Thanksgiving Weekend in the Ordovician of Ontario

[Kane]

It's been a long time since posting a trip report, but it has been a fairly active year despite the monkish silence as I try to be fairly circumspect about locations and where I am going. Last weekend was Thanksgiving up here, but I passed on turkey to spend some time solo far from home. 

 

Some very nice finds for two days from the Bobcaygeon Fm of Ontario. Time to share. 

 

First up, some field shots from the phone.

 

 

First blood was a doozy. Within half an hour after sunrise, a cluster of Ceraurus globulabatis and Gabricerarurus dentatus.

 

 

Not the nicest material, but I kept all the bits. There may in fact be more buried in this plate.

 

 

It got a bit rainy, but I was undeterred. The rains eventually stopped and I kept at it for another 9 hours. Here we have a scrappy Calyptaulax callicephalus. Seriously exfoliated, and a bit too delicate on a flake to extract complete. It would not be the worst heartbreaker of this trip.

 

 

Getting warmer to maybe finding a Ceraurinus marginatus. This is a wide pygidial array of spines of roughly 2 inches wide.

 

 

The three individuals on the left are Raymondites, with a scrappy Flexicalymene senaria on top, and that same Calyptaulax photo-bombing this image.

 

(continued)

 

[Kane]

 

Enrolled Ceraurus

 

 

Either missing the pygidium, or tucked underneath, another Dolores the Ceraurus.

 

 

Likely a Gabriceraurus. Pity it is missing the tail.

 

 

Scrappy Flexi

 

 

And yet another.

 

 

And still another, a wee one not worth writing home about.

 

(continued)

[Kane]

Now for some heartbreak city...

 

 

At very first glance, I was going to dismiss this as just a weathered out impression, but it is in fact a ventral Gabriceraurus just partially buried. It was in a large block, and as can be seen here the fractures through this rock are unkind. Using up a whole bunch of glue, there was just no safe way to extract this one. Itty bits flew all over, and the patient was beyond saving. I was so disappointed and fuming that I did not even really see the rocks I was looking at for another ten minutes. 

 

 

A Failleana indeterminata ventral. But where the heck is the rest of you? Argh!

 

 

Speaking of missing, here are some phantom Ceraurus.

 

 

And for good measure, a missing Ceraurinus.

 

(continued)

[Kane]

But my disappointment would turn to small elation shortly.

 

 

A complete Bumastoides milleri. To my utter shame, in all these years of picking over Ordovician rocks, I had never found a complete one of these. Mission accomplished!

 

 

I performed just some preliminary work on it about an hour ago. More to be done, but here we can see it is a bit stockier. The cephalon is a bit crushed, but I can't have everything.

 

 

I encountered a healthy number of Ectenaspis homanolotoides parts. They are like Isotelus redesigned to be more like a Corvette.

 

 

And what do I spy on a block? It's ventral, and you can tell by all the fractures that this is going to be a tricky extraction. Time to use up what is left of my superglue!

 

 

Success! Well, in two pieces rather than a zillion.  Ventral side.

 

 

Dorsal side. Holy crap, this is going to be one nervous prep. Those pleurae are just hanging out there in the open. Much paraloid will be required on this beastie. I'm reasonably confident that this may be an Ectenaspis, which would be an incredible rarity to find complete. I also kept the negative since the left eye is in the impression. 

 

(continued)

[Kane]

 

I found a number of these Pleurocystites, but all the nicest ones just wouldn't come out of the rock properly. This was my consolation Pleuro. The tail is buried. 

 

 

A bit challenging to spot now that this slab is dry, but to the right is a complete calyx of a Carabocrinus vancourtlandti, and I assume the smaller chap on the upper left is another of the same. Only prep will say if the arms are there, but quite a beefy example. 

 

There is also a complete-ish Erratencrinurus that will need to be jigsaw puzzled back together, but haven't taken a photo of it yet. 

 

And that's about it. I thought I'd collected more, but apparently not. Still, not bad for 18 hours in the field. As much as I love turkey, I like spending time in the field much more.

[piranha]

The Human Backhoe strikes again....your moniker is well earned as usual. Congrats!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Brilliant!

I look forward to seeing some of these after prep.

[Fossilis Willis]

Looks like you have much to be thankful for. Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to keep an eye out for updates on your prep thread.

[Ludwigia]

Yum Yum!

[FossilDAWG]

I would call that a successful trip! 

 

Don

[Newbie_1971]

Amazing! Way to go! Thanks for sharing

[FossilNerd]

Way to go Kane! Glad your trip wasn’t a complete washout. Wonderful finds. Congrats on your first Bumastoides milleri and the many other great specimens. 

[Fossildude19]

Great finds, amidst the heartbreakers, K-man.

Congrats on a successful trip, my friend.

[Kane]

Thanks all.  I hope to post some other 2023 trips when time permits. 

[Jeffrey P]

Big congrats Kane on some spectacular trilobites and echinoderms. You really killed it that day. Nice! Hope this takes some of the sting away from our Anticosti disappointment. Can't wait to see some of those wonderful specimens prepped. 

[RJB]

I'm not a trilobite guy but that was a really interesting trip report.  A great read with lots of pics. 

 

RB

[Kane]

And just because this wouldn't likely warrant a whole other trip report topic, I did promise to show some photos of a few trilo-butts during a fun visit in late August by two TFF members when we went to Formosa Reef (Amherstburg Fm, Devonian). My job was to cut out the blocks, and our own @Fossildude19 did the finer splitting, so I credit him with finding these. Two Mannopyge halli and one Mystrocephala stummi. The latter genus name may need to be revised according to ICZN rules as it is already occupied by a genus of moth (if the name has not been revised already, but I haven't seen any literature to that effect). It is still included in Jell and Adrain (2003) list of approved trilobite genera names. 

 

These are quite small and taken with the microscope function on my Olympus 5G, but no less interesting on account of the pygidial ornamentation. 

 

[Northern Sharks]

All those Ordovician pics take me back a few years. snarge I miss being able to poke through that stuff every weekend.

[Kane]

2 hours ago, Northern Sharks said:

All those Ordovician pics take me back a few years. snarge I miss being able to poke through that stuff every weekend.

Pending respective schedules and obligations, we really ought to get out together at some point. I know I still have a few trips left in me this year before the snows fly.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Oh, sorry, I forgot.

[Quarryman Dave]

These bring back great memories of my days up in Midland collecting at jd quarry with the gang. Great finds Kane!!

Edited October 14, 2023 by Quarryman Dave

[Fossildude19]

That Mystrocephala is way cool!

The Mannopyge are neat as well! Thanks for posting these, Kane!

[Kane]

Nah, thank you for spotting those, Tim. I could use ten of you in the field. 

[Darktooth]

Good to have you out hunting and finding great trilobites! Congratulations Kane!

[piranha]

On 10/14/2023 at 5:14 AM, Kane said:

Two Mannopyge halli and one Mystrocephala stummi. The latter genus name may need to be revised according to ICZN rules as it is already occupied by a genus of moth (if the name has not been revised already, but I haven't seen any literature to that effect). It is still included in Jell and Adrain (2003) list of approved trilobite genera names.

 

The PhD thesis of Lamsdell 2014 suggested that Mystrocephala should be synonymized with Australosutura. Because it exists only in an unpublished thesis and has not been subjected to peer review, it has no impact on any nomenclatural matters. Unfortunately, "Mystrocephala" will continue to remain in limbo awaiting a formal name reassignment.

 

 

"The genus name Mystrocephala Whittington, 1960 is a homonym of Mystrocephala Herrich-Schaffer, 1855, which was applied to a moth. Mystrocephala Herrich-Schaffer, 1855 was synonymized with Rhosus Walker, 1854 by Poole (1989); however, according to article 10.6 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a name remains available irrespective of its invalidity as a junior synonym. Mystrocephala Whittington, 1960 is herein synonymized with Australosutura Campbell & Goldring in Amos et al., 1960; however, while Mysterocephala was published in May 1960, and so would have priority over Australosutura (published in August), article 23.3.5 of the Code states that an unavailable name must be replaced by the next oldest available name from among its synonyms, and so Australosutura is the correct, valid name for the genus."

 

Lamsdell, J.C. 2014

Selectivity in the Evolution of Palaeozoic Arthropod Groups, with Focus on Mass Extinctions and Radiations: A Phylogenetic Approach.

Chapter 8: The Systematics and Phylogeny of Aulacopleuroid Trilobites (Arthropoda: Trilobita: Proetida). pp. 577-606

PhD Thesis, University of Kansas, 779 pp.  PDF LINK