Brigantian ophiocistioid goniodont

[tqb]

This oddity from the Brigantian Four Fathom shale, Co. Durham, had me puzzled for quite a time.
I first suspected it might be a goniodont when I saw a paper on some from the Gotland Silurian.

This article on the wonderful ophiocistioids included the clinching image:
echinoblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/ophiocistioids-weird-mystery-fossils.html

My specimen - about 6mm long (brass strip 1cm):






Figure of Anguloserra thomasi Haude & Langenstrassen 1976, L.Carboniferous near Wuppertal. (Actually a latex impression).

[pleecan (Peter Lee)]

Nice find!

[tqb]

Thanks! - I'd love to see some more, I bet there are loads out there that are overlooked.

[ammocarbsteve]

Tarquin.... Very nice specimen... its good to find something you cant ID straight away....

[Joe Botting]

Whoah.... that's a stonking find, Tarquin!
My impression is that these really are very, very rare fossils. There are hardly any sites with ophiocistiods described, although of course they can be pretty common at the few places where they're known. I've never found any, and I've been keeping my eyes open for them at sites with Middle Ordovician echinoderms (around the time they should have been appearing).

For what it's worth, eyeballing the images suggests to me that these were the same genus and perhaps even the same species, but you need someone who's looked at them before. You might want to contact Andrew Smith at the Natural History Museum - he's just retired, and would probably like to know about it! Well done you.

[tqb]

Thanks for the enthusiastic response, Joe! - I'm looking out for more of course, and presumably other bits of the test are possible, whatever they look like...
The only other echinoderms I've seen from this bed are the usual crinoids.

Do you know how I could contact Andrew Smth? - I can't find him in the staff directory.

Thanks again

[Joe Botting]

Aug 22, 2014 4:34:04 GMT -5 tqb said:

Thanks for the enthusiastic response, Joe! - I'm looking out for more of course, and presumably other bits of the test are possible, whatever they look like...
The only other echinoderms I've seen from this bed are the usual crinoids.

Do you know how I could contact Andrew Smth? - I can't find him in the staff directory.

Thanks again

It's hard not to be enthusiastic about these things, if you're into echinoderms...
If in doubt, look up a paper by them on google scholar - there's an email contact option here, for example:
www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/abs/ncomms2391.html

I don't know how much interest you'll get from him, but it would be nice if he can at least give you a definite name.

[pleecan (Peter Lee)]

Great find Tarquin... congratulations!!! PL

[tqb]

Thaks, Peter!

Thanks, Joe, I'll try that. Time I had another look at the locality...