Brachiopods
Brachiopods are marine invertebrate shellfish which superficially resemble bivalve mollusks, but which are very different internally.
They feed by means of a strip of muscle called a lophophore, the same feeding mechanism used by bryozoans.  There are many fine resources on the internet on brachiopods.  Here are a few.

• Follow this link for a picture of a  living brachiopod.  Here is another living brachiopod.
• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on brachiopods
• University of Kentucky paleontology pages have a good brief introduction to brachiopod
• Sean Robson's page Brachio-philes gives more detailed introduction.
• SUNY at Cortland Geology Department has an extremely good site
• Reconstruction of Devonian brachiopods in danger
• Ron Voskuil's page on modern brachiopods

*    Found on the Highland Rim north of Nashville near Ridgetop
** Not found in the Nashville Basin, but found in the Devonian Birdsong Shale in Parsons

Lingulata Lingula
Strophomenida Rafinesquina	Strophomenida Strophomena	Strophomenida Plectambonites
Orthida Hebertella	Orthida Pionodema	Orthida Resserella (formerly Dalmanella)
Orthida Platystrophia	Rhynchonelida Rhynchotrema	Rhynchonelida Lepidocyclus (Orthorhynchula)
Atrypida Zygospira

Bryozoans
Bryozoans are colonial animals closely related to brachiopods.  Follow the links below to find out more about bryozoans.

• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on bryozoans
• SUNY at Cortland Geology Department has an extremely good site
• Visit the Bryozoan Homepage for a lot of general information including many pictures.
• The International Bryozoan Association includes a beautiful picture of a living bryozoan and three genuine bryozoan jokes.

* not found in the Nashville Basin, but found in the Mississippian Fort Payne Formation on the Highland Rim and in the Devonian Birdsong Shale in Parsons.

Class  Cystosporata Constellaria	Class Treptostomata Hallopora
Class Treptostomata Heterotrypa	Class Treptostomata Homotrypella
Class Treptostomata Homotrypa	Pachydictya (with crinoid stem)
Class Treptostomata Prasopora	Class Treptostomata Atactoporella

Mollusks

Mollusks are familiar to everyone.  In Nashville, we find fossils of three of the classes of mollusks:  bivalves, gastropods (snails), and cephalopods (relatives of squid and octopi)

Follow these links to find out more about mollusks.

• University of Kentucky fossil mollusks page
• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on mollusks

Bivalve (Pelecypod) Byssonychia (external mold on bottom of large bryozoan)		Bivalve (Pelecypod) Ctenodonta (internal mold)
Snail (Gastropod) Hormotoma	Snail (Gastropod) Lophospira	Snail (Gastropod) Cyclonema
Snail (Gastropod) Trochomena	Snail (Gastropod) Raphistomina	Snail (Gastropod)   Subulites
Cephalopod Actinoceras

Porifora (Sponges and their kin)

Visit these sites for background information on Porifora.

• Berkeley Virtual Paleontology Museum on Porifora

Porifora are divided into three major classes.

CLASS	ORDER
Demospongea - (bath sponges) Sponges  with skeletons of spongin mixed with siliceous spicules
Hexactinellida - (glass sponges) Sponges with skeletons of silicon dioxide
Calcarea Sponges with calcium carbonate skeletons
Stromatoporata -  Extinct class of sponge-like reef-building poriforans

Class Calcarea Hindia	Class Calcarea Saccospongia
Class Stromatoporata Stromatocerium rugosum	Class Stromatoporata Stromatocerium pustulosum

Cnidaria (Corals)

Follow these links for background information on corals

• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on cnidaria

 

 
 
 
 
 

Cnidaria are divided into three classes

Order Tabulata Columnaria	Order Tabulata Tetradium
Order Tabulata Lichenaria	Order Rugosa Streptelasma

Arthropods

Follow these links for background on arthropods in general and trilobites and ostrocods in particular

• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on arthropods

Crustacea Ostrocods

Trilobitomorpha Trilobite

Hemichordata

Follow these links for background on hemichordates,

• Berkeley's Virtual Paleontology Museum's pages on Hemichordates
• Graptolithina: an extremely complete introduction
• The Graptolite Net
• The British and Irish Graptolite Group

Class: Graptolithina, Order: Dendroidea

Vertebrates

Although most people don't think of hunting for vertebrate fossils in Ordovician sediment, Nashville has huge numbers of vertebrate fossils for the hunter who is willing to use a microscope.