Awesome Devonian Dig 3/30/24

[Darktooth]

Today was a totally awesome day for fossilhunting here in Central New York! The weather was great for March and I had great company. And I haven't even mentioned the fossils yet. I had made plans to get out on a Devonian dig with my friends Stephen( @Buffalopterus ), Trevor, and Gary. I got to the site around 8am and was delighted that it was nice and Sunny. I was surprised when another car showed up and it turned out to be Eric, ( I can't remember forum name). The other guys showed up around 10, followed by Eric's friend Cassie. I really enjoyed everyone's company we all were joking around and laughing the entire day. As the sun got higher it kept getting warmer. And it seemed that everyone was finding stuff. Trilobites were very abundant today. Everyone found multiples I think 5 mostly complete Dipluera's were found today even though they were all small. I lost track of how many Greenops were found, but it was alot, and there were a couple Eldredgeops in the mix. I will say the the Greenops that were found by Trevor  were the biggest and nicest ones that I have ever seen from there. He probably found the most Trilos out of everyone today. Lots of nice Brachs, Bivalves, and Gastros, as well. Just a great day all around. Here are my finds.

And yes I got another Dipluera!

[Darktooth]

Here are some pics from the site.

[Darktooth]

I am hoping to be able to get pics of other participants finds once they have been cleaned up. 

[SPrice]

Awesome finds! The preservation is amazing. Glad you got out with a bunch of like minded friends. 

[Fossildude19]

Great finds, Dave.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Looking forward to seeing what others have found, as well!.

[Buffalopterus]

I agree that it was an amazing day, started off a little chilly but as the sun came out it warmed up nicely. Our group was led by Darktooth and we collected in the Middle Devonian Givetian Windom Member of the Moscow Formation of the Hamilton Group. Several interesting fossils were found amongst the plethora of brachiopods, mostly chonetids and large Ambocoelia, although an occasional Mediospirifer, Mucrospirifer, Athyris and a few others were present. Bivlaves including several nice Grammysia, Cypricardella and Paleoneilo were observed. And like Darktooth described multiple trilobites notably Dipleura, Eldredgeops and Greenops were collected by everyone.

 

Two species I would like to particularly emphasize were the abundance of the Hyolithid Hallotheca aclis (Fig 1.)  and an especially well preserved Phyllocarid Rhinocaris columbina (Fig. 2.) that I found. The Hyolithids are placed within Incertae Sedis (of unknown affinity) currently under study by some paleontologist but may be related to mollusks. The Phyllocarids are shrimp-like crustaceans found as single or paired valves of the carapace. 

[Pagurus]

Congratulations on your finds, Dave, and I'm glad you all had a happy, productive day. Your photos have me itching to get out there again soon. Thanks for sharing your trip.

[Darktooth]

Thanks Mike, I would like to get the forum crew out there soon. I guess I will have to start contacting everyone and get something planned. 

11 minutes ago, Pagurus said:

Congratulations on your finds, Dave, and I'm glad you all had a happy, productive day. Your photos have me itching to get out there again soon. Thanks for sharing your trip.

 

[Jeffrey P]

Looks like you folks had a blast and made some excellent finds. That Leiopteria is especially sweet as is that juvenile Dipleura. Makes me want to get out there that much sooner. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. 

[jpc]

Looks like fun outing.  Thanks for taking us along.

[Bringing Fossils to Life]

More recently, the Hyolithids have been tied with the Lophophorates due to lophophores being found within Cambrian specimens; they are placed very close to the brachiopods, their valves being homologous. Nice fossils; these remind me of species I find (but these are better preserved!)

Here is the paper in which the newer placement was suggested.

 

Moysiuk, J. and Smith, M.R. and Caron, J.-B. (2017) ‘Hyoliths are Palaeozoic

lophophorates.’, Nature., 541 .pp. 394-397. https://dro.dur.ac.uk/20195/1/20195.pdf

 

 

 

[Thomas1982]

Spectacular fossils!!  Thanks for sharing 

[Buffalopterus]

Thank you for sharing the citation describing Hyolithid biological affinities. It is very intriguing that lophophores have been observed in specimens from the Burgess Shale and Spence Shale Lagerstätten. Although the taphonomy of the Windom Hyoliths at Deep Springs Rd. are superb and the fossils are quite abundant, we have yet to see any specimens with the helens.

[Easwiecki]

I'm arriving to this thread fashionably late and with poor quality photos since I'm out of natural lighting but if I didn't do it now I never would! I showed up to the the quarry on the 30th completely on a whim and was delighted to find @Darktoothalready merrily digging away, slabs strewn about hither and yon. Meeting Stephen, Trevor, and Gary was fun and I even got to help Trevor find a small prone diplura that flaked off the matrix and landed upside-down in the duff on the way back to his truck. It was like looking for a rock in a rock stack but together we managed to find the slippery diplura. Today's haul was eclectic with many unidentifiable (for me) specimens but also many familiar faces. 

 

Bivaves/Brachiopods

 

A "smush out"

 

Gastropods

 

Crazy trilobites!

Roller

 

Cephalons

Stuck-in-matrix (bonus hyolith)

Build your own trilobite! Just add cephalon!

 

And not one...

 

Not two...

 

But three trilobites mostly complete, articulated, and curved around rock edges!

 

Now for the weird stuff...

Some of the matrix crumbled off leaving behind this wavy, textured mat. Maybe some kind of bryozoan? The texture is very similar to the eye "rods" in weathered diplura eyes.

More of the same material on a different piece

Back side with a crinoid columnal star 

 

This next one could be a bryozoan I'm not used to seeing round these parts. It is faint but on the left middle of the edge there is a pattern I haven't seen at this site yet.

 

Could this be crinoid columnal? On the edge is just blank matrix, no distinguishing charateristics.

 

This small cylinder also seems crinoid-y to me

 

Bonus bryozoa!

 

Looking forward to heading out again soon!

[Darktooth]

@Easwiecki I give you bonus points for being a month late, instead of never responding at all.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Wow, guys, some really great finds there.

I always love it when forum members get together, have a great day out and find super fossils.

 

[Darktooth]

8 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Wow, guys, some really great finds there.

I always love it when forum members get together, have a great day out and find super fossils.

 

Hey Adam, if you haven't already, make sure to check out.

"Central New York Fossil Forum Group Hunt". This was our most recent hunt.

Edited April 30 by Darktooth

[Fossildude19]

11 minutes ago, Easwiecki said:

 

Eric,

This one is part of a bivalve. One of the Pseudoaviculopecten/Pterinopecten type.

 

 

[Easwiecki]

1 minute ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

Eric,

This one is part of a bivalve. One of the Pseudoaviculopecten/Pterinopecten type.

 

 

That's SO COOL!! Thank you for showing me!!