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
|