Friday, November 4, 2011

Marcasite or Pyrite Blastoid


This is a very interesting fossil. The fossil shown here is a paratype of the blastoid Orbitremites kentuckiensis.  This fossil is one of two left in the personal collection of Dr. James Conkin who named it.  The holotypes are stored at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USNM PAL 127316): CLICK HERE TO SEE.   The Smithsonian has imaged these specimens in their database.

The larger blastoid was profiled in an earlier blog posting that can be read here:  http://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2011/10/orbitremites-kentuckiensis-blastoid.html

The scale in the next image is in inches so the fossil is about a half an inch wide.


Bottom of blastoid can be seen in the last image.  It appears to have green modeling clay on it.