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Found this yesterday a Myrtle Beach. Complete both sides, cleaned the matrix from it. My best guess is Lopha marshii, but I can’t find any info on them being on the southern east coast. Any help with identification and age is greatly appreciated. Thanks….Lance
Eleanor Gardner @egardner Okay….doesn’t appear to be any interest in this fossil. I have been doing a lot of internet investigation and have determined the following. Definitely Ostreidae Lopha and even though the most similar example I can find is the marshii, this is only found in Europe. The only Lopha I can see that was located in Southeast US is Lopha vicksburgensis, (Oligocene) however the few examples I have seen do not look as similar as the marshii. This could be a new species or possible just a variant of vicksburgensis or a possible new location for marshii. I have no idea as to how going about determining a new species, however, if anyone is interested please let me know and I will be happy to pass this on to you. Thanks….Lance
@lance-comfort – It’s not that there’s no interest, it has just been an extremely busy week. I apologize for the delay. I’m not an oyster specialist. Perhaps @lmccall could provide some assistance? She’s in your general region. Or perhaps @michael-reagin could help? He is very knowledgeable about mollusks.
Hi Lance @lance-comfort, I am just trying to learn about fossil identification so I think your knowledge base is much greater than mine. I did do some web searches about Lopha species. I did find one East Coast citation in North Carolina for Lopha frons
http://discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Mollusca_Bivalvia_species&flags=HAS:
Also checking further the name Lopha frons is not accepted and the valid name is: Dendostrea frons
http://z14.invisionfree.com/Conchologist_Forum/ar/t2410.htm
Might this be what you found?
What resources do you find best for identifying invertebrate fossils?
Jim Chandler
Hi Jim @jim-chandler. Thank you for your response. It could be Dendostrea frons, but the ribs on the one I found originate at the hinge of the shell and from what I can see in the frons they originate more from a center line of the shell. It does appear that there are remnants of possible clasper spines on bottom shell, but it is hard to say. I think the difficulty in oyster identification is that they vary in shapes so much. Perhaps there is an oyster expert out there. My preference is actually on the half shell with hot sauce and lemon. Lance
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