Eatonia medialis from the Licking Creek formation

This past April I took a trip through Virginia and West Virginia exploring some sites that were listed in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. One of the more productive sites was in the Licking Creek formation, which is lower Devonian in age (Lockhovian to Pragian stage), where all the fossils were replaced by quartz and could be found eroded loose out of the rock.

The fossil today is what I think is Eatonia medialis. It is a somewhat common fossil at the site they were collected although more often as fragmented individual valves. Below are a couple of whole specimens that I found.

Specimen #1
Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

Specimen #2, note the presence of an Auloporid coral that has colonized part of the shell.
Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Left profile

Right profile

Closer view of the Auloporid

Specimen #3, single pedicle valve

Interior of pedicle valve

Closer view

All of the above specimens came from a roadcut along US route 220 in Highland county, Virginia. The cut is listed as site #16 in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. The Licking Creek formation is equivalent to the Shriver Chert member of the Old Port formation in Pennsylvania and the Birdsong formation in Tennessee which means that the fossils are part of the Helderbergian fauna.

Macropleura macropleura from the Licking Creek formation

This past April I took a trip through Virginia and West Virginia exploring some sites that were listed in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. One of the more productive sites was in the Licking Creek formation, which is lower Devonian in age (Lockhovian to Pragian stage), where all the fossils were replaced by quartz and could be found eroded loose out of the rock.

This is a partial shell of a very large brachiopod called Macropleura macropleura . I'm not positive but I think this is the pedicle valve due to the large muscle scars and structures. The shell is large but it's also fragile so while I found many pieces, this was the most complete.

Interior of the shell

The above specimen came from a roadcut along US route 220 in Highland county, Virginia. The cut is listed as site #16 in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. The Licking Creek formation is equivalent to the Shriver Chert member of the Old Port formation in Pennsylvania and the Birdsong formation in Tennessee which means that the fossils are part of the Helderbergian fauna.

Here are some similar fossils that are in the Yale Peabody Museum: Specimen #1 Specimen #2

Edriocrinus from the Licking Creek formation of Virginia

This past April I took a trip through Virginia and West Virginia exploring some sites that were listed in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. One of the more productive sites was in the Licking Creek formation, which is lower Devonian in age (Lockhovian to Pragian stage), where all the fossils were replaced by quartz and could be found eroded loose out of the rock.

One of the most common fossils I found at the site was a small, hollow, jelly bean shaped thing. Further reading of the entry in the book revealed that these are likely the base of the calyx for an Edriocrinus.

Specimen #1

Specimen #2

Note the curved or scalloped edges along the top of the hollow. Also many specimens have vertical striations on the interior hollow area.

Specimen #3, This specimen is missing the rounded bottom part and instead has exposed what could be some internal anatomy or just selective replacement by the quartz that makes up the fossil.

Check out this link which has an image from an old text which shows a reconstruction of Edriocrinus (first image, second fossil from the left in the first row numbered 1).  Some of the curved shapes I see on the specimens I found seem to match what is shown in the picture.

This Flickr page for the WV Geological & Economic Survey Museum has a picture of a similar fossil.

Here is a description of Edriocrinus pocilliformis from the book "Lower Devonian: Text, Volume 5, Part 1" by the Maryland Geological Survey, 1913:

EDRIOCRINUS POCILLIFORMIS Hall
Plate XL, Figs. 13-15
Edriocrinus pocilliformis Hall, 1859, Pal. N. Y., vol. iii, p. 121, pi. v, figs. 8-12, 1861.
Edriocrinus pocilliformis Meek and Worthen, 1868, Geol. Survey 111., vol. iii, p. 370, pLvii, figs. 5a, b.
Edriocrinus pocilliformis Keyes, 1894, Missouri Geol. Survey, vol. iv, pt. i, p. 221, pi. xxx, fig. 7.
Edriocrinus pocilliformis Talbot, 1905, Amer. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. xx, p. 23, pi. iv, figs. 1-6.

Description.—" Base hemispheric or subturbinate, often less than a hemisphere, externally smooth or finely granulate: upper margin scolloped with five large and one smaller depression for the insertion of the radial and anal plates. Interior more or less deeply concave, with depressions corresponding to those on the edge of the cup; the concavity not parallel to the exterior convexity. Radial plates and arms unknown." Hall, 1859. " Infrabasals present but so fused that their number is uncertain. Height from one-half to two-thirds that of the cup as ordinarily found. Basals five, completely fused with each other and with the infrabasals or distinguished from the latter as a narrow protruding band. Suture lines sometimes apparent on the interior. Upper margin scolloped for the attachment of the radials and the anal plates. Height about half that of the infrabasals. Radials five, often as high as the infrabasals and basals combined, and like them, fused to form a part of the cup. In most instances, however, the suture lines between the radials are plainly discernible. As a rule, the union between the radials and basals is not so strong as that of basals with infrabasals; and the cup is generally broken off at the top of the basals. Since in no specimens are brachials preserved, the union of  brachials with radials must have been still weaker. Anal plates as high as the radials, but only half as wide. Radials and anal gently convex, sloping in all directions from the center of the plate. Arms and ventral disc unknown. The attachment scar is visible on a number of specimens, and in some is a short distance up on the side of the cup, rather than on the bottom." Talbot, 1905.

All of the above specimens came from a roadcut along US route 220 in Highland county, Virginia. The cut is listed as site #16 in the book "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" by Jasper Burns. The Licking Creek formation is equivalent to the Shriver Chert member of the Old Port formation in Pennsylvania and the Birdsong formation in Tennessee which means that the fossils are part of the Helderbergian fauna.

Crinoid roots and Calymene Trilobites from the Waldron formation

I've been showing off alot of fossils that I purchased recently and this is one of my favorites. It's a pair of Crinoid holdfasts or "roots" which has a pair of Calymene trilobites huddled underneath. It comes from the Waldron shale on Indiana which is Silurian (Sheinwoodian to Homerian stage) in age.

Here you can see the two holdfasts looking like stumps in a freshly cut forest.

Underneath the larger of the two holdfasts are the Trilobites.

They are both complete and fully articulated

This specimen was found by Mark Palatas from whom I purchased it.  I was fortunate enough to see some of his collection and his prepping work station when I visited his home a few months ago. This specimen, however, was not prepped by Mark but by one of his friends.

Eocene agatized pine cone from Morocco

Something that I'm seeing a lot of on E-bay lately are agatized pine cones from the Eocene. It's entirely likely they are from the same formation as the gastropods in my last post. I bought this one from the same dealer that I bought the Timor echinoderms from. There is no available information that I can find online that references a locality other than "Western Sahara Desert" nor any of the geology of the rocks it's found in.

This specimen has been lightly polished and you can see some of the individual scales that covered the seeds. I am interpreting the hole that is visible as where a seed was once located. Many examples that I've seen online and in person have this same feature.

This is the top of the cone where it would have attached to a branch.

Agatized gastropods from Morocco

Recently there have been fossilized gastropods replaced with Agate coming out of Morocco. Most are unlabelled or have incorrect names but all are said to be from the Eocene. Below are three different specimens that I believe are all Cerithium sp. based on a little searching and some help from my friend Gery in France.

Specimen #1 profile

View looking down the shell

View of the bottom

Specimen #2 profile

View looking down the shell

View of the bottom

Specimen #3 profile

View looking down the shell

View of the bottom

Gery has collected Cerithium sp. from the Eocene aged sediments of the Paris basin (Bartonian stage). He gave me a couple of websites that had visual catalogs of the different gastropod species that are found in that formation. The first link has a Cerithium tuberculosum (which looks to be very similar to the third specimen above) as the second fossil in the left hand column. The second link has similar shells presented although you have to search a little more as they are not in alphabetical order. It does show a Cerithium tiarella that looks very similar to the first two specimens above. Here is an image of an impressive Cerithium tiarella from Flicker.