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Here are a few things from a recent trip to the Santa Fe river that I was not able to identify. Guesses: A/B: Since these bones are hollow, does that mean they had to belong to a large bird? C/D: smaller bird bones? E: Mastodon or gomphothere tooth enamel? F: part of a tortoise foot or maybe a sesamoid bone? G: Translucent in the light, making me wonder if this is fossilized sap or something of the sort Appreciate any help!
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Even in the final years of the non-avian dinosaurs, the paravians remained diverse, with many species represented in the famed Hell Creek formation.- 1 comment
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Avisaurus cf. archibaldi Hell Creek Fm., Garfield Co., MT, USA More information Avisaurus is an extinct, toothed Enantiornithine bird that lived at the very end of the Cretaceous. It likely held a similar niche that hawks/eagles do today, preying on small vertebrates like lizards and mammals. -
These two (partial) bones were collected two summers ago (2021) on private land in Weld County, Colorado. They’re from a super fossiliferous bit of exposure which, based on the Oreodont fauna, is likely to be part of the Poleslide Member, which dates to the early Oligocene. These bones have puzzled me since I collected them, and I had for quite a while hypothesized that they must be some sort of ungulate metatarsal. I decided to pull them out again tonight, and having more experience with osteology generally I have decided that these look decidedly avian - specifically, the proximal ends of a right tarsometatarsus. The White River Formation has a rather diverse formally described avifauna: Benton et al. (2015) lists six genera in five families along with several different morphologies of bird eggs in The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology, however only one family (the Bathornithidae) has more than one described genus. Bird fossils are well-documented from the WRF, and incidentally quite a few avian holotypes have been described from the White River Formation in Colorado, so perhaps the preservational bias favors them more in that general region. However, bird fossils are simply generally rare in the fossil record due to their delicate nature, so I thought I’d post on the forum before I make a (relatively) extraordinary claim. Now, these two bones aren’t in any way associated, but they’re the exact same sort of bone. They’re identical (with the exception of the shorter one being slightly larger) - same bone, same taxon (as far as I can tell, the shorter one has some weathering). This is what puts me off even more - what are the odds that not only did I come across bird fossils, but that I independently found the exact same end of the exact same bone from the exact same avian taxon in the same week? Tarsometatarsus bones do seem to be a fairly commonly preserved isolated element for fossil birds, many genera are described based of a single tarsometatarsus and the same summer I found these I happened to find an avian tarsometatarsus in the Hell Creek Formation. But it would still be odd. Here are the pictures: I should also add that these bones are in fact thin-walled and hollow, though getting the camera to focus on the broken ends is difficult. But that doesn’t automatically make them avian, bones are fairly frequently hollowed out by simple decay. Below is an image from Benton et al. (2015), with an illustration of the holotype tarsometatarsus of Badistornis aramus, an extinct relative of the living limpkin, for comparison: My bones actually compare quite well to this illustration, though there are differences so I wouldn’t assign them to this genus/species even if I could confirm that they are bird tarsometatarsi. I also don’t think that they’re Bathornithid bones, even though those are the most famous birds from this rock unit. Of the genera from the WRF only Bathornis has a known tarsometatarsus, and it’s both morphologically very different and much larger than my bones. I’ve also ruled out the Galliformes and Falconiformes (two bird orders with representatives in the WRF), again assuming these are avian bones. I think that it compares best with wading birds such as herons and, indeed, limpkins. But this is mostly informed speculation I admit. So does anyone have any thoughts? Is there a more obvious answer for what this bone could be, or does it truly have avian affinities in your opinion? Looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts. References: Benton, R. C., Terry, D. O., Evanoff, E. and McDonald, H. G. (2015). The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology. Indiana University Press.
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Collected on a beach in Central California. The length is 6 cm.
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I was cracking open concreations and found this inside it. It's looks like some sort of bone to me. It is super fragile and the bone that split is hollow. Found in Taranaki from miocene era.
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Good evening to all my paleo peers! Tonight I’d like to share with you a selection of some of my favorite fossils found this year. I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in Montana over the summer, along with a few other fossil hunting opportunities here and there. As we hop into the New Year I'll kick things off aptly... Frog Radioulna-Judith River formation, Montana One of my all time best single fossil hunting days was spent in late June on a microsite in the Judith River badlands of northern Montana. Among the teeth of crocs, hadrosaurs and dromaeosaurs was this absolutely tiny limb bone. When reviewing my finds from this week I gathered up several of these micro bones and put them in a gem jar. I brought this minute group along with a small portion of my collection on my recent visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. While exploring their collections I met amphibian expert Amy Henrici, who recognized it as the distinctive fused lower arm bone from a frog, also known as a radioulna. Yesterday I was able to take clear, close up pictures of this tiny limb on my digital microscope and subsequently posted it as my fossil friday on instagram (same username). I was excited to learn about its identity as it’s the first example of a frog fossil in my collection that I’m aware of! This little guy would have likely been on the menu for a whole host of predators, including Dromaeosaurs and Troodontids. The recent discovery of Daurlong provides evidence of a predator prey relationship between these two groups.
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I found this in my backyard while digging up my yard to plant a new lawn. I thought it was interesting because of the blue but after looking at it closer I noticed little bones and what appears to be the skull of a dinosaur. My wife says I’m crazy. So please help, is it a rock or a bird? Thank you
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Hi, after almost 2 years I have reworked my Archaeopteryx skeleton model also shown on this board: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/110891-archaeopteryx-skeleton-model/ On the first version, I wasn't happy with the stability and the external metal support. Also, the dynamic pose made it large and difficult to find space for. So I decided to give the new version a more relaxed, upright posture and to run an iron rod through the spine instead of below it. I also reworked some details and found that the skull was scaled a bit too large compared to most specimens. Thanks to Scott Hartman the rib orientation was modified a bit, too. Here are a few pictures: The new version of the skeleton is much easier to print and to assemble. The files are now available for personal use at https://cults3d.com/de/modell-3d/verschiedene/full-size-archaeopteryx-skeleton though I recommend this only for printing on resin printers with a resolution of at least 50µm for the fine details. Best regards, Thorsten
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Found this in a load of river rock delivered to my home in Omaha, Nebraska. Tried to find where the river rock came from but no luck. About the size of a large walnut. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Hello, Can anyone identify what this claw is from? It's said to be from a North Florida river and perhaps Miocene in age. I'm guessing it's bird at least.
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Hi there, My wife and I are currently honeymooning in Hawaii on the south shore of the island on Kauai over in the town Poipu. There’s limestone cliffs there and I read about Holocene aged fossils, such as bird fossils, found a few miles away at the Makauwahi Cave Reserve. I wasn’t fossil hunting, but we were walking along a public beach and there appeared to be a couple of bones eroding out of a peat deposit, near a limestone cliff. I’m not so good with distinguishing more modern fossils such as Holocene or Pleistocene. Any idea if this bone is modern or fossilized? looking at an old post in the Hawaii section, it does somewhat look like the fossil bird bones @Auspex posted from this area. Thanks for taking a look!
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found in mo. Same hill side
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Hello, This is a bird Carpometacarpus wing bone said to be from the La Brea Tar Pits of LA County, California, USA, and it measures 3.7 cm. I have a few questions: 1. Could someone provide a more specific ID on the species? 2. How good of an example is it? I'm aware it's missing the thin section of bone that runs between the two distal ends, but perhaps that's not unexpected given the fragility of bird bones in general. 3. Are there any doubts to the locality? Personally I would've preferred a specimen on tar matrix because I know non-tar-pit localities like Florida also produce Pleistocene-aged bird bones, and with isolated bones it may not be easy to distinguish. In this specimen's favor, I do see the bone is brown in color and there is still some tar matrix leftover on the bones. Even so, I know there are other tar pits, such as McKittrick Pits of Kern County and the Maricopa Pits; is there any way to distinguish localities based on the preservation? The seller is going by the label, which they say is from an old collection put together between 1970's - 1990's. Thanks. Reference Carpometacarpus for comparison: https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Natural_History/Bones/Atlas/Atlas.htm
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Is anyone able to help with this bird skull from Yixian? The skull I think is twisted upside down. With its eyesocket at the bottom. Also is that bits of feather? Does anyone recognise which species? I do not think confusciornis as they are rounded on the top. Plus, the crest near the feather isnt presant on confusciornis--if it is a type of crest. But if I have the skull orietated right, the crest is on its lower jaw?
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discovered this in SW MO in a heavily timbered area buried roughly 10” deep. It measures 9 1/2” in length. If someone has some thoughts of what it could be I would love to hear your ideas.
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Not quite a fossil but so interesting this is worth a mention. Absolutely incredible these prints and bones have survived! (check the last pic for the bones) Moa are extinct ratites and were endemic to New Zealand, a couple of species were some of the largest birds to have ever existed standing at about 3.6m tall and weighing an estimated 230kg.
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Hi everyone, I wanted to share my favorite find from the Hell Creek of eastern Montana from the last few weeks. It's overall shape and size suggest to me that it's a hesperornithid vert. The bone is a bit over 3 cm long and around 2.5 cm in height. After some comparisons to Hesperornis vertebrae online I feel that this is the best match. From "Identification of a New Hesperornithiform from the Niobrara Chalk and Implications for the Ecologic Diversity of Early Diving Birds" by Alyssa Bell and Luis Chiappe in 2015 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141690
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Hi all! Went on another expedition to flag ponds in Calvert MD the other day, had probably one of my best hunts so far in the formation. in total I found 112 teeth, 51 shark, 59 ray, 2 bony fish. I yelled in excitement when I found this one in the shell bed, blending into the grays. There's only two things this tooth could belong to and one of them is a shark I have been hunting for years. I am leaning towards Meg in my ID, as the break line seems to go across the middle where the chevron would be, in addition to the profile of the tooth is girthier than the hastalis I have found. Just to make sure i am not falling for seeing what I want to see. I have shown it here. fragment measures about 1 inch on the diagonal. here is a Burrfish puffer fossil i found in the sifter. for the bones I have a couple more that I am unsure of the ID. this one might be a turtle shell or a reptile bone of some sort? it cant be a cookie I dont think because the ridges are not as pronounced. this bone is odd, because it look slike it has a flat surface on both sides. which makes me wonder what part of the cetacean this migh tbelong to. also, there is a scratch on the sidethat might be a possible predation mark? this one is a carcharhinus tooth I found that seems to have a pathology. the tip is bent outward and up. possibly some other species? this looks to me to be the process of a fish vertebra. I am not sure what this is, but my gut tells me its a fish fossil, these bones both have a similar look/ profile which tells me its a common type of fragment. any ideas? bird bone? it doesnt look to be bog iron, and its shape rules out fish or mammal fish vertebra? anyway, your expertise as always is appreciated! let me know if theres any details about these I missed.
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Some Messel Pit specimens: real or not?
Kim sung hyun posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Here are some messel fit specimens I recently got and saw. These are from German collector, old collection. I guess that bird and fish(amia) specimens is real, but not sure about the others. Is there anyone who can identify it?
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Bird fossil (with feathers)
Crazyhen posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
This bird fossil is amazing, if genuine, that it has the imprints of feathers. Is it painted? The fossil is from Liaoning Province, China.
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I have some weak terrible pics of it, but I think this is a micro Raptor from the Triassic period, size of a cat, first time a bird evolved to dinosaur. I think it's curled up in a ball and died sunk to the bottom of the what use to b ocean for millions of years and was embedded in sand and limestone combined with the water replacing the nutrients of the fossil made it well preserved, similar to the way most matrix would house dino fossilis, except this isn't digging it out of a rock quarry somewhere, this was just a Rock at the bottom of the bottoms in a creek.
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Here is a series of four images of what I believe to be a bone. Don't know what kind of bone, but it appears to be hollow. In the paper: Giant Late Eocene Marine Birds (PELECANIFORMES:pelagornithidade) from NorthWestern Oregon by James L. Goedert, he states the abstract of this paper: "ABsTRACr-Fossil bird bones from the late Eocene Keasey Formation and the latest Eocene Pittsburg Bluff Formation in northwestern Oregon are the earliest records of the pelecaniform family Pelagornithidae for the Pacific Basin. These fossils also represent late Eocene records of the family from the Northern Hemisphere, the second late Eocene record worldwide, and indicate animals were among the largest of flying birds. Unfortunately, the fragmentary condition of these fossils and the currently state of pelagornithid systematics prevents the assignment of these specimens to new species at this time." If this is, I will forward to folks working on this issue (Goedert was an associate of the Natural History Museum of LA). I don't want to take the chance of damage of further matix removal. Images are of the object that is 6.7mm x 6.5mm located from the lower portion of the Pittsburg Bluff Formation between Pittsburg and Mist, Oregon. Anyone have any idea of what this is? I've been examining the PBF "fall out" along the road for about two years and have never seen anything like this specimen. Am forwarding the same images to the Paleo Dept. at Oregon State. I've included an image (Marked with a red T for where the specimen was fund under the top matrix cover, and an image of the collection location. Red T is where specimen was found after removing matrix. Collecting Location:
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Wattle hanging down the neck in front of the subjects chest. An extended wing. Translucent egg. A rare sight of a bird inside a fully preserved egg.
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Greetings again Thisis a second vertebra also found at the Lee Creek Mine (aka Aurora) in Yorktown spoils. It is 50mm in length, rather porous and very light. I was thinking bird, but thought I'd get some other opinions. Any ID suggestions? The photos in order are: "bottom", "top", "side", end 1 and end 2
