Cephalopod found in Pennsylvanian Limestone

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 →

Crinoid Columnal Lumen

Crinoid columnal fossils are very common in my digging locale. After finding a mollusc in the shale/limestone boundary above the limestone layer within the mid level shale pit, I noticed a tiny deep slot in the rock matrix. For whatever reason, the original crinoid had eroded away and only theRead More →

Lepidodendron on white background

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 →

Brachiopod Steinkern

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 →

Macroneuropteris

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 →

Wilkingia

This specimen is probably Wilkingia. But it could also be Phestia. I compared photos from a quick web search of each and I found examples of Wilkingia to be far more comparable. Wilkingia lived from the Carboniferous until the Permian periods of time. This particular specimen is from eroded matrix,Read 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 →

Pecopteris

Original Catalog No. 2019-04-LS-000 Identification as Pecopteris is very likely. This comes from a newly found shale landslide. The piece had fallen out of the hill and was lying on the ground. The rock is very fragile. The colors shown are rarer in this area, more commonly being a greyRead More →