I saw the first accumulation of snow on Monday. Although it has burned off, another round is expected on Friday. The temperatures look to be nosediving into the proper conditions for snow to arrive and stay, so I will need to make the decision to call the season in the next few days. That just means putting away the field packs and firing up the prep tools, the drawing tools, the next fossil season planning tools. For now, some prep work I performed in the last week. These are not absolutely complete or done, but the bulk of the work is complete. 1. Pliomera fischeri: Initial state. This one is glued in a few spots Halfway mark. Here we can even see the hypostome underneath. This one has got some stickiness with plenty of marine debris vomit. Final stage: Mostly done, but still have some fussy spots to clean up and out. 2. Asaphus expansus robustus. Initial state. This one is missing a pleura, but likely healing damage. Measures about 6 cm. Halfway mark. This is mostly scribe work as abrasion leeches the colour and removes delicate microsculpture. Sadly, there are pitted areas that cannot really be fixed, as those are just the artifacts of preservation. Abrading those areas would only result in making holes and cracks bigger. No matter how careful one can be, mishaps occur. In this case, a piece of the glabella came off with a sticky piece of matrix. I have kept the piece, but it may actually be easier to do a resto. Final stage. Still some fussy gunk to deal with, but the bulk of the work is done. I am just waiting on a shipment of Milliput and acrylic paints to do the resto of the glabellar area. The photos are a bit harsh for both this and the above specimen, and look much better in person. This time around, I spent the time to landscape this in a different way. I began by planing the surface to the bottom edge of the trilobite with the scribe and very light touches of the Dremel diamond wheel, after which point I stippled the entire surface with the scribe tip, lending this the appearance of the trilobite resting on a sandy surface. I also used the diamond wheel to cut the bloc so that it could stand at different orientations. Ok, so not A+ work, which is fine given that I do have some tool limitations at the moment, but certainly a learning experience. I do feel my confidence in working with matrix is improving, giving me a sense of having control over the planning and execution of how the piece should look for presentation as opposed to passively accepting however the matrix might turn out.
And that's it for now! 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. I spent today revisiting a farm ditch I last explored back in March of this year. It was there that I found some pygidia of Odontocephalus n. sp., along with occasional pygidia of the typical pre-Hamilton Gp Devonian proetid cockroaches (Pseudodechenella sp., Crassiproetus sp.), and one "Mystrocephala" (in quotations because it was discovered that this genus name is already occupied by a butterfly or some-such). Anyhow, this material is quite miserable, ugly, and by turns barren or low sedimentation rate, coral encrusted, bituminous, cherty, chalk-cherty, mottled, occasionally diagenetically reworked, etc. Most of the fossils are silicified, which is fairly typical of many horizons in the Amherstburg, Lucas, and even Dundee Fms. Finds are uncommon in this crappy material. I should also mention that the skies opened up, so that cut my time short. Despite all this series of unfortunate incidents, I still managed to find a nice bit of trilobite treasure. I was initially wrestling in identifying this Dalmanitid, whether it was a Trypaulites. However, the images in Ludvigsen and Lespérance were not exactly satisfactory to pin down the identification. I even dug into my Hall & Clarke plates, but it wasn't a good match. The age of the material ruled out Anchiopsis, as the material is younger than Bois Blanc Fm (and, it doesn't have an occipital spine, nor even an incipient one). It obviously is not an Odontocephalus as it does not have the typical "cow-catcher." So, where does this one fit, given the rather long and exaggerated anterior process? Thankfully, a trilobite expert and friend of mine (SM) provided his opinion: Neoprobolium n. sp. Although it lacks the trident of N. tridens or that of N. nasutus, it may in fact be a match as none other seem to fit. If so, a first in Ontario of this rare Dalmanitid which is reported in New York. Between two possible new species of Odontocephalus, and an Amherstburg Fm trochurine lichid, I am adding to the list of undescribed Devonian trilobites of Ontario. If only someone was out there to write these up, as lengthy and work intensive a process as that is. UPDATE: So I went back to the same site again hoping for lightning to strike twice. It kind of did. Apart from the usual suspects (fragments of the trilobites I generally find in this material), a new species for me: This one is a large specimen, too, at about 7.5 cm (about 3 inches) wide. Note the rounded tubercles. This is an exceptionally rare dalmanitid in Ontario. It belongs to the genus of Anchiopsis and the species is tuberculatus. These are simply almost never found around here, and is shown in Hall & Clarke's plates, and described in the Jeffersonville limestone by Stumm (1954). I do have the negative, but am unsure if the eyes will be in there (hopefully).
Not much to report per se, but I have been out collecting mostly at nearby locations. September has seen a slight uptick in collecting behaviour, with nothing too new and exciting to show that I haven't shown on this blog before (all local Devonian material). But I suspect there is a trip in the near future to look forward to, and then maybe a few local digs before downing tools for the winter. I can look forward to a few more lovely pieces coming my way, including some prep stuff (my own collected material plus some from other digger folks). For now, some pictures to break up the text bloc monotony: A serendipitous arrangement, got for cheap. It is nice that the asaphids and trinucleids can play well together after having been recently split up (trinucleids had previously been included under Order Asaphida). An uncommon sight. I was out with a friend of mine prospecting a relatively local mid-Devonian site. The material at this location was very ugly and not very productive, but sometimes surprises happen. This is a complete ventral of Pseudodechenella sp. which may be ridiculously common in terms of fragments, but exceptionally scarce complete. This one weighs in at under 2,5 cm. An update on this lovely slab prepared by my field comrade MT, initial and completed state. At least 15 individuals of Rielaspsis elegantula appear on this slab I collected earlier in the year. If ever there was a worthy museum piece to show off the very best of the fickle Silurian of Ontario, here it is. This would not have been possible without the phenomenal preparation skill of MT. Truly amazing work on a very special, crowded slab of lovely encrinurids. But a few more updates to this post since last I was here. I won a benefit auction and received two free trilobites, both from China: I also managed to get a day out in the field at another Dundee Fm location with a visiting fossil friend from Georgia. Not much was found beyond the usual material, but this was an odd find: Raw image above (including a pleural segment of Coronura), and closeup with greyscale below. I suspect this is possibly a younger Coronura aspectans pygidium, as it is not quite the right match for the Odontocephalus (n. sp., by the way -- any eager trilobite workers out there want to take this on? :D). Of course, there isn't always enough diagnostic detail to be drawn on a fragment alone, but do note the continuation of the pygidium where it becomes more effaced and less incised. Sadly, the fragment terminates at the natural edge of the rock, and the negative was not collected (because, well, with exceptionally dense Devonian Ontario rock of the pre-Hamilton Gp persuasion, they explode and shatter from the need for extreme blunt force using my Devonian Destroyer -- the trusty hand sledge). So, yet another oddity in the under-explored, damnable Devonian of Ontario. ------- I will leave off here with a much larger resolution image of this fantastic plate of Rielaspsis elegantula, perhaps among the very best found in Ontario. Zoom in and enjoy the view! Hash plate (Rielaspis elgantula), Thornloe Fm. Coll. K. Faucher. Prep. M. Thornley [2021] Certainly more to come. At the very least, I expect to have some new specimens coming out of the postal formation, if not also a bit of prep work, and a possible trip.
18 months of remote learning came to an end last week, which also signals the conclusion of my week-long adventures. To be fair, the fossil season has been winding down for me since late July, and apart from some desultory local visits, the hammers have been fairly quiet. A health issue also threw a spanner in the works, so in all it is back to the off-season programming for the most part unless I can gin up some time and a great place to go. Off-season around the blog is not terribly idle, though -- at least in the last few years. This is a time of research, illustration, and preparation. The last two are generally featured here as they happen, sprinkled with a few purchased additions to the collection. I'm not calling the season over just as yet, however. Once I do officially, that will be the time to write up the end of season retrospective wrap-up. So, for now, why not a trilobite I picked up for dirt cheap? This lovely trinucleid is none other than Stapeleyella inconstans Whittard 1955, from the Lower Ordovician; Dariwillian, Hope Shales of Minsterley, Shropshire. I don't have many UK trilobites (in fact, I only have the pygidium of another, the famous "Dudley bug"). I am expecting two more in the post shortly. This illaenid was added to my package from my fantastic Russian digger comrade. It was my goal to apply some of my preparation skills and keep those from getting rusty. 2.5 hours later and Dysplanus babinoensis emerges from the limestone. This was almost entirely scribe work with minimal abrasion. I also spent a bit of effort on landscaping the matrix. Just three very minor errors, but otherwise a nice little plumper with virtually nothing missing.
Some trilobites in the mail are likely in the next while. Maybe even some prep, although time is a bit more limited given the demands of that whole teaching thing I tend to do. I promised an accounting of my Manitoulin trip, but there is honestly not much to show for it, sadly. I would say this was a trip more about summer fun than fossil finds. For a much better trip report, see last August. I've been out for a few hours total this month. There really hasn't been much opportunity (or sites) to visit. Unless something amazing happens, it may be the case my season ends prematurely at the end of July, with the last notable finds back in June. Oh well! Hi ho, hi ho, back to campus work I will go. Although the season has been short, it has been ok. And I am never entirely fossil-idle. Kicking off with some lovely Russian bugs from my comrade digger out there. Russian Post was being silly and must have put this package on a boat. The two subsequent packages were delivered months before this first package. Yes, I have a few Asaphus kowalewskii specimens, but they are all semi-enrolled or fully enrolled. I wanted a big prone. This fits the bill, at 8 cm, near their biggest size. Those are some lovely long eye stalks! Having one of the most substantive Russian asaphid collections this side of the pond means I am running out of the genus, and so migrate to their cousins. This is a 7 cm Subasaphus platyrurus. Yes, a genus I already own, but the Swedish variant is nowhere near as detailed and lovely as this St Petersburg equivalent. Pliomera fischeri. I also received some to-prep bonuses from my comrade, as he knows I like to prep and he both digs and preps himself, too. I'll show number two when I get to it, but here is Illaenus plautini. Before, and when I finished it: Tall glabella region and pinched/tapered pygidial axis is pretty diagnostic of the species. Very little shade leeching of the shell since most of this was careful scribing with the Pferd with limited abrasion. Both eyes flawless, no dings, no missing bits. A bit of natural buckling on the anterior glabella, which is fairly common for the larger Illaenids. Next up will be a small Dysplanus babinoensis. Russian illaenids may seem simple in body plan, but the shell tends to be thinner than on asaphids, so far less forgiving. One mistake ruins an illaenid. More care is needed. And I also drew a picture. Sadly, not as much show and tell this year, but aside from some need for secrecy, a lack of opportunities, some poor efforts at prospecting for new spots, sites gone or tapped out, borders closed, and having to return to the work grind, it is what it is. Not every year is a winner, but I didn't do so badly.
Expect a few more prep and possibly drawings in the coming months to carry things through the long winter. It's been almost three weeks since I've been out collecting, and something I hope to rectify soon with a local trip tomorrow, a less local trip on Sunday, and then some spots in much farther areas next week. A few plans fell through, so some of the sites I wanted to visit may have to wait until next season. So to break up the long silence, why not post about an older trip? I've done a few visits to the north of the province, with a focus on encrinurids. Some good finds were had, and I won't post them all. Although just a fragment, no less exciting. A partial pygidium of Ekwanoscutellum cf. ekwanensis. This is a ventral example. The fine ornamentation on the shell can be seen here. Finding even a whisper of these is a very rare treat in this material. Weathered surface specimen, but still an interesting one. This one is not the typical Rielaspis cf. elegantulus, but likely some form of Encrinurus sp. Again, just a fragment but the only example of Diacalymene found in this material. I've likely posted these before. A Rielaspis without its cheeks (far more common to find), and one with both cheeks and eyes -- with the added bonus of being completely free from matrix. This one popped off while I was preparing it and thankfully stayed intact! The next is what I would call the prize find. A friend of mine is preparing it and it is not fully done yet. As found. Four individuals showing. Very preliminary prep. Five individuals showing. Where it is so far. Twelve(!) individuals showing. If you can spot it, there is also a tiny crinoid on the plate. As this was found in a tumbled pile, attempts to locate the missing pieces came to naught. Although a number of these are incomplete or disarticulated, it is no less a nice looking plate. The work on the ventral examples is quite lovely, and at least three specimens have both cheeks (so far).
As far as updates, I had to cry uncle over that giant Isotelus, and it is now in the hands of a skilled preparator. And hopefully in the coming week I'll be messing around in the Ordovician again. The soggy July is giving way to the hot and hazy dog days of summer. I've only done two site visits in a day since returning from Quebec (both local, both quickly crossed off the list). I am sure there are some good, faraway trips to be had this summer before a return to campus. Thankfully, I have some material to prepare to keep me busy. First success at the bench is this giant Flexicalymene senaria. This species is ridiculously common in the strata of Ontario (Verulam, Bobcaygeon Fms) and Quebec (Neuville Fm), but not weighing in at 5+cm (2 inches) long. Despite some damage to a few of the posterior axial rings, this is still at least a 500 dollar bug on account of its size. In terms of preparation, it was not overly difficult or time consuming. A baby Ceraurus pleurexanthemus. This one measures about 7 mm long. I've done just enough prep to establish it has both genals and pygidial spines, but will not proceed any further with my current equipment as the fine details require something like a Comco or Crystal Mark abrasive unit. Doing so with my Paasche will just ruin it, so to the side it will sit for now. The other prep was this crinoid that I've roughed out. A monster project with a monster bug. This semi-enrolled Isotelus gigas is a true giant that I estimate will likely measure 9 inches around judging by the width of the axial rings (currently being exposed) at about a centimetre each. This one was covered by over three inches of dense limestone, and the rock itself is riddled with cracks. This means very slow scribing with frequent breaks to stabilize the cracks and fortify the very thin axial ring shell. Once I can free the whole thing, I will be doing some restoration work. Finding a complete one in Quebec is certainly rare, but to find one this large is well beyond that. I'll update this entry once I get more done. I reason this will take about 50-100 hours to do it well. UPDATE: July 5/6: Updating progress as I go. At this (messy) stage, it looks worse than it actually is. Pardon the caked dust. The photo fails to show the depth of the "hole" I'm working in. Scribing and grinding three or more inches deep of matrix is a long process, and one that I am just now decreasing with the aid of a Dremel with a diamond wheel to score cross-hatch cuts. This is going to save a lot of time. I'm just now at the anterior of the cephalon, with a goal to follow it to the tip, and then work laterally to gradually expose the eyes and cheeks. I'll also be freeing up the bulk remainder of the thorax before switching to a finer scribe for detailing, and finally air abrasion on the more delicate areas. The absolute final stage will involve some restoration of missing bits. What this photo also fails to show is how the cephalon is dipping into the rock at about a 45 degree angle.
UPDATE: July 11 After an on and off again week, about 20-30 hours was spent on the trilobite. Compared to a week earlier, a lot of material has been removed to reveal the majority of the axis, right pleurae, and some of the very fragile/fractured left pleurae. The cephalon is revealed, up to the palpebral lobe, and I am fishing out the anterior of the glabella. The genals/cheeks are mostly uncovered, but more work on the left is required. I am leaving the matrix "ridges" near the axis for finer scribing later. What the photo does not convey is the depth of the relief and matrix as the cephalon tucks down along the curvature of the enrollment.
The mottled white areas are where stabilizing glue has dried (mixed with a bit of dust), which will be abraded off along with some of the finer area matrix after the whole trilobite is roughed out using the scribes. There is still a lot of matrix to remove. The cheeks tuck in, and for additional challenge appear to "step down" from a crack in the shell. The measurement from genal to genal is roughly 5 inches. Using the ratios supplied by Rudkin and Tripp (1989) that compared 56 of the most complete Isotelus gigas in repository, the width of the cephalon corresponds to an average of 43% of the complete dorsal shell (sag.). Should that ratio hold, then the entire specimen would likely be over 11 inches (>279 mm). Back to work... What an adventure it has been. Me and a great field comrade made our way to Quebec City to collect the Neuville Formation. Mostly living out of a car, camping out, and tons of rock saw action, we covered about 2,000 km while bringing back some winning finds. The weather was a bit unsettled, with some serious storm systems passing through, but no day was a complete washout. I came back with a lot of fossils, and a lot of preparation to do. The Neuville Formation is age-equivalent to the Cobourg/Lindsay Formation of Ontario, but the faunal composition is different. With enough time and dedication, one can be rewarded with fantastic trilobites, crinoids, and other Ordovician goodies. On to the finds, or at least a few of them... A collection of Ceraurus pleurexanthemus. It is hard to say if they are all complete, and that generally can only be determined when brought into the lab. Some of them I know are missing parts, but I suspect I'll have 2-4 nice ones in the mix. These are the odds and ends. Click/tap through the slideshow. So what of the trip-makers? Coming right up... Flexicalymene senaria may be common trilobites, but not often do they come out this size. This pair hover around 5 cm (2 inches) with the one on the left just under, and the one of the right a bit over (if considering what it will look like prepared). These are giants for this formation. I found the left one, and my comrade found the right one a few hours later. I will enjoy preparing these! It's a bit tough to make out in these photos, but this is a giant Isotelus gigas semi-enrolled and encased in the rock. I wager it may be about 7 inches long around the curvature. Sadly, it is missing a bit of the right side, but to find such a massive example that isn't just a pygidium or a thoracic segment in the Neuville is a real treat. The preparation is going to be a challenge. I will do what I can, but may need to hand it off to someone else. I picked up these two classics for a great price. Having the PDFs is not the same as being able to leaf through these volumes. New to the trilobite family is this Oklahoma (Arbuckle Mountains) Lonchodomas mcgheheei. All spines in place. And even the postal formation came through. Pictured here from left to right are Ptychopyge lesnikovae, Asaphus lamanskii, and Asaphus expansus deltifrons. The first one is a rare one. My Russian asaphid collection is growing.
So that wraps up the week in fossils. What an incredible trip. It may be a few weeks until I can get out again, which I'm fine with since I could use some recuperation time and to manage the preparation backlog. But I'll be sure to update the old blog once I have a few pieces prepared, if not also to show any other postal acquisitions as they arrive. 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. |
Kane Faucher
Archives
February 2024
|