Blastoids

Truly, a beautiful fossil and reveals itself out the rock matrix so well. It makes me think of stone flower bud.

These fossils came from Sulphur, Indiana, USA I-64 road exit which is to the west of Louisville, Kentucky. It was collected at the same time as yesterday's Archimedes.

These blastoids are either Pentremites sodoni or Pentremites wellen. They are from the Mississippian period (known outside the United States as Carboniferous) which about 290-350 million years ago. The rock section is Chesterian and the formation these came from was the Haney.

Archimedes Bryozoans

Here are some small Archimedes bryozoans found off I-64 W of Louisville near Sulphur, Indiana. I believe the rock is of the Mississippian (Carboniferous) period and a great place to find blastoids and Archimedes fossils. It is a well known spot though so a lot of collectors visit this outcrop. Also some climbing is required to get to the rich fossil zones.

More than likely the specimens shown in the image are one of the following species: Archimedes distans (Ulrich), Archimedes invaginatus (Ulrich), Archimedes sublaxus (Ulrich), Archimedes meekanoides (McFarlan), or Archimedes mcfarlani (Condra & Elias).




More information about Archimedes found at this site can be found at this web page created by a local naturalist at the Falls of the Ohio, Indiana State Park
web page link

Flexicalymene meeki

This trilobite was found near Mt. Washington, Kentucky (a little ways east of Louisville) on the Bardstown Road cut.

I spent time trying to figure out whether this was Calymene or Flexicalymene because the eyes are partially obstructed by matrix. The nose seems small and the head (cephalon) triangular. It was found in Ordovician rock so with the previous two features rules out a Phacops trilobite. I counted 13 segments in the thorax which puts in the correct range of 11-13. The tail or pygidium is slightly broke off and at an angle from the rest of the body.

Eventually, this specimen will be sand blasted to see if more detail of the head can be revealed.

Good trilobite research >webpage