Mercenaria permagna Clam Fossil

The Giant Venus Clam fossil (aka Mercenaria permagna) found in the Fort Drum Member, Nashua Formation of Florida. It was described by Conrad in 1838 and can also be found in North and South Carolina.  This creature lived in the Calabrian Stage (780,000 years ago to 1.8 million years ago) of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary period..

This specimen contains calcite crystals like a geode.  Thanks to Mary Ann for the specimen.

 

 

 

These last two pictures are of the dogtooth spar calcite that occupies the inside of the fossil shell.  It is a honey colored calcite.

 

 

Silurian Brachiopod Pentamerus

Images of the Silurian Period brachiopod Pentamerus. It was found in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Thanks to Herb for the specimen.

UPDATE (01/16/2011):

Display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 2010 showing how the colonies of these brachiopods may have looked on the seafloor.  Their specimen was found in the state of Ohio.

Future Work Needed on Kope Formation Fossils

The following pictures show rocks that will need future preparation work to reveal more of the remains of the ancient sea creatures they contain. The fossils were found in the Kope Formation, Carroll County, Kentucky. They are from the Ordovician Period.

This first rock shows a Cryptolithus trilobite fragment with an exposed spine. I have overlaid the trilobite image to show what it might have looked like intact.

Another Cryptolithus trilobite fragment that after some work might show more of the cephalon portion.

It might be hard to expose the rest of this Cryptolithus trilobite fragment because is appears to be surround by other hard fossil fragments.  It sort of reminds me of a horseshoe.

This piece has potential but has quite a bit of hard fossil debris in between to the two cephalon sides. 

The arrow marks an unidentified fossil that needs more cleaning to reveal details and surface area.

 

This fossil could be a Tentaculites or maybe some sort of worm tube.  Hopefully more of it will be embedded in the matrix.