It's been at least a day since the last blog post! On this New Year's Day I decided to get into the lab for one last go at preparation of fossils before I have to hunker down and do preparation of courses for this semester (I rarely need air tools for the latter, heh). I found this association piece back in 2017. Initially when I found it, just surface collecting the upper floors of the quarry in Brechin, I put it in my bucket thinking it was just a gastropod steinkern. A few weeks or so later, looking over my finds, I noticed this traveler after removing some dirt. At the time, my only prep tools were a pin vise, a Dremel, and a lot of patience. A trilobite this small would require air tools as the matrix is too hard for a pin, and a Dremel would vibrate this to pieces. So it was left consigned to the "to-prep" pile and forgotten. After having some good rounds of prep in the last week, and a little boost in the confidence of my prep skills, today was the day I'd tackle this wee bug. The trilobite is Flexicalymene senaria, which is one of the most common trilobites in the Verulam Formation (Ordovician). Hash plates are filled with their moulted cranidia and pygidia, and they are also frequently found enrolled and matrix-free. Full prone ones are a little less common, but in no way rare. What makes this one special, though, is its association with a steinkern of the gastropod Fusispira nobilis. After four hours of very careful abrasion work, this one is done. It may seem counterintuitive, but smaller pieces do not necessarily equal faster or easier prep work. Much more care and attention is required, and the margin for error is much smaller than when working with larger pieces in similar matrix and preservation conditions. And so here it is in all its close-up glory. Nice, prone, and robust with just a few minor problems. Prep for 2019 is off to a great start.
1/7/2021 04:43:32 am
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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