Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Craniops hamiltoniae brachiopod from the Moscow formation

I have a couple of tiny, oval shaped fossils from Deep Springs Rd. that confused me until I looked at them a little closer and then referred to Karl Wilson's book "Field Guide to the Devonian Fossils of New York" (pg. 120-121). These minute fossils are the inarticulate brachiopod Craniops hamiltoniae. More specifically they are the dorsal valve from that species as the ventral valve would have been attached to a hard substrate. How do I know they are the ventral valve? A close look at the fossils shows the muscle scars which are only found on the interior of the shell, and they are not connected to anything obvious that could be considered a hard substrate (shell, hardground, coral, etc.).

Specimen #1 - The specimen is in the lower right corner of this piece which also has a Paleozygopleura hamiltoniae on it.



Specimen #2 - This specimen is a little darker that the prior example



These specimens were found at a borrow pit on Deep Springs Road in Madison County, NY which exposes the Windom shale member of the Moscow formation (middle Devonian in age, Givetian stage.)

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