Lyme Regis Ammonites

After researching Mary Anning the other day, I got to thinking if any of her fossils might be on display at the Muséum National D'Historie Naturelle Jardin Des Plantes Paléontologie et Anatomie Comparée in Paris, France.  So I reviewed some of the fossil pictures from my last visit and voila... ammonite pictures from Lyme Regis, England.

I do not know if any of these ammonites pictured were found by Mary Anning.  They were in the display cases of the museum and their collections appear to be quite old.  So it would be really special if any of these fossils were actually found by her.

This first ammonite fossil is called Androgynoceras sp. and is from Jurassic Period (Lower Lias).  The fossil was found in Lyme Regis, England.

Next ammonite fossil is Amaltheus margaritatus Montfort from the Jurassic Period (Middle Lias).  Fossil was found in Lyme Regis, England.

 

This ammonite fossil is the Liparoceras bechei Sowerby of the Jurassic Period (Lower Lias).  Also found in Lyme Regis, England.

 

This coiled ammonite fossil is called Lytoceras fimbriatum Sowerby found at Lyme Regis, England.  The creature existed in the Jurassic Period (Middle Lias).

 

Okay, the picture is not great but the ammonite fossil is called Oxynoticeras lymensis Wright of the Jurassic Period (Lower Lias).  Fossil discovered in Lyme Regis, England.

 

Pleuroceras spinatum Bruguiere ammonite fossils of the Jurassic Period found in Lyme Regis, England.

 

Wikipedia has a picture of a casting at the museum of a Plesiosaurus macrocephalus she found.

Imitoceras rotatorium Goniatite

This picture is of a goniatite on display at the Indiana State Museum. It is called Imitoceras rotatorium and labeled as being from the Rockford Limestone (Jackson County, Indiana). According to the Indiana Geological Survey website, this limestone layer was first referenced by Owen and Norwood in 1847 as "Goniatite limestone of Rockford". The website decribes the limestone as " typically gray, fine grained, argillaceous, ferruginous, and sparingly fossiliferous. It has a characteristic green mottling, weathers to a rusty brown, and is argillaceous or dolomitic in places, particularly in the upper part to the north. Echinodermal debris and other fossils, such as the cephalopods, are concentrated in places."

The Indiana Geological Survey also reports that the Rockford Limestone in different parts correlates to the Chouteau Limestone (Mississippi Valley), Meppen Formation (Illinois), Burlington Limestone and Fern Glen Formation.  The Rockford Limestone is above the New Albany Shale but below the New Providence Shale.

A paper in the Journal of Paleontology from July 1942 entitled, A Goniatite from the Mississippian Fern Glen Formation of Illinois by A.K. Miller and Courtney Werner, says the genus in the past as been referred to as Aganides (by de Montfort in 1808), Brancoceras (by Hyatt in 1884), and finally Imitoceras (by Schindewolf in 1923).

This fossil is from the Mississippian Period.

Platycrinites saffordi Crinoid

This fossil is one of the famous Crawfordsville, Indiana crinoids called Platycrinites saffordi.  The fossil is located in a slab on display at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana. This creature existed in the Borden Group's gray siltstone that is part of the Edwardsville Formation.  Early to Middle Mississippian Period is the time period this fossil is from. View another Platycrinites crinoid on the Indiana State Museum website.

A natural science history professor at Wabash College named Edmund O. Hovey first documented these fossils in 1836.  Dr. James Hall of New York was given some of the specimens that were found.  In the 1870s through early 1900s, collectors quarried these crinoids and sent them to museums in Paris, Berlin, and London.  At one point it was thought that colonies of the crinoids existed in the area of Crawsfordsville but it is now believed the remains washed into the area from elsewhere.  Source material gathered from the book Roadside Geology of Indiana by Mark J. Camp and Graham T. Richardson (page 178).

Large slab of crinoids from Crawsfordville on display at Indiana State Museum.  The number of hours to prepare that slab must be huge!  Such a great diversity of species to be seen in one grouping.