up of the mystery Crinoid base


Zooming into other parts of the plate here is some of the other fauna present. Numerous brachiopods of a few different species (as yet unidentified).


Some more Brachs with the largest being a Strophonella possibly and I think a Howella is just below and to the left of it.


Another gastropod, likely a small Platystoma. I didn't notice this until looking at the picture while writing this post but if you look off to the left and down a little you can see what looks like a Bryozoan but may actually be a Dictyonella corallifera. I'll have to clean it off some and examine it closer but you can see an actual specimen of that species at the Primitve Worlds website.



Here is the other plate I bought, It has a Crinoid holdfast (or "root") that has been colonized by a bryozoan.




There is another large Platystoma gastropod attached as well with what looks like Crinoid holdfasts attached.



I am going to try and clean the snail off some more to see if the Crinoid tendrils indeed come from the root system next to it or if they are separate.