Receptaculites subturbinatus Sponge

Pyrite fossil of a sponge called Receptaculites subturbinatus. Fossil was found in the Silurian Period Waldron Shale of Indiana. Illustrations in this post are from the Indiana Geological Survey #11 of 1881 found on Plate 2 Figures 1-3. Thanks to Mark for the fossil.

Silurian Foraminifera

While working on a project taking pictures of Chinese foraminiferas collected in the 1980s, I took a picture of this specimen while the equipment was setup.  It is a foram found in the Silurian period Osgood Shale of  Ripley County, Indiana. My guess is it might be some sort of Ammodiscus. Dr. James Conkin collected this specimen some years ago. Second image is specimen wet after an attempt to move it with a wet brush.

Happy Fossil Hanukkah

Today marks the opening of Hanukkah or Festival of Lights which will last 8 days. As a greeting to those who celebrate this event and also enjoy paleontology, this graphic was created with some Mississippian (Carboniferous) fossils and a lot of Adobe Photoshop.  The fossils are a Fenestella bryozoan in remarkable intact 3-D form and a Pentremites blastoid.  Both specimens were found in Indian Spring formation of Crawford County, Indiana.

The picture below shows the two fossils used to create this graphic. The bryozoan was photographed under the microscope at 23x. If you found this graphic interesting, visit the blog on December 25th and see the Christmas tree graphic!