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Hello all! This summer I took my yearly trip to Wyoming, and with my luck I again came back with several extremely incredible fossils! I found many less fish this time around, but I did find several more rare ones! I probably only found around 50 fish in the 3 days I was there. I found 8 Phareodus, including 2 juveniles! I found only 1 Mioplosus this year, the fish seems to be avoiding me sadly... I found 3 Priscacara, including a very large Priscacara serrata! I found an interesting Hypsiprisca preserved beautifully on an algea layer, also found several more Amia scales, but one of my favorite finds was a giant Amia tooth! (Though I suspect it to be gar) they said it was the largest one they had ever seen, and it is an excellent place holder for a future complete Amia! I also found dozens of shells! The shells especially the snail shells are considered to be one of the rarest components of the fauna, so it was very odd finding over a dozen! Including 4 mass mortality plates which each have dozens of shells on them! I also ended up finding an incrediblely incrediblely rare piece of bamboo, they told me that bamboo is rarer than a dozen stingrays! Speaking of stingrays, I FOUND MY FIRST ONE! A large Heliobatis that I split out almost perfectly! Speaking of rare finds, my absolute favorite find of this trip came as a surprise! Early in the day I found a very strange algea layer with several gastropod beaks, and I was excited as I thought I had found a Crossopholis. After having my heart broken I sulked over to a new pile of rocks and one my first split I found something very strange, a plate of small serrated scales! I did it! I found myself a paddlefish it's disarcticulated, but it still has a fin beautifully preserved! It's hard to describe the feeling of finding a Paddlefish and a Stingray the same day! I will be posting pictures soon! I will also be submitting my stingray whenever the prep work is finished!

Just wanted to share the x-ray of a fossil we extracted this weekend at our Quarry. All we could see was the cross section and we were pretty sure it was an amia but this sealed the deal. Notice that it's jaws have floated back by the tail and will need to be removed and re-inserted back in the skull. These are very uncommon in our quarry so we were very excited. Enjoy.

So I have had a lot of interest in the three turtles we pulled out of the quarry this year. While we are not ready to unveil them completely, here are a few pictures during the prep process to tantalize. Both the Xrays and a small pic or two. Xrays do not show everything so you have to use your imagination about what is in the rock. The first pictures are of the little turtle my dad found. Species is currently being evaluated, it is about 6 inches long. Next are pictures of one of the two large turtles we found on top of each other, separated by only inches. It is a trionyx, possibly Apalone, approximately 4 feet long . The other large turtle is a Chisternon, nearly 4 1/2 feet long.. That was an exciting weekend. I will post more when Prep is complete. Seth