Odontocephalus Devonian Trilobite

This image was taken of a fossil in the Falls of the Ohio state park display case at the GeoFair 2009 located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This rare whole trilobite is called Odontocephalus sp. from the Middle Devonian period. Note the intact forked tail and border around the cephalon. This trilobite is of the suborder Phacopina and the superfamily Dalmanitoidea.

It was found in the Jeffersonville Limestone in the Falls of the Ohio state park, Clarksville, Indiana. Just a note, fossil collecting in the park is prohibited. If it were, there would be no park!



This website has a nice set of pictures of an intact one at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas. The trilobite seems to be common to area now known as the state of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE (March 2011) - The Falls of the Ohio State Park web site has a nice write up on trilobites with the lead photo being the specimen pictured above.  Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Cystiphyllum granilineatum Horn Coral

Here is a Silurian horn coral found in the Louisville Limestone layer in Louisville, Kentucky. It is called Cystiphyllum granilineatum.

Identification from Erwin Stumm's Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio pp. 51-52 (description) and plate 6 pp. 96-97.

Favosites turbinatus Colonial Coral

This picture was taken of a fossil in the Falls of the Ohio state park (Clarksville, Indiana) display case at the GeoFair 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This colonial coral is called Favosites turbinatus (Billings) from the Middle Devonian period. It is part of the Falls of the Ohio state park collection. "It consists of hollow honeycomb corallites (chambers) and floats in water."

The fossil was large and maybe 30 cm across.