Extensive (100+) Ostracods with Chonetid Brachipod from West Virginia

Description: I recovered this wonderful multi-plate from a blasting zone at a highway improvement site just outside of Wardensville W. VA. Along with it I also found some very rare Liocalymene clintoni. The specimens are all wonderfully preserved in mudstone. The Chonetid is on a separate piece of matrix. I have not been able to identify it to a genus level. Back-ground: Ostracodes are tiny, swimming, crustaceans (same family as the lobster, crab and shrimp) but with clam-like shells formed by two-valves of calcite (CaCO3). They are planktic, swimming, or benthic, crawling on or in the mud on the bottom. Ostracode fossils are used to interpret the age, depth, salinity and other parameters of sedimentary deposits. The shell shape helps identify the species of the fossil while the shell chemistry tells us about the environment that existed while the ostracode was alive. Many ostracodes eat decaying organic matter. Suborder Chonetidina: These resemble semicircular plano-convex or concavo-convex strophomenidids, but differ in that they typically have well-developed tubular spines along posterior margin of the pedicle interarea ( i.e., along the hinge). Furthermore, several groups of chonetids have elongated hinge margins which appear as spines. Chonetids are usually smaller than other strophomenidids. Ostracods have an extensive fossil record dating from the Cambrian to present day.