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. |
Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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