Monday, August 2, 2010

Megistocrinus rugosus Calyx


Megistocrinus rugosus crinoid calyx drawings seen in Plate 38 of Contribution to Indiana Palaeontology Volume I Part I to XX by George K. Greene.  [Side note: When George Greene died in 1916 his collection of over 400,000 specimens was shipped to the American Museum in New York by train.]  The crinoids are described as being found in the Upper Devonian beds at the Falls of the Ohio.


The pictures with blue backgrounds are of a fossil fragment I found in the Jeffersonville Limestone of Clark County, Indiana. It appears to be the base of a crinoid calyx Megistocrinus rugosus. Note how wrinkled its surface is. The last image is of the inside of the cup. The fossil is from the Middle Devonian Period.  Thanks to Alan for the identification.