Mazon Creek (Pyrite?) Fossil

[dan7743]

Hello all,

 

I found this fossil in the Mazon Creek area, near Monster Lake.

This fossil has 2 roughly matching sides. The edges are proud of the central rock.

The interior of the faces have structures that are roughly mirrored on each side.
The outer fossil portions appear to be metallic. The crack occurred during transport, and the inside gleams in the light.

 

From other posts I believe this does not count as a 'mazon creek fossil', since it was not extracted from a concretion. 

I have been looking at other fossils that occur in the Francis Creek Shale but I have not been able to find anything similar.

 

Any ideas? Or could anyone point me to some books I should read on this?

 

Thanks!

[Mark Kmiecik]

It's the right material for MC fossils, and I can see the pyrite you mentioned which is certainly responsible for the gleam. This specimen was either poorly preserved to begin with, or it has been severely weathered. I don't see anything that I can readily identify, although it certainly is part of something organic. I get a bit of arthropod vibe from it -- like millipede, for example.