Holocystites Cystoid

Pictures of two marble size cystoids (Rhombifera) of the Waldron Shale (Niagara Limestone) of Clark County, Indiana.  These cystoids are called Holocystites sp. and existed in the Silurian Period.  See another one in the database of the Indiana State Museum.  Caryocrinites persculptis cystoids have also been found in the Waldron Shale as seen at this website.

These are the first cystoids I have ever found.  Learn more about these amazing creatures at the entry of Wikipedia.

Alispirifer imbricatus brachiopod

This brachiopod seems to match one shown on the Indiana State Museum collection database website that is identified as Cf. Alispirifer imbricatus nomen nudem.  Just to clarify some details of this name as I rarely use some of these terms on the blog, Cf. is the abbreviation of the Latin "confer".  My interpretation of this is the fossil is like another fossil but the identification is not sure.  "Nomen nudem" is Latin for "naked name" which in this context means the scientific name is not official because it was not published or incorrectly published.

My cousin gave me this specimen found on a recent hike in Indiana.  It was found in Washington County, Indiana from the Mississippian Period and probably from the Borden Group (Spickert Knob Formation).  The fossil appears to be an internal cast.  The rock it consists of is hard, he had another fossil I was trying remove a nodule from with the engraver.  With the engraver set at its highest level the rock would not break off.

Learn more about Indiana's past by visiting the Indiana State Museum Center for Science and Culture.  While there: Celebrate. Investigate. Remember. Learn.

Heliophyllum of the North Vernon Limestone

Heliophyllum sp. horn coral found in the Beechwood Member of the North Vernon Limestone of Clark County, Indiana.  This coral existed in the Devonian Period.