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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Biodiversity on a Devonian Brachiopod

Here is a brachiopod found in the Devonian layer in Clark County, Indiana. I am guessing the brachiopod could be Mediospirifer sp. with some sort of encrusting bryozoan and Aulocystis coral on one side. The other side of the brachiopod are more Aulocystis corals and an inarticulate brachiopod that could be Philhedra crenistriata or Crania multistriata. Researching all the fossils on this specimen I used a couple of resources. The brachiopod brochure found on the Falls of the Ohio State Park website gives a list of fossil brachiopods found in Clark County near the river. A new source I just found was the Friends of the UMMP (University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology) database with over 1000 images for fossil images. They have an image similar to this one with Mediospirifer brachiopod, Petrocrania hamiltoniae inarticulate brachiopods, and Aulopora corals.

Close up of the inarticulate brachiopod. Notice the lines radiating out from the center.



Encrusting bryozoans over part of the shell.

This corals are pointing up so all of these creatures may have been attach while the brachiopod was still alive.