72 replies to this topic

[jax]

So it rained like crazy the early part of this week, and I remembered a spot that I use to hunt. The water moved a lot of dirt around, and as I bent down to scan the ground, I started seeing verts! They were sticking out of the mud. There was 5 within a foot of each other and one was about 5 feet away. All associated! Then I started scanning the ground hard, looking for the rest of them, but could not find any more. I started to dig in the mud to see if could find anymore, but came up empty.... It is supose to rain tomorrow, and you know I will be back looking for the rest of this little fella!! When the area drys up, I will be digging all the dirt from this area to sift too. Im pretty sure that there might be a whole Mosasaur right there!! Im thinking this Might be from a "Russellosaurus" or "dallasaurus" Maybe its a new species!?!?!

If you think they could be from something different, please speak up!

Thanks
Justin

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[N.AL.hunter]

Nice finds. I am not sure they are mosasaur, but then I am no expert. The few mosasaur verts I have found looked different. Could these be fish? Just guessing.

[LanceH]

Great find! I would definitely send pics to Mike Polcyn at SMU.

[fig rocks]

Nice find jax! What a tiny animal!

[LanceH]

Hey Jax, compare your verts with the PDF below:

Dallasaurus turneri, a new primitive mosasauroid from the Middle Turonian of Texas

 Dallasaurus.pdf   1.06MB   57 downloads

Edited by LanceHall, 28 October 2009 - 10:45 PM.

[CreekCrawler]

Cool finds man! They definitely look reptilian to me! Definitely send the pics to SMU.I wouldn't show them the location though.Unless you want 2 or 3 Professional Paleontologists with 20 volunteers showing up

[jax]

LanceHall, on 28 October 2009 - 10:36 PM, said:

Great find! I would definitely send pics to Mike Polcyn at SMU.

Yeah I already sent the photos to them. I dont think its a fish, only because one side is round, the other is concave. I think thats how to describe it. Heres a few more pics of the ends.

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[Roz]

Excellent find, agree with reptile-looking...

[BLM63]

Great find,Jax. I haven't a clue what they belong to , but to find something like that ,you must be grinning like the cheshire cat.

[dinosaur50]

they are reptile for sure but wich one not sure

[Tony Eaton]

I guess others recommend contact the "experts" so I won't harp on that. Looking at Finsley's "A Field Guide to Fossils of Texas", I suppose it could also be Coniasaurus. If you have this book, look at page 102.

I'd take a ridiculous amount of pictures of the site as you dig + the general area, and take GPS coordinates. Consider hauling out the clay around it and sift through that later. Maybe you have found something new, a Jaxasaurus LOL?

[Boesse]

I initially thought those were fish verts as well - but when I saw the articular ends, I thought 'holy cow!' - those are definitely mosasaur. The sides of the verts are pretty complicated, and somewhat reminiscent of scombrid fish verts.

The concave/convex articular surface morphology is typical of mosasaur vertebrae - the terms that come to mind are procoelous, amphicoelous, opisthocoelous, etc. - I can't remember which one pertains to mosasaurs.

REALLY cool find - those are absolutely TINY. I agree, take some serious notes, and if you haven't already, I'd return to the locality and dig around for more material.

Bobby

[JohnJ]

Wow, Justin...that's an impressive find! They do appear to compare well with the Dallasaurus turneri caudal vertebrae in Polcyn's description. If so, you're aware of the rarity of an associated group of verts...do it right, man. I can't wait to hear what Polcyn has to say. Remember that they are not mosasaur verts. D. turneri was a mosasauroid that had limbs and shared some morphology with the later mosasaurs. Better than a pearl, to me.

Edited by JohnJ, 29 October 2009 - 03:38 AM.

[texaswoodie]

Awesome!!

[tracer]

mosasauroidus jaxi...kinda has a ring to it...

nice find

[jimmy1971]

Great find Jax! That's awesome!

[Frank Menser]

jax, on 28 October 2009 - 10:53 PM, said:

Yeah I already sent the photos to them. I dont think its a fish, only because one side is round, the other is concave. I think thats how to describe it. Heres a few more pics of the ends.

Not to give an opinion as to what that is...I'm no expert. But had to point out what I was just reminded of on this forum (ID thread). Gars also have concave/convex verts as well.

 IMG_5166.JPG   161.14K   2 downloads  IMG_5167.JPG   123.53K   3 downloads

Edited by Frank Menser, 29 October 2009 - 11:21 AM.

[jax]

I got a reply back from Polcyn at SMU, and all he put was, "When can you come in?" Then 1 hour later he emails back "Make sure you mark that exact spot you found them!"

You think they are intrested?

He didnt say what he thought they were, but after seeing his response im thinking that these are something pretty important!

I am going to try and get up to see them next week, so stay tuned!

Edited by jax, 29 October 2009 - 01:18 PM.

[Auspex]

jax, on 29 October 2009 - 01:15 PM, said:

I got a reply back from Polcyn at SMU, and all he put was, "When can you come in?" Then 1 hour later he emails back "Make sure you mark that exact spot you found them!"

<goosebumps>

[MikeD]

Very cool!