Halysites catenularia Fossil

This picture is of a Halysites catenularia (Linnaeus, 1767) chain coral fossil. It existed during the Silurian period. The fossil was found in Lickershamm, Gotland, Sweden. Fossil was on display at the Natural History Museum Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) on August 2024.

A fossil like this can be found in the Louisville, Kentucky USA area as well. Here is one on display at a Paris museum. https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2022/11/halysites-catenularia-chain-coral-fossil.html

Halysites catenularia Chain Coral Fossil

This picture is of a Halysites catenularia (Linnaeus, 1767) chain coral fossil. It existed during the Silurian period. The fossil was found in Drummond Island, Michigan, USA. Fossil was on display at the Natural History Museum Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) on August 2024.

A fossil like this can be found in the Louisville, Kentucky USA area as well. Here is one on display at a Paris museum. https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2022/11/halysites-catenularia-chain-coral-fossil.html

Catenipora gracilis Chain Coral Fossil

This picture is of a Catenipora gracilis (Lamarck, 1816) chain coral fossil. It existed during the Silurian period. The fossil was found in Canada. Fossil was on display at the Natural History Museum Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) on August 2024.

Halysites louisvillensis Chain Coral Fossil

 

This specimen is somewhat unique in what is normally found, it contains very visible mesocorallites quadrilaterals. It is described as a new species in Erwin Stumm's Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio on page 79 as Halysites louisvillensis (Stumm, 1964). Stumm writes about it, "The species is externally similar to Catenipora microparus (Whitfield) but differs in the presence of the very small mesocorallites."

Most of the specimens of chain corals I have seen, one cannot see the little square shapes in between the chain shapes. It is possible they are there but after hundreds of millions of years they blended together obscuring the four sided shape.

This fossil is found in the Louisville Limestone of Jefferson County Kentucky USA. It dates to the Middle Silurian Period.

 

Halysites catenularia Chain Coral Fossil

 

This image shows a Halysites catenularia (Linnaeus, 1767) chain coral fossil. It dates to the Silurian Period and was found Kentucky USA. While I am guessing it was probably found at the Falls of the Ohio. It was displayed at Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée, Paris, France. Image taken August 2009.

The side view is has some green coloration maybe from moss from the Ohio River. It was from the Jules Marcou (1824-1898) collection. Marcou was born and educated in France and worked as a geologist for the Jardin des Plantes during the late 1840s. He traveled on expeditions in the United States during this time and in the early 1850s. So he could have acquired this fossil then. He later settled in Massachusetts USA, became a citizen and died there.

Polyaxons strongylasters Sponge Spicule Fossils

These images are of Polyaxons strongylasters sponge spicule fossils. They were found trapped in cavities in Halysites coral fossils and a microscope is needed to see them. The images have a 1-2mm field of view.

The fossils were found in the Louisville Limestone of Jefferson County, Kentucky USA. This layer dates to the Silurian Period.

Thanks to Kenny for images and discovering them with his microscope.

Fossils from Waterway Protection Tunnel Project - Louisville, Kentucky

The Kentucky Science Center has an interactive display for the Metro Sewer District (MSD) Waterway Protection Tunnel project. This project is a 4 mile (6.43 km) tunnel 200 feet (60.96 m) under the city to store up to 55 million gallons (208 million liters) of storm runoff water. It will take at least 3 years to complete.

As of this writing, the tunnel was 15% dug. I found the display really well done and resourceful way to divert storm water from the sewer system instead of using basins. The future will show us how well this system will work. I encourage you if in the Louisville area to visit the Kentucky Science Center as see this exhibit. Look out the windows on either side of it as it has some views riverfront and a MSD sewer line project.

Included in the exhibit are 3 core samples from the test drillings. If you look close you can see different fossils in them (horn coral and colonial coral).

I was contacted months ago by the Cubero media company that created this display. They asked for permission to use some images from this blog site in the display. It was nice to see me given credit on one of the screens.

Below are examples of a few of the images used.

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2009/07/recent-finds-corals-and-brachiopods.html

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2010/06/stromatoporoids.html

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2012/12/lichenalia-concentrica-bryozoan-fossil.html

Below are embedded videos describing the MSD project:


Learn more about  this MSD project at their web site:
http://www.louisvillemsd.org/tunnel

Links to videos above if they did not embed properly in web page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9CHHpB5xek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLWF2T-klAU

Learn more about the Kentucky Science Center (aka Louisville Science Center) at their web site:
 https://kysciencecenter.org/

Louisville Insider did a story about the opening of this exhibit:
https://insiderlouisville.com/government/infrastructure/science-center-exhibit-showcases-new-waterway-protection-tunnel/

Chain Coral Fossil

Images of a Silurian Period chain coral. The fossil was found in Jefferson County Kentucky USA. Fossil was found in the Louisville Limestone layer.

Naming Fossils

While doing some research on Indiana crinoid fossils, I came across a section in the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural Resources Seventeenth Annual Report by S.S. Gorby State Geologist 1891 about naming fossils. At the beginning of the report, it lists the assistants to the state geologist including Geologist Moses N. Elrod and Palæontologist S.A. Miller. Pages 611-686 in the report is the section entitled Paleontology By S.A. Miller.
In his preliminary remarks, Mr. Miller ends with a discussion on how fossils are named. For my own reference, I am creating this posting which summarizes what he wrote about the naming process. Starting on page 613:

"Fossils are named in the same way that plants are named in botany and animals in zoology. Each one has a name consisting of two words - the first generic and the second specific. The generic name must always be a noun, a specific name when an adjective must be made to agree in gender with the generic name. The generic name should always be commenced with a capital letter, while the specific name never should be. For example, the generic name Orthoceras is derived from the Greek words, orthos (straight) and keras (horn); keras in Greek, is in the neuter gender, while orthis is feminine. Palæaster is from palaios (anient), aster (star); aster is masculine."

So if one was to name a fossil species after a person like the geologist mentioned above Moses Elrod, his name would be converted to the Latin genitive by placing the letter i at the end. Examples are the Silurian crinoid found in the Waldron Shale of Indiana Eucalyptocrinites elrodi (Miller, 1891) and cephalopod from the same area called Gyroceras elrodi.

If an fossil is named after a place, then the locality would have an ensis added to its end. Such as the chain coral fossil named for Louisville, Kentucky USA Halysites louisvillensis.

However, if the place's name ends in an a or e these letters are dropped. Such as the trilobite found in Niagara, New York called Bumastus niagarensis.

The book goes on to say (page 614):

"When a specific name is a common noun the ending is not changed; for example, cuneus, a wedge, would be written Orthoceras cuneus, Orthis cuneus, and Palæaster cuneus. It will be seen, the rules of nomenclature are not difficult or hard to learn, and they are the same in all branches of Natural History."

Example: Hippocardia cuneus (rostroconch fossil) found in the Devonian Jeffersonville Limestone of Louisville, Kentucky USA.

Fossil Illustrator John W. Van Cleve

Reading through Indiana Geological Annual Reports from the 1800s reveal the hard work of individuals who studied fossils and documented them. In a way, as people today document geological and paleontological discoveries and information on the Internet, past researchers toiled away in a simpler yet more challenging media environment to leave their mark on these branches of science.

While reading the Indiana Department of Geology and Natural History Eleventh Annual Report John Collett State Geologist 1881 in the Paleontology section entitled Fossils of the Indiana Rocks (No. 2) by C. A. White, M.D. Washington, D.C. is a letter from Dr. Julius S. Taylor to Indiana State Geologist John Collett describing the work of his deceased friend John W. Van Cleve, Esq. of Dayton, Ohio. The fossil illustrations were to be part of a fossil coral publication in 1847 but the work was delayed and was never completed when Mr. Van Cleve died in 1858. Below is the letter found in the annual report (page 401):

Kankakee, Ill., June 8, 1881
Prof. John Collett, State Geologist of Indiana:
DEAR SIR: -The engraved plates of geological specimens which I have loaned to you for publication in the Indiana State reports were the production of my friend, the late John W. Van Cleve, Esq., who drew and engraved them to accompany a work on fossil corals which he had prepared for publication, but died before accomplishing it.
Mr. Van Cleve was born in Dayton,Ohio, June 27, 1801, and lived in that city continuously until his death, which occurred September 6, 1858. He was a man of sterling integrity and marked ability, and was greatly honored and respected by his fellow-citizens for the excellencies of his character and his liberal public spirit.
I had the good fortune to become acquainted with him in 1838, and to enjoy his intimate friendship until his death. He was an ardent student of geology, and much of our intimacy consisted in out joint study of this absorbing science. His acquirements were such in that study, that if he had been ambitious of distinction, he might have stood in the foremost rank of the geologist of that day; but he was naturally of a retiring disposition  and above all, he disliked mere notoriety. In everything he did he was careful and thorough, and in addition to his ability as a geologist, he possessed such skill as an artist and engraver, that he was able to delineate the objects he studied with great truthfulness.
After the death of Mr. Van Cleve, his nephew, Mr. Thomas Dover, presented me with these plates, because of my long friendship with his uncle; and I am especially glad that an opportunity has at last occurred to do honor to the friend I loved so well, by having at least a portion of the work published upon which he bestowed such long and patient labor.
Your friend,
JULIUS S. TAYLOR

Dr. White makes some comments in the report about this work:
"It is unfortunate that Mr. Van Cleve did not publish his work at the time prepared it, as it would for that time have been a very complete one, and also almost the only work on the fossil corals of North America; for it was prepared before the great and standard works of Edwards & Haime, Hall, Billings, Nicholson, and others had appeared, and when that of Dana had only just been published... we can only regret that the author of that work did not live to reap the fruit of his labors, and give our testimony to the zeal and ability which the unpublished work of the dead naturalist shows that he possessed."

Below are two sample illustration of Halysites catenulata found on Plate 46 Figures 4 and 6.

Last is an image of chain coral fossil found in Louisville, Kentucky that is similar to the ones in the illustration.

Chain Coral

This fossil might be a Halysites louisvillensis? found in the Louisville Limestone of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Corals grew on the seafloor in the Middle Silurian Period. Fossil needs to be sectioned to get an accurate identification.

Halysites catenulatus

Halysites catenulatus of the Silurian Period found in Kentucky.  Fossil displayed at Smithsonian Museum on Natural History (August 2010).  My guess is this fossil was found in the Louisville Limestone.  Every museum with a Paleozoic fossil exhibit should have a piece of chain coral on display to represent the Silurian Period (in my opinion).

Halysites louisvillensis Coral

The Halysites louisvillensis chain coral fossil prized by local fossil collectors for its interesting patterns and detail. These fossils were found in the Louisville Limestone layer located in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The coral existed in the Middle Silurian Period and is an index fossil for that period.

This species described in E.C. Stumm's book Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio on page 79, "Autocorallites broadly elliptical, a little less than 1 mm in maximum diameter, about 0.8 mm in minimum diameter. Twelve very short, indistinct septal spines in well-preserved corallites. Mesocorallites quadrilateral, very small, averaging about 0.1 mm in diameter."

He goes on to say this species is similar to Catenipora microporus.





I am beginning to wonder if the Coenites coral was the doormat of the Silurian coral bed. You can see an eroded one fused on the bottom of this Halysites chain coral. The Coenites seems to topple over a lot and you will usually find a sponge growing on top of it. I pick up sponge fossils and look for to see if they grew on top of the branching Coenites coral frame.

Halysites louisvillensis Chain Coral Fossil

The index fossil of the Silurian period: Halysites. These coral fragments were found in the Louisville limestone in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Erwin Stumm's book Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio lists four types of Halysites and this one seems to be Halysites louisvillensis (Stumm, 1964).

Silurian Chain Coral Called Halysites

Here is a Silurian index fossil called Halysites or chain coral. It is part of the hands on exhibit in the Discovery Gallery at the Louisville Science Center where I volunteer. The specimen does not have a label as to where it is from but it looks like ones I find in the area so it could be from Jefferson or Clark counties in this area.

I found a description of this coral in a a book stored at books.google.com entitled "An Introduction to the Study of Fossils (Plants and Animals) by Hervey Woodburn Shimer published in 1914. From pages 137-138, "Coral compound, composed of long, laterally compressed corallites, and covered by peritheca. Septa absent or represented by spines; tabulae numerous. Between each pair of corallites is a small tube. Budding occurs only from one side and the young corallites remain in contact with the parent by a constricted edge, thus forming chains, in which each corallite is a link (whence the common name, "chain-coral," from the Greek halysis, chain)."