Finding a possible Petalodus tooth is one of the gateway fossils that lead to my love of fossil hunting. My first find was a bust, but finally I have found the real thing. This piece came from the huge shelf rocks that outcropped inches from the creek bed locally. WeRead More →
Shansiella was first described by Yin in 1932. It can be identified as such by viewing it’s bands and a distinctive selenizone on the aperture opening. There are large numbers of Gastropod samples to be found in Limestone and shale, but I rarely do I find ones that are asRead More →
Catalog Number: CG-0012 My first Wilkingia find was in soft eroded matrix. I found this specimen while exploring a new locale. A 6 foot by 2 1/2 foot by 7 inch thick slab of limestone that was only 6 inches from the stream bed. With help, I slowly removed soilRead More →
While I have many sources of limestone locally, this specimen of Fenestella was one of my first finds in a new location. A limestone ridge cropped above the stream across the valley floor to the other side. So, while I’ve likely encountered many bryozoans in limestone, this is the firstRead More →
This specimen is a Sea Pen. Originally, I was classifying local Sea Pen fossils as Pteronites, however over the past 50 years, the naming has started to change. The type species Pteronites was originally named for species found in England (McCoy 1842). In 1978, a new branch named Meekopinna (YanceyRead More →
My daughter found this Lepidodendron specimen during a quick expedition to explore exposed shale along a steep roadside hill. It was lying alongside the road on a raised dirt pile on top of the soil. PennDot probably unearthed this while making road repairs. This piece is from the neighboring GilpinRead More →
Catalog Number: CG-0008 Update: This has been identified as Eomarginifera longispinus. This specimen came out with more detail than I’ve ever seen in a Brachiopod locally. I was knocking off eroded edges from a large piece of limestone when this showed up. Surprisingly, I was able to wiggle the specimenRead More →
Update: This may be Euphemites. Examples from the Pennsylvanian Atlas of Life. Euphemites is a genus of the Bellerophontidae family. It is firmly within the Mollusca phylum, but exact taxonomy is not universally agreed upon. I will likely have a lot of unidentified pieces. This includes many brachiopods, as theyRead More →
Macroneuropteris is a seed plant that has a temporal range only in the Carboniferous. I found this specimen in the talus near the lab. Most specimens I find are of small leaves, or large pieces of bark. This was more certainly a large leaf. I wanted to show the leafRead More →
Maybe Pseudorthoceras, but I’m going to give more weight to Mooreoceras because of the large size of this specimen. The shell is a longicone. Also, the position of the Septal neck is off-center, as shown on the following plate. I found the impression of the larger piece still in theRead More →