It has been a month of silence on the ol' blog, but behind the scenes I've been doing the frantic end of season squirrel nut gathering thing before winter blankets all possibilities for several months. In October, I was up for a few days in the north of Ontario with two field comrades. Pickings were a bit on the slim side, save for one spectacular never-found-complete-before find that is currently being prepared, and thus not ready for viewing. Suffice it to say, it will be a very tricky prep, and the outcome is far from certain. I've entrusted it to one of the very best preparators, and a specimen like this is worth every penny for getting that level of professional treatment. Since returning from the north, my focus has been local and/or regional. That means a laser-focus on Devonian material. I've been out ten days, across more than eight locations, much of them new prospects (many of those being duds or quickly tapped out). And, with but one exception, all have been pretty much me coming home empty handed. Just yesterday I found a good chunk of Terataspis not far from my house among erratics. Not bad! The prep will be a nightmare, but I have all winter. But, hey, look: a desiccated critter: But if my field pack was empty, at least the mailbox formation was sure not to disappoint: A fairly large asaphid, Isabelina glabrata from the Valongo Fm, Portugal. These typically have a distinctinve feature of presenting with lateral distortion. The smaller trilobite on the lower left is an impression of Placoparia turneminei. Chinese trilobites are still a relatively new frontier for collectors, but ever more research is being done, or translated and released, thus increasing our understanding of some of these locations (such as Yunnan province, or the Chengjiang fauna lagerstatte, which is equivalent to Canada's Burgess shales). This tiny phacopid from Baoshan was going for a good price and needed a new home. Not all Chinese trilobites do I have the confidence to identify. All I can say about this one is that it is Ordovician, and a trinucleid (more than one, in this case) on account of the presence of the pitted anterior cephalic fringe typical of the Order. A good sized Illaenus atavus with the distinctively long and flat pygidium. With a bit of compression/crush damage, it is still complete and a lovely addition to my Russian illaenids. Just when I think that I have all the species under the Russian Asaphus genus, there are always a few missing on account of them being rarer to find, and rarer to be offered. This diminutive (a bit over 3 cm) trilobite is Asaphus broeggeri. This species doesn't get as large as its cousins, with the Klikushin text giving them a top size of 8 cm. One of the many reasons I cherish my Russian connection is that he also digs and prepares material, as opposed to being one of those hustling resellers. He knows I love to do prep, and empathizes with the fossil version of cabin fever of long winters. In my package is this Pliomera fischeri and what may be Asaphus cornutus with healed bite damage on the sixth pleura. This segues nicely into some warm-up prep practice. I'm just getting the tools ready for winter. Pictured above is just a fragment, but it is the pygidium of a Distyrax sp. on account of the terminal pygidial "tuning fork" spine. No, I didn't fuss over every little granule as it is just a fragment. I had picked this up thinking it was different than the more common encrinurid, Rielaspsis cf. elegantula. Although the "fork" was not visible when I collected it, my hunch paid off (there are other telltale signs, including the pygidial axial shape, and the presence of axial nodes that the Rielaspsis do not have). Generally, I have found genal spines of this genus, so it was a treat to find a pygidium. I have a bunch of scrappy, B-grade Ceraurus that I found in Quebec. Always something problematic: missing a genal, an eye, tail spines. I find them to be suitable practice pieces. In this case, although it is missing eyes and tail spines, it has character: note all the brachiopod stowaways. Sometimes they are very flat and thin. Although this one is not finished yet, even more delicate tools may be required to complete this very small specimen without accidentally burning through the shell or blasting off the delicate spines and pleurae. When initially found, only a whisper phantom of a few segments was visible on an otherwise very flaky piece of shale. This one is not finished. It is a puffy one, with both the cephalon and pygidium tucked into the matrix. Some compression/crush damage on the glabella, but it has all the eyes and spines. This one may turn out quite nice! Can't seem to find the original in situ photo, but yet another example of the numerous scrappy specimens I've collected in Quebec. This one is not finished yet, but there appears to be some interesting things going on. The left genal looks like heal damage. The bottom left pygidial spine is simply broken. The left eye was lost to erosion. The pleurae seem to contract in pairs, and the whole trilobite seems to be resting on disarticulated parts of others. Suffice it to say, I have a number of these left to play with. Again, I can't place the original field photo, but this was just the outline of the cephalic fringe. I have yet to find a complete example of Cryptolithus, but I wanted to perform due diligence in preparing the most complete fragments that i do have. Lighting can easily play tricks... This was a complete ventral prep, which takes slightly different techniques. I prepared a few more of them but haven't photographed them yet.
So, I've kept things bottled up for a month, so hopefully worth the wait, and hopefully much more to come. The next post will likely be calling the season, down tools, and a season wrap-up. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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