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Hello! In the past couple months I have been searching out terrestrial arthropod fossils of the carboniferous. In this time I have procured quite a few specimens that I would love to have examined by members of the community, especially those experienced in the identification of carboniferous fauna. I will post the specimens one by one over the next week, if they turn out to be something different than the name they were sold by I will not be disappointed. My experience in Entomology and close disciplines such as Arachnology and Myriapodology has only been with modern species, excluding minor experience with arachnids in amber, so I am so excited to pick your brains! The first fossil was indicated as being from the Carboniferous Zaleskie Beds of Poland, dated at 314 mya. It was sold to me as a "roach" though I know roaches had yet evolve so if so i'm guessing this would be a roachoid. The fossil itself is 3.0 x 2.5 x 1 cm. I will be posting pictures of the specimen below, please let me know if you have any questions or need further information to support a conclusive ID. Thank you all so much for your help! Looking forward to your input.

Was able to visit Chicago over the 4th to visit a friend and just managed to sneak in (between torrential rains and everything else to do in Chicago) 4 hours or so of collecting at a site in the Mazon Creek. A few of the concretions have now opened nicely and hopefully more are on the way. First, have to very sincerely thank the Chicago-area Fossil Forum members who were unbelievably generous with their time (and in many cases, their fossils!) and who really helped a total Mazon novice have a successful trip! Here are some of the first finds, with lots more currently in the freezer including a whole bucket of Pit 11 material that was super generously given to me on my way out. Hopefully some more interesting finds await! The next weekend I also took a short trip to a site near Wheeling, WV composed of slate-like rocks in a pretty nice roadside stream that had great scenery and a lot of butterflies floating around. I didn't find a ton aside from one OK (broken) fern frond and some nicer hash plates, but it was a fun trip! And then lastly, I was able to clean up a few more finds from Centralia that are looking good, will likely return to that site soon. A question: is anyone familiar with any reasonable East-Coast sites for Mesozoic plants? I'm planning to investigate some streams in College Park, MD (luckily quite close to home) and then I've done some research on Triassic sites in North Carolina but I'm a little nervous about driving all the way down just to take a look. If anyone has any likely leads they would be appreciated Otherwise I will continue to update this thread as more things pop open from the freezer!

I'll update this thread with my Mazon Collection over the next few weeks. With some good weather out yesterday, I managed to get my first fossil hunt in for the season and will post a report in this topic. I will be moving this upcoming summer which will put me even further from Mazon Creek so I have purchased a few pieces to fill in the genus/species I haven't found yet and will mention if I purchased a fossil. I still hold out hope to find some of these pieces I purchased eventually but will realistically be difficult if I only can make 1 trip a year. Fauna Tullimonstrum gregarium A weathered eye-bar I found on my first trip several years back. There is an eye spot evident under the right light. Still the only piece I have found at this point. Euphoberia armigera (Purchased) Acanthodian indet. (Purchased) Note: Under magnification the scales are present. Cyclus americanus What's a Mazon Creek thread without some Essexella asherae? I still like finding these guys despite the vast amount I have found. Here are a few of my favorites: Note: My largest piece, this is about 6-7 inches in diameter. A couple shrimp pieces. I believe Belotelson magister (Traded for the first one) Here is a cool insect wing from the order Palaeodictyoptera. (Purchased) Now I believe this piece may be a Dasyleptus sp. and if it isn't one, I would love to be corrected! Europops danae (Purchased) Mazonomya mazonensis I'll add to this thread with additional fauna and flora later and will continue to add as I go through freeze-thaw cycles.

Hoping for some help to identify, pics don't really do it justice because it looks a lot more poo like in reality. Found at my local river in Manchester UK where there was a landslide and I've found numerous ( mainly stigmaria) fossils any help would be appreciated and a good learning experience for me. It looks like it might have been stood on with possible toe prints.

On Sunday, I finally went again the Mazon Creek and later a Bond Formation rock formation of Pennsylvanian age, around 300 Million Years ago, in Braidwood, Illinois and Oglesby, Illinois with three friends after some scheduling adjustments. The trip was awesome and we collected a pretty impressive fossil haul. At Mazon Creek, We mainly hunted for fossils around the shores of local power plant cooling pond (which despite apparently having water temperatures that day of 100 degrees Celsius, still had a decent amount of birds resting on-top). We saw also a large rock pile on the other side of the lake, which we tried to get to on foot, but after an hour of walking decided to head back and try our luck next time. We then went to Oglesby. I'm still cleaning most of the Mazon Creek fossils, so for now I'll be showing my and my friends findings from the Oglesby site. It was pretty hot and got a little cut up on the rocks, but the fossil haul collected was awesome!!! Small jumping spider we found at the Oglesby site. A piece of either coral or Brachiopod one of my friends found in Oglesby. Anyone got an ID for this specimen? Pretty Impressive Crinoid Stems collected as part of the day's Oglesby fossil haul!!! But this next specimen is probably one of my favorites from this recent fossil haul. It's a partial Ctenacanthiform tooth tip (Possibly Gilkmanius sp.) on a limestone slab with some brachiopod fossils also attached (of which I put it recently under a dissecting scope). Based on the thickness and size of the tooth, the shark it came from must of been a pretty decent sized animal when alive!!! A pretty descent Neospirifer brachiopod specimen!!! This next specimen was truly an unexpected find for myself as I've seen a Ctenacanthiform tooth from the bond like this in person before (most I've collected and heard about are of a black coloration where this is a mixture of black, grey, and brown). I must say it's very beautiful and definitely from a Ctenacanthiform shark!!! But I'm curious as to what Ctenacanthiform species it could've come from? Any thoughts on its ID you guys?

The first one is incredibly small and was really hard to photograph so I apologize for the quality. Looks like some kind of arthropod to me, like an insect nymph? On the last picture of it I circled what appears to be antennae. It’s was really hard for me to capture that on camera but it’s much more prevalent in person. Second seems to be some type of flora? But I think it’s poorly preserved and I’m not sure if it can be identified. Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks.

Hi guys! Helping my grandpa clear out his collection, we stumbled across this. It's apparently from the Breathitt Formation somewhere in Kentucky, and we have no idea what it is. Is it some sort of root cast? We found some horsetail and scale tree stuff from there online, but no comparisons to this.

This one opened today and looks a little funky. I’m guessing worm. Any thoughts?

Ok I’m pretty sure this is a reach but I’m gonna keep thinking about it until I get clarification. Could this be Mazonova helmichnus? I very highly doubt it is and I’m pretty sure it’s just mineralization but I’d like to know in the off chance it is. Thanks!

I picked this up thinking it looked vaguely like a fish scale, but I'm not entirely sure either way. Collected from the Cuyahoga Formation (Mississippian) in northern Ohio. Any thoughts?

Found this small oddity while breaking apart limestone. The pitted appearance was interesting. The pits also seem to extend the whole way through. They also appear to wrap at a 90 degree angle on the side that isn't broken. The broken side reveals how they go through. I chipped away a little at the matrix, but didn't go too tough to keep from breaking it. Whole specimen with scale: (stacked photo) Showing outside 90 degree wrapped edge with same appearance: (stacked photo) Broken edge showing channels going through the width. Additional view of the top (unstacked photo)

I have no idea what this thing is. I found it in Allegheny County today in the Pennsylvanian Glenshaw Formation in what I think is Brush Creek Limestone. Unfortunately it is only part of the fossil, but I thought the pattern might tip someone off as to what it is. Scale is in metric. Thanks for the help.

I’m sorry these photos are probably awful cause my phone quality is awful lol. But I had a few small concretions from mazon creek that opened today and these two im having trouble identifying. 1st reminds me of an egg case but I highly doubt it. It kinda looks like coprolite too. 2nd a bivalve of sorts?

To really start the summer off well, I went recently to a Bond Formation rock formation of Pennsylvanian age, around 300 Million Years ago, in Oglesby Illinois with a few friends. The trip was overall good, though I almost fell off the rocks a couple times. It was a bit hot but overall I think I got a decent amount of fossils for the day. I found a decent amount of Crinoid stem fossils, of which here are a few of them: Found lots of what I think are Chondricthyian teeth (Chomatodus, Gilkmanius, etc.). But I would like help identifying them!!! Unknown Specimen 1

I found this piece on Friday. I thought it was wood, hammered it out, collected it in a tiny bin, and took it home. Saturday evening I put it under the scope and was surprised to see the texture. I've collected wood before and the grains are typically tighter. It also looks very similar to recovered Petalodus or fish root material I've seen. This deposit has a lot of different shark teeth, at least four unique genera are present. The limestone has the characteristics of a dynamic wash, where a lot of material was gathered and deposited quickly. Not that it helps a lot. I've never found shark bone or cartilage, so I don't know exactly what to look for. Scale bar = 5 mm.

Today was Day 2 of ESCONI’s Braceville Shaft Mine Trip. Rich @stats will add some pictures from yesterday’s visit. He advised me that there were several FF members in attendance, including, but not limited @connorp , @bigred97. I believe that there were 50 participants yesterday and I believe that there were that many today. The weather was great for collecting, with the temp hitting a high of 80 by the time I left at 12:30 pm. People arrived a little before 9 am for the welcome talk and information on the site and collecting details. As usual, I brought a lot of fossils to dump for the participants. I had Mazon Creek fossils, other Pennsylvanian plant material from Danville, Illinois, Pennsylvanian brachiopods from Olgesby, Illinois, Ordovician hash plates from Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, Fossil shells from Florida as well as dugong ribs, Mississippian hash plates from Vienna, Illinois and I even dropped in a few echinoids from Morocco. It is a great way for me to get rid of excess stuff. @stats also brought a bucket to dump, in addition to stuff he brought yesterday. Here is a picture of FF member @CrustaceousBaki Caroline heading in to start collecting. Here she is getting her dig on. FF member @deutscheben was also out collecting today, here are a couple pics. Continued on next post.

I have no idea what this is. It's unlike anything I have found. I split it out of Brush Creek Limestone today. Pennsylvanian Period, Glenshaw Formation. It's about 25 cm in circumference at the base. I would guess cephalopod, but it's much bigger than one's I've previously found. Help is appreciated, thanks!

Scientists reveal face of 10-foot 'killer tadpole' that terrorized Earth long before the dinosaurs By Lydia Smith, Science Alert, May 5, 2023 Crushed Fossil Pieces Used To Reconstruct Killer “Tadpole From Hell” The monstrous tetrapod would have been a fearsome predator in the swamps of Scotland. Russell Moul, IFLScience, May 8, 2023 The open access paper is: Porro, L.B., Rayfield, E.J. and Clack, J.A., 2023. Computed tomography and three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull of the stem tetrapod Crassigyrinus scoticus Watson, 1929. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, p.e2183134. Yours, Paul H.

The Chondricthyans (including the sharks and rays) have been around and keeping the ocean's ecosystems healthy for about 420 Million Years. Today, in celebration of this, I've decided to do a little fun post and list the eight times in Earth's history truly massive chondricthyans have emerged. Hope you all enjoy!!! The First is the Devonian, where there is at least one confirmed fossil (CMNH 5238) of a large currently unnamed Ctenacanthiform shark that reached lengths of 4.2-5 meters (13-16 feet) in length. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/3/318 The Second is the Mississippian stage of the Carboniferous (358.9-323.2 Million Years ago), a golden age for chondricthyans. The Early Carboniferous saw the emergence of Giant Ctenacanthiform sharks like Saivodus striatus, which grew up to 10-11 meters (32-36 feet) in length. https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil-of-the-month_2022-07_Saivodus.php https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossil-of-the-month_2022-07_how-big.php https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/fossils-of-the-2023-national-fossil-day-artwork.htm The Third is the Pennsylvanian stage of the Carboniferous (323.2-298.9 Million Years ago). Like the Mississippian, the Pennsylvanian was also a golden stage for Chondricthyans where large Ctenacanthiforms continued to thrive and large Eugeneodontida edestoids like Edestus (which could grow up to 6.7 meters (22 feet) in length) emerged. Large Ctenacanthiforms from this time include the unnamed Graham Formation Gilkmanius sp., which grew up to 7 meters (22 feet) in length. https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-vertebrate-paleontology/volume-37/issue-3/02724634.2017.1325369/A-Pennsylvanian-Supershark-from-Texas/10.1080/02724634.2017.1325369.short The Fourth is the Permian (298-252 Million years ago). There were some large sharks, like the Ctenacanthiform Kaibabvenator (which grew up to 4.8-5.48 meters (16-18 feet) in length). But Eugeneodontida by this point contained the largest Chondricthyans alive at this time including Helicoprion (which grew up to 7.6 meters (25 feet) in length) and Parahelicoprion (which could grow up to 12 meters (36 feet) in length). https://www.academia.edu/29941296/Chondrichthyan_and_actinopterygian_remains_from_theLower_Permian_Copacabana_Formation_of_Bolivia https://doi.org/10.1002%2Far.24046 The Fifth is the Early Cretaceous (145-100 Million Years ago). Though the time's aquatic ecosystems was dominated by large marine reptiles, large sharks managed to emerge and fill ecological niches from time to time. This includes the Early Cretaceous Shark Leptostyrax, which grew up to 6.3 meters (20 feet) in length. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277782424_A_Gigantic_Shark_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_Duck_Creek_Formation_of_Texas The Sixth is the Late Cretaceous (100-66 Million years ago). Aquatic ecosystems still were dominated by marine reptiles, but large sharks were indeed present. This includes Cretodus crassidens (which grew up to 9-11 meters (29-36 meters) in length) and Ptychodus (which grew up to 10 meters (32 feet) in length). https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0231544 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/morphology-and-paleobiology-of-the-late-cretaceous-largesized-shark-cretodus-crassidens-dixon-1850-neoselachii-lamniformes/A670012A44DDC68FC098BB8C73368408 The seventh is the Miocene-Early Pilocene (23-3.6 Million Years ago). This period saw the rise and reign of some of the largest sharks known currently in the fossil record, including Carcharocles (Otodus) megalodon (which grew up to 17 meters (55 feet) in length). https://www.uv.es/everlab/PUBLICACIONES/2017/2017 Martinez-Perez et al HB miocene sharks.pdf https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abl6529 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9385135/ The eighth is the Early Pliocene-Late Pleistocene (3.6-0.012 Million Years ago). This period saw the last remnants of the large 20 foot + in size carnivorous sharks from the Miocene-Pilocene mega shark era not including the non-Great White shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and not including the large plankton eating sharks make their final stand. These include Hemipristis serra (which grew up to 6 meters (20 feet) in length) and Parotodus benedeni (which grew up to 7.6 meters (24 feet) in length). https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app63/app004542018.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364591134_A_previously_overlooked_highly_diverse_early_Pleistocene_elasmobranch_assemblage_from_southern_Taiwan https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article/chondrichthyan-fossil-record-of-the-florida-platform-eocenepleistocene/2835CCEC27DC8EE0B24A5B62B1416618 I hope this is helpful?

I found this in a local stream several months back. The bedrock is Pennsylvanian and in the Glenshaw Formation. It feels strangely heavy for just a rock. Sorry, the scale is in inches. It's about 10.8 cm long. All help is greatly appreciated, thanks!