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Today I had a good time with fossil hunting at the Dakota formation (early Cenomanian) sites and Greenhorn formation (Cenomanian-early Turonian) sites in Ellsworth county, Kansas. Typical view of the local countryside, but still beautiful! I keep finding these weird vertebrae-like rocks, clustered in this particular site and not other sites. I suspect it's not vertebrae but I still can't figure this out yet. These mysterious vertebrae-like rocks...reminds me of shark centrum and crinoid stems but I don't think it's them. This site is Dakota formation. I took these home just in case it is identified as fossils later. I think it's fossil vegetation of some sort. Maybe reed or horsetail? I found these jumbled at different locations but put it together and it fitted like a puzzle. I took it home and will be prepped. This is from Dakota formation. Inoceramus from Greenhorn formation. One of the best specimen of this genus I have found so far! Took this one home. Another Inoceramus, pretty good specimen! I also took this one home. Tiny fossil in the center. Greenhorn formation again. This tiny fossil, image enlarged and the ridges/grooves are visible. No idea what it was. I took this one home and will be put under the microscope for identification efforts. The storm was brewing at the distance as the cold front is heading south. It was lightning and I was at near the top of hill, the road would be impassable if wet, so it was time for me to go home! I will be posting some of those fossils on the Fossils ID section soon after it is cleaned up. Cheers!

Dear TFF If possible, I would appreciate a more accurate identification for this Cenomanian shark tooth [5 mm]. Thank you. Ricardo

Last Saturday we finally went back to the Cretaceous deposits at the northern French coast. On some spots on the beach the gault clay deposits were visible, this delivered a few beautiful belemnites ( Neohibolites minimus ) and from time to time other small fossils washed out of the clay and scattered in the shingle. The chalk boulders near the clifs were not very productive, apart from a very rare Ptychodus tooth. This one made our day.

I'm guessing it's an iron concretion and not a fossil, but I would like to make sure. I have never seen anything like this shaped like a spikeball or flower, except in crystals. Fossil or not, I took it home because it's so interesting! Dakota formation and early Cenomainian. This formation are known for fossilized plants, leaf imprints, and petrified woods. Top view: Bottom view:

Hello all I have a question about these three big crocodylomorph teeth from the Kem Kem beds in Morocco. The Kem Kem beds are Cenomanian (early late Cretaceous) in age. These are my three teeth: The left one is an 8,5 cm long tooth crown (maybe partial rooted but not too much) which is very slender. It has carinae ( Correct term for Crocodilians?) running all the way along the crown. The middle one is a rooted, slender tooth of 9 cm with a missing tip. The first time I saw this tooth for a moment I thought it would be a Pliosaur tooth, until I saw the location. I am not sure if the missing tip is chewing damage or just because the fossil broke. The complete tooth would have been 9,3-9,5 cm I think. It does have carinae, but they don’t seem to run along the entire 4 cm long crown. The root itself is around 5 cm long and hollow. The last one is a very robust 6 cm long tooth crown with clear carinae running along the entire tooth. This tooth is way smaller than the first one, but a lot more robust. My problem with these teeth is ID’ing them. Crocodile teeth usually aren’t easy but I really wanted to try to get some ID on these. Some background info: So far seven Crocodylomorphs are described in the Kem Kem beds. 1: First of, Araripesuchus rattoides I couldn’t really find any good pictures of teeth from this species, but I found this picture of a jaw of Araripesuchus wegneri from Niger My teeth certainly do not belong to this genus because of size and shape. 2: Next, Laganosuchus maghrebensis, a species who’s teeth also don’t look similar to mine. 3: Hamadasuchus rebouli has pretty distinctive teeth. They are usually serrated and a lot smaller. 4: Next up, Aegisuchus witmeri, a croc with a holotype without any teeth. However, the size estimates given to this crocodile are too small to contain such big teeth, so I also rule this one out. 5: We also have Kemkemia auditorei, but this species is only known from caudal vertebra. According to Wikipedia (I know, great source), this would have been a crocodylomorph with a size of 4 to 5 meters. I can’t really comment on teeth of this species, but when I compared it with the largest tooth recorded (9cm) of the biggest crocodile today (Saltwater crocodile), this tooth was even larger than the biggest of the Saltwater crocodile, while that specific individual must have been 1 to 2 meters bigger than the 4 to 5 meter estimate on Kemkemia, so I think we can rule that species also out. 6: The last one I feel pretty confident in ruling out is Lavocatchampsa sigogneaurusselae. Beside being way to small, it’s teeth looks nothing like mine. 7: Now onto the most famous Kem Kem crocodile: Elosuchus cherifiensis. The original description of the genus Elosuchus included these teeth. According to the description and this picture, I am pretty sure the tooth on the right does belong to this species. The other two teeth do not fit this description however. For the tooth on the left one I can believe it’s a different position in the jaw, but I am far from sure. The middle tooth is something else I think. It could of course be a case of heterodonty, but it differs quite a lot from the two others. So what do you guys think? Is this a case of heterodonty, or is there some huge, undescribed crocodylomorph present in the Kem Kem beds? Really looking forward to what you think. Pictures from: Larsson, H. C. E., en C. A. Sidor. “Unusual Crocodyliform Teeth from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Southeastern Morocco”. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19, nr. 2 (1999): 398–401. Martin, Jeremy E., en France De Lapparent De Broin. “A Miniature Notosuchian with Multicuspid Teeth from the Cretaceous of Morocco”. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36, nr. 6 (november 2016). Sereno, Paul, en Hans Larsson. “Cretaceous Crocodyliforms from the Sahara”. ZooKeys 28 (19 november 2009): 1–143. Lapparent de Broin, France de. “Elosuchus, a New Genus of Crocodile from the Cretaceous of the North of Africa”. Comptes Rendus Palevol 1, nr. 5 (1 december 2002): 275.