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This past weekend I had the time to take some friends on their first fossil hunting trip and went to North Texas. I took them to Post Oak Creek, Lost Creek Reservoir, the North Sulphur River, and the Cane River site in Louisiana I posted about last time. I wasn't expecting too much since there hasn't been much rain and it'd be picked over but I was okay with that since even common material would be new to them. I also ended up having some decent luck myself so I wanted to post some of the finds. At the Eocene Cane River Formation site I collected these bivalves which I hadn't collected from the site prior. Limopsis aviculoides I believe. These teeth appear to be Scomberomorus bleekeri, a common Eocene find. A nice Sphyraena sp. tooth. Physogaleus secundus were also new from the site for me. Some ray tooth? Some new lateral Striatolamia macrota alongside some old anterior ones from a previous trip. Multiple species represented in new small otoliths. There is a paper describing the otoliths from this site but I haven't been able to get a copy yet so I've only identified the larger ones from last time. Among the many Belosaepia veatchi was this unusual one. The "blade" is B. ungula like but the cavity is rather deep for that. New gastropod taxa that I haven't identified yet. From Post Oak Creek I wound up with some nice Pleistocene finds. Canis sp., probably a coyote. A muskrat tooth. Lots of Ptychodus whipplei this trip. Some of the nicest ones. The biggest Squalicorax teeth. Some sadly incomplete Cretodus but still nice. And my favorite tooth from the trip, a great colored little Cretodus. Love the contrasting tip. From the North Sulphur I got a nice little mosasaur terminal caudal vertebra. It's good enough for me from and more than I expected. I also got a nice living chamber from a Trachyscaphites.

I have been too busy to get out fossil hunting when I want but there are a few recent times I've been able to get out. I wanted to try and post a small trip report about them. On October 31 I had the opportunity to visit the W.M. Browning Cretaceous Fossil Park in Prentiss County, Mississippi. Most people from the area are probably familiar with this old site but I'm a new resident to this part of the South so I wanted to give it a try. It's Late Campanian Demopolis Formation. It was a little cold and rainy but warm enough for someone used to North Dakota. Apparently these large concretions erode out of a higher formation. First tooth I found wasn't even in the creek but on the bank where I set my sieves. A good sign. A little tributary carving through the bedrock made for relaxing sounds. A little mosasaur tooth. Washing and drying the teeth back home. "Junk" teeth I set aside to use for biology outreach programs. S Some more pics of the mosasaur tooth. A nice Hybodus cephalic clasper. A chunk of cartilage and some verts. A blunted Ischyrizha rostral spine. Keeper fossils. A couple Baculites asper pieces and some Cadulus sp. didn't get in close pictures. I'm always a sucker for lightning and cool color variations in teeth. Serratolamna serrata teeth were the second most common. Squalicorax kaupi Squalicorax pristodontus Hybodus sp. and Pseudohypolophus. Most were missing tips but the Enchodus were a good average size. Xiphactinus teeth were just tips. Some bigger Scapanorhynchys were also present. Baculites asper and Cadulus sp. Anomia argentia The small Gryphaeostrea vomer. Exogyra ponderosa and Pycnodonte convexa (not pictured) were also a common find. Aside from the common material there were some nice rarer specimens and stuff new to my collection. Overall it was a very good trip.

I collected this specimen at an Eocene Cane River Formation site in Louisiana during a recent trip. It kind of resembles a cephalopod gladius but I can't find a particularly close match. I did find a ton of Belosaepia guards at the site so the environment seems suitable at least. It's about 5 mm in length.