Hippocardia cuneus Fossil

This picture is of a Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840) rostroconch fossil. It existed during the Devonian period. The fossil was found in Louisville, Kentucky USA. Fossil was on display at the Natural History Museum Vienna (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien) on August 2024.

Note: Their label does not appear to be correct. It listed the fossil as "Hoareicardia cunea" being a "schnabelschaler" of the "Karbon". If it was found in Louisville then it was not in the Carboniferous Period.

Return of the Rostroconch Fossil

 

Recently, I got an email from Erik about a fossil he had found in the Louisville area. It turns out it was a Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840) rostroconch fossil. It was found in the Jeffersonville Limestone of Jefferson County, Kentucky USA. The fossil dates to the Middle Devonian Period.

 

What makes this find more unique is that Erik contacted me in March 2010 with a picture of another rostroconch fossil his son had found. He told me it was found it about the same spot as the first one found about 14 years ago. Amazing! Thanks to Erik for the images and letting me know about this nice fossil find.

https://louisvillefossils.blogspot.com/2010/03/rostroconch-fossil-from-kentucky.html

Rostroconch Fossil from Kentucky

I received an e-mail from an Internet visitor named Erik here in Louisville, Kentucky asking if I could identify this fossil his son found in a creek. Luckily, I had seen this type of fossil before and happily responded with some information about it. Erik was nice enough to let me post the pictures to share the find with others here on the Internet.

Since it was found in a creek it is harder to determine exactly what limestone layer it is from. More than likely it is a Devonian Period fossil and is of the genus Hippocardia. The fossil creature looks mostly intact and is of good size and detail. A very nice find!

UPDATE (2/2024): This fossil is probably Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840) from the Middle Devonian Period of the Jeffersonville Limestone.

Rostroconch: Hippocardia

This is a rostroconch and is probably a Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840). It was found in the Louisville Limestone in Jefferson County, Kentucky. According to the Fossils of Ohio (1996) book, "Although the paleoenvironmental settings of some Silurian units in Ohio are such that rostroconchs could have been present, they have not been reported." (pages 132-133) So this fossil was found in the Silurian layer and is somewhat rare.

The rostroconch was at one time classified as a Pelecypoda but now have their own class as Rostroconchia. The section in the book only covered 4 pages so I am guessing these creatures are somewhat rare and not studied a great deal. The geologist that wrote the section was named Richard D. Hoare who was a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio from 1957-1990.

My cousin found this fossil and it appears he may have cleaned it with an air abrasive cleaner.

Rostroconch Hippocardia cuneus

Here is a rostroconch called Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840) from the Middle Devonian period. It was found in the Jeffersonville Limestone located in Louisville Kentucky. It is very small at 1 cm in length and about 5 mm wide.

Rostroconch Imprint - Louisville, Kentucky

I think these are imprints of rostroconch creatures in Jeffersonville Limestone found in Louisville, Kentucky. The white material might be what is left of their shells or part of the material that made the mode. I found two pieces next to each other but they do not seem to fit together. A heavy piece of earth moving machinery crushed this rock so it is hard to say what it fully looked like.

The rostroconch I have seen found in this area are called Hippocardia cuneus (Conrad, 1840).