Polaricyclus conkini Ammonoid

This fossil is a real treat.  It is a Polaricyclus conkini and found in the type locality of Coral Ridge, Jefferson County, Kentucky. The species is named for Dr. James E. Conkin, professor emeritus at the University of Louisville. Fossil was named by David Work (Maine State Museum) and Charles Mason (Morehead State University) in their 2004 paper Mississippian (Late Osagean) Ammonoids from the New Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation, North-Central Kentucky in the Journal of Paleontology.  See paper: CLICK HERE.

Dr. Conkin discovered the Coral Ridge Member in the 1950s during thesis work at the University of Kansas. It is neat to see a fossil found in the Louisville area and named for a local geology professor.

This pyrite fossil was found in the Coral Ridge Member of the New Providence Shale.  Thanks to Alan for letting me purchase it.

Images take using microscope at 23x and 8 mm field of view.

Silurian Black Snails

For your visual inspection, here are two snail fossils that appear to now consist of pyrite.  Found in the Silurian period Louisville Limestone, they might be some sort of Loxonema.  Henry Nettelroth (1835-1887) in his 1889 Kentucky Fossil Shells book lists a Loxonema laeviusculum (Hall, 1879) which looks similar.

Images taken with a microscope set to 23x and an 8 mm FOV.  I was looking for graptolites but found these fossils instead.

Invertrypa Brachiopod

This brachiopod fossil from Middle Devonian Period (about 390 million years ago). Fossil was found near Louisville Kentucky, USA. Brachiopod is an Invertrypa sp. from Jeffersonville Limestone of Clark County, Indiana.