Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Conularia Fossil


This picture is of a recently found Conularia fossil that is about 1 cm long. It was found in the Carwood Formation of Floyd County, Indiana, USA. The fossil dates to the Mississippian Period. Thanks to Kenny for the image.

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Cyclonema Snail Fossils

 

Pictures are of two Cyclonema (Hall, 1852) snail fossils found in Clark County, Kentucky, USA. They were probably collected in the 1930s by Colonel Lucien Beckner (1872-1963). The fossils date to the Ordovician Period. Colonel Beckner was a long time curator of the Louisville Museum of Natural History.



Thursday, October 5, 2023

Halysites louisvillensis Chain Coral Fossil

 

This specimen is somewhat unique in what is normally found, it contains very visible mesocorallites quadrilaterals. It is described as a new species in Erwin Stumm's Silurian and Devonian Corals of the Falls of the Ohio on page 79 as Halysites louisvillensis (Stumm, 1964). Stumm writes about it, "The species is externally similar to Catenipora microparus (Whitfield) but differs in the presence of the very small mesocorallites."

Most of the specimens of chain corals I have seen, one cannot see the little square shapes in between the chain shapes. It is possible they are there but after hundreds of millions of years they blended together obscuring the four sided shape.

This fossil is found in the Louisville Limestone of Jefferson County Kentucky USA. It dates to the Middle Silurian Period.