Cleaned Silurian Trimerus Trilobite

This Trimerus delphinocephalus (Green, 1832) trilobite has been prepped using a dental tool and toothbrush. This particular picture has been touched up with Adobe Photoshop to fill in the missing areas of the fossil. Most of the work was done to the front scoop on the cephalon and the sides of the pygidium (tail). Also cracks in the thorax plates and areas where the eyes were placed are covered in brown.

Fossil was found in the Waldron Shale of Clark County, Indiana, USA. It dates to about 419 million years ago which is the Silurian Period.

This next image is a close up of the thorax segments on the side of the fossil. The detail of the texture on the plates is nice. A series of small bumps can be seen, maybe these served as some sort sensory system.

This last series of pictures show the fossil from different angles. Thanks to Kenny for prepping this fossil!

Strophodonta Brachiopod from Wisconsin

This is an updated posting of a fossil I have already listed. It is a Strophodonta brachiopod fossil found in the Milwaukee Formation of Wisconsin. It is from the Middle Devonian Period.

The fossil has now been cleaned to reveal more of its detail including a coral colony (possibly some sort of Aulopora). The matrix was a little stubborn and it took some time to remove it. I think the canister was refilled three times before I finished working on it. Some the fossil may have been removed by me exposing the surface too long to the sand stream. As you can see from the image below the matrix is a light gray while the fossil is a dark blue-gray color.

Here are some close up images of the coral colony. They were photographed wet since it tends to reveal more of the coral detail.

Thanks to Nathan for this fossil and Kenny for letting me use his sand blasting apparatus.

Kingena wacoensis Brachiopod

Here are some pictures of some Kingena (Waconella) wacoensis brachiopod fossils. These fossils were found in the Main Street Limestone of Denton County, Texas. They are dated to the Cretaceous Period.