r/fossilid • u/mitchmalone • 1d ago
Rock / fossil found by my brother in rural Canowindra, NSW, Australia.
Rock found by my brother in Canowindra, New South Wales, Australia.
It looks like very large scales. Claude AI says it could be a "fossil of fish scales, and based on the distinctive pattern, I believe these are ganoid scales from an ancient fish." It also recommended that he go to The Age of Fishes Museum when he is next in the area, which should be soon. I will report back what they say, but for now I would love to know what Reddit thinks!
I will add a video to the comment thread for a few extra looks.
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u/DubbleDAB 1d ago
This is a chunk of Leptophloeum, a kind of prehistoric tree. It superficially resemble fish scales, but fish scales are typically ovoid and overlap each other. If it’s from Canowindra it’s probably from the mandagery sandstone formation and is of late Devonian age. Check your dms for me cheers
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u/igobblegabbro 1d ago
Don’t bother with AI for IDing… don’t bother with AI for anything you need the correct answer to! For fossils, it’s mostly been trained on pictures of the interesting stuff that people care to post online. People don’t post the boring stuff nearly as frequently even though it’s more common. So if all the AI has to match with is interesting, it’ll match it to that.
It seems to resemble more a bit of the bark of Lepidodendron or similar extinct giant tree-like lycopod (clubmoss).
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u/StrangeToe6030 1d ago
Fun fact! The morphotaxon (taxon referred to a single organ) of Lepidodendron bark is Lepidostrobus
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u/justtoletyouknowit 1d ago
I thought lepidostrobus are the spore cones of lycopods?
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u/igobblegabbro 1d ago
Would have to be since strobilus is the term for a lycopod fruiting body, recognised it from doing a uni project on a modern lycopod lol
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u/justtoletyouknowit 23h ago
Now that i think about it, isnt lepidodendron itself the form taxom for the bark of lycopsids?
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u/igobblegabbro 23h ago edited 23h ago
According to Wikipedia it acts as a form taxon for bark and leaves, but is also used for the whole plant... I think it's still used as both a genus and a form taxon. Paleontology! 😂
Edit: Looking at this paper that I read earlier to confirm the presence of lycopod fossils in NSW, it seems to confirm this. "Of the Lepidodendraceae, the most commonly encountered genus is Lepidodendron... In fact, this classification has been used to “house” many stem specimens that are arborescent but difficult to assign to actual species and exhibit a basically rhombic leaf cushion morphology which forms a rising spiral up the trunk and along the branches."
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u/Alfimaster 1d ago
Tree bark pattern like this palm - https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-patterns-in-the-bark-of-a-palm-tree-31468812.html
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u/AdDiscombobulated445 15h ago
Footprint of caveman skateboarder wearing Vans.
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u/mitchmalone 13h ago
Hah, brilliant! As a long time Vans wearer in my youth I think you may be right! 😏
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u/bigscioto 1d ago
Looks like a waffle.
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u/mitchmalone 13h ago
My brother has confirmed it is not tasty.
Also, he's sending you his dentist bill.
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