Glyptambon verrucosus Trilobite Pygidium Fossil

 

The picture above is of a pygidium of a trilobite fossil called Glyptambon verrucosus (Hall, 1854).  Fossil found in the Waldron Shale of Clark County Indiana USA. It dates to the Silurian Period.

Fossil on display at Falls of the Ohio Interpretative Center Clarksville Indiana USA as of December 2022.

Part of Bumastus Trilobite Fossil

Bumastus niagarensis (Whitfield, 1879) trilobite pygidium fossil found in the Waldron Shale of Clark County, Indiana USA. It dates to the Silurian Period (Wenlock Epoch, Sheinwoodian to Homerian Stages). Species was originally named by  R. P. (Robert Parr) Whitfield (1828-1910) as Illaenus niagarensis in the Annual Report of Geological Survey of Wisconsin for 1879, 1880 page 68.

I came across a number of these fossils in my Waldron Shale box while looking for brachiopod fossils to send off to another collector.

Almost Intact Bumastus niagarensis Trilobite Fossil

When I was active hunting the Waldron Shale for its treasured fossils, one I hoped to find was an intact Bumastus niagarensis (Whitfield, 1879) trilobite. This image is of a mostly intact trilobite (60-70%) and the pygidium on another one. As far as I know, no fully intact Bumastus trilobites have been found in the Waldron Shale of Indiana. Looking at this one, it was probably intact at the quarry and was damaged when dug up or moved so it gives me hope in the future a full one will be found.

It dates to the Silurian Period (Wenlock Epoch, Sheinwoodian to Homerian Stages). My cousin Kenny found it in Clark County, Indiana, USA. Very nice find, so close to being a complete specimen.

Species was originally named by  R. P. (Robert Parr) Whitfield (1828-1910) as Illaenus niagarensis in the Annual Report of Geological Survey of Wisconsin for 1879, 1880 page 68.

Inspired Fossil Hunt for the New Year

On the first day of the year 2020, I decided to go look for fossils in a nearby outcrop of Ordovician Period rock. My inspiration for this trip came after reading the year end post at the blog Fossils and Other Living Things. Such a well researched post about Flexicalymene meeki named by August Frederic Foreste (1862-1936) who he named the species after Fielding Bradford Meek (1817-1876).

I encourage you to visit the website and read this lengthy entry. It was fascinated to learn about the person who the trilobite is named after and somewhat sad that his only family was a cat and he lived in a tiny room under some stairs at the Smithsonian from 1858 till he died in 1876. In addition, it was interesting to learn more about Foreste who I assume the Ordovician coral genus Foerstephyllum (Bassler, 1941) is named after. I find a lot of this coral on the eastern side of Louisville.

After reading the blog post, I decided to try and find a piece of one of these trilobites. It was a pleasant collecting trip as I like to look for fossils in the winter months free of snakes, insects and poison ivy.

The weather in the Louisville area was sunny on January 1st with a high of 50°F (10°C). I photographed the fossil shown above in Bullitt County, Kentucky USA. It appears to be a pygidium of Flexicalymene meeki? trilobite. The fossil was about a 1 cm wide which I left where I found it. The place I visited mostly has Platystropia brachiopod fossils though I found number pelocypod molds, segments of straight cepholopod fossils, a few whirled gastropods and broken bryozoans. Trilobites are very rare to find at this locality though I did find my first mostly intact trilobite there on my initial visit just over 10 years ago. I also found the largest scolecodont fossil to date at the same locale.

Again check out: http://fossilsandotherlivingthings.blogspot.com/2019/12/assume-enrolled-position.html

Bumastus Cephalon Trilobite Fossil

This fossil is of a trilobite cephalon. The trilobite is a Bumastus. Fossil was found in the Silurian aged Waldron Shale of Clark County Indiana USA. Thanks to Kenny for letting me photograph it.

Griffithides? Trilobite Pygidium

This trilobite fossil might be a Griffithides bufo pygidium found in the Indian Springs Formation of Crawford County, Indiana USA.  This animal existed in the Mississippian Period. CLICK HERE to see another Griffithides bufo found in Crawfordsville, Indiana at Piedmont Fossil's Flickr site.

Mississippian Period Trilobite Pygidium

Rare is a find than that of a trilobite fragment in the Mississippian Period (Lower Carboniferous - 359 to 318 million years ago) Fort Payne Formation of Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. This picture is of such a find that being a trilobite pygidium found in a gray rock shale with a lot of compressed Fenestella like bryozoan pieces.

This specimen is quite small and hard to get a detailed image of. It is about 1.5 cm wide. Looking at the article in the Journal of Paleontology, November 1966 entitled "Mississippian Trilobites from Northwestern Georgia" by Mark Rich of the University of Georgia in Athens, two trilobite genus are mentioned being in the Fort Payne Chert: Australosutra and Proetus.  I am not familiar with the Australosutra trilobite and do not see one in the Google Image database.  The Proetus trilobite has more of a bubble like hump in the middle lobe of the pygidium so it might not be that genus.  Next time I am on JSTOR I will try and look at that article and see if the images look anything like this one.

 

 

Fossils Found in Crawford County, Indiana - March 2008

Here are some pictures I found from a trip in March 2008 to a road cut in Crawford County, Indiana. It is a fun place to hunt for fossils from the Mississippian or Lower Carboniferous period. You will need to do some climbing though.

Unknown trilobite pygidium found in the Indian Springs Shale of the Big Clifty Formation in Crawford County, Indiana.
UPDATE (2020/02/15): Maybe a Kaskia chesteriensis or Paladin chesteriensis.

Unknown horn corals from the Mississippian period.
UPDATE (2020/02/15): Maybe a Zaphrentites spinulosa or Amplexi zaphrentis?

Unknown crinoid stem with a number of branch stubs.

Unknown crinoid calyx pieces. UPDATE (2020): Maybe Phanocrinus or Bicidiocrinus?

Archimedes sp. from the Upper Mississippian period found in the Indian Springs shale.

Cymbiocrinus (Kirk, 1944) crinoid calyx in plate with crinoid stem pieces.

Blastoids that are probably Pentremites sp. (Say) found in the Indian Springs shale in Crawford County, Indiana.