Sunday, December 6, 2009

Silurian Brachiopod Pentamerus

Images of the Silurian Period brachiopod Pentamerus. It was found in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Thanks to Herb for the specimen.






UPDATE (01/16/2011):
Display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 2010 showing how the colonies of these brachiopods may have looked on the seafloor.  Their specimen was found in the state of Ohio.


6 comments:

Shamalama said...

Hnmmmm. Looks similar to the Leiorhynchus I find in the Stony Brook Beds of the Devonian Trimmers Rock formation. All I've ever found are internal molds that have that the same line running in the middle of the shell.

Anonymous said...

Nice Blog! Hope to see you around on the Paleo Blogosphere more often! :)

BTW- Are you a member of the Kentucky Paleontological Society? I just sent in my application in the mail today.

Michael Popp said...

The mold of this Silurian Period brachiopod seems to have the distinctive line.

I will look up the Leiorhynchus brachiopod and see how it matches up.

You might also check out this image of a plate of these brachiopods that a member in KYANA Geological Society found: http://www.kyanageo.org/Fossils/silurian/brachiopod/pentamerus.jpg

Michael Popp said...

Raptor Lewis,

Thanks for the compliment. I will try to read you PaleoQuest blog. My focus is more on invertebrate fossils. The action in today's world is definitely with the vertebrate fossil research at least looking at Internet blog activity.

I am a member of KYANA Geological Society in Louisville and Dry Dredgers in Cincinnati. I tried to join the Kentucky Paleontological Society and they cashed my check but never added me to their membership list a couple of years ago. In retrospect, should have signed up as a member at a meeting instead via mail.

I know a number of KPS members and they are good people. My experiences is they are very knowledgeable and good ties to the University of Kentucky geosciences department.

Shamalama said...

"You might also check out this image of a plate of these brachiopods that a member in KYANA Geological Society found: "

HA! Looks like a pile of Hickory nuts! :)

Michael Popp said...

Now that you mention it, that does look like a large cluster of nuts.

It was a nice find though with so many bunched together on one rock plate.