Fossilguy.com: A Fossil Hunt for Trilobites in Western New York

Trilobite Hunt

A Fossil Hunt for Eldredgeops (Phacops) Trilobites in Western New york

This is a view of the mouth of 18-mile creek from a sandbar on lake Erie

Over Labor Day weekend, we took a trip into ancient Devonian seas filled with trilobites. This trip, we showed a couple people from Kentucky around the fossil trilobite place, Judy Lundquist and George. Some of the crew from Times Scientific, including Roy and Wrong way Rob was also there.

This time we fossil collected along both sides of the cliffs. The northwest section held promise, I found what turned out to be a whole prone phacops trolobites, it was found with its pygidium and part of the thorax sticking out. I also found one of the smallest prone phacops I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I forgot about it and left it lay somewhere along the exposure. Despite the limited fossil finds, most of the group was not doing so well at this section of cliffs. They were only finding fragments of trilobites for hours, so everyone started migrating across the sand bars and shallow lake to the southeast to the other section of cliffs. There, we were disappointed to find most of the exposure covered by sand, and the remaining exposure being pounded by large waves from the lake. Despite the occasional wave soaking a fossil hunter (which was funny to watch… instead of warning the collector of eminent doom, we would just stand there and watch wave wash over the collector, then laugh). At this section of cliffs, group had more luck and started finding enrolled ones and a few prone trilobites.

By days end, Roy found a fossil plate with some phacops on it, around 5 of them, a few prone ones, and a bunch or rollers.. Amy and I found 1 complete prone phacops (images below), and about 7 enrolled trilobtes. Judy and George found perhaps a half dozen enrolled ones. No complete greenops was found by anyone.

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Images of the site and the Fossils.

A view of the cliff exposures containing Devonian fossils.

The crew looking for fossil trilobites.

The only prone Eldredgeops (phacops) I found on this trip. Only the pygidium and part of the thorax were visible when found.

Back home, I started to air abrade the fossil to see if the fossil trilobite had a head. Fortunately it did; here an eye and part of the glabella has just been exposed.

A view of the prepped trilobite specimen. Unfortunately, the right side of the fossil has been smashed. The glabella is cracked, the right eye is caved in, and the right cheek is pushed under the cephalon.

A closer view of the prone phacops trilobite with a smashed head. The phacops is roughly 1.5 inch in length. The flash made this pic look really shiney.

Recommended Books for Western New York Fossils:

Field Guide to the Devonian Fossils of New York
by Karl A. Wilson, 2014

There hasn't been a decent book on the fossils of Western New York available to the nonn professional until this book came out. This is a MUST for anyone fossil hunting in Western New York. It is an updated guide to all the Devonian taxa of New York... Simply amazing! It's a nice replacement for the out of print and outdated "Devonian Paleontology of New York" that I've used so much.

Geology And Paleontology Of Eighteen Mile Creek And The Lake Shore Sections Of Erie County, New York (1898)
by Amadeus William Grabau, 1898 (2010 reprint)

This is a famous publication by Grabau himself. Serious Devonian fossil hunter needs this! Grabau laid the framework for Devonian fossils! This book is a nice history piece chalk full of pictures and descriptions for fossil identification.
The prices often fluxuate, but you can usually get a copy from $30 - $40.

Dynamic Stratigraphy and Depositional Environments of the Hamilton Group (Middle Devonian) in New York State, Part II
Editors: Ed Landing and carlton E. Brett. (1991)

This New York State Museum Bulletin (#469) is a collection of research papers about the Middle Devonian of New York.

I recommend this book if you want a deep understanding of the the paleoenviroments of the Devonian of New York. The papers include how the sediments were deposited, faunal lists, reconstructions of paleoenvironments, stratigraphy, and more. Being research papers, it's a bit more technical than the other books, but it gives a great overview of the Devonian of western New York.

Devonian Biostratigraphy of New York

International Union of Geological Sciences
Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy, (Part 1 and Part 2)
Editors: Willian A. Oliver, Jr. and Gilber Klapper
July 1981, Washington D.C.

This is an incredibly informative book, however it is somewhat difficult to find. Your best bet is a University Library.

Recommended Link:

New York Paleontology
Although a bit old, this is still arguably the best New York Paleontology website out there!

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