GUT TRILOBITES AND AWESOME POSSUMS

The East Kootenay region of British Columbia boasts glorious mountains, fossils and some of the best folk on Earth. I was doubly blessed to get to spend time immersed amongst all of them this past weekend.

The awesome possum you see in the photo here is Don Askew, an avid fossil hunter from Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, who has discovered several new species in the East Kootenays including Aciculolenus askewi, fittingly named after him. 

Don was the first to brave the treacherous cliffs up the waterfall on the west side of the ravine below Tanglefoot mountain. That climb led to his discovery of one of the most prolific outcrops in the McKay Group with some of the most exciting and best-preserved trilobites from the region. 

The faunal set are similar to those found at site one — the first of the trilobite outcrops discovered by Chris New and Chris Jenkins — an hours hike through grizzly bear country.

The specimens found at the top of the waterfall are not in calcite wafers, as they are elsewhere, instead, these exceptionally preserved specimens are found complete with a thin coating of matrix that must be prepped down to the shell beneath. 

Askew was also the skill preparator called upon to tease out the details from the 'gut trilobite' recently published from the region. In all, this area has produced more than 60 new species — many found by Askew — and not all of which have been published yet.

This past weekend, Don, Chris New, Chris Jenkins, Dan Bowen, Betty Franklin caught up and headed out to some fossil exposures near Goat Haven Mountain. Don graciously shared his knowledge and most recent finds for us to examine — a good man that Askew. 

Not surprising then that Brian Chatterton would do him the honour of naming this new species after him. 

Chatterton, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, is an invertebrate palaeontologist with a great sense of humour and a particular love of trilobites. Even so, his published works span a myriad of groups including conodonts, machaeridians, sponges, brachiopods, corals, cephalopods, bivalves, trace fossils — to fishes, birds and dinosaurs.

We found our own treasures over the weekend and came back filled with great memories and wonderful specimens found with friends on a perfect October day. 

Photo One: Don Askew in his happy place finding trilobites near Goat Haven Mountain

Photo Two: Aciculolenus askewi by Chris Jenkins, Cranbrook, British Columbia