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Picked this small bone out of my Sieve a week ago. Rolled it around in my hand. Seemed unbroken, so I kept it. Seems unbroken on all edges; An outside layer over porous bone; Articulation facet on proximal end. Fauna which I find frequently at this location is Giant Armadillo, Glyptodont, Alligator. Less frequently is Bear, Sloth, Dolphin. I will check out those fauna and others tomorrow, unless eliminates the check for a fauna because they know the fauna does not match. Please comment on any additional fauna I should check. Thanks, Jack
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Went hunting yesterday. There were not many choices with the water deep and currents fast. I was pleased to know that @Balance was out there dealing with the same conditions. It was cool but not cold with a 5 mm wetsuit on. I went back to a spot I had been digging over months because I believed it would be chest deep. I had intermittent downpours with the last ending around noon. I covered the cockpit of my Kayak with a tarp made expressly for that purpose. Everything else into hatches. The lowest water was chest deep so I could only dig down 6 inches or so. It was enough. In the 2nd sieve , I got a Tridactyl horse periotic, likely Nannippus. 32 x 19 mm, One for your local disk, Jp Even though fewer keepers based on the water depth, some very nice unique finds: A Glyptodon edge osteoderm, Alligator tooth, a few nice Tiger and Bull shark teeth. Here are some for comments and ID A shark vert, largest I have ever found. I found one that looks the same , only smaller 4 months ago. Curious that I have found 3 at this location and no different looking shark verts. Although very difficult to identify individual shark verts this one seems most similar to Hammerhead, I find a few but not many, Hammerhead teeth. A couple of broken fossils that I am not sure of 1. Stingray dermal 2. Alligator osteoderm A tooth fragment: Even the broken , are interesting
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I went fossil hunting yesterday. It is an activity that brings a smile and renews my soul. Sometimes I like the solitude of hunting alone ( my 1st 18 months I only hunted alone), but this day I was blessed with good friends and I could tell stories, share their cut up fruit and trail mix, and marvel on what we were finding. These are mostly my treasures.. None of us found large quantities, I had less than 50 fossils in my collection bag... but what we did find was unique and/or had some quality aspects... A tiger , 32 mm across the root. A Dusky or Bull, never sure which A fishjaw and a Tree root.... and below, a rare find for me ... note it tried to break,. it will not get the chance again A dolphin tooth found late... not one that I could name. Friends also found a Dolphin tooth earlier, Slightly larger. When this rolled into my sieve, I knew it was familiar, I rolled it over and over, but I was not expecting it , could not ID. My friends did. Menippe was a Genus of Stone crabs back in the Florida Pliocene. I wonder if this was a late arrival. I liked the quality of the fossils... look at the details of this crab claw... I was picking up a bunch of (broken) bones that I only slightly recognize with the intention of posting some of them but maybe in future posts. I do have a femur that I am curious about... I always search TFF for helpful threads: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/102805-peace-river-femur/ It has this comparison photo.... For comparisons, I possess a SaberCat femur at 13 inches if complete. Here's the key: 1-Horse femur, 2-Sabertooth Cat femur, 3-Human Adult Female Femur, 4-Komodo Femur, 5-Harpy Eagle Femur, 6-Kiwi Femur, 7-Platypus Femur, 8-Spider Monkey Femur, 9-Rhesus Macaque Femur, 10-Vervet femur, 11-Goliath Frog Femur, 12-Flying Lemur Femur. The bone seems not sufficiently robust for tapir, horse, llama, cow,, so maybe deer, coyote, bobcat.... Here is a mule deer for comparison. I think total length of Mule deer femur would be 11-12 inches. Any suggestions will be followed... Thanks for reading...
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Found on January 3rd, one of the bones to identify later, and now later has come. I went to a Fossil Club meeting and some experts there (Mark Renz, etc) felt it is a wrist bone, and did not recognize what mammal. 7 'views' of the find. The view below might be top of foot. Some 'chipping', especially on the last photo, but but basically this bone is all there is high quality preservation. If this is a Carpal (rather than Astragalus or Calcaneum) of 66 x 33 mm, it is from a LARGE mammal, say Rhino or Eremotherium. So that is where my thinking is going. I have not found any Rhino fossils at this site. I have looked at Metacarpal 2 (MC2) and the Unciform in this photo below which are close to the size (66 x 35 mm) of the find. I think close but not exact. But they are the best possibility SO FAR, and E. eomigrans was a Blancan fauna and I have found other E. eomigrans fossils at this location. Guidance on other possibilities or steps to investigate greatly appreciated... Jack
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I went hunting today, 30 mph winds, Thundershowers at 3 pm, but high 70s !! and the water depth was not too deep.. Heavy winds, but shortened the day to try to avoid the rain. Here are all the finds... mostly little shark teeth and bones that I might be able to Identify... Left of the Broken shark vert, Nannippus peninsulatus M1 made my day... I have spent most of the evening trying to ID the tooth above it. In the sieve , I initially thought I had a strange Camelid upper premolar.. Camelid looking at one side , and I thought I had 3 roots instead of 4. I love the crenulated roots, had not noticed that on other teeth... Then I stared at this photo... Stylid meant Bovid for a really old individual and based on size (24 x 19 x 12 mm), can not be Bison.... I can barely believe that it is modern cow, modern float into my Blancan site. From ,, Morphological, isotopic and proteomic study of the Pleistocene and Holocene fauna of Cova dos Santos (Abadín, Lugo, NW Spain) This is a great chart Comparing Length/Width of 2 Teeth between Bison and Bos !!! Not getting out very often, but still Tridactyl and the cow made my day. Also I have a number of broken bones to analyze. Here is a broken bone... Comments appreciated... Fossil bone .. 20 mm diameter, obviously broken on left side.
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Due to the holidays, my last time out was 2 weeks ago. The nights have been cooler lately and we had some recent rains. Yesterday was sunny/overcast highs in low 70s F. I went out yesterday to a favorite location. Took a 5 mm wetsuit which was not quite enough to avoid occasional chills. The water was deeper so I could not quite reach the gravel and moved to a spot that had smaller gravel, more sand and shell. I recall thinking I might just try a sieve or 2 here and then move upstream prospecting. So much for that idea. In the 1st sieve was a tridactyl horse lower tooth. I would hunt here for the next 6 hours. I was finding fewer fossils than normal at this site, but the quality was better. For example , instead of 250 small shark teeth, I found 50. There were many broken bones and I kept a few that had potential for identification. In searching for comparisons, I found a @Plantguy thread where he was looking for IDs on horses, tapirs, and filefish. @Harry Pristis help out on differentiating Tapirs.. https://www.thefossilforum.com/topic/76697-florida-vertebrate-unknown-questions/ I wonder if Chris ever IDed his tapir. A few closeups of what I believe are accurate IDs looking for comments. Early in my hunting days, I found an almost complete 3.5 inch Ray barb... Any time I see one near 2 inches, it makes my day An upper hemi around 2 inches, even broken is a welcomed find One of the best filefish verts I have ever see, Look at the detailed lines on the inside of the centrum.. Nice tooth.. HSB traverse lines on the enamel. I say peninsulatus based on the age of the location AND the long time ratio of peninsulatus versus any other Tridactly at this site. There are at least 6 species of tapir in the Florida fossil history, I have found 2-3 of them at this location, but this ones looks a lot like Tapirus haysii, much more than others . That was the show and tell part of this thread... Here is the request for ID. I know that 1st photo looks like a conglomerate rock.. I almost tossed it, then turned it over to see the 2nd photo and thought maybe Dolphin earbone, At 16 x 11 mm, really small. What do you think?
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I went to my happy place again today. Not the volume of finds from last Wednesday. Early I found this 11.2 x 7.8 cm bone. Is it a pelvic bone ? an Atlas Vertebra ? a skull cap ? I have no clue. I am pretty certain that I do not have a bone like this in my body and I know that I have never found one previously. Hopefully someone recognizes it... @Harry Pristis @Boesse @digit
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I went out hunting today, needed the exercise. Predicted afternoon showers, but warm and sunny all morning. I was doing pretty well, constant finds of Bull, Dusky, Tiger shark teeth, mixed with Osteoderms from Alligator, Armadillo, Glyptodon. About 1:30, getting ready to kayak back to my truck in order to beat the rains, I saw something that I did not recognize in the sieve. xx I turned it over and over trying to figure out what it might be... When I saw this next edge, I thought I knew... But maybe I was incorrect. What do you think it is... But I am running out of time.... I spotted a VERY small tooth, complete with roots.... I have a guess but I see what others think. Then a 1st timer for me... and one of my favorites, a Cetacean ear bone and a big one at that... These were all in the same sieve... along with a couple of shark teeth and a large Gar Fish scale... Really fortunate... I left after this sieve because I knew the next sieve likely would not be as good, and if I kept digging, I would get drenched....
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Out hunting Monday. 1st time in a while. Low expectations. This is a challenging location to reach. In the 1st sieve , found a connected turtle osteoderm. That was nice... A number of items that could be teeth, but too beat up to identify. Shark teeth were Bull, Dusky, Tiger This request is about these 3 fossils: 1) I know the tympanic bulla Identification because of a great previous posting by @Harry Pristis.which I saved to my local disk. The find is fragile ans thin... likely in development pre_birth. Just wanted to confirm the identification.. 2) About the same size... similar to a carpal/tarsal, Great quality with small lines not yet eroded. 3) , the larger bone. It is complete, pristine, with lots of fine lines, not removed by water erosion.. My memory is failing. I have seen these before. Size is Length 60 x Width 30 x Height 30 millimeters. All suggestions appreciated.
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The 1st major Hurricane of the season has left destruction in Mexico, and promises a drenching in South Florida starting today. Expecting 7 inches of rain where I hunker down. Not dangerous, but lots of rain. It may effectively end the fossil hunting due to deep and fast water. Yesterday was my Birthday, I celebrated. Emails, cards, and presents from family and friends. Spouse made an old favorite, Pineapple upside_down cake, and went out to dinner. I had the Lobster Fra Diavolo, hot and spicy but so good. I enjoy Birthdays, but they seem to be arriving faster and faster. Agatha is/was not my Birthday present. In anticipation of being flushed out of hunting opportunities for at least a week and maybe lots longer, I decided to go Wednesday to a remote location, which already had some deep and fast running water. I had successfully hunted at this depth previously and I am always an optimist. Kayak in the water, paddled 90 minutes into a fast current... biceps are sore today. It was difficult hunting because with water depth and current, I could only get into the top 6 inches of gravel. In the 1st sieve, I found a small Mako and thought Wow, hunting might be more productive than I thought. Not so, Much of the day was walking the kayak downstream. Every thing in the kayak tied down or in the hatches. In one hand I hold a leash on the kayak, in the other a surveyor's pole probing for gravel. It is water aerobics ... my back is feeling really good today. A gorgeous day, 80 degrees, sunshine, birds are singing, even heard Hoot owls calling. Not very many finds, but that was not necessarily the goal. Late in the day I came to a spot where shells were washing out of the bank and noticed a Junonia in the water. Most were broken but a few survived mostly whole. A fitting Birthday present, I am not expert enough to say for sure, but likely a pineapple coral to go with my pineapple upside_down cake. It's a favorite since I was 9 years old and my older sister made it for that Birthday. It was exciting getting back with a fast current pushing the kayak's back end, anytime I tried to turn avoiding low hanging branches blocking my way forward. I had to remove my baseball cap to save it.
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Back in December, I found a really nice Paramylodon harlani claw in the Peace River. described in this thread. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/120010-a-fantastic-christmas-present/&tab=comments#comment-1316237 In March, I found another Sloth Claw in a different location that had produced some late Pliocene, early Pleistocene fossils. In the month before I found this claw , I found 2 sloth teeth, identified as P. harlani. I made a foolish assumption that the claw was also P. harlani because that was a likely species in that location. Fast forward to last night. I was at a fossil club meeting showing the 2 claws to the resident Identification expert , Louis Steiffel, who stated in no uncertain terms that these 2 claws came from different species. And told me a couple of things I did not know about sloths... This is the December tooth.. It is from P. harlani and is a claw from a back foot because it is straight!! It also has a slight lean from right to left and would thus he on the right rear foot. This is the claw from March. It leans from left to right, has a pronounced curve so would be on the left front foot! And it is not Paramylodon harlani. Searched the internet, Sent the photos and an email request to Richard Hulbert, who promptly answered. It is more likely Leptostomas because Megalonyx curvidens existed in the middle miocene with different fauna than I find in these layers, and Megalonyx wheatleyi was larger and a transition to M. jeffersoni. A photo to help on the width difference between to similar length claws. On the left the width is 18.6 mm and on the right width is 12.3 mm. When I learn new things, I like to document them for other fossil hunters, Jack
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A Vertebra ... It has some unique features.. Note those 2 interesting facets on the 2nd and 3rd photos...
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When hunting, I usually have numerous bones which I am unsure about identification. Depending on how much time I have , more of these bones get posted. I have 4 in the same location. I thought this might be a hoof core of a really huge animal. but the only possibilities seem to be Eremotherium and Gomphotheres. I know Mastodon does NOT have foot bones like this.... Maybe it in not a foot_bone... Here is something similar in size.... https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/huge-mammoth-mastodon-fossil-toe-ankle-bone
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3rd of the bones from this site... A toe bone that seems off_center... Is it a medial or proximal phalanx ? I do not see space for a retractable claw. Which mammals have toe bones at 40 min length.
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Another toe bone, this one seems like a phalanx... Pretty large animal. longer than an Equus phalanx. I will go checking tapir.. There is a fair amount of other tapir fossils at this location.
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I was out yesterday. Fantastic day in the sunshine. Did not need a wetsuit, even 3 mm. I was "prospecting" mostly walking upstream , checking likely places for gravel. Not many hoorah finds, but sometimes you only need one. I was finding a number of mammal bones, leaving most of them behind. Here is a bone that I think I have seen frequently, but just spent a couple of hours trying to get a good match searching TFF and the internet for variations of Horse, Proximal/distal, Radius, Tibia... and I am not sure yet.... I started the search thinking it was a leg bone of a small horse... with one flat side and a proximal end that looks something like a llama fibula..... So, let's see what others think.... Are those bite marks on the 1st photo?
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I was out hunting fossils yesterday and was quite successful, although many of the finds were covered with algae, concretions and unusually stained. There were fewer small shark teeth and many larger, broken, fragmented mammal bones. Found a number of Equus, camel, and possibly modern calf teeth... damaged and encrusted. The larger bones potentially identifiable are most interesting. That's a couple of Camel (likely Hemiauchenia.sp) Metatarsal 3s in the left middle. a phalanx and very small Ulna in the right middle of the photo. For this thread, I am interested in identifying the mammal that produced this fossil below. It is 180 mm long Cannon bone. Sometimes called a Metacarpal3 or Metatarsal3... Comparing to the Hemiauchenia Metatarsals in the above photo, this bone comes from a much smaller mammal. Here is the end of the bone, which is usually diagnostic. The narrow part of the bone (around 120 mm in the above photo) is 14 mm high and 16 mm wide.
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I do not recognize this one.... Where is @Harry Pristis when I need him? I heard that canids ALSO have tarsals and carpals.. What else besides Bison, horse, camels ??
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I had a good day and then in the last 30 minutes found a bone that I did not recognize. That makes it a great day. I do recognize this as a toe bone. and it is very likely to be a medial phalanx of an artiodactyl. BUT... At slightly less than 36 mm long, it is very unusual. The 1st photo was staring at me out of the sieve, and I was pretty positive that I had not seen the like previously. In searching for a Medial Phalanx, I found this one in @Foshunter Gallary Very similar but too big... I am looking for 1.5 inch ,not 2.5 inch in length. But I have found Hemiauchenia gracilis fossils at this sight !!!! Went to the UF collections database, and found the direct equivalent of my 1st photo !!! and closer to the same size, but definitely not similar... That 1st photo is very unusual, I can only hope a TFF member has seen it before.
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Cool in the morning, but the sun was out and by noon just fabulous. When I picked this up, I did not recognize it as anything I had previously seen, and I have seen a lot of fossil bones. For a second, I was unsure that it was bone, but now I am pretty positive. Going hunting in the morning, so will be unable to read comments and suggestions until Sunday evening. Thanks for looking, Jack
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I know of a Blancan site where Blancan fauna represent more than 80 % of the finds. The rest of the finds seem to be early Equus. You never know what you might find. I went there recently with a good friend after the deep water levels had subsided. Some of these fossils he found and some are my finds. To be successful in identifying fossils, it is important to understand the scientific age of the fossil you find in the same location. There are no Megs at this site and layer, not even fragments. The consensus seems to be that Megs went extinct 3-4 MYAs. There is some mixture, but unlike the Peace River, it is almost insignificant.. The Blancan is divided into two subintervals: the Bl1 from 4.75 to 2.6 million years ago; and the Bl2 from 2.6 to 1.6 million years ago. The Bl1 does include the earliest known occurrences in Florida of Carcharodon carcharias and the last known occurrences of the sharks Carcharocles megalodon, Carcharodon hastalis, and Hemiprisitis serra, the baleen whale Balaenoptera cortesii (= Balaenoptera floridana), the walrus Ontocetus emmonsi, and the dugong Corystosiren varguezi. Why significant ? Well that is an antler tip up there and it almost certainly belonged to a an Artiodactyl, but which one? Might it be from Capromeryx as opposed to a white tail deer? Odocoilius virginianus. Index species for the Bl2 in Florida: Chelydra floridana, Phalacrocorax filyawi, Titanis walleri, Megalonyx leptostomus, Paramylodon garbanii, Sigmodon minor, Sigmodon medius, Sigmodon curtisi, Ondatra idahoensis, Castor californicus, Peromyscus hagermanensis, Erethizon poyeri, Erethizon kleini, Borophagus diversidens, Canis lepophagus, Trigonictis macrodon, Chasmaporthetes ossifragus, Platygonus bicalcaratus, Hemiauchenia blancoensis, Hemiauchenia gracilis, Capromeryx arizonensis, Nannippus peninsulatus, Tapirus lundeliusi, and Rhynchotherium praecursor . I am not trying to ID the antler, but I do have one fossil I am interested in a verification and 2 fossils for my hunting friend. Mine I believe to be Neohipparion eurystyle and would like to have confirmation. The 2nd is a small canine. I have great difficulty differentiating raccoon from possum from from skunk in the Pleistocene. He thought this was dolphin, I think it is land mammal. It is 27.5 mm in length and has a ridge in the enamel just above the root. Thoughts on Land versus marine mammal ? Finally, I have never seen a fossil like this one. and I have little hope of identifying.... I think it is marine and the reason you have all this background. I am trying to depend on those TFF members from up north... @MarcoSr @Al Dente@siteseer@Northern Sharks @sixgill pete That bottom photo makes it look like a Vertebra... could it be the crest of a fish ? 30 mm in length. Please help. I am out of my league. Jack
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So, I am scanning a sieve for small fossils and up pops this fossil. At a minimum, it is the tip of a long bone, but there is the possibility for more. Two things got my attention.. The texture is not common for bone. and the break (last photo) seems suggestive of claw . Your thoughts... bone, rock, claw ? Some Claws : http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/98916-small-claw/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/1389-some-type-of-claw/ http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/20064-pleistoscene-claw-id/&tab=comments#comment-222132
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I was hunting the Peace River on Wednesday and up came this bone that seems to have enough features to be recognizable. In the 1st photo, long bone coming in from right; in 2nd photo from left... Yesterday, I moved to a pre_pleistocene location, with mostly Blancan fossils. Found this one about the same size and once again with features that should be recognizable. So to start, I am just trying to determine type (Femur, Humerus, Tibia, etc). Certainly, let me know if you recognize the species, but even type of bone would give me a starting point...
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I have been sampling areas that I thought might have low enough water depths. It is also my exercise. I kayak against the current, go swimming along the way, pack a picnic lunch, enjoy the wildlife and scenery. Out side of small broken teeth, unrecognizable bone fragments , I found 3 fossils. A very nice Tiger shark tooth. Is this a scapula ? It is in fantastic shape, so might be modern. Can someone ID the mammal? And another bone. I do not think I have seen the like before... leaning toward turtle, gator, marine .. it seems to be mostly unbroken, with a number of facets...
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Here in Florida , we can have driving Thunder storms followed by Sunshine.. One areas get 3-4 inches of rain, another 5 miles away gets a trace. I frequently check the water depth gauges. One of my locations opened up and I tried with a friend for some deeper water hunting. First, I found a small horse incisor consistent with the Blancan age of fossils from this site. The most common small horse I find here is N. peninsulatus, and I think this is likely from that horse. Then a switch to modern, and I am thinking this is wild pig / boar, but not positive whether it is an incisor or a tusk. and finally, what I believe to be a fossil incisor but I am just not sure the mammal.. It looks to be the size and shape of an Equus incisor, BUT I have not seen that enamel texture, the horizontal lines on the enamel tip, the dual tower nature of that enamel tip in the normal Equus incisors I find. Most of my Equus incisors are just bigger versions of the N. peninsulatus incisor I showed above. Thanks for any any all comments. On this last tooth, width of chewing surface is 11 mm, length of tooth is 43 mm.
