Unusual Association Dalmanites, Conularid & Bryozoan

This is a very interesting association plate from the Rochester Shale. It has a 1.8 inch long trilobite (Dalmanites limulurus), a conularid (Conularia niagarensis) and a fenestrate bryozoan. There are a few repairs to the plate and some minor restoration to the trilobite, as is typical for nearly all Dalmanites from the quarry.

Conulariids are a poorly understood clade of extinct scyphozoan cnidarians They are preserved in the fossil record as shell-like structures made up of rows of calcium phosphate rods. New rods were added as the organism grew in length; the rod-based growth falsely gives the fossils a segmented appearance. Exceptional soft-part preservation has revealed that soft tentacles protruded from the wider end of the cone, and a holdfast from the pointed end attached the organisms to hard substrate. The prevailing reconstruction of the organism has it look superficially like a sea anemone sitting inside an angular, hard cone held perpendicular to the substrate.