It's been a while since I updated the blog. Welcome, 2021! I have been working steadily on planning the following year in between my day job responsibilities, coordinating planning with my field comrades, and priming myself for a hopefully early spring. There will no doubt be some incredible adventures this year, most of which I will sadly not be able to disclose publicly for fear of mercenaries looking to steal a march on all our hard work! My trilobite searches are rigorous. To quote the great Ludvigsen from 1979(!): Exceptionally preserved specimens of trilobites are becoming increasingly difficult to find in Ontario. Yup. And that was before no further quarry access, housing development, park designations, and sites being tapped out in the last 40+ years. Sometimes I think those of us collecting now are the hardest workers of all. But I have a feeling this year will be a banner one. But I'm almost ready. So, for this post, some updates. Hoo-boy! This 11 cm beastie is the classic Megistaspidella triangularis purchased from my very favourite Russian connection who also digs and prepares his finds. This was a bucket-lister for me. Note the triangular prow that likely was in service for digging into sediment. Our closest equivalent in the Ordovician Iapetus ocean here in Ontario would be Ectenaspis homalonotoides, originally dubbed Isoteloides. Asaphids finally got some purity in the last year when the trinucleidae family was turfed and raised to their own Order. It was folly to include them in the first place! And a drawing, which took me a ridiculously long time to finish. A Basseiharges mellishae from Jorf, Morocco. These lichids appear in partially metamorphosed rock, which accounts for their diagenetically reworked plasticity in appearance as opposed to showing crisp pustules, which would be more typical of most lichids.
I do have two others in the drawing queue once I get the momentum and time to do them. One is a fully pustulose Metopolichas, and the other the classic Arctinurus (also pustulose). Pustules take forever to draw meticulously. It takes longer to draw than to prep them. So, much blood and treasure shall be spent in the adventures this year, so I'm hopeful of some kind of return. I have a number of other pieces coming that will be prep jobs, so brace for updates on that. In terms of me giving clues to where I'm going -- not a chance in such a public space! But they will be remarkable. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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