Trilobite from Michigan

[jugglerguy]

My neighbor found this trilobite (at least that's what we think it is) in a large, quarried piece of limestone in Alpena, Michigan. The exposed part is about 1.5 inches long. The bedrock here is from the Devonian period. 

Questions:

Is it a trilobite?

Can you tell if it's curled up in a ball? He thinks that might be its head on top, curled up around its tail. 

Thanks for any help you can give us!

 

[connorp]

Looks like an enrolled Eldredgeops.

[Fossildude19]

Definitely a complete enrolled Eldredgeops rana.

That should prep out nicely!

 

 

[jugglerguy]

Thanks, both of you. We're trying to figure out a way to extract it from the rock without breaking it. I know someone who knows how to prep fossils, so I'll take it to him if we can get it out. The plan is to drill a series of holes around it and pop it out.

[Fossildude19]

Using a Dremel engraver with special tips for fossil prep would make short work of removing the excess matrix around it.

[jugglerguy]

 I have one of those, but with only the tip that came with it. I know that there are other tips available, but I have no experience using them. Since I know someone who has done some of this, I think I'll ask him to show me how it's done. Trilobites are pretty rare finds around here and I don't really want to mess this up. 

[Cris]

Nice little trilobite your neighbor found, Rob! Also good to see you here.  Bri just posted this thread with our (her) big find from up in your area several months back. We'll have to link up next time we're up that way!

[SPrice]

2 hours ago, jugglerguy said:

 I have one of those, but with only the tip that came with it. I know that there are other tips available, but I have no experience using them. Since I know someone who has done some of this, I think I'll ask him to show me how it's done. Trilobites are pretty rare finds around here and I don't really want to mess this up. 

I recently received my 3 Pack of Tungsten styli from Zoic Paleotech.  If you look at the reviews on their website, I can say from personal experience that their styli are as good as claimed. No comparison with the original Dremel tip. Analogy = Dremel tip is a 20 penny nail with a rubber mallet driving it...Zoic stylus is closer to a Star Wars lightsaber. Okay, maybe not that good but the Zoic styli make the chips fly at low settings and almost no pressure.

 

Good luck excavating the Trilobite whole and getting it prepped. What shows looks promising!

[FossilDAWG]

I agree about the Zoic tips being a vast improvement over the tip that comes with the Dremel engraver.  Well worth the investment! 

 

Don

[jugglerguy]

2 hours ago, Cris said:

Nice little trilobite your neighbor found, Rob! Also good to see you here.  Bri just posted this thread with our (her) big find from up in your area several months back. We'll have to link up next time we're up that way!

Hey Cris, Kyle showed me pictures of that and said that you guys figured out how to find them. I was in the quarry with Paleo Joe one time and he found a few very small fragments that day, but nothing like what Bri found. He has one that he has been piecing together for years. 

[jugglerguy]

2 hours ago, SPrice said:

I recently received my 3 Pack of Tungsten styli from Zoic Paleotech.  If you look at the reviews on their website, I can say from personal experience that their styli are as good as claimed. No comparison with the original Dremel tip. Analogy = Dremel tip is a 20 penny nail with a rubber mallet driving it...Zoic stylus is closer to a Star Wars lightsaber. Okay, maybe not that good but the Zoic styli make the chips fly at low settings and almost no pressure.

 

Good luck excavating the Trilobite whole and getting it prepped. What shows looks promising!

Thanks, I'll check those out. I would like to learn how to do this myself. 

[SPrice]

7 minutes ago, jugglerguy said:

Thanks, I'll check those out. I would like to learn how to do this myself. 

You're welcome. And same here. I've collected many years, very casually, fossil shark teeth and whatever the Atlantic Ocean tossed up on the beach.  After a beach restoration by dredge ships spewing tons of sand debris on shore, there was a windfall of thousands upon thousands of Echinoid fossils ( my avatar image) from the Pee Dee formation off shore. These are Cretaceous period fossils in every condition including entombed in matrix. This is what got me interested in prepping them myself. So many good ones were tossed back because I wasn't enlightened in the discipline of fossil preparation. Now I'm ordering an air pen or two from Zoic since I already have an air compressor. 

Utah is a fossil treasure trove for the collector with the exception of vertebrate bones. Trilobites galore and I just researched that ammonites are in all 4 corners of the state. Lucky me.

[jugglerguy]

Just now, SPrice said:

You're welcome. And same here. I've collected many years, very casually, fossil shark teeth and whatever the Atlantic Ocean tossed up on the beach.  After a beach restoration by dredge ships spewing tons of sand debris on shore, there was a windfall of thousands upon thousands of Echinoid fossils ( my avatar image) from the Pee Dee formation off shore. These are Cretaceous period fossils in every condition including entombed in matrix. This is what got me interested in prepping them myself. So many good ones were tossed back because I wasn't enlightened in the discipline of fossil preparation. Now I'm ordering an air pen or two from Zoic since I already have an air compressor. 

Utah is a fossil treasure trove for the collector with the exception of vertebrate bones. Trilobites galore and I just researched that ammonites are in all 4 corners of the state. Lucky me.

I have already ordered a set of tips for my Dremel engraver. Now I just have to wait for them to arrive from England.

[Fossildude19]

@jugglerguy

 

Rob, with the right tools, you could do a great job on whatever you prep.

You definitely have the manual dexterity to do well with prepping.

[Peat Burns]

Looks like Pseudodechenella sp.

[Peat Burns]

The OP was able to extract the specimen, and I'm prepping it for him. 

 

Tim @Fossildude19 and @connorp  were exactly right, this is Eldredgeops rana s. l.  Looking at the OP's photo, I thought I saw median nodes on the axial lobe:

After seeing the specimen in person, there were no median nodes.  And, of course, exposing the cephalon confirms Eldredgeops. 

 

Here is progress on the prep:

 

 

[jugglerguy]

I would have never imagined that such a spectacular fossil was hiding inside there. Thanks, Pete, for extracting it for me!

[connorp]

Killer bug!!

[connorp]

@jugglerguy I will also add that based on the associated brachs and the look of the matrix, I would guess this is Alpena Formation. I have seen large blocks of this formation used as landscaping rocks elsewhere in that area. I have found a couple Eldredgeops from there, none as nice as this one though. 

[jugglerguy]

37 minutes ago, connorp said:

@jugglerguy I will also add that based on the associated brachs and the look of the matrix, I would guess this is Alpena Formation. I have seen large blocks of this formation used as landscaping rocks elsewhere in that area. I have found a couple Eldredgeops from there, none as nice as this one though. 

I'm not sure if it's Alpena formation, but it was found in a large block of quarried limestone in Alpena. I don't know which quarry it came from, though.

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by jugglerguy