The Fossil Fireplace - Leptaena Brachiopods

A very unique fireplace exist in a house in the city of Louisville Kentucky, USA. It was created by local geology professor from various fossil finds throughout his lifetime. I took a number of pictures of it and will blog about them in the near future. I am looking for documentation on a number of the specimens before publishing the some of the more unique fossils. I thought I would start with something I have not seen before.

The Leptaena brachiopod is a familiar sight when studying fossils from the Paleozoic Era. I have found this fossil creature in Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Mississippian Periods rocks (a range of over 150 million years). What I have not seen is a large number of them in a mass mortality plate like the one pictured. I assume it is why it was chosen to go in the fireplace. A very nice find!

Cephalopod Fossil Almost as Tall as Door

While on a recent visit to the Musée de Mineralogie (Mineralogy Museum) located at the MINES ParisTech, 60 Boulevard Saint-Michel 75006 Paris France, a saw the most amazing fossil. It was a straight shelled cephalopod fossil that was over a meter long. I think the label listed in French read Orthoceras Paleozoic.

The fossil reminds me of the Ordovician cephalopod fossils we find in Kentucky but on a so much larger scale. I was surprised to find it in a mineral museum and not one on paleontology.

If you get a chance visit the museum in Paris and see this specimen for yourself. The museum appeared to be located on the 2nd floor of a university building and it appeared to be staffed by students and professors. There was a small admission fee. The brochure describes it as the cases and architecture as being from the middle 19th century (no A/C). Over 4,000 specimens are on display that belong to a collection of over 100,000 with some added to the collection over 250 years ago.

Learn more at their web site: www.musee.mines-paristech.fr

How To Be A Dunkleosteus

Back in January 2014 I wrote about How To Be A Megalodon Shark which was about the popular smartphone game Hungry Shark Evolution. In that posting, I was hoping they would create an arthrodire or mosasaur creature to play in the game. Well they have created a Dunkleosteus. It is one fearsome creature with some artistic gaming license added in. The creature has been given a double mouth with the inner able to project out like the creatures in the Aliens movie. It is somewhat creepy.

This game is mixing modern fish and sharks with fossil sharks Megalodon (Cenozoic Era) and the Dunkleosteus (Paleozoic Era - Devonian Period). The game designers did pick two of the more popular sea creatures that are shown in fossil sections of museums.

In the game the Dunkleosteus is the most powerful creature revealed so far but in reality the Megalodon was much bigger though not armored like the Dunkleosteus.  The game info screen shown below is amusing by listing "A newly discovered prehistoric colossus. Some say this beast was responsible for the extinction of the Megalodon..." which means it can time travel. The Dunkleosteus was extinct by over 300 million years by the time the Megalodon made is appearance on the Earth.

Learn more at this wiki:
http://hungry-shark.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Daddy_%28Dunkleosteus%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkleosteus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon

Paradoxides pinus? Trilobite Fossil

The label for this fossil says it is a Paradoxides pinus trilobite from the Paleozoic Era. I would guess it is some sort of Paradoxides trilobite from the Cambrian Period found in Morocco. If I recall this fossil is pretty large, maybe the size of dinner plate.

This fossil is on display at the geology department at Indiana University Southeast (IUS) of New Albany, Indiana as of August 2013.

Paleozoic Cephalopod Fossil

This fossil is quite a rare find. A coiled cephalopod found it Clark County, Indiana which means it is probably either Silurian, Devonian or Mississippian in age. The label is not too specific. I would guess it is maybe 20 cm across in size.

It is on display at the Indiana University Southeast geology department as of August 2013. It was donated to them by John T. Shelton.

Saivodus striatus Shark Tooth

This remarkable find of a Paleozoic shark tooth in central Kentucky is a Saivodus striatus.  This type of fossil was originally described by Agassiz in 1843 as the genus Cladodus being a member of the Ctenacanthiformes. Fossil was found in Hardin County (?) of Kentucky in the Mississippian Period Salem Limestone (Meramecian), member of Borden Formation.

The name was changed in a Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (26(2):253-266. 2006) COMMENTS ON THE SELACHIAN GENUS CLADODUS AGASSIZ, 1843 by Christopher J. Duffin and Michal Ginter.

Here is a link to more pictures of Saivodus found in the Viséan, Mountain Limestone, vicinity of Armagh, Northern Ireland: CLICK HERE

Here is a link to another found in a cave in Tennessee: CLICK HERE

Here is a link to the shark fossils found at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky in 2020: CLICK HERE

Fossil was found and prepped by Mark Palatas of Louisville.