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Lake Neosho Collection

Assembled over decades by Barry Sutton at the I-170 road cut in St. Louis, the Lake Neosho collection documents the Altamont Formation's Lake Neosho Shale Member, a Middle Pennsylvanian deposit rich in marine and coastal life.

Catalog numbers follow museum archival standards using the format PH-LN-[page number]. Specimen records link directly to their original documentation at lakeneosho.org.


Featured Specimens

All specimens below are from the Altamont Formation, Lake Neosho Shale Member. Middle Pennsylvanian, Desmoinesian Stage. I-170 exposure, St. Louis, Missouri.

PH-LN-0001
Petrodus sp.
Chondrichthyes
Dermal denticles (shark skin armor)
Abundance: Common
View record at lakeneosho.org →
PH-LN-0012
Amphiscapha reedsi
Gastropoda
Knight, 1934. Previously classified as Straparollus.
Abundance: Common
View record at lakeneosho.org →
PH-LN-0027
Ethelocrinus sp.
Crinoidea
Disarticulated plates: basal, radial, primibrachial
Abundance: Common
View record at lakeneosho.org →
PH-LN-0042
Stigmaria sp.
Plantae (Lycopod)
Root fragment from ancient tree-sized club moss
Abundance: Rare
View record at lakeneosho.org →
PH-LN-0050
Ditomopyge scitula
Trilobita
Enrolled specimen. Complete trilobites are exceptional finds.
Abundance: Rare
View record at lakeneosho.org →
PH-LN-0069
Serpulid worm tubes
Trace Fossil
On Astartella varica (McChesney, 1859). Evidence of biotic interaction.
Abundance: Common
View record at lakeneosho.org →

These six specimens represent a cross-section of Pennsylvanian marine and coastal life: a shark, gastropod, crinoid, plant, trilobite, and trace fossil, all from a single road cut in St. Louis. Browse the complete fossil menu at lakeneosho.org →


About the Collection

Barry Sutton built this collection over a lifetime of fieldwork at the I-170 road cut and surrounding Missouri localities. He documented each specimen carefully and maintained lakeneosho.org as a public reference. Barry transferred stewardship of both the physical collection and the website to Jon Porter, who later founded Paleoheritage to give that work a permanent home and to pursue documentation, stewardship, and advocacy for fossil sites, collections, and their histories.

Three hours of oral history interviews with Barry have been recorded and archived. The collection continues to be cataloged and expanded.

Visit lakeneosho.org →