A visit to the Late Carboniferous
A rare find in the Pennsylvanian Black Shales
On August 17th, I went on a group trip to the Starved Rock Clay Pit. I was specifically looking for some Listracanthus parts, and upon splitting open a large septarion nodule measuring roughly 2ft across, came upon what looked at first like a poorly preserved denticle. Upon returning home and examining more closely, it appeared to have segmentation. After showing photos of the specimen to Dave Carlson and Jack Wittry of ESCONI, it was identified as a rare Tyrannophontes theridion Shram, 1969. From Wittry's book, The Mazon Ceek Fossil Fauna, "First discovered at Pit 11, Tyrannophontes theridion was figured and described in 1969 by Shram. Subsequently, similar species were found preserved in the Pennsylvanian black shales of Iowa and Nebraska." Interestingly, nothing is mentioned of the black shales in Illinois. On a side note regarding the mysterious spiny, eel-shaped Listracanthus that has eluded paleontologists for 150 years , a complete specimen has finally b
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