Metacryphaeus sp. trilobite from Bolivia

I posted in an earlier blog entry about some Trilobite fossils I had from Bolivia. At the time I could not tell what the genera was of them because there were no labels. Well I found the specimen below in a box with some older E-bay purchases and it has a label calling it Metacryphaeus sp. (which makes my job that much eaiser!). It is preserved in a neat pose that looks like it was buried in the mud, with just it's head exposed, while it awaited prey.

This specimens come from the Belen formation (Devonian, Eifelian stage) south of the capitol of Bolivia, La Paz.

Conularia from Bolivia

These are some Conulariids from Bolivia that I received as part of "grab bags" of fossils I purchased on E-bay. Nothing was labelled but based on pictures from this seller on E-bay, I have tentatively assigned ID's. All come from the Belen formation (Devonian, Emsian stage) and were found in an area south of La Paz.

Specimen #1 - Conularia brevis?

Specimen #2 - Conularia quichua? this is a 3-D specimen.

Specimen #3 - Paraconularia ulrichana (I found the label for these next two specimens)

Specimen #4

Parmorthis waldronensis brachiopod from the Waldron Shale

Another brachiopod from the diverse Waldron Shale (Silurian, Wenlock epoch) is Parmorthis waldronensis. It reminds me a little bit of Pseudoatrypa reticularis of the Devonian (because of one valve being convex and the other nearly flat) and Dalmanella multisecta of the Ordovician (because of the shape of the interarea). It also has a strong resemblance to Resserella elegantula specimens that I've found in the Irondequoit limestone near Lockport, NY.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

It turns out that a little research on the Fossilworks.org website (formerly Paleodb.org) shows that Parmorthis is a synonym of Resserella. So the resemblance is because they are one in the same. I will have to update the label to indicate Resserella waldronensis.

Schuchertella subplana from the Waldron Shale of Indiana

Schuchertella subplana is a relatively flat brachiopod but it is not a Strophomenid because both of it's valves are convex (rather than one being convex and the other concave). The specimen below comes from the Waldron Shale (Wenlock Epoch) in Bartholomew Co., IN.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

Meristina maria brachiopod from the Waldron Shale

Since I mentioned the brachiopod genus Meristina in my last blog post I figured I should at least post an example of one. This is Meristina maria from the Waldron Shale of Shelby County, IN. It has a very deep sulcus and the pedicle valve is not as long as the brachial valve.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Left profile

Right profile

I purchased this fossil from a dealer along with a number of other fossils from the Waldron shale. The Waldron shale is Silurian aged and dated to the Wenlock epoch.

Merista tennesseensis brachiopod from Tennessee

Today I have a brachiopod specimen called Merista tennesseensis from the Silurian (Wenlock epoch) aged Bob Limestone member of the Brownsport Formation. It was found near Bath Springs, TN. I was confused when I saw the name at first because of the similarity to Meristella (let alone Meristina!) but it is a completely different genus.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

I found a couple of records on Yale's online collection of fossils in their Peabody Museum for Merista tennesseensis. This one was the only one that had a decent specimen picture.

Atrypa tennesseensis brachiopod from Tennessee

Another brachiopod from the Bob Limestone member of the Brownsport Formation (Silurian, Wenlock Epoch) is Atrypa tennesseensis. Atyrpa is a very common brachiopod in the Silurian and Devonian. It appears that this species can be distinguished from the more widely know A. reticularis species by the lesser number of rays ornamenting the shell. In fact, to my eyes, the shell ornamentation looks more like a Spinatrypa type.

The specimen above came from the Bath Springs area of Tennessee. Compare this to A. reticularis from the Lockport limestone of New York or A. oklahomensis from the Haragan formation of Oklahoma.

Thecia minor coral from Tennessee

Another neat coral from the Silurian is this Thecia minor from the Lobelville Fm member of the Brownsport Formation (Ludlow epoch?) near Lobelville, TN. It has a flat, sheet like or encrusting growth pattern and the individual corallites have radial line growths around them. Note the grooves that connect between the corallites. They are called Mural Pores and were used as a nutrient transfer system among the colony.

I've found something similar from the Louisville Limestone in Kentucky that is called Romingerella major.

Plasmopora sp. coral from Michigan

Here is another coral from the Fiborn limestone member of the Hendricks formation found near Trout Lake, Michigan. It's called Plasmopora sp. and looks very similar to the coral Heliolites which can be found in the same rocks. I think the difference between them is that Plasmopora has closely packed corallites while Heliolites are spread out a little more.

This is the first specimen of Plasmopora in my collection. As a comparison, Here are some examples of Heliolites from Sweden, Germany and Louisville, Kentucky.