Anastrophia verneuili Brachiopod Fossils

This image is of brachiopod fossils aka Anastrophia verneuili (Hall, 1857) on display at Mace Brown Museum of Natural History (August 2017). It was found in Coal County, Oklahoma USA and dates to the Late Devonian Period (380 million years ago).

The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History is located at the College of Charleston, 202 Calhoun Street, 2nd Floor, Charleston, South Carolina 29424.

Learn more at their blog: http://blogs.cofc.edu/macebrownmuseum/

Plate of Rafinesquina alternate Brachiopod Fossils

 

These fossils were displayed on August 2022, at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The brachiopod fossils are called Rafinesquina alternate (Conrad, 1838). This specimen was found in Ohio. It dates to the Ordovician Period.

https://hmnh.harvard.edu/

Experiments in Fossil Cleaning with Power Washer

Earlier in the year, I was cleaning with a power washer and thought, "what if I tried this on some of soil stained fossils?". Well, I picked out a few pieces: crinoid plates that had been underwater at Lake Cumberland for a long time and coral and brachiopod fossils from Devonian Period limestones around Louisville.

This first fossil picture shows one of the largest horn corals to ever exist called Siphonophrentis elongata (Rafenesque & Clifford, 1820). It is found in the Jeffersonville Limestone usually in pieces in the soil. The fossil shown is stained a reddish-brown. The other two plates are broken up crinoid stem plates with one showing pieces of a calyx. They were found at Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. They appear to have layers of lake mud on them that is fused to the silica fossils. I like these fossils in that they have bluish look to them.

The next two show after cleaning. The crinoid stem piece did the best. I am not sure there was much change on the crinoid plates.

This next picture is of a coral fossil and brachiopod plate. The second image shows the cleaned fossils. The coral cleaned quite nicely.

Reticulariina Brachiopod Fossil Spines

These images are of brachiopod fossils and close up images under the microscope of some of their spines. The brachiopod fossils are called Reticulariina spinosa and date to the Mississippian Period. They were found in the Glen Dean Member of Grayson County, Kentucky, USA.

Thanks to Kenny for images.

Cluster of Orthotetes Brachiopod Fossils

Fossil plate was found in the Edwardsville Formation of Floyd County, Indiana, USA. The fossils date to the lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) Period. The brachiopods on the plate appear to be Orthotetes keokuk. It is somewhat rare to find so many clustered together.

Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Late Cambrian Brachiopod Talk on 09-30-2011

Cambrian Brachiopod Obolella crassa

Dr. Rebecca Freeman, lecturer at the Earth & Environmental Sciences Department of the University of Kentucky, will present "Brachiopod Extinction and Predation During the Late Cambrian" on September 30, 2011.  This talk will be given at the meeting of the Kentucky Paleontological Society (KPS) of Lexington, Kentucky. Learn more about Dr. Freeman at the U of K web site.

From the KPS "Paleozine" newsletter (Sept. 2011, Vol. 19, No. 9):

"Dr. Freeman’s research uses systematic taxonomy and
biostratigraphy to address the broader issue of understanding
how brachiopods responded to a series of extinction
events that repeatedly affected Laurentian trilobites
during the Late Cambrian–earliest Ordovician. She is also
interested in how linguliform brachiopod diversity was
affected by these extinction events, and whether these
events played a role in the transition from the Cambrian
Fauna, with a dominance of linguliform brachiopods, to
the Paleozoic Fauna, with a dominance of rhynchonelliform
brachiopods."

 

 

The meeting will start at 7:30 PM in the Mines and Minerals Resources Building, Room 101, Rose Street, University of Kentucky campus in Lexington.  Free parking at the structure on Hilltop Avenue. Visit the KPS web site for more information: www.kyps.org

Cambrian Brachiopod Obolella gemma

The brachiopod illustrations were obtained from Second contribution to the studies on the Cambrian faunas of North America by Charles Doolittle Walcott (1886),  Plate X figures 1 and 2.  Images were enhanced and resized before posting.  Book is available at Google Books for free and it is the scan of the copy at the Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College which once belonged to Dr. Alex Agassiz given to him by Charles Walcott on December 13, 1886.  See image of personal inscription:

West Virginia Brachiopods

These pictures of brachiopod fossils are from the West Virginia-Virginia border off I-64 exit 183? (Monroe County, WV). They were sent to me by a reader named David who was wondering about their identification. He writes they are similar to fossils he find in the Ordovician formations of Craig County, Virginia. If any one knows of what they might be, please post a comment.

The 2nd and 3rd images remind me of muscle scars on the inside of a brachiopod shell.  The fourth imprint looks like a Hebertella.