Last weekend managed to get out with two Fossil Forum friends to Arkona. I dug exclusively in the Hungry Hollow Member in search of my bucket list trilobites -- a full Crassiproetus, Pseudodechenella, and the pustular Eldredgeops iowensis southworthi. Long story short, they are still on my bucket list! But other more modest finds were had. I went ahead and gave them a preliminary abrasion to clean off the matrix and mud. When these were found in the field, they tend to be difficult to pick out given the wet, muddy nature of the rock. The Hungry Hollow doesn't really part along bedding planes in most spots except in the more crumbly shaly partings. When they dry, it takes cleaning to figure out why you took it home with you in the first place! Here is a group shot of a few, including two gastropods Spinplatyceras: A first for me. I have found placoderm pieces above (in the grey shale widder) and below (in the Arkona Formation), but never in the Hungry Hollow Member before.: I'm not in the habit of taking coral home, but this one had a neat shape. As the Hungry Hollow is sometimes more coral than matrix, one gets kind of sick of coral! A closeup of the large gastropod. Still needs another round of abrasion, but shows most of the diagnostic details. As they got larger, they tended to lose their spiny protuberances. This one has some remaining stubs. Usually if there are Spinplatyceras, crinoids are never far off as these gastropods tended to attach to the anal opening of crinoids to feed on its waste. Yummy. I've yet to find one of these with a crinoid attached. This hot mess (at the moment) is likely a Pseudodechenella. Nearly complete, but missing some of its left side. The nature of the matrix and the preservation makes trilobites somewhat fragile. Currently, it sits underneath a hard, crusty layer of stubborn crinoid and bryozoan bits. This will not be the world's fastest prep. When I found this Crassiproetus pygidium, all that was showing was a hint of brown shell. But, once under abrasion, I was able to reveal it in its entirety. Moulted partials are more the norm in this strata, making finding a complete one ten times harder than finding a complete Greenops upstairs in the grey Widder shale. With much of this side of the continent baking in high, hot summer, indoor activities seem the rational course of action. I managed to doodle two more (Canadian) bugs into life. These are taking a ridiculous amount of time to complete now as I do fuss over every crack, dimple, and pustule, while trying to make sure they occupy the majority of the page. There's probably about 30 hours of work total on these two: No fossil collecting plans etched in stone as of now, but I'm hoping to get out somewhere once the mercury dips a bit. Until then, maybe another drawing and some prep at the bench, trying to stay cool.
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Kane Faucher
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February 2024
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