Brachiopods
Our trip that day was to the upper Liberty and Lower
Whitewater Formations, which have a large variety and number of brachiopods. And
so, this field trip report is going to have to cover a lot of brachiopods. I
open this section, though, with an interesting specimen. It's a horn coral
called Streptelasma, which is abundant on this site, attached to a
brachiopod, called Lepidocyclus capax. This is interesting because
it reveals the life position of the brachiopod. It's nothing earth shattering,
though. The brachiopod's pedicle opening is facing down. It's a prize specimen,
in any case.
Here's an example from one members collection tray of the wide
variety of brachiopods.
There were two common Vinlandostrophia
species found, acutillirata and cypha. Vinlandostrophia
acutillirata is shown below.
The most abundant brachiopod was Lepidocyclus.
Some of these Lepidocyclus were hollow, filled
in with calcite crystals, like mini-geodes!
The single-valve specimens of Lepidocyclus
showed the diagnostic muscle scars.
As is true in most of the Cincinnatian Series fossil sites,
there were lots of the brachiopod, Rafinesquina.
Quite a few people reporting finding Hebertella.
This site had good numbers of the "potato chip
brachiopod" Holtedahlina sulcata.
I think this next one is a Glyptorthis
(next two pics). But it's pretty smashed and hard to tell.
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Page 1: First Site Collecting
and Best Find of the Year
Page 2: Fossils Found at First Site: Corals
Page 3: Fossils Found at First Site: Crinoids and Clams
Page 4: Fossils Found at First Site: Cephalopods, Trace Fossils and Bryozoans
Page 5: Fossils Found at First Site: Brachiopods
Page 6: Fossils Found at First Site: Snails
Page 7: The Second Site and Fossils Found There
See also Greg Courtney's video of the trip on YouTube.com
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