Delthyris sculptilis from Hungry Hollow

Another new species of Brachiopod for my collection from Arkona is Delthyris sculptilis. Delthyris is a common enough species within the Devonian but is uncommon in the Hungry Hollow member of the Widder formation. It has a typical Spirifer shape to the shell but it's the distinctive decoration that gives it away.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

A little searching on the internet yielded this article which states that Delthyris sculptilis should be reclassified as Megakozlowskiella sculptilis. Maybe the checklist that I'm using to ID fossils from Arkona needs to be updated?

I've found Delthyris sulcata in the Irondequoit limestone near Lockport, New York.

Solitary corals from Spain

Solitary corals always seem to catch my eye so I was pleased to receive these two specimens from my friend, Jenaro.

Here are a pair of Paracunnolies undulatus from the Cretaceous (Santonian stage) near Santa Maria, Lérida, Spain. These look similar to Microcyclus thedfordensis from the Hungry Hollow member of the Widder formation in Canada.

Specimen #1

Specimen #2

The other species is Diploctenium falloti from the same locality. It is shaped quite differently than the Paracunnolies above with septae on both sides of a flat, disc shaped body with a groove along the edge.

Thanks to Jenaro for these cool fossils!

Parasprifier from the Lake Erie shoreline

Parasprifer is a well known fossil from the Devonian that I've only found in the Silica Shale of Ohio. I was quite excited when I found a complete intact specimen in the cliffs along Lake Erie near Buffalo.

Brachial valve

Anterior

Pedicle valve

Posterior

Profile

Parasprifier are well known from the Tichenor limestone (the top most member of the Ludlowville formation, just above the Wanakah shale) where they can be found embedded with the hard rock and can be difficult to extract. This specimen likely came from the Windom shale member of the Moscow formation as I found it in a somewhat recent pile of debris that came down off the cliffs from above the Tichenor limestone.

Enrolled Isotelus from the Verulam formation

In July I visited a favorite quarry near Brechin, Ontario that exposes the Ordovician aged Verulam formation. One of the reasons I enjoy collecting at this particular quarry is the abundance of rare and unusual fossils. Trilobites parts from several species are especially abundant but whole bodies are more rare. The only species that I've found whole and intact has been an enrolled Flexicalymene. On this trip I was collecting with a couple of friends and one of them gave me the enrolled Isotelus that you see below.

They had found it on the "crush pile" which is a huge pile of crushed stone that has been sitting out and weathering for quite some time. Apparently the quarry doesn't know what to do with it so for now it just sits and weathers, occasionally yielding an enrolled trilobite that managed to survive the crushing process. My thanks to Dave ("Quarryman Dave" on the Fossil Forum) for giving me this cool fossil. It's my first whole Isotelus from anywhere!

As for me, all I found was this prone Flexicalymene that is partially crushed.

Nucleocrinus elegans from the Widder formation

This past July I was up collecting at Hungry Hollow near Arkona, Canada and ran into a couple of fellow fossil collectors. We chatted for a bit and one of them gave me the fossil below, a Nucleocrinus elegans.

Oral surface (top)

Basal surface (where the stem attached)

Side views

I think he felt bad for me as I complained that I hadn't found many blastoids at the site (despite their relative local abundance). I gave him some pieces of North Evans Limestone that are loaded with micro fossil fish and conodont teeth as a thank you. Sadly I didn't write their names down or I could give proper credit.

This is my third blastoid species from the Hungry Hollow member of the Widder formation (Devonian, Givetian stage) after Hyperoblastus reimanni and Heteroschisma canadensis.

Protodouvillina inaequistriata from the Centerfield and Widder formation

Some of the fossils I've found in the Centerfield member of the Ludlowville formation and it's equivalents in Canada (Widder/Hungry Hollow) at first look appear to be Strophodonta. But some further investigation has made me think I've been finding Protodouvillina inaequistriata.

Here are some specimens from the Centerfield member that I collected in New York near East Bethany.

This specimen has some Hederella sp. bryozoans that grew on it. and is a bit more convex that the previous specimen. This could be indicative of age or may just be a variant growth style.

At the site where I collected these they are somewhat common. However in the Widder formation they seem to be a little more uncommon and often are damaged or crushed. Below is one of the few specimens that I've found near Arkona.

Both the Ludlowville formation and the Widder formation are middle Devonian (Givetian stage) in age.

Below are some links to pictures of Douvillina from Poland (which are some of the only pics I can find on the web for this genera).

A Polish web site of fossils found in the country.


A specimen found in the Skaly beds in Poland

Lichenalia bryozoan from Arkona

Today I'm featuring an odd bryozoan fossil that I've found as encrustations on horn corals or shells in the Hungry Hollow member of the Widder formation. The specimen below I think may be Lichenalia stellata but I'm not entirely sure.

The species is known from the Hungry Hollow member, based on this book from the University of Michigan's Deep Blue Archive, and I found it listed in Grabau's book "Geology and Paleontology of 18 Mile Creek" but the only picture I can find online do not show any pores. If I do an image search on Google the examples I see are of a loose colony that has a banded growth pattern that reminds me of a shelf fungus that grows on the side of a tree.

Here is another example that is encrusting a horn coral and an Auloporid coral.

Then there is this fossil that looks like an inside out version of a bryozoan colony. I'm not sure what genera this is either. The black crystalline areas have been replaced by pyrite.

All the specimens shown above are from the Hungry Hollow member of the Widder formation which is Devonian (Giventian stage) in age. I collected them near Arkona in Ontario providence, Canada.