Echinocrinites fenestratus Cystoid Fossil

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 2 GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3c65a4dfe-ad99-45cc-8f4a-0217d73e8a45 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Echinocrinites fenestratus (Troost, 1850) cystoid fossil described in A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This cystoid was found in Brownsport limestone of Decatur County Tennessee USA (Silurian Period). It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 35091 and identified as a holotype.While fossil is described on pages 8-9, no explanation as to why no illustration was provided. It was later renamed by Professor Charles Schuchert (1858-1942) as Tetracystis fenestratus (1904). He published about this same specimen in On Siluric and Devonic Cystidea and Camarocrinus and included three photographs at Plate XXXIV figures 6-8.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 2 GUID:        http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m36381a8a3-ba40-4d94-aea8-3a9ab5a5c632 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 2 GUID:      http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3168ad43c-793c-4122-bdcc-1d6c566bba8a Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Photos are from the Smithsonian collection, first three shown from specimen 2. The record for USNM PAL 35091 lists only 1 specimen but there are six pictures and appear to be two distinct cystoid fossils. Three pictures shown below appear to be from specimen 1.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 1 GUID:      http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m360b0775e-4ca2-48cb-92e2-ca1ab25b8a70 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 1 GUID:       http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3a74e0aa5-fa6a-4fb5-8624-e6f4ce09d08c Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 35091 Specimen 1 GUID:          http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3d01e00e9-334e-4fdf-a0e5-654056b7b4c0 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Barycrinus stellatus Crinoid Calyx Fossil

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39942 Specimen GUID:             http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3d84e97de-ad18-4d93-b196-63b98eb801e1 Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Barycrinus stellatus (Troost, 1850) crinoid calyx fossil described in A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. Drawings in this post are from  Plate 8 figures 6-8 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862). This crinoid was found in Keokuk horizon of the Tullahoma formation Stewart County Tennessee USA (Mississippian Period). It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 39942 and identified as a holotype. Originally it was called Cyathocrinites steallatus.

Photos are from the Smithsonian collection. The calyx is identified as being 19.5 mm in width. 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39942 Specimen GUID:                 http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3b87b9092-b56d-4328-a50b-6d88dbb88830 Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39942 Specimen GUID:                 http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3f3fd6c75-c59b-41d2-bf35-1580a382510c Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39942 Specimen GUID:                     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m362f5b1a6-526f-44bf-ad50-e774a9aabf28 Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Melonite granulatus Crinoid Calyx Fossil

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39909 Specimen GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/36ce242a9-26bb-4138-8ab4-fccdd1ce4954 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Melonite granulatus (Troost, 1850) crinoid calyx fossil described in A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This crinoid was found in Cumberland Gap Claiborne County Tennessee USA (Mississippian Period). It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 39909 and identified as a holotype.While fossil is described on pages 107-108, no explanation as to why no illustration was provided. 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39909 Specimen GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/36ce242a9-26bb-4138-8ab4-fccdd1ce4954 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Cleiocrinus tessellatus Crinoid Calyx Fossil

Cleiocrinus tessellatus (Troost, 1850) crinoid calyx fossil Plate 7 figures 11 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862) from A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This crinoid was found in the Lebanon limestone (Silurian Period) division of the Stones River Formation of Duck River, near Columbia, Maury County Tennessee USA. It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 39910 and identified as a holotype.

Pictures of the actual Troost fossil at the Smithsonian shown below. 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39910 Specimen GUID:         http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/33b065c2b-0ba1-423d-bcbc-2f7ec78c0007 Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

Cyathocrinites tiaraeformis Crinoid Fossil

Cyathocrinites tiaraeformis (Troost, 1850) crinoid calyx fossil Plate 7 figures 15-17 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862) from A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This crinoid was found in the Carboniferous Period Keokuk horizon of the Tullahoma Formation of White's Creek Springs, Davidson County Tennessee USA. It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 54236 and identified as a holotype. Elvira Wood lists it as Ichthyocrinus tiaraeformis (Troost) Hall.

Pictures of the actual Troost fossil at the Smithsonian shown below.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 54236 Specimen GUID:         http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/390e41ca3-405f-4e83-91c9-5e494bfd3e5b Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

 

 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 54236 Specimen GUID:         http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/390e41ca3-405f-4e83-91c9-5e494bfd3e5b Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 54236 Specimen GUID:         http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/390e41ca3-405f-4e83-91c9-5e494bfd3e5b Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Cyathocrinites roemerii Crinoid Fossil

 

Cyathocrinites roemerii (Troost, 1850) crinoid calyx fossil Plate 6 figure 11 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862) from A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This crinoid was found in the Carboniferous Period aged in the St. Louis Limestone of  Duck River, Maury County Tennessee USA. It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 39944 and identified as a holotype. Elvira Wood refers to as Scaphiocrinus huntsvillae  (Worthen).

Gerard Troost (1776-1850) does not list who the species is named after but it appears was one of two geologist brothers Friedrich Adolph Roemer (1809-1869) or Carl Ferdinand von Roemer (1818-1891).

UPDATE [December 2024]: The fossil was named after the younger Ferdinand Roemer. I found his 1860 book Die silurische Fauna des westlichen Tennessee / Eine palaeontologische Monographie in which he visited Troost in 1847 in Nashville. He writes (translated from German to English): "When I returned from Texas in the summer of 1847 to Nashville, the capital of the state of Tennessee, and found a very friendly welcome and valuable instruction on the geological conditions of the country from Dr. G. Troost, who has made a great contribution to the natural history of the western states, my attention was particularly drawn to the beautifully preserved Silurian fossils in the excellent man's rich paleontological collection..."

Picture of the real fossil is below which is stored at the Smithsonian. Their database shows it is a holotype called Dinotocrinus roemeri (Troost in Wood, 1909).

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 39944 Specimen GUID:         http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/39ac4d2dd-9845-4878-8d40-90204c177ae3 Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

Granatocrinites globosus Blastoid Fossil

 

Granatocrinites globosus (Troost, 1835) blastoid fossil Plate 4 figures 12-14 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862) from A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This very distinct blastoid was found in the Devonian Period aged at Bedford County Tennessee USA. It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 33077 and identified as a holotype. Elvira Wood refers to as Orbitremites granulatus (Roemer).

Picture of the real fossil is below:

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 33077 Specimen GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/m3fa639a8e-6c3a-459b-acd8-8d23c8e76bed Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

Troosticrinus reinwardtii Blastoid Fossil

 

Troostocrinus reinwardtii (Troost, 1835) blastoid fossil Plate 3 figures 2-4 drawn by Major Adolphus Heiman (1809-1862) from A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee by Elvira Wood 1909. This very distinct blastoid was found in the Silurian Period aged Brownsport limestone of Tennessee. It was assigned U.S. National Museum number 33071.

Troost's Original drawings of Pentremites reinwardtii from 1835 work

Gerard Troost (1776-1850) originally called this fossil Pentremites reinwardtii (Troost, 1835) in On The Pentremites reinwardtii, A New Fossil; With Remarks on the Genus Pentremites (Say), and Its Geognostic Position in the States of Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky in Geological Society of Pennsylvania (1835). It appears he named the species after a Dutch botanist Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt (1773-1854). The genus Troost used was named by his friend from Philadelphia and New Harmony, Indiana Thomas Say (1787-1834).

 The holotype fossil Troost found back in the 1830s now resides at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. See photographs of it below that were taken sometime in 2010.

 

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 33071 Specimen GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3fda37982-30dd-4c41-aa35-c48973890252 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 33071 Specimen GUID:     http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/3fda37982-30dd-4c41-aa35-c48973890252 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

 

Macroporaster nylanderi Starfish Fossil

Macroporaster nylanderi drawing by Dr. Elvira Wood 1921

A Silurian Period fossil called Macroporaster nylanderi (Raymond, 1921). It was found in sandstone at New Sweden, Aroostook County, Maine, USA by Olof O. Nylander who the species is named after. Outer radius is 19 mm and inner radius is 7 mm, depth 2-2.5 mm. It was described in No.4 - A New Fossil Starfish From New England by Percy E. Raymond published Proceedings Boston Society of Natural History Volume 36 (August 1921). When fossil was published it was shown to be specimen number 14,966 in collection of Boston Society of Natural History.

Above is figure 7 in article drawn by Dr. Elvira Wood. This image was one of many illustrations she did for Dr. Raymond's publications between 1920-1924. Dr. Wood published one of the first American drawings of a starfish in 1909 of Troost's Palaeaster antiqua (Troost, 1835). Charles Schuchert renamed that fossil Mesopalaeaster antiquus (Troost, 1835) in 1915.

The current fossil is stored at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and is listed as a holotype USNM PAL 166743. Another picture of this specimen shows its label (maybe from Boston) showing it was purchased from Nylander. Olof O. Nylander (1864-1943) was born in Oremella, Sweden where he became interested in natural history. He migrated to the United States in 1883 and worked in various states as a painter. He later was contracted out as a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, the Canadian government, and various universities/colleges. In 1939, the WPA built the Nylander Museum of Natural History in which he was the first curator-director. It housed his collections which were transferred to them in 1943 at his death. As of this writing, the museum in closed to the public.

Judging from the Smithsonian picture compared to the drawing, someone tried to prep this fossil and destroyed part of it. The paper described it as not having any other fossils on the matrix but it looks like the area around the fossil was removed and a small brachiopod fossil (reminds me of a Rhynchotreta) was revealed.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Specimen Catalog Number:  USNM PAL 166743 Specimen GUID: https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/paleo/?ark=ark:/65665/3b69b1962935c41b69ed004c723c45745 Photographer Suzanne McIntire. Specimen housed in the collections of the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution