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Showing results for tags 'Virginia'.
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We recently were able to take a trip to the Miocene of Virginia along the Potomac River. We weren't sure what the conditions would be, as the last time we were here the tide was extremely high limiting the length of the beach and how much was accessible. When we got to the beach we could tell it would be a good day, the tide was pretty low with still a couple hours to go before low tide, and we could see long stretches of beach in both directions. As we walked I wasn't having to much luck, but my wife who trailed behind me was finding some good sized hastalis teeth that I had missed. Once we got to a better section of the beach with cobble and larger rocks, we really started to take our time searching. In about ankle deep water I looked down and spotted a 4 7/8 inch halved meg, I couldn't believe it! By far the biggest and most complete meg I had ever found up to this point (Previously have only found very worn bits and pieces of megs). We kept searching and stopped to talk for a bit and when I looked down I saw another very worn meg sticking almost fully out of some fallen clay matrix. We were both happy with the day so far! Between two partial megs and a good number of hemi's and nice hastalis, it was definitely one of our more productive days. We reached the end of the accessible beach and decided to head back. On the way back, I was searching up along the higher parts of the shore and saw a small clay block with some black sticking out and picked it up. Looking at it I thought it was just some lignite, but decided to look a bit closer. I picked at it a bit and it ended up being a meg! My first complete and whole meg, I was extremely happy with the find and could finally check that off my list. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better day weather or finds wise. For teeth we ended up with a good haul of hastalis, hemis, two partial and one whole megs, and a retroflexus.The plate pictured has on it a whale vert, epiphysis, and various shark or fish verts,
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I recently found this 9mm by 7mm specimen in matrix from the Eocene Nanjemoy Formatiion of Virginia. I think it is a piece of a Chimaera tooth plate. However, in collecting the Nanjemoy Formation in Virginia for over twenty years I have never found a Chimaera tooth plate or a fragment of one. For that reason I don't want to rule out a coral fragment. However, I haven't found a piece of coral in this formation before either. For comparison, a Chimaera tooth plate (25mm by 16mm) from the Paleocene Aquia Formation of Maryland: What do you think (especially the invertebrate/coral experts)? Marco Sr.
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I have already posted pictures of this partial jaw in a topic “The most rare fossil on your collection” in “Member Collections”. However, I would like to start a thread here in “Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science” so I can discuss any updates with this partial jaw. I found this partial jaw ( 3mm by 3mm by 1mm) in February 2019 in matrix from the Eocene, Nanjemoy Formation, Potapaco B Member in Virginia. Below are pictures that I took of the partial jaw: I sent these pictures and then the specimen itself to Dr. Ken Rose who is a Johns Hopkins University emeritus and who is associated with the Smithsonian Institution. From looking at the pictures Ken had originally thought that the specimen might be from a hedgehog. However, after receiving and seeing the specimen itself, I got the following statement in an e-mail from Ken “I’ve had a chance to look at your jaw, and it turns out to be significant. It’s not a hedgehog. This is the first primate jaw I know of from the east coast. By all means search the concentrate for any other pieces that could relate to it (premolars would be especially useful)”. This is an example demonstrating that even very good pictures may not be adequate to get an accurate ID of a specimen. Because of the rarity of the specimen I donated it to the Smithsonian Institution. This fossil actually caused the USGS and Dr. Weems to relook at the age of the Eocene Potapaco B Member of the Nanjemoy Formation in Virginia where it was found. I sent matrix samples to the USGS from the hole where the specimen was found and they confirmed that the layer was the Potapaco B Member of the Nanjemoy Formation by looking at the dinoflagellates in the matrix samples. However, Dr. Rose determined that the features of the specimen where much more primitive than the published NP11 date of that layer suggested. So Dr. Weems looked back at all of the research and core samples on the Nanjemoy Formation and determined that the Potapaco B Member of the Nanjemoy Formation was actually about a million years older than previously reported and was in the top of NP10 versus in NP 11. So the age of the specimen was tentatively determined to be 54 to 54.5 Ma. A paper would have been published this spring/summer but Covid-19 stopped everything cold. The Dr. Rose's lab was closed and he wasn't able to compare primate specimens from museum collections because the museums were closed. However progress has been made recently and comparisons with other fossil primate specimens have been completed and a paper is in preparation (first draft is almost done). Figures have been drafted, but there is a problem with the resolution of the scanned images of the jaw, so the jaw may have to be rescanned which requires sending it back to North Carolina. However, optimistically Dr. Rose will submit the paper by the end of this year. I can't say anything about the ID of the specimen until the paper is released. Below is a figure showing representative lower dentitions of Omomyid primates from researchgate.net: Below are pictures showing an artist conception of what an Omomyid primate looked like (alamy stock photo) and a representative Omomyid skull both from Wikipedia.org: Marco Sr.
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This was found in Stratford Hall, VA. Most likely a rock but would like a second opinion
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I have been wondering what to do with the graptolites I have found. Currently they're scattered around the house, which I think is a sign to put them up for display. Please... help... the graptolites are taking over my house! How do you suggest I display them?
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Finally getting around to posting about my recent trip to Stratford Cliffs in Virginia with the Maryland Natural History Society. It was a lot of fun, found some cool stuff, and met some nice people. Here are pictures of some of the finds I took home!
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Bony fish specimens from the Eocene of Virginia
MarcoSr posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
A number of Eocene bony fish specimens from Virginia that I collected and donated to the Smithsonian are described in an article by Dr. Robert E. Weems “ADDITIONS TO THE BONY FISH FAUNA FROM THE EARLY EOCENE NANJEMOY FORMATION OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA (U.S.A)” published in The Mosasaur Volume XI June 2020. I collected and donated the following specimens shown in the below figures: 4D thru 4F: 5A, 5C, 5D, 5E: 6A, 6B, 6G, 6H : 7B: 8A, 8B: Marco Sr.
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Hi everyone, I am pretty new to fossil hunting and don't know much yet. I have found lots of shark teeth over the last year, close to 100, but don't know what a lot of them are. The vast majority of my collection is #6 & #9. Those seem pretty common. I have found around 8 of #1 (the one in the photo is the largest), four of #2, two of #3, and around 5 of #7. Numbers 4,5,8,10 are my only finds like those pictured. I would love some assistance identifying these if anyone knows what they are. Please let me know if you would like close ups of any tooth. I would be happy to add some additional photos if necessary. All the best, etj915
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Hi all - I am new to the group so please forgive me if I miss any information. I found this piece in question on a sandbar right off of Wallops Island, Virginia. I believe it is some kind of tooth or claw/talon. Unfortunately I am on vacation and left the piece at home. But I estimate it to be around 6 inches long (0.15 meters) and about 2 inches wide (0.05 meters). It has a little weight to it but still light. This was the best picture I had that shows the full piece and the root top.
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Most of the vertebrae that I find are 1/4” in size. Found this 2” vertebrae near the York River State Park in Virginia. Any ideas on what it belonged to?
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Hi, found this tooth along the York River near Gloucester VA. Any ideas on what it is?
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- reptile tooth
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Hi everyone. I found this fossil while combing a fossil beach on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. The beach is littered with fossils from the Miocene including Chesapecten jeffersonius, Ecphora gardnerae, bone fragments of all sizes, and the occasional shark tooth. This stood out to me as being an unusual bone fragment so I picked it up. It is about 3 inches or 7.62cm in length. Is this a piece of a bone or something else entirely?
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Hello fine people! I’m not quite sure who gets the credit for finding this tooth, I saw it from the canoe but was just next to my friends hand when I saw it, they won the coin toss, but I guess I still want to make a fuss about it. It’s real pretty and very sharp, like it must have just fallen out of the clay, but I haven’t seen a Mako with cusp like formations in the root. I know there is tremendous diversity in these type of teeth but I’m curious if this is indicative of a specific species variation, or some kind of pathology, or maybe all the others I find are worn off. Just curious if this seems like something that others have noticed perhaps tying this tooth to a specific age. Found on the nottoway in southern Virginia. Thanks for your time!
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lower symphyseal Otodus obliquus tooth from the Eocene of Virginia
MarcoSr posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
I just found this 17mm tooth today (see the below pictures) in matrix that I collected from the Eocene, Nanjemoy Formation, of Virginia awhile back. I thought that the tooth was an Otodus obliquus symphyseal tooth and sent a PM to Lutz Andres to get his opinion of the tooth. He responded back: “Hi, it's a lower symphyseal Otodus or Parotodus, and 17 mm is a bit large for Parotodus.” Because of the 17mm size and the fact that Parotodus is not reported from this Formation, I’m going with the Otodus ID. I have a number of Otodus obliquus symphyseals from Morocco but this is the first one that I have personally collected from Virginia. My friend Mike F. has collected two Otodus obliquus symphyseals from the same formation. Marco Sr.
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Fossil hunting in Virginia/West Virginia/North Carolina
the_abyss_blinked posted a topic in Questions & Answers
I hope this is the right place. I am hoping to find some spots in these areas. I'd prefer Carboniferous as opposed to Devonian, or Miocene/Eocene. Would any of you know any spots? Maybe road cuts, or abandoned quarries those sorts of places? I'd be willing to pay for access if need be. If you don't feel comfortable outing it, please PM me. Thank you! -
Silicified Middle Ordovician Trilobites, Edinburg, Virginia
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Whittington, H.B. and Evitt, W.R., 1953. Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites (Vol. 59). Geological Society of America. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/65/Silicified-Middle-Ordovician-Trilobites (free download until June 30, 2020) Whittington, H.B., 1959, Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites: Remopleurididae, Trinucleidae, Raphiophoridae, Endymioniidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. vol. 121, pp. 369-496. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/32962#/summary https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4778534#page/501/mode/1up Hu, C.H., 1974, September. 635. Ontogenies of two Middle Ordovician trilobites from the Edinburg Formation, Virginia. In Transactions and proceedings of the Paleontological Society of Japan. New series (Vol. 1974, No. 95, pp. 353-363). Palaeontological Society of Japan. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prpsj1951/1974/95/1974_95_353/_article/-char/ja Hu, C.H., 1976, April. 657. Ontogenies of three species of Silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from Virginia. In Transactions and proceedings of the Paleontological Society of Japan. New series (Vol. 1976, No. 101, pp. 247-263). Palaeontological Society of Japan. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prpsj1951/1976/101/1976_101_247/_pdf/-char/ja https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prpsj1951/1976/101/1976_101_247/_article/-char/ja/ Bruton, D.L. and Nakrem, H.A., 2005. Enrollment in a Middle Ordovician agnostoid trilobite. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 50(3). http://agro.icm.edu.pl/agro/element/bwmeta1.element.agro-article-e5a5ef53-3af9-4efd-b8b3-ca3006e0e32d/c/app50-441.pdf Yours, Paul H. -
Hello! I found something I can’t get a line on, so I’ve come to the forum for help. This is a beach find from the James River in Virginia. I think most of the marine materials are Miocene, I’m not sure of the formation(s). I think this a higher likely hood of being a small marine mammal bulla, but the form is different than any others I have seen, it looks sort of like a mammal tooth, but without the root. It is mineralized, no smell from flame, and very hard, but not quite as dense as other earbone material I have found at the same site. There are traces of black harder and more reflective “enamel” especially in the pocket, between the ridges on what could be a chewing surface. It doesn’t match any specific mammal tooth I can find but it has some of that “feeling” in terms of density. Not much wear, is it possible for an unerrupted tooth to not have such a smooth form on the back. As I write this I realize how illogical my thoughts seem, and how little I know about teeth... i found a very pretty cowshark tooth yesterday too, for something a bit more recognizable. thanks for your time,
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- enamel traces?
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Like most of what I find these days, this is small (the scalemarks are mm). A small cylinder with diagonal pattern of markings. Seems too solid for fossil cartilage or skin? Any ideas?
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Hello Everyone- Any help is greatly appreciated. I have had this (what I believe to be a fossil) for about 25 years. My grandmother found this when I was very young and I have held onto it ever since but have never taken the time to learn what it is. It was found near a creek bed in Southwestern VA. There is also a rock quarry nearby the location. Took the best images I could with the only metric measuring tool (measurements are in cm) I had on hand. If more details are needed, ple ase let me know. Thanks!
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I found this piece of bone while walking a bank a few miles below Hopewell on the James River this past weekend. My Rockd app says this area is the Charles City formation. The bank here is fine brown sand mixed with small pea gravel that turns into a marsh area. I've never found much bone or fossil type rocks at this spot before as this is a place we usually search for arrowheads and stone tools at this location. However just up river a mile or two I just found a bank in the same type formation that has a very large line of vertebra sticking out of the side of the bank. There on that beach up close to the bank is an area that is 15 to 20 feet wide and at least 40 feet long that is littered with bone fragments and small pieces of vertebra then up on the bank wall that is 4 to 5 feet higher than the beach there is this line of vertebra that runs horizontally for at least 40 feet maybe more. I didn't have time to get a really good look at this site because we had to leave but I plan on going back there soon to get some pics of that site. I don't know if this bone in my pics is related to this animal up the river but I guess it is possible.
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Found this cute little tooth. Doesn't look familiar to me. Somewhat similar to sand tiger symphysial but much smaller. Hoping somone knows what it is. Photo of the tooth and its v-shaped hollow(?) root (leaned against small bone bit). Thanks!
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New member. Hi. Found these chunks of probable whale bone on a sod bank along the Chesapeake in Kilmarnock Va. The one on the right is a rib base. The other two might be shoulder or pelvic girdle bones.
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Combined a couple of trips to the creek in the woods. Looks to be busy with the kids out of school (VA public schools closed March 23; we're in Lockdown until June 10. Local kids must be getting bored with their games and cell phones.) I haven't seen any yet but they have been busy digging, often in my favorite areas. Probably should just dig in some random spots, just to see if they tackle those as well. Has been cold lately, lot of east wind days (bad for beach hunting, higher water). So made two trips. Lots of small bones/teeth(?), skate teeth and broken teeth in mostly gravel areas , just showing the better (nothing great, although several sand shark tiger teeth had sharp cusps, and more had buttons where the cusps had worn away. ) Highlights for me were the sand tiger symphysial near the orange vert, the two small angel shark teeth, and the inch-plus root-less mako (hadn't seen any in a while). Also found a partial ecphora and a small broken cow shark tooth (just the first spike with the three small ladder of points ascending) both put away. Need to go through some other stuff more carefully after it dries.
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Westmoreland State Park, VA, USA: Unidentified possible vertebrae, rib(?), and shark tooth
Bowmania posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hi all, I had a fairly productive first outing to Westmoreland State Park but I have no idea what any of the fossils I found are. I am happy to provide close-ups of any of the individual fossils, and in addition to the photos here, I posted some to imgur to get around the size restriction here. https://imgur.com/gallery/2uIedQS Thanks for your help!
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I have some beautiful crinoid stem cross-section impressions from the Devonian Mahantango in PA (runs from NY to VA) and have been searching all morning to find a good reference book that won't cost me $100 just to open the cover and see if it's adequate to the task at hand. Winifred Goldring seems to have done the definitive works, but she didn't include any cross sections! Can anybody point me in the right direction?
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