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Found the most complete vertebrae today. Caramel brown with intact neural canal. Same location I recovered a Hesperotestudo crassiscutata carapace in January. Inland Venice, Florida. Mostly Pleistocene material here. I don't think it is a gator. Your assistance is appreciated. -Regards,
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I’m excited to finally be able to do a fossil prep post here on TFF. In addition to the Fossils on Wheels stuff, I am also a Supervisor at the Gateway Science Museum here in Chico. I’ve mentioned that the Gateway has some pretty special fossils right now that will become part of a fossil exhibit in the fall. Some of the fossils are getting quite a bit of attention from media outlets from around the world. These fossils come from the Miocene Merton Formation of Central California. Most of the prep work is being done by faculty, staff members and students of the Geology department at CSU Chico. Employees of the museum can also help and today was my first experience prepping a fossil. I got to work on a block containing Tortoise bones and possibly other stuff too. The Tortoise is named Donatello after one of the TMT characters. The block is fairly soft mudstone that contains a lot of volcanic material and was pretty easy to work with. I used dental picks and managed to make some progress. I was probably being a bit more cautious than I needed to be but being my first attempt at this work, I didn’t want to damage anything. I dont know if the pictures will show the progress at that well but I did make some headway. I can not yet tell what part of the Tortoise I have with the exposed pieces so far but I should have a better idea next week. This was so so much fun and a fantastic learning experience. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the prep work. Here are before and after pics of Day 1 of my fossil prep adventure.
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Adventures in the White River Badlands of Colorado
Opabinia Blues posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
I just got back from an amazing and very fruitful week of fossil collecting on the White River Formation in northeastern Colorado. The White River Formation is a very easy and fun rock unit to collect vertebrate fossils on. The White River Formation was deposited during the very latest Eocene and the early Oligocene, though the faunal diversity in the areas I was collecting on suggest it was laid down during the Orellan North American Land Mammal Age, which centers on around 33 million years ago during the Rupelian age of the Oligocene Epoch. I am very lucky to have a grand uncle Gary (no biological relationship to me, is a close family friend who we’ve called “uncle” since I was a toddler) who is a cattle rancher up in northeastern Colorado, and he happens to have a pretty good amount of White River exposure on his property, in addition to some of the neighboring ranches of which Gary knows the owners and helped me to secure permission to collect on a few of them. He really is a great guy and is a real life true American cowboy. He has an interest in natural history and was eager to hear all about the fossils and geology of the area, though has never had the formal education or done the research to learn much about what’s out there. This is the second fossil collecting trip I’ve made to the ranch, though the first one where I’ve stayed for more than one night. The place truly is an amazing trove of fossil treasures and I can’t wait to tell you all about my week! In this thread I’ll make one post for each day (so as to not hit the picture limit too soon). Once I have the fossils prepped I’ll give updates here as well. Day 1, Sunday: My first day at the ranch began, ironically, at my own house. I had packed up the Jeep the night before with my field bag, two coolers filled with seven day’s worth of food, a suitcase full of clothes, and other such supplies for my fossil safari. I left my home early in the morning, took I-76 east to Fort Morgan, and then headed north to the ranch, in total about a 2.5 hour drive. The rest of the morning and early afternoon I spent visiting with and going over logistics with Gary and his wife and settling in at the ranch house I would be staying at, a property that used to be the home of another rancher before Gary acquired the property in 2002. They still maintain the house and it has both electricity and running water, so it makes a fantastic guest house and a place to stay when they’re doing work over on that side of their land. In the evening after I had made myself a quick dinner I decided I wanted to head down to a very productive exposure I had collected on last September for the evening. There was a partial oreodont skeleton that I had discovered eroding out of the hill the last time I was up there, and I wanted to see if there were any more bones there that had eroded out and I could collect. I picked up a few more bones from the feet and ankles that had been exposed in the last eight months and decided to take a scenic route back to my vehicle. A photo of the area of exposure I was in Sunday evening. This piece of badland will become very important throughout the rest of the week... On my walk back I walked over a ridge that I had apparently never been over, becase on a flat wash I noticed a pile of bone fragments. I approached the pile assuming that it would be yet another exploded tortoise shell that are so common in the area. As I got closer however, I was delightfully surprised to see the distinctive black color of fossil enamel, and a bit of digging revealed an eroded Subhyracodon jaw section, along with several loose teeth that I presume had come from the same section of jaw. This find, along with an oreodont jaw section I found later on while walking back to the Jeep that night, would be but a foreshadow of the big finds I would make later in the week. Two photos of the Subhyracodon jaw section as it was found in the field. The jaw section and some teeth after I had cleaned them up a little bit at home this afternoon.
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With a week of collecting under my belt I felt ready and excited to take on the next, this time exclusively on the White River formation. All factors being considered, the White River is probably the most difficult formation to hunt among those I've been lucky enough to explore thus far. For one, the terrain is often very rough, with all sorts of ridges, rises, washes and gullies to hike through. Another issue to account for is the reflection of light off of the white sediments, meaning that ample sunscreen is a necessity if you don't want to burn to a crisp. That harsh sunlight can lead to temperatures regularly topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with the highest I endured this week being 115. To say the least, the word exposure out here lives up to both of its connotations. Despite the challenges, the fossils can make it all worth it. While the expansive white moonscape may be poorly suited to growing grass and raising cattle today, the former inhabitants of these lands show that it was once a more hospitable place, supporting a diverse ecosystem teeming with prey and predators, with lineages represented that would be familiar to us today. With that little preface out of the way let's jump into the action! Week 2, Day 1: We started the day with the 80 mile trip south towards the town of Lusk, Wyoming, which eventually led us onto the back roads of this massive ranch & finally to our destination. Our first designated hunting area was a large series of exposures, accessible through descending from the grass line into this depression. My first couple finds were the typical jaw sections, mostly small artiodactyl. But as the sun climbed higher in the sky, I crossed over a wash and saw what would be my find of the morning: A complete oreodont jaw with both sides preserved, plus the articulating ends. Following the jaw, I came across a spill of titanothere tooth fragments, so I collected everything I could find in hopes I could reassemble most of it at home. About a half hour passed with me not finding much until I spotted some bones eroding from the surface. Unfortunately it appeared that the elements had gotten to it before I did, so I kept some of the more interesting pieces and moved along.
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Got back out to the Peace River yesterday, returning to the spot that gave me a nice bison tooth on my previous visit. It was 67* F on arrival and breezy. A bit unusual for Florida at this time of year! The water was warmer than the air temp. It was also a little deeper, more cloudy and running a little faster due to rain the previous night. I paddled up stream, portaged over a small area of rapids and was digging by 8:30am. Started off in the last dig spot but was turning up nothing but small shark teeth. It was enough to keep me encouraged but not enough to keep me from feeling the cold breeze. It got to the point where I put my life jacket on to help retain body heat - wind chill in Florida can make it feel downright cold! Who knew? With the first dig spot not yielding much I moved about 20' and started in on some fresh gravel. It wasn't long before I started picking up some nice finds. First was a nice horse molar - A little while later up came a small jaw bone - some type of rodent or fish? It measured 40 mm x 16 mm x 4 mm. All the while I kept picking up various shark teeth, pieces of turtle/tortoise shell, a small piece of dolphin jaw and 5 small turtle leg spurs. My digging was interrupted by another fossil hunter heading north on the river who stopped to chat for a while. Turned out he was not "aware" he needed a permit and said he would be sure to apply for one right away. This came up because he mentioned his hopes of finding artifacts and I let him know it would be illegal for him to take any from the river. When we started talking I had stuck my shovel into the gravel pile and turned away from it. After my visitor moved on I pulled up the shovel and sitting right on top was the largest complete turtle/tortoise scute I have ever found. It measures 79 mm x 55 mm x 10mm - maybe Giant Tortoise? - I was unable to find a match last night in my reference materials. The site continued to provide surprises with this camel cuboid popping up a little later - It measures 43 mm x 16 mm x 4mm I feel pretty confident in the ID thanks to a photo reference I found here on the forum created and posted by @Harry Pristis I include here for comparison - Thanks Harry! I think I had a great day with finds that also included a couple of alligator teeth tips and a cup full of various shark teeth - I think a return to the same spot is warranted on Monday!
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Found some bones sticking out of the creek bank in Central TX. Area has confirmed Mastodon remains. Tusks and a tooth all found within 1/4 mile of this site. Bones are 12 feet below the top of the bank. I did a little digging around today to get a feel for what it could be. It appears it could be a large pelvis bone (4-5 feet wide). I also found a small bone that appears to be from the foot/toes etc. Not really sure how I should proceed. Is there any educational value in this type of bones? Who would one contact to ask? I am sure Mastodon bones are fairly common. Not good pics, but the fireants were getting me so didnt get much done. Gonna get some poison and go back again.
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These two pieces came out of a dump truck with older Pleistocene material in Venice, FL. Found 5 Lightning Whelk shells in this load. Large piece of shiny osteoderm has other bones in the matrix. I have not found this type of piece before. ID welcomed. - Michael
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Found this fossil inland, Venice, FL. Early Pleistocene material. I believe this is perhaps tortoise shell showing spinal attachment point to vertebrae. Piece. Measures 17cm x 13cm x 5cm thick. All photos taken at 1x. I look forward to reading your remarks. - Michael
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Found this huge chunk of tortoise shell yesterday while scouting a new gravel bar on the Brazos River near Houston. I've found many fragments before, but never anything this large. What got me even more excited was how it seems that it's a mostly complete bone (except for some wear on one of the flat edges that would have been an area where the bone joined another piece of the shell). I tentatively identified it as a peripheral from the edge of the shell from a Hesperotestudo sp., since they seem to be the only species of giant tortoise that lived in Texas during the Pleistocene. Can anyone with better references than me confirm or deny this? Thanks for looking!
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Hello everyone, hope someone can help ID this claw for me to at least genus. This came from Burnet County, TX cave on the river. It is well fossilized and solid, from an older layer in the cave where I have found two turtle species - Apalone and an unidentified leg hole fragment of turtle/tortoise the material is Late Pleistocene. I am figuring this claw probably belongs to my unidentified turtle shell piece but the shell fragment is pretty beat up.
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I found this partially covered in sand and very shallow water at the edge of a sandbar in a local stream. I cleaned it up with vinegar and a toothbrush when I got home. The fossils in the river near me are supposed to mostly be Pleistocene, but I've also heard that there may be some Cretaceous period marine fossils. I tagged this as a possible turtle piece because that's what it resembled to me, but I couldn't really find anything like it when I searched the internet and this site. I have more pictures, including pictures from before I cleaned it, if those would be helpful. It weighs about a pound. Any information would be great. Thank you! --Brandy
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Tortoise shell peices found on and/or in the ground.
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I found the piece of shell shown below, which seems big to me, and was wondering what kind of type/size turtle it might be from. Would it be comparable, for example, to something like a modern giant land tortoise, which could be as much as 4 feet long - or something smaller or bigger than that. Not a test - just wondering how you might guesstimate the size and type of the turtle. Thanks. .
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Hello, I live in between Venice and North Port, FL, close to the Myakka. I have been finding tortoise fossils/clasts in my neighborhood. Most are in moist clay within a foot from surface. This location is SW of the Peace River Formation. I find deer antler, Meg teeth, and manatee ribs fully fossilized here also. This is Pleistocene area. I have not found fully fossilized tortoise. Mine are not totally solidified. I find many scutes/ spurs along with the clasts that are hardened. Looking for advice. Photos of one sample attached. Regards, Michael
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Hello, I live in between Venice and North Port, FL, close to the Myakka. I have been finding tortoise fossils/clasts in my neighborhood. Most are in moist clay within a foot from surface. This location is SW of the Peace River Formation. I find deer antler, Meg teeth, and manatee ribs fully fossilized here also. This is Pleistocene area. I have not found fully fossilized tortoise. Mine are not totally solidified. I find many scutes/ spurs along with the clasts that are hardened. Looking for advice. Photos of one sample attached. Regards, Michael
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I'm trying to determine how long it takes for something like this to happen to a tortoise egg. Years, decades, hundreds of years? I found this Gopher Tortoise egg in the South Georgia/North Florida area. It is about the size of a ping pong ball, heavy and solid. It had been washed up in the rain and was found in soil that consists of a lot of sand, peat and clay. The egg appears "fossilized" or "petrified" for lack of a better term. The shell is firm and porcelain-like with a lot of scratches. I candled the egg to show where the air sack appears to remain after staining itself into place and confirms it was an infertile egg. I can share a video link I have of the egg if it would be helpful and allowed.
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Hi I found this on the beach at lake mcconaughy in Nebraska which means it could be Pleistocene or Miocene but most likely from the Ash Hollow formation. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to bones and could use some help figuring out what this is. Thanks! P.s. I did the flame test and it’s fully mineralized.
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One last piece for today as I clean up my finds from my trip to Myrtle Beach. I have a few pieces like this and I think they are tortoise. Just wanted to confirm. Thoughts?
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Hi gang, been awhile...I was puzzling over these two items below again. Found several years ago here in Florida. One a possible osteoderm? and the other an ungual? Mio/Pliocene? or Pleistocene? in age. First specimen I thought was some type of tortoise armor, has a concentric wafer shape and is about 3 cm across and about 1cm thick. Under closer inspection there appears to be an odd fracturing going along the outside and also some minor cracking which appears to be forming a hexagonal outline/pattern....Just a coincidence? Do any glyptothere osteoderms show an internal hexagonal pattern? Left photo is ventral? and the far right photo is the opposite side--dorsal view? Middle photo highlites the fracturing/cracking patterns.... 2nd specimen I thought was a tortoise ungual but in looking at several older threads I'm now wondering if it looks more like it might belong to a glyptothere? Its only about 2cm long. Thanks for any/all help. Regards, Chris
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Hello again. After I discovered a big fossilized bone on a hill close the Shipwerck beach in Ruwais, I decided to go searching in the same area for more fossils. I found all of these on relatively the same layer of the hill. I assume they are from the miocene. The first one looks like a crocodile scute. The second one looks like a shell from a tortoise. The third one I am not sure of. I would appreciate confirmation and a possible id. I know UAE fossils can be a bit tricky.
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I’m getting a tortoise vibe from this bone. Can anyone confirm? If so which phone is this? Thanks!I’m getting a tortoise vibe from this bone. Can anyone confirm? If so which phone is this? Thanks!
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My Stylemys nebrascensis tortoise from the Oligocene Brule Formation of Nebraska
MarcoSr posted a topic in Member Collections
I found this tortoise on my sons’ M&M Ranch in Nebraska. It is a Stylemys nebrascensis tortoise from the Oligocene Brule Formation. It is a monster, 23"x17.5"x8" around 150 pounds in weight. It has minimal restoration. I actually found this tortoise in May 2016. You can check out the below TFF post to see it being dug out. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/65393-oligocene-tortoise-from-the-mm-ranch-in-crawford-nebraska/& Because of the size, our normal prepper wouldn’t originally prep this tortoise. So my sons brought it back to Virginia and my older son did the gross prep by removing most of the matrix leaving only what was sticking to the shell. He reduced a lot of the original jacketed weight. My older son then convinced our normal prepper to do the fine prep. My sons drove the tortoise back out to South Dakota where our prepper finished it. My older son will bring it back to Virginia next Spring, four years after I originally found it. Here are some pictures. The back legs are really cool and usually don’t survive. The only thing that I’m a little disappointed about is the color. There were two exploded black tortoises very close to this one so I was hoping for the rare black color. The tan/brown color is nicer than the more common white color but it isn’t as nice as the black color. Marco Sr.
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We found this while cutting trails in our forest, on the banks of our spring fed natural pond. We live in southeast Oklahoma, in the Ouachita National Forest, in the Kiamichi River Valley. All of which used to be underwater eons ago. Every single person who has seen it in person, has said it looks like a petrified turtle. It’s heavy like stone & the top is darker with a slight greenish tint & is very smooth & not rough like the bottom or like a rock. The outdoor lighter is 12 inches long. Thank you so much in advance, for your help & insights into what it could possibly be!
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So I've lurked on the forum for some time and decided to post my project. This is a stylemys tortoise that I've had since high school. It was really never worth recovering, being incomplete and completely disarticulated due to weathering. It was also somewhat crushed with only the plastron being in decent shape. Despite the challenge, I've decided to push onward, because it's got sentimental value at this point. The plastron was pretty easy to assemble: I have about 75% of the carapace (comprising the vertebral and costal scutes) but I only have about 50% of the edge (marginal scutes). This was the really painful part. Everything visible here was re-assembled from small disarticulated pieces: Here's some more carapace and all the leftover bits: My original hope was that I'd have enough to re-assemble the entire shell as one piece, without having to fill the holes. However it's clear that I don't really have a complete shell, nor is the bone strong enough to support itself without filling the gaps. In particular I'm missing most of the bridge connecting the carapace to the plastron. The plan now is to use epoxy to fill in the missing shell where necessary. I am undecided as to what extent I will try to color match the restoration (versus leaving it a different color to identify the restoration). Steve
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Went out to the Badlands last week for some fossil hunting. Little bits of turtle shell are a common sight and the folks with me were in turtle fragment city, but this find was a little unusual. Take a look at what is turning into a whole tortoise plastron!
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