On the eve before a week-long fossil trip, half a shipment arrived from my digger friend in Russia. Seven trilobites, with another eight incoming. My focus has been on rarer Russian trilobites that don't appear on the market that often, as opposed to the usual suspects of Asaphus kowalewskii and A. lepidurus. These are truly wonderful additions to the collection. Show time... Ptychopyge volchovense I've pined over having one of these beefy asaphids. From the lower Ordovician (Arenigian), this one is a good size. The stoutness of the body is almost comedically offset by the very thin, delicate genal spines. Pseudobasilicus planus Another rare trilobite. This one occurs in the very beginning of the Middle Ordovician (Upper Llanvirnian). This is one of two species for this genus (a third, P. elegans has not yet been given sufficient description). Illaenus plautini This chunky bug is worthy of some additional angles. Despite its large size (90 mm in length), it is half of the maximum size these have been found. This one is also Middle Ordovician (Upper Llanvirnian). Asaphus bottnicus What is of note is that this species is not recorded in Klikushin, so I'm a bit leery on the taxonomy, but it does appear in Ivantsov. This one is a wee bug, but these species did not get all that large as its cousins. Asaphus ?sulevi cf. ingrianus This one is another taxonomic head-scratcher, bouncing around depending who one reads (Schmidt, Lamansky, Ivantsov, Klikushin). Regardless, this one is at the tail end of the Lower Ordovician (Lower Llanvirnian). Asaphus acuminatus Silly me for not taking a photo directly on the cephalon where the species distinction shows the glabellar suture come to a point. This one is also Lower Ordovician (Upper Llanvirnian). Niobella plana
...quite possibly. Klikushin writes that N. plana is known only from parts and not yet adequately studied. Regardless if this fits in the genus of Niobella or Niobe, it is a very rare trilobite. Situated in the Lower Ordovician (Arenigian), this boxy bug is a true trilo-treasure. What a lovely haul! But now comes the time (tomorrow) that I get out and find my own trilobites for a week. Perhaps when I return, the other two packages will arrive. Comments are closed.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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