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Late last year I received some micro matrix from @Notidanodon that he collected from the Isle of Wright (UK) out of the Greensand Fm. near Yaverland. This material is Lower Cretaceous, Albian aged. I have picked through much of it and have some questions on what I have found. I am not well versed in the fauna from this area and some internet searching has led me to some suggestions, but I'm hoping Will or some of our more experienced collectors from this area such as @Welsh Wizard, @Yoda, @Bobby Rico, and any others that I cant think of off the top of my head, can set me straight. #1. One of the more common (relative term) items I found were these small teeth that belong to some Chondrichthyian, but I am not sure which one. My first guess, based on what little bit I'm familiar with, was some sort of Sclerorhynchidae but I had some doubts due to a total absence of a root on these, then I saw some Hybodontidae (Lonchidion/Lissodus) were found in this formation and some looked similar but not exactly the same, and then otheers reminded me of some Rajiformes with the small lingual face that you can see on some of them. So here I am. They were relatively common so I'm sure someone will recognize them right off, even if the pictures are not ideal. These are about 2-4 mm at their widest. There could be several different types in here, so if you can just get me started with a genus or group, or want close-ups of a particular one, just let me know. #2. Next up are a bunch of shark teeth partials, most are probably too worn or fragmentary to ID, so that's OK. I just wanted to show what else was in the sample. Again, total width of the container is 2cm, so these are all less than 4mm. #3. I believe these to be a fish scale and found many references to Lepidotes, now known as Sheenstia, from this section and they look somewhat similar, so I just would like to confirm that. The largest one has a max. dimension of just under 5mm. #4. These are some other small teeth that may of may not be identifiable. 2-3mm #5. Next up is a small jaw fragment. I know it needs cleaned up some more, but it is somewhat fragile and I didn't want to poke at it too much just yet. Is this fish, something else, or impossible to say? Length is about 4mm. #6. And finally, some fish vertebrae. Again, no ID requested, just wanted to show what else was in the mix. I know reptiles and amphibians are found in this formation, I'm not sure I'm qualified to try and separate those out, especially since may of these are highly phosphatized (is that a word?). Thanks for looking and for any advice that can be offered. And thanks again to Will, for the interesting matrix. Mike

On the night September 2, 2018, a large fire ripped through the prestigious National Museum of Brazil. By the time it was put out, a plethora of precious artifacts, including many dinosaurs fossils (with still many to this day missing). Of the specimens currently missing since the fire - the Holotype of a small theropod dinosaur from the Albian Cretaceous of Brazil's Santana Formation named Santanaraptor placidus. Santanaraptor (Romualdo Member of the Santana Formation) (Early Albian, Cretaceous period 112.6-109.0 million years ago) Specimen: MN 4802-V (partial skeleton with preserved soft tissue) http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=67712 What makes this dinosaur special is, according to recent studies from the 2010s, it is one of the only known Tyrannosauroidea dinosaurs from South America (along possibly with Mirischia). (Also, thanks @Troodon for letting me know about this phylogenetic chart) Source of info and chart: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018218302566?via%3Dihub The paleontological significance of this specimen cannot be understated, but there is some hope the specimen survived the tragic fire (possibly in one of the museum's metal shelves). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06192-9 It's been between 4 years since the fire and the specimen whereabouts are still unknown. Does anyone (ANYONE) know if the Santanaraptor specimen MN 4802-V survived the fire at the National Museum of Brazil and if the specimen is now safe?

The brief visit to the second half of the Pawpaw exposure turned out to be a huge success. I didn't think it was possible, but the finds got even better! There wasn't much of a story to be had with accessing the site, so I'll keep things brief and jump straight into the finds. Once I relocated the productive greyish layer, I was already gathering various claw bits left and right. Their bright white coloration really makes them pop out from the ground. However, I didn't let this lead me into lowering the thoroughness of my search. I still took a close look at every pebble and under every rock. The fruit of my labors came when I locked onto the first shark tooth for the site, a small Leptostyrax macrorhiza. I've found one in the past in the Duck Creek, but never in the Pawpaw. Nine times out of ten I would have missed this guy. Just look at how hidden he is in this photo: Leptostyrax macrorhiza hidden beneath a couple pebbles The vertebrate finds continued with a tiny ~1 cm fish jaw fragment. Let me know if you recognize it: Close up with my new stereo microscope! Not too long after, the crustacean finds began to ramp up. Scattered about were fragments of carapaces. It was only a matter of time before the first complete carapace of the day was found. Steorrosia aspera I want to say I continued finding several more that weren't impressive in situ, but amazing after cleaning. One Steorrosia sp. was pretty banged up on the sides, so I couldn't confidently pin an ID. However, I noticed that it had little black dots where the eyes are usually missing in these crab fossils. Well, my Christmas gift came right on time! I placed it under the digital microscope and almost fell out of my chair. This little crab had preserved compound eyes. I'm not sure how rare such a feature is, but it impressed the hell out of me. I should warn that the pics aren't terribly clear since taking photos requires me to press a button on the microscope that shakes the whole thing. Plus, viewing something so small had the device at its absolute maximum magnification. Hopefully you all can spot the pattern on the compound eyes. Underside of the Steorrosia sp. The face of the Steorrosia sp. A close up of one compound eye. Those faint circles are what I interpret to be the individual eyes. Although not from the grey layer I was hunting in, pyritic cephalopods could be found washed out from the red sandstone above. Most are pretty beat up, but I make sure to collect a little bit of each species I can find. I have enough Engonoceras serpintinum as it stands, but I can't help taking a picture when I find a nice one. Engonoceras serpintinum Mantelliceras sp. The first unorthodox find of the day was very clearly a tiny brittle sea star leg. I've always wanted to find starfish parts, so I was super excited to pick this specimen up.... little did I know. Not sure if it possible to ID beyond genus from just a leg segment: Ophiura sp. in situ Close up of same leg From there, I found a couple more very nice carapaces including a MUCH more complete Texicancer renfroae?. Face of the Texicancer renfroae? I hate to say I may have already found a Feldmannia wintoni that surpasses the one I submitted to FotM I need to figure out how to turn off that pesky time stamp on the bottom right. Starting to feel like I'm taking crab mugshots When I got home, I was able to clean up and analyze a couple of enigmatic specimens that had initially given me starfish vibes. After a bit of research, I believe my hunch was right. These two specimens each have one side covered in "spikes". I found a paper (Blake and Reid 1998) on Pawpaw starfish that had similar structures on the oral sides of the arms. Betelgeusia reidi (cool genus name btw) seemed the closest match, but it's a tough call. And to round it off with one of the most legendary finds in my fossil hunting career, a mess of associated brittle sea star chunks including the central disc and several arms fragments. I tried to find more, but these were the only pieces I came up with. It was a massive pain paraloiding this thing together I must admit. There's not much surface area to work with, but it eventually came it alright. Actually looking at it again, I think I put the short arm on upside down, but that will be a headache for another day... The only local brittle star species I know from this period would be Ophiura graysonensis and O. texana. Hard for me to say which it resembles more closely, but I'm leaning towards graysonensis, assuming those exist beyond just the Grayson Marl. The central disc and a couple of arm bits in situ Oral side? Aboral side? It's safe to say this is my most productive hunt yet! Hopefully you all enjoyed reading through this little report. Here is an overview of the finds: Fish jaw section, Leptostyrax macrorhiza, and xiphactinus? tooth fragment (was hoping it was pterosaur ) Crabs of the day L to R: Various Steorrosia, Feldmannia wintoni, Texicancer renfroae?, and Steorrosia reidi? Top: Engonoceras serpintinum Bottom L to R: Mantelliceras sp., Mariella worthensis, Scaphites hilli, and Baculites comanchesnis? Ophiura sp. arm fragment, chunks of Betegeusia reidi?, and a couple of bivalves Thanks for reading!

Hi TFF, Last week the GF and I went for the holy trio (geological wise ), the turonian, cenomanian and albian. It's simply amazing that in a relatively short stretch of cliffs you can find all three. Driving our way there it seemed like the UK also had some decent weather that day as it was quite visible. We first hit the turonian. On the way there you can find santonian(?) deposits which produce some nice flint urchins. I'm usually looking for big ammonites like lewesiceras or mammites. Only two small examples were found that we did not take home. In-situ weathered lewesiceras. For the good eyes amongst us, an i-situ mammites nodosoides. Unfortunately a very flat compressed example At some point a nautilus 'belly' poked out, fairly uncommon and a pleasant find. I believe it's eutrephoceras. Not much later I made a little squeak. We don't find these often here. Meanwhile the GF was very pleased finding another nautilus. Albian deposits drift off towards cenomanian and turonian plates. The next day we were welcomed with a nice rainbow. You see why they call it the 'white nose / blanc-nez'. These visible layers are cenomanian. I hoped for the gault layers (which would be on the other side of the picture) but only some ex situ albian layers were exposed. These are full of pyrite and little ammonites (anahoplites). Sometimes bigger pyrite specimens can be found like this partial beudanticeras. To my surprise something else was just waiting to be picked up. Pretty rare and well sought after. Surrounded by pyrite and ammonites. On the way back we managed to pick up a little acanthoceras. And a final picture

Last weekend was an extended weekend and good weather forecast, that means a few field trips to the French coast for us The first trip was Friday, we got there early in the morning and planned to hunt the Turonian part of the coast. There was a lot of sand on the beaches so we didn’t find much, but quality is better than quantity and Natalie scored 2! Ptychodus teeth. I only found an ammonite that proved to be incomplete after extracting it :/ and a flint echinoid on the way back to the car. On Monday we tried our luck in the Cenomanian and Albian part of the site. Again lots of sand covering op the boulders but we did find a bit more and some really interesting specimens. The 1st interesting piece was a belemnite in the chalk, this might seen strange, but although the belemnites are common in the Albian gault clay, they are almost non-existent in the Cenomanian chalk and it was the 1st specimen I ever found in there. Not long after that It was Natalie’s turn, she found a complete irregular echinoid. The rest of the finds that day were mostly chalk ammonites, except on one spot were a little bit of gault clay was exposed on the beach were we found a nice little phosphate crab. 1st fieldtrip on Friday, early at the beach: little ptychodus 1: Ptychopdus 2: To bad for this one: A flint echinoid on our way back: Field trip on Moday: Belemnite : Neohibolites ultimus Natalie's echinoid: Tiaromma michelini The little crab in situ in the clay peeking out: All the stuff cleaned up:

Hi TFF, The other week I went for a quick trip to the beloved chalk at Cap Blanc-Nez in France. I heard that the gault clay (albian) was exposed, since that's my main interest I had to go and see. 'Sadly' it was layer P6 (late albian) which does not provide as much ammonites as earlier layers. In my experience this layer provides quite a lot of fish remains like teeth and small vertebra. Picked up a small lamniform shark tooth. Besides a lot of bivalves (inoceramus) and gasteropods (gyrodes gaultina) there was nothing but that tooth I took home. Next time I'll make some in-situ photo's because there's tons and tons of phosphate fossils. Probably very similiar to the gault in Folkestone. On my way to the turonian there was a micraster waiting to be freed. Spotted some sutures that fooled me. I thought they went inwards to the matrix but it turned out just to be a chunk as can be seen (sutures going outwards). Rookie mistake hehe. You can also see where the living chamber starts. That's usually a weak spot to be careful for when extracting, in this case there's already a good crack forming. From not to hot, beautiful mammites nodosoides (turonian) just waiting for someone

I picked up the shark tooth below a while back, labeled as Cretalamna borealis. I'm not very familiar with the species--does this ID appear to be correct? The label that came with the tooth says it was found near Stary Oskol, Belgograd Oblast, Russia, and that it's Upper Albian in age from the Kursk Osteolite member of the Seversk Sandstone formation. The tooth measures 38.6 mm along the slant. One of the root corners is missing and there's some hard matrix still cemented to the tooth near the root margin of the lingual side. @ThePhysicist, I think this one might be a Dwardius woodwardi or Dwardius sp., but I'm not sure.

Hi guys anyone recognise this Ammonite from Tulear Madagascar? It’s Albian

My first Metengonoceras dumbli ammonite at the Walnut formation. Although not complete, I've been searching this species of ammonite for many years. Plenty of Oxy's, but never ever found this one. This one measures around 4.5 inches / 114.3 mm.

I'm visiting family in San Antonio, Texas, and have been doing a little fossil hunting as well, including in a nearby creek. Based on a local geologic map, I believe this creek mostly exposes the Edwards Group (Albian age), though there appear to be some younger (Cenomanian age) rocks from the Del Rio Formation mixed in as well, based on an Ilymatogyra arietina shell that I found a couple of days ago. This creek isn't very fossiliferous. In about 3 hours of searching, I've only found a single I. arietina and a few small shell impressions in rocks. However, today, I also found the rock below and am wondering if it's something more. I am moderately confident that the bit in the lower right is a shell impression. What I'm unsure of is whether there's a bigger (worn) shell mold here too or just a bit of pareidolia. Any thoughts? Here's the outline of what I'm seeing -- the dimensions of what I've outlined are approximately 7cm wide x 6cm tall. Here's further detail of the part in the lower right that I'm more confident is part of a fossil shell/shell impression: The "shell mold" is raised relative to the surrounding rock, though is pretty heavily eroded if it is a fossil: Here as well is the I. arietina I found -- no doubt that this one's a fossil at least! And here's a wider shot of the creek: Thanks for looking!

Hi everyone, Last week after getting lots of recommendations from people I spend a couple of days at Cap Blanc Nez in France to look for some fossils. And while it wasn't to most bountyfull hunt I did have a lot of fun and I was very pleased with the little finds that I managed to do. We had very nice weather, it was sunny and the temperature was just perfect for fossil hunting, and the cliffs and beach (and landscape overall) were absolutely stunning. The fossils in Cap Blanc Nez date back to the Cretaceous and there are deposits from the Turonian, Cenomanian & Albian. I spent a lot of time searching in the clay deposits which lay on the beach. Besides fossils we also found some washed up marine life: A large jellyfish (Rhizostoma sp.) A washed up Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) A washed up Small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) We also payed a little visit to the beach at Wissant although we didn't went there to search for fossils but to visit an old shipwreck

While I was sorting through my collection of croc fossils, I came across these Elrhaz Formation teeth I bought 6 months ago and never did figure out what they were. I assume they are croc and not some kind of fish, though I could be wrong. I've never seen these apart from the one source I purchased them from. I've been told they were Sarcosuchus, then Kaprosuchus, then Suchomimus. Pretty sure it's not Sarcosuchus, and the images I can find of Kaprosuchus don't seem to match. Suchomimus, I don't know, but my gut feeling is, no, I've seen dozens of Suchomimus and fake-Sucho crocs, and never found a match. If anyone is familiar with this morphology, any input is appreciated. Locale: Gaoufaoua, Tenere Desert, Niger Last picture is a couple of other crocs from the same lot. One (the robust one on the right) is probably Sarcosuchus.