Ordovician in Tennessee (Help!)

**Architeuthoceras** · Apr 12, '11, 11:10pm

Originally Posted by Terri

Cool, thanks Kevin. With such a constricted aperture, it's hard to imagine what they looked like in life! Were this nautiloids typically small or did they get much larger?

See Phragmoceras and Hexameroceras on THIS page (The Fossil Book, p. 275), a couple of very constricted apertures, your guess is as good as anyone else's

**Terri** · Apr 14, '11, 10:07pm

Great link Kevin, thanks! I scraped some of the stuff off the top but I just don't think I see anything. Here's a pic.

**Terri** · Apr 16, '11, 11:52pm

Here a few bits and pieces found along with the fossil posted above, the first one maybe another cyrtocone with yet another gastropod in the living chamber?

This one enlarges pretty decently.

**Terri** · Apr 17, '11, 12:17am

....and this one, cyrtocone? I can get different views on most of these if needed..

**Terri** · Apr 17, '11, 12:53am

Branching coral??

**Architeuthoceras** · Apr 17, '11, 2:01pm

Originally Posted by Terri

Here a few bits and pieces found along with the fossil posted above, the first one maybe another cyrtocone with yet another gastropod in the living chamber?

This one enlarges pretty decently.

Yes, hard to see if the gastropod is in or on the body chamber.

Originally Posted by Terri

....and this one, cyrtocone? I can get different views on most of these if needed..

Cyrtocone

Originally Posted by Terri

Branching coral??

Branching Bryozoan, all the small holes are typical of Bryozoans

**Terri** · Apr 18, '11, 11:17am

Thanks Kevin!

**Terri** · Apr 23, '11, 12:13am

Tiny gastropods, a section of a nautiloid, and a couple orthocones (unless they're gastropods

). You can just make out suture lines on the nautiloid if you look closely enough, center bottom of rock and the ?orthocones right side center and top. The gastropods are all so small I wonder , are they a small species or juveniles?

**Architeuthoceras** · Apr 24, '11, 12:35am

Looks like a couple of gastropod species, Those with a diamond shape are cool!

About the same as I found today, only mine are Triassic. I don't think it will ever stop snowing this year.

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**Terri** · Apr 24, '11, 12:53am

Awesome scenery as usual! At least you got out for a while.

I love looking at these plates, so many different views, I spend hours with a magnifying glass and it seems every time I look I find something new, I'll have to take another look at the diamond shaped ones.

Still snowing?! None of that here, but we are getting at least bi-weekly storms with tornadoes, straight line winds, etc...

.

**Terri** · Apr 30, '11, 12:58am

Kevin, since you have snow on the ground and can't get out hunting, I think I'll post a bunch of fossils and ask a a lot of annoying questions so you'll have something to do.

**Architeuthoceras** · Apr 30, '11, 10:00am

Please do

**Terri** · May 01, '11, 12:00am

This rock (app. 8 by 9) has a lot going on, I'll show a series of pics. may take a min.
but in the first few you'll see the round structures and once again I haven't a clue. I've done a lot of searching but haven't found anything similiar. In the 3rd pic. the deflated looking thing to the right of the circular one, I have seen something very close, but i can't find it!

**Terri** · May 02, '11, 12:38am

There are some thick chunks of shell here also, 3-4 mm, I haven't seen this before either (just left of center). And to the right, below the ruler possibly a small cephalopod?

**Architeuthoceras** · May 02, '11, 1:07am

There is a lot going on in that rock. It may take a while to sort it all out.

If that small thing on the right side isn't a cephalopod... something just kinda says crinoid...

The round thing has me baffled

**DWhatley** · May 02, '11, 2:07am

Yeah! I saw that little cone shaped thing with the lines and wondered but felt stupid asking

At least I am seeing some of the possibilities in the pictures!

**Terri** · May 02, '11, 3:00am

Yay D!

You should know by now that stupid questions are allowed on my threads. I have learned most of what I know by asking what probably seem like not very bright questions. And that little fossil does look cephish but after Kevin pointed it out I see the possibility of crinoid. So I'll take another look at it.

**Terri** · May 02, '11, 3:44am

The round thing has me baffled

Here's a slightly different view showing the 'round thing" and the crinoid. Did you notice that there are two of the round things? The other one is above and just to the right a little, it's more broken than the other one.

**DWhatley** · May 02, '11, 9:11pm

Is it possible that it (the round thingys) could be some kind of nut or plant pod rather than an animal?

**Terri** · May 02, '11, 11:23pm

Good question D, the evolution of land plants did begin during the Ordovician period, but seed-bearing plants didn't appear in the fossil record for another 85 million years or so. If these fossils were a little younger that would certainly be something to look at, this article is excellent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryophyte check out the Horse Chestnut mega-spore, but I'm pretty sure the timing is all wrong. Kevin?