Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Protomegastrophia profunda Brachiopod


Protomegastrophia profunda brachiopod fossil of the Waldron Shale of Clark County, Indiana.  This Silurian brachiopod genus Protomegastrophia was named by Caster in 1939.  This same person named the Devonian Megastrophia that can be seen HERE.  The Smithsonian web site list the genus under another name of Brachyprion.

The Protomegastrophia profunda was originally named by the paleontologist James Hall as the Leptaena profunda (Hall, 1852).  You can see a plate in Nettelroth's Kentucky Fossil Shells book (1889) Plate XVII, figures 20-21 listed as Strophodonta profunda (Hall, 1867): CLICK HERE

This is the 18th brachiopod I have identified of the Waldron Shale, see the list HERE.



Here are some of the species on display at the Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée in Paris, France.