Monday, October 3, 2011

Orthorhynchula linneyi Brachiopod



The Orthorhynchula linneyi brachiopod found in the Lexington Limestone of Boyle County, Kentucky. Creature existed in the Ordovician (505-438 million years ago).



Sunday, October 2, 2011

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.


Friday, September 30, 2011

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.