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Hello, I have found this plant fossil today in the shoulder of a forest road (Hasibach, Geistthal, Styria, Austria). Its freshly split, last pic is photographed under water. Its from the Campanian Afling-Formation, Gosau-Group of Kainach. Any hint to ID is highly welcome! Note: I can not see any venation with a hand lens. I have also the counterpiece, but its worse. Thank you very much for your help! Franz Bernhard

Hello everyone, I have a set of teeth from marine sediment of campanian age from the middle east. After many tries to identify, I couldnt pinpoint them exactly. Some of the rays feel like Rhombodus, but they are not a perfect match... I would Really appreciate any help! Please note there are 6 ray teeth total, just different sides. Also the drawing has (some of) the general types I could distinguish. Thank you! Dolev

I have a few more teeth that I would like confirmation/correction on my ID's. These are also from the Ozan Formation (Cretaceous - Campanian) of North Texas, near the North Sulphur River. The bulk of the small teeth (all less than 7mm) I have picked from the matrix that have cusplets primarily fall into Scapanorhynchus or Cretalamna (with a few other genera, but probably not important here). The teeth shown below I believe to be one of these two genera, but I am uncertain due to a combo of characteristics, so I am asking for some help in deciding what they are or if they are indeterminate (or if they are something else, that is fine to). The first batch are four teeth that I am waffling between Cretalamna appendiculata or Scapanorhynchus texanus lateral teeth. The root shape and cusplet shape look more like the other Cretalamna I have (these have the more triangular cusplets I associate with Cretalamna as opposed to the pointier ones I tend to see on Scapanorhynchus), but they definitely have a nutrient groove so I'm uncertain. What else would/should swing me one way or the other? Any opinions would be appreciated (even a whole different shark if warranted). The second batch I think are Scapanorhynchus, but they are much narrower with less flared roots than other anteriors I have. And they don't look like the symphyseal (or close to the symphesis) teeth that I have seen in publications or discussed on here is some threads. I suppose I should have shown a comparison, but these are really tiny, skinny teeth relative to other small S. texanus teeth I have. Thoughts? Thanks for your help. Mike

I have been trying to finish up my ID's of small teeth I collected last year from Moss Creek in Texas (near the North Sulphur River). This material is Upper Cretaceous, Campanian and I have found at least a dozen genera of sharks with Cretalamna, Scapanorhynchus, Pseudocorax and Squalicorax being the most common forms. I'm going to start with seven teeth that I think may be the same but I can not put a name to. I have been through the references I have specific to this formation or age, elasmo.com, and many very helpful posts on here, but I am still at a loss. In Welton and Farish, they look most like Microcorax crassus, but those are supposed to be somewhat older, and even then there are still some differences. They may be posteriors of one of the more common forms, but I have not found a good match yet, so I'd appreciate some help. I'll tag a few a the folks I know are usually pretty good with this stuff: @Al Dente, @MarcoSr, @ThePhysicist, @fossilsonwheels and a couple I know have collected here recently: @EPIKLULSXDDDDD, @Ironhead42 I do not see any serrations or nutrient grooves on any of them. My pictures from above did not come out very well, so I'll just post a couple (with matching numbers from above) that I think show the patter most of them have (flat on the one side and quite convex on the other with a more expanded root). Thanks for any advice you can offer. Mike

Hello everyone! I have recently been working on a project which includes precisely identifying shark teeth from the Campanian of the middle east. digging in the literature just made it clear that its REALLY messy. There is one promising resource however - Henri Capetta's guide to all mesozoic elasmobranch teeth. Does anybody here have the book or know someone who may have a copy? It would be a TREMENDOUS help! Book: Cappetta H. Chondrichtyes II. Mesozoic and Cenozoic Elasmobranchii: teeth Handbook of Paleoichthyology 3E, second edition,Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, 1–193, 2012. Here are some images of the finds, Welcome to share ideas on them too Dolev

Just to show: it is possible to find fossil pearls. This three come from the campanian of Hannover. They are found in a layer together with a lot of Oysters, all Ostrea semiplana So, when you find Oysters in a bed, look for small balls, might be a pearl This ones are right for a paper we write, will be published end of the years. If someone has pearls from upper cretaceous, let me know, perhaps we can add it not necessary to be campanian age, but upper cretaceous or tertiary, please

I think North Texans will relate when I say that now and then, the urge to take a drive out to the NSR and spend the day hunting some Campanian gravel bars can spontaneously take complete hold. I had one of those moments just after the series of heavy rains and powerful winds our region encountered some days ago. Previously, my luck with weather at the NSR had been rather poor. Each time, the temps were either nearing a hundred degrees or only just above freezing, making a full on adventure crossing muddy waters and crawling atop unshaded gravel beds too much to handle. I had yet to experience a proper adventure at this historic site, so I decided that this week would be the one where I changed that. Luckily, my friends @PaleoPastels(Lari) and Cole where kind enough to invite me out to their special spot along the river. After waking up bright and early, I got in my car and followed the rising sun. After jumping out of our vehicles and exchanging brief greetings, we quickly slid our way down to the shale bed and beelined for the first bar. Cole has a bit of an aversion for water, so he stuck around at the entrance for most of the day while Lari and I got our clothes wet hopping from bar to bar. The weather and water temp were absolutely perfect, and the lack of footprints assured us it would be a productive day. It's not often you beat the crowd to a place as popular as this! Although I maintained measured expectations coming in, the sheer variety of strange and interesting fossils/artifacts that are known to come from this area kept me on my toes from the outset. When we arrived to the first bar, we started off strong, picking up a variety of shark teeth. Lari had an eye for them, immediately spotting a few super big Scapanorhynchus texanus, a staple of the Ozan Formation. Despite my protests, she was very generous in donating a few to me due to my limited NSR collection . Finally one I spotted myself! Scapanorhynchus texanus Scapanorhynchus texanus of the day. Some may be Carcharias samhammeri as I am still working on differentiating the two. In between crawling the gravel, I did some sifting which yielded a few interesting specimens including Squalicorax kaupi, Cretalamna sarcoportheta, Carcharias samhammeri, and a vole tooth which I will ignorantly assume to be Pleistocene in age. Cretalamna sarcoportheta, Squalicroax kaupi, and Carcharias samhammeri Sifting also yielded a plethora of shark vertebrae and I was fortunate enough to come across a beautiful spiral shark coprolite. I found one solitary coral which I assume is Trochocyathus sp. Shark verts, shark coprolite, and Trochocyathus sp. As I scanned the gravel looking to spot a complete Cretalamna, I was instead met with the first mosasaur tooth of the day! It was mostly in tact and showed some nice detail. I was relieved to know the entire trip was already made, and I could spend the rest of my time playing with house money. The only other mosasaur tooth previously in my collection has a beat up crown, so this new specimen certainly complements it. Don't know much about mosasaur genera in the NSR, but I will go with Tylosaurus proriger for now. Throughout the day, we also found tons of very large Enchodus fangs and jaw sections. I'm so used to finding these teeth in their miniature forms as I sift for micros, I almost forgot how big they could get. Lari did good with spotting the Ischyrhiza mira rostral teeth and quickly built up a small collection. She was nice enough to give a large one to me. Top: Fused fish vert and Pachyrhizodus tooth. Bottom: Enchodus jaw section and large fangs. Ischyrhiza mira By now we had hopped a couple of gravel bars and there was still plenty ways to go. It took me longer than it should have, but reaching the third bar finally brought me a large tumbled mosasaur vertebra. Not far from it, there was a section of finer gravel. Used to the routine, I once again got close to the ground and began scanning every pebble. After tossing the millionth shrapnel of shark tooth, I finally locked eyes with the most perfect mosasaur tooth I had ever seen. As I picked it up, I could tell something wasn't right, however. Of course the best side was on full display, but the rest of the tooth was cleaved cleanly off. Oh well, at least it'll look nice in pictures. Not long after, I found a second mosasaur tooth that was decently complete and hooked albeit tiny. Two nicest mosie verts. A slice of an exquisitely preserved mosasaur crown. The next oddball find came awhile later. My initial impression was that it might have been a segment of a Xiphactinus tooth, but the curvature suddenly ended along one of the edges of it. At this sudden end, there were two columns of small protrusions running longitudinally. I was debating on throwing it out, but my history of carelessly tossing neat finds convinced me to play it safe and take it home for identification. I'm glad I did because after the hunt, I immediately googled my hunch and it seems to be correct. This is a fragment of a hybodont spine! I wish I could pin down a more specific ID, but the info on them seems limited. I will say that, out of Moss Creek, I had found a tooth belonging to Lonchidion babulskii last year which could be the culprit. Quite an uncommon find for the NSR! Wondering if any shark experts here might have any ideas @ThePhysicist@Al Dente. Hybodont fin spine. Lonchidion babulskii is a candidate. By the penultimate gravel bar, I thought the best finds had surely been made. All day Lari had been talking about how this was THE spot to find Globidens teeth and how every visit she would find at least one fragment. Well, the walkable land was starting to run out and she expressed how disappointing it would be not to come across one that day. I find Globidens to be really interesting, but I think of it as one of those finds I would never expect to make on any given hunt. For me, not finding one would not define the day as a let down. As I was beginning to form those thoughts into words, I reached down to pick up a circular fragment of a tooth with a peculiar texture. Finding the right angle of light soon revealed the undoubted best find of the day: The top of a Globidens sp. crushing tooth! The whole day I had been hallucinating "finding" Ptychodus teeth. Funnily enough, this may very well be the tooth that ended their supremacy as shell crushers of the WIS. Seems too coincidental that Globidens suddenly appears right around the last occurrence of Ptychodus. I wonder if they directly competed Ptychodus out of existence or if Ptychodus went extinct on its own and mosasaurs simply filled in the niche . I don't think the Globidens of the Ozan Formation has been formally described yet. Globidens sp. Mosasaur teeth of the day! Despite having hunted for over a year in the creeks of Austin, I am surprisingly bad at spotting artifacts. Throughout the span of the day, the both of us had found a few chert flakes, but no sign of anything more even as I was trying to make a conscious effort to spot one. On the same bar as where the Globidens sp. was found, I noticed a worked edge of stone so big even someone as archaeologically blind as me could never miss it. Without an ounce of self control, I yanked it from the sand before I could finish yelling the word "arrowhead"! I seriously need to work on milking the moment . I did a little bit of searching online later and found that the point is likely a Darl or Hoxie. Both put its age in the thousands of years! Darl or Hoxie point. It measures 8.5 cm in length. On the way back, we kept our eyes peeled for anything we may have missed. I was sifting random spots of gravel, but not having the most luck. Lari casually handed me rock with a pearly white exterior and triangular shape. It was the most textbook mastodon I had ever seen, but she wasn't very impressed with it. She told me she had many of these already and that nonmarine fossils didn't interest her. I won't say I understand her terrestrial prejudice, but I will withhold my complaints since it meant I had acquired my first significant chunk of proboscidean . Mastodon enamel, mammoth enamel, and vole tooth. We finally reached Cole at the entrance. In our absence he had wondered off the other way and found a neat spider to pique his entomology interests and pocketed a few fossils. We managed to make it out by the mid afternoon, but I was so exhausted and content, I couldn't bother checking out any other spots along the river. The spoils of the hunt were amazing, but most of all I was happy to finally experience a classic hunt on the NSR as I had seen so many post about before. Doing it with a couple of friends made the adventure even better! Sadly this place has got not much time remaining, so those of you who have stumbled upon this post, maybe take it as a sign to give this historic spot one last go before the opportunity floats away. Thanks for reading!