Central New York
Silurian and Ordovician
August, 2007
This specimen, from Langs quarry, is one of the largest sea scorpions ever found. It's a Pterygotus that measures a little over 7 feet. This is a cast; the origonal is now in a museum collection.
New York Trip
After spending most of our recent fossil hunts in Tertiary sediments, I thought New York state would be a nice change of strata. So, toward the end of August a trip was set. Larry Decina took us into central NY, into the heart of Silurian and Ordovician strata for a two day “DVPS” tour of various fossil sites.
The first day included a grand tour of central NY by Larry. He took us to many interesting sites including a Triarthus trilobite site near Little falls, and a Dipleura site in central NY. We also stopped at Langs to arrange a trip into his quarry.
On day two, Larry departed. Amy and I began the day with Lang. He took us into the quarry, showed us how to successfully search for the Eurypterids (One must find concoidal fractures to break), and gave us a few hours to hunt. He stayed with us most of the time, helping Amy and I find potential rocks with Eurypterids in it. It was a very enjoyable experience. Lang was very patient with us. We never found a complete Eurypterid, but we did manage to find a few nice partials. Which wasn’t bad considering this was our first time into the quarry. Later that day we headed back to the Triarthus trilobite site in search of complete trilobites and then headed home.
Here, Lang and Amy are on a quad heading to the quarry.
Here, Lang is helping Amy look for concoidal fractures to split.
Here are some examples of Eurypterid rempsis found at Langs quarry.
Here is a larger Eurypterid that Amy found. Unfortunately the telson or "stinger" is missing.
This is a smaller Eurypterid rempsis. The body is here, but the appendages are missing. Some parts need to be glued back on.
Here, Larry is graciously modeling a cast of a Dipleura at the Dipleura site. As one can see, Dipleura are quite large trilobites. However they are very difficult to find whole. We found segments and heads similar to the size of the cast specimen, but no complete ones.
This is a shot of the Triarthus trilobite site near Little Falls, NY.
Amy is splitting shale at the Triarthus trilobite site.
This is a Triarthus specimen that Larry found.
Here is another one of Larry's specimens that he found.
FINDS
Eurypterid rempsis with the telson or "stinger" and a paddle missing.
A positive and negative of a Eurypterid rempsis. This one has a complete body but no appendages.
This plate has a Eurypterid rempsis with the poastabdomen missing, but with part of a postabdomen on the right of the plate.
This little guy has the postabdomen missing. However it has all of its appendages, including all of the little walking legs.
Yet another Eurypterid with the postabdomen missing.
Here is a complete Triarthus trilobite. The head is a little smashed up.
Here is another complete Triarthus.
Here is another. The head is good shape, but the body is dinged up a bit.
