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Purchased from online. Morocco fossil. Are they Mosasaur, Plesiosaur, Spinosaur or other species? Need help for ID, Thanks!
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Hi, Wanted to ask whether the morphology of this claw matches well with an Abelisaur claw, it is 1.5 inches long, and from the Kem Kem. I know it isn't Spinosaurid and the shape seems to suggest either Abelisaurid or Carcharodontosaurid, but i can't be certain. Thanks.
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I have found this theropod tooth in my collection. I bought it as a Carcharodontosaurus tooth, but I'm not sure about the Identification. I would like to hear your opinion on the ID. The tooth is from the Kem Kem Formation (Morocco) and is 51mm (2") in lenght. Serrations on the distal carina can be recognized. Can you help me? Kind regards from Germany!
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Brittle star fossil, genuine or carved?
MarielleK posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hello all. I saw this brittle star fossil up for sale, and wanted to check if it was genuine. It says it is from Morocco, and from the Ordovician period. I know a lot of sea stars and brittle stars coming out of Morocco are carved. I am not as educated on echinoderm fossils as much as others. I've included pictures. What do you all think? Thank you!
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Day Two ; Locality Two (or Seven if you include Day One) Prepping and Retail, Erfoud, Morocco. 20th February 2019 Erfoud town itself is famous for its beautiful fossils, its skilled fossil preppers and also for its wide variety of fakes, composites, good and bad repair jobs and utter frankenfossils. A large percentage of fossils from Morocco that are available in shops and on the internet the world over originate from here or pass through the place. Fossils are sent here for prepping from all over the south and then sent from here everywhere in the country and abroad. There are many little shops, prepping centres with huge attached shops and 'museums which are really pretty much just shops as well. Top Tip :The prices here are about ten times the price of the prices in the little shacks on the edge of town or elsewhere in Morocco, but haggling can reduce the cost significantly. Many places have 'fixed' prices, but they're actually always negotiable. This time, we went to the one my friend Anouar, who is a tour guide, takes his tourists and I was asked politely not to accuse the owners and chap who'd show us around and do the chat, of having fakes or wrong info, so i had to bite my lip. We asked if it was okay to take photos and they said yes, which I was surprised about, but I guess it was because Anouar was going to use photos for his own purposes and this would involve advertising the shop. Top Tip : You will see a lot of fixed prices in Moroccan Dirham in the pieces and shelves. Divide by ten to have a price in US dollars. Because we were with Anouar, we were told everything is 50% of the marked price, but I suspect they often do this anyway, "Special Berber prices, today only". I've heard that before. And you can still haggle to get something way under that 50% and you just know they'll still be making a good profit. I didn't buy anything. Little local stores are more my line anyway - I rarely shop in supermarkets. Here is the entrance where you can see huge plates ready for prepping and polishing, some have been cut into pieces and they glued back together it seems to me, I know this happens with the crinoid beds, so i guess it's true of the orthocerid and goniatite stuff too. Some just look cobbled together because of the circular saw marks when cutting out upper layers.With these, polishing will remove the grid lines. These sheets are from the local area and contain the goniatites and orthoconic nautiloids we were walking on earlier, but from a better quality, less eroded and distorted source. Famennian, Upper Devonian, I think. This photo shows one of the trenches they dig to reach the best quality material, similar to the ones i was walking along earlier this day : Below, somebody walking on the slabs and some maps of the the world at different times in it's past, showing continental drift. : Notice these are not the famous black orthocerid marbles that come from elsewhere. The picture of Spinosaurus is a bit misleading, as you all know, it's not found in these marbles or in the Erfoud area. In fact there is very little Kem Kem material available here these days, though there was in the past. I suspect the Kem Kem area probably has it's own facillities nowadays.
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A distal caudal vertebra of a Spinosaurid. What's slightly unusual about this vertebra is that it's slightly more slender than most Spinosaurid caudal vertebrae, which have a more square shaped centrum as seen from the lateral side. I am currently uncertain whether this is individual variation or that it might be taxonomically significant.
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Moroccan dinosaur vertebrae
Pterygotus posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
How do these fossils look? They are labelled as: 1.indeterminate 2.rebbachiasaurus 3.carcharadontosaurus 4.spinosaurus and could someone please ID the indeterminate one
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I have a few questions about trilobites. 1) Does anyone know the size of the largest trilobite ever found? 2) What is the average size of a trilobite in North America, specifically New York state? 3) What is the average size of a trilobite found in Morocco? 4) Why does it seem like trilobites are mostly found in New York state and Morocco? Do maps of what the Earth might of looked like during the Devonian period? I had a bit of a disappointing first hunting trip for these little creatures in Tully, NY yesterday and any answers that will help me better understand them will be appreciated greatly.
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Drotops Megalomanicus and Hollardops Mesocristata
MarielleK posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hello all. I am viewing a few trilobite fossils for sale (names in the thread title) and wanted you guys to have a look over. If all looks well, what would you pay for these? They are sourced from Morocco. For the double trilobite fossil, would these specimens be found together naturally? Or is it possibly a composite.
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I got a call last week to pick up a croc skull for repair. I excitedly went to get said skull only to find a rather poorly done fake for me to repair. I said, “you know this is fake right?” The response was “uh, yah. Go ahead and fix it.” So, I have gone from fossil preparation to “art” restoration today. This is what I had to work with. Seems easy enough right? Wrong! The hard part about fixing a fake is understanding how the fake was built in the first place. This is made of random bone fragments cemented into a “matrix” with random croc teeth cemented in place. They didn’t even try to make it look real, clean up the cement, or put teeth in the right place. So, I had to figure out where these things are “supposed to go”. After the repairs were done, I scraped off some of the “matrix” and made a paste with glue to fill the cracks...
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Partial right shoulder blade of a Spinosaurid. Very similar to that of the neotype skeletal reconstruction of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. There are several large gnaw marks on the lateral side of the bone.
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Was having a look at a few Kem Kem bones for sale and i came across this. It is a long bone at 26.8cm in length, looks quite thin with both ends intact (though one end has a different colouration to the rest of the bone). Wanted to get some thoughts as i originally thought this could be from a Pterosaur or a small non-avian theropod, but it seems a bit different to the Pterosaur femurs i have seen (which is what the fossil is being sold as). I am thinking it could be a leg bone from a bird? but i am no expert on Cretaceous birds. Can i ask for some opinions on this bone? thanks in advance.
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Hi, I bought this ammonite at least 10 years ago and have completely forgot about it since then. It is rough on one side and cut and polished along the mid-line of the shell revealing the interior. I'm certain it is an ammonoid (vs a nautiloid) due to S shaped suture lines and outward curving septa. What I can't figure out is genus and locality of this ammonite. I think it's fair to say this is a mass produced ammonite from madagascar or morocco but I can't seem to find much on the marker currently to draw an association. I've attached some pics.. thanks for your help!
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Mid-anterior caudal vertebra of a Spinosaurid.
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Hello All I prepped this fossil today. First decent prep job so I am extremely happy I could do this. The fossil is from the Kem Kem beds and is nearly completely hollow. Before I prepped it it didn't look this hollow, so I tough it would be a vertebra. Now I think it's a skull part. I have no idea from what or from what part this is. What do you all think? It's not that big, about 10 cm. @LordTrilobite, @Troodon, @Haravex Thanks already for your help. Greetings.
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Hi All Can you please help me get the accurate ID of this tooth from Sahara of Morocco. Thank you Malek
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Hello! I recently bought a moroccan Carcharodontosaurus tooth and found, to my surprise, this little guy wedged underneath the foam in the box. It's hollow and looks a bit like a croc tooth but I'm not sure. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!
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Day Two ; Locality One (or Six if you include Day One) Black Sahara, South of Erfoud 20th February 2019 Well this is where things really get interesting, so stick with this thread as there are dozens of photos of fossils coming up. Looks at the tags if you want clues. I was up bright and early and wandered out at about 7 am to watch the sun rise over the still mighty Erg Chebbi dunes. And as night's candles were burnt out and jocund day stood tiptoe over the misty duney tops, the chaps came to join me and managed lots of photos. Here's one, if you would like to see more, I'm busy posting a kazillion of 'em under the Nature Photography thread.
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Day One; Locality Four Tizi N'Talghaumt Pass 19th February 2019 This pass runs through a slightly lower section of the eastern High Atlas along the course of the Ziz River which snakes its way right through to Algeria. These wonderful trees are common in the Sub Sahara, but I don't know what they are. We stopped by the altitude sign overlooking the Aoufous Oasis on the River Ziz. Whilst wifey and Abdulla admired the huge palmerie oasis, one of the largest in Morocco, Anouar and I nipped across the road to see what we could find :
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Hi, any Sauropod experts out there? i saw this fossil for sale and the seller thinks it could be a partial Sauropod bone from the Kem Kem Beds. He notes that he isn't too confident with the id and could also be from a theropod. It is 12 inches in length. Any diagnostic features that could help? Thanks in advance!
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So i bought this fossil trilobite a while ago. Is it real? If so what genus, species etc. would it be? Ask if more pictures are needed.
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Day One ; Locality Three. Midelt 19th February 2019 The Berber nomads are hospitable, generous and very tough : The snow disappears soon after you get onto the High Plains between the Middle and High Atlas ranges. Here are the High Atlas looming in the distance : As one approaches the town of Midelt, the layered geology of what is mostly Dogger, the old name for the Middle Jurassic, still used here, becomes clear : Midelt is full of fossil shops, however most of the fossils, including a kazillion trilobites, actually come from elsewhere. Jurassic ammonites may be from here, and many of the small cut and polished ammonites are from around here, but Midelt is most famous for its minerals, vanadinite especially. Also lead ores, barite and flourite. Top Tip : Don't buy fossils in Midelt unless it's a cut and polished small ammonite you want. Minerals, yes, many are beautiful and very cheap. Hmm, this looks interesting................. "Stop the car!"
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Day One; Locality Two AZROU February 19th 2019 A little further on in the High Atlas Mountains, at the heart of the cedar forest, lies the Berber village of Azrou, which means 'rock' in the Amazigh language of the locals. There is a huge and famous boulder just outside the town, hence the name. Many of the towns and especially villages in the mountains and the south of Morocco are populated by the Berber people rather than Arabs, so knowing a bit of Berber can really help get prices down and make the people extremely cooperative as speaking Arabic is not as impressive here as it is in the larger cities and towns elsewhere. Top Tip : A little Arabic is helpful, but a few words in Amazigh goes a long, long way. See the monkeys in the trees? Check out the Nature Photography Thread for more pics of the trees and monkeys. While wifey and the guys became acquainted with the famous Barbary Apes, actually a type of macaque monkey, I spotted the fossil shop opposite. And hurried across. The big ammonite is a man made beastie, often seen outside fossil shops to attract attention, but the quite large one near the front is real and from the local area. This is just the first of a whole row of shops set in a line running away from the road. However, the prices were very high, even with haggling and local languages, probably because this monkey area is a tourist hot spot. The local rocks seem to be Middle Jurassic and also contain some beautiful, large high-spired gastropods. Sorry, no photo, the cameras were back with the others. I managed to get some information on where to find some specimens only a ten minute walk away, so i set off into the forest, carefully avoiding large dollops of snow falling from the trees as the temperature rose. But the snow became deeper, the terrain dipped and it became impossible for me to proceed any further, so sadly, I sobbed and retreated back to the road. Caradhras had defeated him.
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Our Moroccan trip from 19th-23rd February 2019. Day One; Locality One IFRANE Here we are near Ifrane, a village built by the French in the 1930's in a Swiss chalet style so there are pointy roofs instead of the usual traditional flat roofs of Moroccan buildings. This is wifey and Anouar, a Moroccan tour guide, old friend and one time student of English, his brother, our driver Abdullah, is taking the photo. Anouar paid for the trip, accommodation and food in return for me teaching him a little about the fossils, crystals and minerals that we encountered. The trip was mainly an exploratory voyage for me to discover where was worth revisiting when i was alone and had more time to spare. Somewhere in this area are outcrops of Pleinsbachian (stage of the Liassic/ Lower Jurassic) rocks that are stuffed with terebratulid brachiopods including more than a dozen species and subspecies that were first described from this locality, many unique to the site. Unfortunately, it's well off the beaten track, but I think i know roughly where now, so will return another day. Not time today! The area is covered in loose rocks, ploughed up in fields and roadbuilding, eroded from outliers or washed into the area in the autumn rainy season floods or spring melts. The ones behind us look Middle Jurassic to me, yellowish limestones, some with iron staining. Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks are also in the region. The high ridges in the background are basalt intrusions as the Atlas mountains were formed as Africa began to collide with Europe throughout the Palaoegene and Neogene and this resulted in a lot of volcanoes. We moved on north of the village and stopped where we saw a group of the local fossil huts. These are all year round businesses, but in the season, from May til October you will find little stalls selling local fossils and minerals all the way along the route through the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. But the temporary stalls are all closed at this time of year, as it's pretty chilly and there are few tourists. Top Tip : Always pop into a couple of different shops and check out prices. Tell the next shopkeeper how much the previous one had stated and see if they'll undercut for a similar item. Always, always haggle! Top Tip : Ask which fossils and crystals are local if you don't know already; most of the shops in Morocco have local fossils and others from all over the country. Local fossils will usually be much cheaper, wait until you get nearer to the localities of other fossils and see the prices come down! Top Tip : If you have the time, ask the purveyors of local fossils to show you where they came from. Then go and have a look. They don't mind this at all.
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I am certainly not getting my hopes up for this fossil, because from experience of seeing theropod teeth placed in croc jaws and people labeling it as a 'rare Spinosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus jaw" on the market, the likelihood of finding an original jaw with associated teeth not from different animals is extremely rare (at least in the case of theropods and pterosaurs). However the seller has this as a Pterosaur jaw piece with one associated Pterosaur tooth and wanted to see whether you all think this is a composite or not. From what i know, there have only been two toothed Pterosaur jaw sections found from the Kem Kem Beds (the holotype for Siroccopteryx and the holotype for Coloborhynchus Fluviferox). The fossils is 5 inches by 3 inches. Thanks.
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