Holocystites Cystoid Fossil

 

Earlier this month, I was able to attend a field trip to Napoleon, Indiana USA. While there, I found this fossil which appears to be a Holocystites cystoid. It dates to the Silurian Period  (Telychian to Sheinwoodian stage) in age. The locality is world famous for this type of fossil. It has not been prepped yet which would reveal is detailed surface texture and plates.

According to Dr. James Thomka, professor at SUNY Plattsburgh, it is "from the mudstone lithofacies of the Massie Formation (long known as the "upper Osgood shale"), which is renowned for its 'cystoid' fauna."

 

Siphonophrentis gigantea Horn Coral on Display in Paris

 

I revisited pictures from my trip to Paris in 2016. This set of fossils are special in that they were found at the Falls of the Ohio, Clark County, Indiana USA. It was on display at the Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée in Paris France.The fossils were identified as Siphonophrentis gigantea (Lesueur, 1821). They are now known as Siphonophrentis elongata (Rafinesque and Clifford, 1820). Fossils date to the Middle Devonian Period.

You can see a picture of this fossil from 2009 in this posting:

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2009/09/visit-to-museum-of-natural-history-in.html

The genus was renamed from Zaphrentis to Siphonophrentis by Dr. Marjorie O'Connell in 1914. Click on her name to read about her interesting yet short career in paleontology I wrote about March 2021.

Pliomera fischeri Trilobite Fossils

 

This picture is of a Pliomera fischeri (Eichwald,1825) trilobite fossils. They were found in Leningrad, Soviet Union.. The fossil dates to Silurian Period.  Fossil  displayed at Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée, Paris, France.  Image taken August 2016.