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Whats This?!

Trilobites: Basiliella barrandi & Isotelus species

Jeff is fairly new to Bluff Country and fossil hunting, but a retired avid outdoorsman. He stopped by this morning to get some IDs on a number of fossils he had found. Jeff said he has only hunted three road cuts and been out perhaps 10 times. This particular rock he found in the Prosser … Continue reading »

Categories: Fillmore County Hunts, Trilobites | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Trilobite Parts & Species Refresher

Caleb Scheer (now passed) labeled two photos of plates he had found with lots of trilobite parts in them. I know that I need a refresher 🙂 and I thought I would share these with you also. And this one with 13 different trilobites: I hope these help you as much as they have me! … Continue reading »

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Trilobite Names Abbreviations

This was shared with me by Piranha, the undisputed expert on TFF for trilobites… “The letters cf. are an abbreviation for the Latin word: confer = compare in English. When cf. follows the genus in the example: Dolichoharpes cf. reticulata, it means the trilobite is most like the species D. reticulata.  Typically cf. gets applied in … Continue reading »

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Trilobite Faunal Lists for Southeast Minnesota

NOTE: These trilobite faunal lists were compiled by Caleb Scheer (now deceased) and are on his Midwestpaleo.com website, here: http://www.midwestpaleo.com/Fauna/Fauna.htm Since Caleb has passed, I do not know how long the site will be up. He was the foremost expert here on trilobites. His passing is a tragic loss to the fossil community. Maquoketa Shale … Continue reading »

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Huge Trilobite EYE!

When I found this fossil, I knew it looked rather “trilobitish” given the color the the shell. But I just couldn’t figure which part of a trilobite it could be. It just didn’t look like a cephalon (head). Here it is for scale: Well, I posted it on thefossilforum.com’s Fossil ID forum and it turned … Continue reading »

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Andreya’s Big Hunt!

I am going to start this from the end, and then you will know why I used this title. This was a whirlwind (Kids get bored quickly!) 3 hour 5 site hunt! Six year old Andreya’s first fossil hunt of the year, and within three minutes she says, “Bev, Bev, I found a weird one!” … Continue reading »

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July 4th, 2014, Hunt – Found Waldo’s Mate!!!

Bob went motorcycling for the weekend, so that left me alone for the 4th of July again. I heard the whispers in my dreams, or was it just good memories of last year’s 4th of July hunt? This year I slept in and took off about mid-morning. I came home exhausted but happy by 1 … Continue reading »

Categories: Fillmore County Hunts, Trilobites | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Geodized Cephalopods

I’ve had some queries on geodes in southeastern Minnesota – YES! The Mississippi River valley is noted for its limestone formations which are the place to hunt geodes in southern Minnesota. These will be sedimentary geodes usually containing calcite or quartz. Up in northeastern Minnesota (The shore of Lake Superior and the quarries thereabout.)you will … Continue reading »

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What’s This?! Pseudofossils

Wiki: “Pseudofossils are inorganic objects, markings, or impressions that might be mistaken for fossils. Pseudofossils may be misleading, as some types of mineral deposits can mimic lifeforms by forming what appear to be highly detailed or organized structures. One common example is when manganese oxides crystallize with a characteristic treelike or dendritic pattern along a … Continue reading »

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What’s This?! Gastropods

Most pictures will enlarge with a tap. Example of a biological classification for a Maclurites crassus Domain: Eukaryota  – Whittaker & Margulis,1978 – eukaryotes Kingdom: Animalia – C. Linnaeus, 1758 – animals Subkingdom: Bilateria  – (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 Branch: Protostomia  -Grobben, 1908 Superphylum: Eutrochozoa Phylum: Mollusca  – (C. Linnaeus, 1758) Cuvier, 1795 – Molluscs Class: … Continue reading »

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