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So I'm sure nothing here is anything great or spectacular, I just decided I want to know a little about these things I've collected, mostly in my/friends backyards in DFW area. They are all on 12" pavers for size reference. I have a few bonus pieces of fossilized wood (and I'm not sure about the completely black pieces.. but very curious), and a couple of rocks thrown in for extra lol

Hello all, I need some help with the ID on this bit of bone I found this evening in the Kef-Kau transition zone off the near the Denton-Collin County border, If anyone has ever hinted this zone/area you know that it's full off sharks' teeth, vertebra and plenty of bone fragments like fish jaws, this is the first piece of simi recognizable bone I've found in a good while that I have no idea on what to ID it as. Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

New to this platform and web forums in general (other than discord). But uh- i was at Lake Ray Roberts beach yesterday and found this strangely shaped rock in the water that i think might be a sponge or coral due to the abnormal tiny holes in it. I’m no paleontologist but i know that the area used to be underwater, so it would make sense. If anyone can identify these photos, it would be a huge favor (and if you have discord i might draw your fav dino as a reward-) (btw, the fossil’s about 3/4ths the size of my hand, and i’m 5’11.)

Are there any recommendations on where I can donate large quantities of common fossils in the DFW area of Texas? I mostly have ammonites and echinoids and, while they're quite common, I don't want them to all go to waste. The Fort Worth Zoo has a new "Texas Nature Traders" that acts as a museum where trade in nature items, such as fossils, from Texas in exchange for other items traded in. The only problem is that they limit to 4 items, with a collection of 5 similar items counting as 1 item. I'll contact my old elementary teacher and see if she, or any other teachers there, would like any for their classrooms. Any other suggestions would be wonderful.

Last Friday, I went to the hillside I normally hunt and found this: Auspex and Dan were both kind enough to identify it as a rostrum (my first), possibly from either Protosphyraena or Saurodon. I happened to find this in a gully just as I was leaving so I didn't have time to poke around the area. Being located in one of the gullies, I kind of assumed it might just be from wash and might have come from further up the hill. Yesterday, I went back to the same spot and searched up-hill from where I found the rostrum, assuming it may have washed down the gully, but to no avail. I went back to the same spot that I found the rostrum and started digging just a little and came up with this: After some clean-up and reassembly:

I spent part of today on my normal hillside just exploring around. I was picking up the normal shark teeth, fish verts, crab claws, etc, when I came across this: This find is much larger than the normal material I find on this hillside. It measures approximately 100mm long and approximately 20mm diameter on the large end. To me, it appears to possibly be some type of rib tip, as I see no signs of enamel. But if it's a rib tip, I'm having a hard time believing an animal this large when compared to the normal things I find.

I got to spend a couple of hours on my hillside again. No spectacular finds, but I enjoyed myself. That's the main thing, isn't it? I also found these two round "things". I have found them before and always assumed they're infilled burrows. However, today I noticed the brown "lining" material that looks almost bone-like. They're about a half inch in diameter.

I got off from work this morning and it was obvious that it was going to be another beautiful day in Texas, so I thought what better way to spend a couple of hours than searching a part of my hillside that I don't get to very often? I didn't find anything spectacular, but did manage a nice shark vert, some shark teeth and a small piece of fish jaw. The piece of fish jaw had an interesting pattern on the bottom of it. The squali tooth still has the serrations on it. I even managed to flush up a wild turkey that was hiding in some tall grass during my outing. Good times!

Due to several issues, I haven't been able to get out lately, and we've had a few good rains to replenish my hillside. I was finally able to make it out to my hillside on Saturday and found more pieces of the Naomichelys sp. that I found last summer. According to Dr. Walter Joyce, he has identified these as osteoderms: According to Dr. Joyce, "Only terrestrial turtles have osteoderms nowadays, so this is one reason why I believe Naomichelys to be a terrestrial turtle, not aquatic." I also found what Dr. Joyce tentatively identified as a "...a heavily encrusted hooked fifth metatarsal, a peculiarly shaped bone in the foot." Dr. Joyce told me he's still working on the paper on the Naomichelys sp. that was discovered in the Trinity Sands several years ago. He hopes to have the paper published later this year. I'm hoping to get a copy of it once published. Based on the pics he's forwarded to me so far, I'm sure it will be a valuable resource.

I got to spend just about 30 minutes on my hillside today on my way home from work. I found my second Goniophorus. It's not in the best of shape but the coloring was intesting as it came from one of the "red/purple" outcropping areas. I also found a fish tooth similar to one that danwoehr found during his visit (maybe he'll include it in his November report). This one has an oyster that attached to it. EDIT: Added different pics of tooth...better lighting today.

I had a chance to visit my hillside again today. Apparently Dan and Ms. Brett didn't get everything while we were there Sunday and left me some. Dan was able to identify it as definitely Grayson Formation, so now I know for sure. Thanks Dan. I found the normal variety of shark teeth, fish verts, a few echies, and another ryncholite. And sometimes it just seems that the fossils come in pairs: In the famous words of one of our members... Good Times!

Between a very hectic work schedule and having to take care of personal issues at home, it's been a while since I've been able to do any hunting. It's been a month or two since I've been able to get out and we've had a couple of good rains since then, so I've been chomping at the bit to go hunting. I hate it when life gets in the way of living. Since it's been a while since I've been hunting, I felt like my soul was in need of some relaxation and rejuvination. I finally got out this afternoon to replenish my soul. It felt so good to be able to be out on a nice sunny day, listening to a distant train whistle, watching while a red tail hawk circled above me loudly calling out as if to say "...hello old friend...", watching while a vulture slowly circled above me when I stopped to take a break. It felt so good to be back out. I didn't find anything wonderful, but just to be out again rejuvinated my soul. I find similar pieces to this and I've always assumed they were just broken pieces of worm tubes. This one, however, has a very symetrical pattern to it. The pattern doesn't show that well in the pic. An odd piece of broken "gastropod/ammonoid???" And an assortment of shark's teeth

I spent about three hours this afternoon on my favorite hillside again. It seems that's the only place I've been hunting lately, but I keep finding new stuff there, so I figure why go anywhere else? Here's some of the stuff I found today: I also found this "thing". The general shape reminds me of a tooth, though much larger than anything else I've found on this hillside. Other than the general shape, I really don't see a tooth here, maybe just an iron concretion of some sort, but I've never seen a mos tooth in person so I can't say for sure. What's your thoughts? I also found this "thing". It reminds me of a "nautilus hood (beak)" as shown on Lance Hall's website (www.northtexasfossils.com): Edit...My original post identified this as a juvenile turtle. DOH!!! Thanks to fossiladdict and danwoehr...I now see the error of my ways. Once they pointed out echi, I saw it as well. I attribute it to part of my learning process.

I spent a couple of hours on my favorite hillside again this afternoon. We haven't had a rain since the last time I hunted so I went to a different section of the hill that I don't get to very often. Maybe I should start spending more time on this section of the hillside because I found what I believe to be another turtle. This possilbe turtle is not as well preserved as the Naomichelys speciosa that I had previously discovered (http://www.thefossil...ate#entry332240) as it consists only of some shell fragments and some sections of bone. I also don't believe this find is a Naomichelys sp. as this find shows no evidence of the tubercles that identify Naomichelys sp. The preservation on this end of the hillside seems to be a little different than the area I normally hunt. My normal area has many seams of "quarts" running throughout it. Both the Osmeroides sp and the Naomichelys sp. that I found were embedded within these seams of "quartz". However, this end of the hillside does not have the quartz and the preservation of this turtle seems to be more in limestone. Because of this, the bone does not have as much of a "spongy" look to it as the Naomichelys speciosa that I found. Just some of the pieces I recovered: Let me know your thoughts as to whether this is turtle material or not.

I spent some time on my favorite hillside this afternoon. My previous posts had listed this site as Kgm (Mainstreet & Grayson). However, after meeting with Richard (vertman) to review the fish I had found on this hillside, I have since learned that I am "probably" in the Pawpaw formation. Like I previously said, I learned alot during my meeting with Richard. Besides finding my usual variety of shark/bony fish verts and shark teeth, I found a couple of new things to add to my collection. I have collected pycnodont teeth before, but this was the first time to find pycnodont dentition. The vert on the left is unusual for what I normally find. Normally, just fish and shark verts. I'm not sure what it may be from. The tooth (I believe it's a tooth) on the right is unusual, too. It seems to be quite weathered. I'm not sure what it may be from either.

A nice sunny day about 65 degrees in the DFW, TX area so I got to spend about 3 hours on my hillside earlier today. Shark teeth, pycnodont tooth and a vert: Heart Urchins, possibly hemiaster: A couple of ammos: Crab claw fragments: Echinoid plates & spine: Ammo segment with nice suture pattern:

Small shark teeth, a couple more possible Xiphactinus teeth (similar to previously one identified as such) and a "no-clue" (concretion ?) from the Kgm in DFW, TX area:

Last week I had posted this pic of some verts I had found. I ended up finding three verts, all within about 8" of each other. Xiphanctinus graciously identified them as a bony fish. Today I decided to dig around in the same spot, hopefully finding the complete remains (I can always dream). No luck, but I was able to find this tooth fragment, about 6" from where I found the verts. Is it possible this would be a tooth from a bony fish? I found some "similar" examples by doing a google search, but nothing definitive.