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Hi all, Bought this tooth online a while back. It was sold to me as "Ichthyosaurus platyodon" (which I understand to mean Temnodontosaurus platyodon) from Lyme Regis. Likely found by the seller themselves, as I know they occasionally collect fossils there. However, for the following reasons, I'm not sure about this attribution: Overall, the tooth doesn't look like your typical ichthyosaur tooth to me: It has more of an oval rather than round cross-section It's labolingually flattened Messial and distal carinae run the full length of the crown and divide the tooth into labial and lingual parts While fine striations can be seen on one side of the tooth (presumably the lingual side), the other side (which would be the labial) seems entirely smooth - though some traces of rare striations can be seen on the photographs The striations are much more similar to those of crocodile or pliosaur teeth than to the plicidentine condition so typical of ichthyosaurs The horizontal banding on the tooth surface is unfamiliar to me with respect to most marine reptile teeth I have seen, but occurs much more frequently on crocodile teeth of various species I also bought another tooth with the same attribution from the seller, more or less around the same time. This one has no striations whatsoever, has a more rounded base, is less flattened and has a more rounded tip. It also has carinae. I therefore reclassified it as a probable Goniopholis sp. crocodile tooth. Now I know that not having the root makes it more difficult to identify this particular specimen, but I was hoping someone on this forum might be able to help me, as currently it goes without label. I've considered crocodile, plesiosaur and even pliosaur, but all of these have some reservations that prevent final classification. For one, none of these groups have teeth that are typically flattened like this, nor do plesiosaurs (sensu lato, thus including pliosaurs) have carinae. Crocodiles, then again, would either have or not have striations all around the tooth. And what to make of the banding: is this just preservational, or does it reflect the internal structure of the tooth - i.e. outcome of the tooth's ontological growth? Tooth measures 18 mm and is missing the tip. Thanks in advance for your help!

Began prep on something quite special today. Though I’ll be uploading pictures once completed. I have always said, you always find your best stuff heading back to the car. That certainly can be said for this day. I’d not had much lucky all day, these days I’m looking more for stuff to add to the collection, rather than collecting for the sake of it. Couple of nice ammonites but that’s it. I then walked past a spot I had already walked past that morning, when I noticed what looked like a GIANT vert, laying amongst the shale from a recent cliff fall. Yup. It was. Safe to say my breathing was all over the place. I haven’t measured yet, but as a guess. Id say it’s around 25cm. This most likely makes it temnodontosaurus. The real beasts of the sea. If that isn’t the face of happy man. I don’t know what is.

First up, I am not claiming that casts are of equal importance to the actual skeleton. I am annoyed however I come across arguments by anti-collectors that it is not feasible for museums to cast fossils in private collection. The recent rediscovery of the "Proteosaurus" casts should prove beyond any doubt that while a cast isn't on par with the original, they can still provide invaluable research data to paleontologists. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220966 I hope that more paleontologists can consider partnering with private collectors and vice versa. I am sure the majority of private collectors would be happy to loan their fossils to museums

I visted Aust Cliff on the River Severn, Gloucestershire UK back in Feburary and managed to find a large block of the 'Rhaetic Bone Bed' . Lots of bone fragments, fish teeth, even a shark fin spine! But my best finds are a paddle bone and large tooth. (Still got plenty more rock pieces to break open and search for more, so a long term project...) However i would like to I.D this Ichthyosaur in particular. Does anyone know about the early ichthyosaurs from the late Triassic? Age: 208 - 201mya (Late Triassic: Rhaetian) - Aust Cliff Paddle bone - humerus? Tooth (broken off tip sadly):

Hi everyone, I’m curious about an object that is attached to a fossil I recently purchased. This ichthyosaur skull is approximately 50 cm long and adjacent to the snout there’s a darker grey 3-4 centimetre object embedded in the matrix. I keep getting questions from friends about what it is but I have no idea (my wife has started to tell people that it’s an ichthyosaur corpolite, however I’m not convinced). I wrote to the Natural History Museum here in Sweden but they don’t know either. Can anyone here help solve this small mystery? Thanks, TFF is great

Came across this tooth, the location is: Severst Sandstone Formation Volga River Region, Russia Late Jurassic 145 Mya. The striations tells me it's ichthyosaur, but the root looks pliosaur to me, do I'm curious. What do people here think? It's 34 mm long @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

Hi, I always struggle to tell the difference between a Plesiosaur tooth and an Ichthyosaur tooth. This tooth comes from Goulmima in Morocco (lower Turonian) so I believe it is a Plesiosaur tooth (possibly a Pliosaur tooth), but wanted to confirm it here. The tooth is 4.2cm in length and retains the ridges on the tooth which I think is how you might tell the difference between Plesiosaur and Ichthyosaur. Thank you!

My daughter and I have just been down to Penarth in Wales; we’d nearly given up on the place when I spotted this tooth on a slab. It came from the Jurassic layers where I know ichthyosaur and plesiosaur material is regularly found. I’m thinking it’s the latter of these but I have very little knowledge to back this up. Can anyone tell me what the tooth belonged to and maybe even narrow it down to a species. Many thanks for looking IMG_3688.MOV

Hi All, I was walking/ hunting around Monmouth on the Jurassic coast in the UK when I came across this item. It's was in a rockpool at low tide and stood out with it's black colouring in amongst the gray and light flint rock. Most fossils I collected that morning were small clam, mussel and devil toenail shells. It looks like it has been damaged in half and inside has very tiny black crystals. I want to say its a similar shape to a vertebrae but it's probably wishful thinking. I would say 10-12cm diameter. Any thoughts on what if anything this could be would be most welcome. Thank you.

Just spotted this on the beach, thinking it looks like ichthyosaur shoulder bone or something, don’t want to carry it if it’s just a lump of wood though. What are your thoughts? Already seen a rib in one boulder, a vert in another and collected a piece of possible jaw and another bone. Thanks for looking. IMG_1730.MOV

Hey! I just bought a “ ichthyosaur tooth” from online. The teeth sold out really fast so i had to make a quick decision. It’s suppose to be from the Belgorod region. So my question you is, is this a ichthyosaur tooth?

I have seen this for sale, however the seller states that they don’t know if it is real or a replica. I’m thinking it might be worth taking a risk on, but the air bubbles in the bottom are a red flag. It’s clearly another layer to the top so I suppose it could just be something added to the fossil to strengthen the piece. I’m also thinking that such a piece wouldn’t usually be worth making a replica of. What are your thoughts on this; worth the risk at a low price?

Hello! Indulged my hobby a little this weekend (4-7 Mar) and headed to Lyme Regis for some sunny ammonite hunting. Found this while digging on East Beach there… I’m nowhere near experienced enough to determine if it’s even a fossil at all, but it was such an odd shape and I thought I’d ask! About 1 3/8 inch (3.5cm) across and approx 1 inch (2.5cm) thick. Found 5 March 2022 on East Beach, Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK. See photos below for details. Thank you everyone!

Hi all! I've been really busy creating all these watercolour illustrations based on fossils from the Jurassic Coast. Here we have an Ichthyosaur, a Plesiosaur, an Ammonite, a Scelidosaurus and a Belemnite. There will be a few more to come soon...

Hi all! I came across this tooth listed as temnodontosaurus. It's 4 cm long and comes from Lyme Regis. Can anyone here tell if it's temnodontosaurus? @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59915689

Ahoi, I got myself some ichthysaur paddle bones. They are from the Lias Epsilon of Altdorf, Germany. Can someone tell me a species? @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon perhaps? Stenopterygius? I plan to try and shape a paddle from clay with imprints to hold the fossils loosely in place. That will be for the paleo-recreation section then, but first I have to know what shape of paddle to make. Best Regards, J

Hi all! Here I describe how we sift for Late Jurassic fossils in Moscow Fili Park, in continuation of Fili Park evokes mixed feelings. In fact, now it is the main place for Jurassic fish and reptile teeth. Nowhere else in our Jurassic will you be able to say casually: "I'll go find some teeth", here it is possible. Even in Ulyanovsk, with all its skeletons and verts, teeth have to be searched for a very, very long time. For Muscovites, Fili Park is literally close at hand (for me, for example, it takes a little over half an hour to get there). In addition, Fili Park introduces hobbyists to all types of paleo-activities: excavation, sifting, preparation, stabilization, gluing, varnishing, water management, sorting out micro-matrix, etc. On the other hand, it's the most difficult site I have seen in our Jurassic and certainly not a place for a pleasant pastime. Cold, mud, mosquitoes, nettles, everything is flooded with water, everything crumbles and collapses, pouring water and mud on you, while you try to get out your boots gone knee-deep in mud. There are few holes, and digging another is complicated. The place is full of stones, branches and debris, and over the years everything has been so dug up and down that the likelihood of making your way through tons of dirt, debris and old dumps in vain is very high. Excavation and operation of a hole is not a matter of one day or even one person. Dozens of people dig and sift in one hole for a month, with the number of interesting finds combined counted on the fingers of one hand. This year's holes: Unlike Cretaceous sites, micro-matrix in Fili does not consist of teeth in any way. You will not find 60 teeth from a bucket of mud in any wash fraction. In addition, it contains an annoying amount of pseudo-fossils, including those similar to teeth: seeds, twigs, insects, modern shells, black phragmocons and serpula fragments, shiny pebbles, etc. In this regard, there are also objects like this: As far as I understand, these belong to modern insects, if not, please correct. With all this being said, the small size of the location is surprising: all the adventures of recent years have taken place on a small area of 50 by 20 m. I once witnessed guys complaining they could not find teeth by sifting mud. Naive folks! They did not realize the tooth layer was a meter UNDER the stream bed. And the latter is by the way the lowest point of the site. The nikitini zone begins with a thick layer of belemnite shell rock, reminiscent of a concrete lid. After getting through, the matrix becomes soft again, and the pink fulgens fossils get replaced by the black and white palette of nikitini layer. I would call large brachiopods of the genus Mosquella its marker. Instead of smooth kachpurite ammonites, ribbed epivirgatites begin to appear, and rare large (up to 40 cm) lomonossovellas become visible. Each trip for nikitini fossils takes about three hours to clear the old hole. That's why it is important not to postpone the excavation, but keep it within one day, arriving at dawn. Any hole crumbles constantly before the eyes, all the abomination from rubbish and glass to the walls of the fulgens zone slides right into the center of the hole and sinks to the very bottom. Do not try to reinforce the walls with branches and stones, or later you'll have to get all of this out of the target layer. Instead, try to divert as much water as possible from the excavation. See where the streams come from and cut new channels for them. Try not to splash on the walls and do not allow the scooped water to flow back into the hole. The walls collapse where the water flows. Do not make vertical walls, obtuse angles prevent the edges from collapsing. A typical pit in a pit, the smaller hole's edges are formed by the walls of the nikitini belemnite shell rock: For better understanding. Shovel, buckets, sieves, chair. The water has been drained out. The stream is to the right: First of all, in an old (any not freshly dug) hole, you'll have to scoop out several hundred liters of water (the procedure will have to be repeated several times a day). A regular bucket works best here. Unfortunately, the pumps cannot cope with the job. They are either submersible or designed for clean water, etc. Basically a weak surface fecal pump is needed, but there are none for sale. Last time, amateurs in ordinary rubber boots (lol) asked us how we had "drained the hole". With our own hands, getting there in waders up to the max At the second stage, you will need to scoop out all the dirt and debris, a medium-sized fishing scoop helps here (in my opinion, better than a shovel). It is useful when clearing a hole, quickly scooping out water and working with mud. "Awesome" Fili slurry, aka the matrix:

Hi, any thoughts on this, from Lyme Regis? It is sold as Plesiosaur, but does anyone know if that is accurrate or if it is ichthyosaur? Thanks

Hi, I wanted to ask if this is an Ichthyosaur tooth? or whether it could be Pliosaur instead? it comes from Cambridgeshire in the UK and is 5.7cm in length. The seller listed it as an Ichthyosaur tooth, but to me it looks more Pliosaur due to the striations, size and how robust the tooth looks. I'm hoping I can get some confirmation about what it could belong to. Thanks!