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Over the month of December, I've gotten the opportunity to check out several sites across the state of Texas. In my fossil interests, I have to admit that I am certainly a bit vertebrate-centric, but that does not mean I will pass up the chance to marvel at a beautiful invertebrate specimen when given the chance. For better or worse, these past four mini hunts have not really delivered on the vertebrate end, but have made up the difference in terms of inverts. I've decided to combine these smaller hunts into one report. For those with invertebrate addictions, I hope this sampler of Texas fossils will meet your medically-necessitated daily dose of invertebrate content. Enjoy! Maastrichtian No Mas Kemp Clay and Corsicana Formation Leading up to my eventual move away from Austin back to DFW, I made sure to visit a nearby site that possessed some Maastrichtian exposures. Back up in Dallas, the nearest exposures of similar age are a bit of a drive, so I wanted to take the opportunity to travel to a convenient spot while I still had a chance. I had previously seen this spot mentioned in some old literature, where it was described as exposing the Kemp Clay at the top of a bluff and Corsicana below. Since I had no prior experience with these formations, I wasn't sure what to expect or what to look for in terms of identifying formations. One Saturday afternoon, I carved out a few hours to take the drive and a brief hike out to the spot. I was excited to finally hunt a stage of the Cretaceous I had never searched before. The landscape was quite dramatic and I could see out for miles. Pictures really do not do the place justice. The drop from the trail to the creek bed is much higher than the picture makes it out to be. After navigating my way down, I was immediately confused by the formation the creek bed was composed of. Perhaps I am just too Ozan-minded, but the shale looked almost indistinguishable from my usual Ozan hunting spots elsewhere in the area. It had that classic bluish grey color and was even filled with rather large Exogyra oysters. I began to wonder if so much time and weathering had passed that the creek had finally reached down to the Ozan far below. However, a closer inspection showed that there were some subtle key differences. The wavy shells of the oysters were not indicative of the species E. ponderosa, but instead of E. costata, which is present in the Corsicana Formation at least according to the paper I had read about the site prior. There was also a pronounced presence of tiny phosphatic bivalves that I had never seen in the Ozan. With this information, I was relieved to know that my goal of collecting in the Maastrichtian could continue without issue. Some leftovers from an earlier fossil hunter. Not all of these are E. costata since they washed down from older strata upstream. With little direction as to where to look first, I decided to plop down and try splitting open some chunks of mudstone that had fallen down from a grey and brown formation at the top of the cliff (Kemp Clay I'm assuming). Initially, I didn't find much, but eventually some invertebrate fossils began showing up. I was intrigued by the presence of the original shell on a few gastropods (I hadn't been to the Whiskey Bridge at this point so this was a first for me). They were ornamented, unlike the steinkerns I had been accustomed to for the entirety of my Cretaceous fossilizing career before. Unfortunately, none of them were preserved well and were more so just crushed messes too fragile to take back. In the same rocks, I came across various bivalves that were fairly nice to look at and ended up keeping an orange 2D one, though I am having a difficult time identifying it. A gastropod with the original shell from the Kemp Clay(?) A flattened bivalve(?) from the Kemp Clay(?). It's about 30 mm across, orange, and has thin red lines between the ribbing. At first, I wondered if it was a smushed trigonia, but I'm doubting that now. Afterwards, I surface collected along the bed and climbed some of the cliff where Corsicana was exposed. There wasn't much in the way of large finds, but getting close to the ground revealed a plethora of smaller finds to be had. The first objects of interest were highly detailed button corals. The closest thing I could find online as an ID was the genus Micrabacia which is known from the Peedee formation (also Maastrichtian). I came across a couple bits of crab claws as well. My vertebrate hopes for ginglymostoma were never fulfilled, sadly. Instead, I found only three sharks teeth that were all missing roots . I don't think they can be identified, but I welcome you all to toss out ideas if you have any. An in situ of what could be a Micrabacia button coral. As I walked along the cliffs, I couldn't help but think about the time period I was traversing through. In the formations beneath me were the Cretaceous layers I had grown so used to. In those days, mosasaurs and dinosaurs dominated the world. It's mind boggling to realize that the strata just above the Kemp Clay was the geological blink of an eye that saw an end to all of it. All those billions of ammonites and not a single one made it through such a barrier. Even something so simple yet prolific like exogyra was put to a complete stop. The Maastrichtian was not a final stand by any means either. That day 66 million years ago may have started just like any other, but ended with the world being permanently changed in a way that is almost unimaginable. Speaking of days ending, the time was 30 minutes till sunset. With the day winding down, I decided to circle back and try splitting some more mudstones from the Kemp Clay in hopes of finding a shark tooth before calling it quits. Rock after rock, I couldn't seem to find anything other than the usual tiny clams and crushed snails. As the light started to dim, I was finally greeted by the sheen of shiny black enamel. It had a strange shape to it, but this being a new place for me, it could have just been a weird shark for all I knew. As I chipped away at the rock, more and more of the specimens figure was revealed. Finally, I realized that all of my labor had been put into exposing a simple enchodus fang, no different from the hundreds I had seen before! And yet, I was still happy with it. After the disappointment of the broken shark teeth from before, it was nice to at last have a complete tooth from the Maastrichtian, no matter how common the animal may be. With that, another stage of the Cretaceous was crossed off the list. Some pics of all of the finds: Strange bivalve, a gastropod, Micrabacia(?) corals, and perhaps a scaphopod? Top row L to R: Crustacean claw bits, and the enchodus (petrosus?) fang. Bottom L to R: Worm tube, and three rootless shark teeth Eocene Escargot Stone City Formation Fast forward about a week, and the time had come for me to pack my things and leave my dorm once and for all. I usually drive straight to Dallas from Austin, but this year things were different. My carless brother started his first semester at A&M, so I volunteered to pick him up on the way home for the break. Being the person that I am, I simply cannot drive all the way out there and NOT visit the world-class site known as the Whiskey Bridge. I made sure to turn in my dorm key early in the morning and head on out for a quick hunt in the Stone City Formation along the Brazos. I was hoping @Jared C could join in the fun, but he unfortunately had a final that same morning . I'm pretty sure passing the class wasn't that important, but I won't hold it against ya . Before making the drive, I had also done a bit of research into which layers yielded the most vertebrate material. Even with the information, however, I still had measured expectations as the Stone City Formation is of course much more famous for its rich invertebrate fauna. The goal for the day was to find some vertebrate material and perhaps a complete cone snail. When I arrived, the place was still covered in mud from the storm a couple days before. With hopes that the popular site had been replenished, I carefully made my way down to the water, passing by a couple of hunters just finishing up their session. The plan was originally to head straight for a productive spot a ways from the bridge, but of course the newness of the place and its fauna had me stopping in my tracks every few steps to pick up a gastropod. When I finally got to the spot, I slowly climbed up the slope to meet the fine hash layers atop the ledge. There is never a dull moment at this locality. Every square inch of surface is covered with bits of white shell. The first oddball that caught my eye was a strange looking piece of coral. Madracis johnsoni Side stepping to the right while hugging the wall of soil led me to my next noteworthy find and the first of the vertebrates! The skinny crown and wrinkling of the enamel was a familiar sight for someone who has collected so many scapanorhynchus teeth in the past. However, it would seem that, for this formation, a sand tiger shark was the more likely ID. I'm guessing this is from Striatolamia macrota. The weathering on it is likely due to prehistoric reworking I would assume. Striatolamia macrota? Not so long after, I sidestepped my way into finding my first ray plate! Unfortunately this one was also in not-so-perfect condition. Myliobatis sp. fragment I couldn't stick around for too long since my brother was waiting for his pickup. I rounded off the trip by filling up a couple bags with fine shell hash matrix for future screening for microfossils. I didn't take too much though, as I have a secret side project involving many bags of micromatrix that is currently occupying most of my micro attention. If I find anything special from the hash, I will be sure to add an update to this topic. Overall, it was a solid first visit to a famous site. I managed to find some vertebrate bits and bobs that I'm happy with. I am a little bummed I never got a complete cone snail, but I guess that will just have to wait for a future outing. Overview of the finds: Top: Dentalium scaphopods Bottom L to R: Striatolamia macrota tooth, Myliobatis ray tooth fragment, reworked Carcharhinus mancinae? tooth, and Conus sauridens fragments Top L to R: Lunulites bouei and Schizorthosecos sp. bryozoans, and Turbinolia pharetra coral. Bottom L to R: Fish otoliths (not sure how/don't want to ID), Balanophyllia desmophyllum, and Madracis johnsoni Top L to R: Weathered Architectonica elaborata?, and probably Venericardia densata that looks strange since it doesn't seem to curve like others. Mid L to R: Anomia ephippioides, Vokesula smithvillensis, Notocorbula texana, and perhaps a worm tube? Bottom L to R: Large Anomia ephippiodes, and a trio of Venericardia densata Top L to R: Athleta petrosus, Ancilla staminea, and Pseudoliva vestusa Bottom L to R: Athleta lisbonensis, Architectonica scrobiculata, and Sinum arctatum Top: Michela trabeatoides Bottom L to R: Protosurcula gabbii, Hesperiturris nodocarinatus, Cochlespira engonata, and Protosurcula gabii though they look different from the one on the left of the row. Top L to R: Distorsio septemdentata, and Latirus moorei Bottom L to R: Mesalia clairbornensis, Turritella nasuta, and Gegania anitquata Phew that was a lot to identify. I'm sure I got plenty wrong, so feel free to correct me on any of these. I will probably find a ton of new species in the micro matrix that I can add in a later update!

I visited a new locality recently and spotted this concretion. I dont really split concretions these days unless there is a really good reason to do it. I prefer prospecting and looking for clues that something is inside. And - it’s hard work splitting these concretions Glad I rolled the dice on this one though. You just don’t get many Tumidocarcinus specimens with leg tips. Not a huge crab, but I like the small ones too. Should glue back together and prep nicely. Good separation on that carapace except for the usual trouble spot. That area near the front of the carapace is often sticky and fragile. A nightmare to prep sometimes. Just hope that left claw isn’t tucked under.

The brief visit to the second half of the Pawpaw exposure turned out to be a huge success. I didn't think it was possible, but the finds got even better! There wasn't much of a story to be had with accessing the site, so I'll keep things brief and jump straight into the finds. Once I relocated the productive greyish layer, I was already gathering various claw bits left and right. Their bright white coloration really makes them pop out from the ground. However, I didn't let this lead me into lowering the thoroughness of my search. I still took a close look at every pebble and under every rock. The fruit of my labors came when I locked onto the first shark tooth for the site, a small Leptostyrax macrorhiza. I've found one in the past in the Duck Creek, but never in the Pawpaw. Nine times out of ten I would have missed this guy. Just look at how hidden he is in this photo: Leptostyrax macrorhiza hidden beneath a couple pebbles The vertebrate finds continued with a tiny ~1 cm fish jaw fragment. Let me know if you recognize it: Close up with my new stereo microscope! Not too long after, the crustacean finds began to ramp up. Scattered about were fragments of carapaces. It was only a matter of time before the first complete carapace of the day was found. Steorrosia aspera I want to say I continued finding several more that weren't impressive in situ, but amazing after cleaning. One Steorrosia sp. was pretty banged up on the sides, so I couldn't confidently pin an ID. However, I noticed that it had little black dots where the eyes are usually missing in these crab fossils. Well, my Christmas gift came right on time! I placed it under the digital microscope and almost fell out of my chair. This little crab had preserved compound eyes. I'm not sure how rare such a feature is, but it impressed the hell out of me. I should warn that the pics aren't terribly clear since taking photos requires me to press a button on the microscope that shakes the whole thing. Plus, viewing something so small had the device at its absolute maximum magnification. Hopefully you all can spot the pattern on the compound eyes. Underside of the Steorrosia sp. The face of the Steorrosia sp. A close up of one compound eye. Those faint circles are what I interpret to be the individual eyes. Although not from the grey layer I was hunting in, pyritic cephalopods could be found washed out from the red sandstone above. Most are pretty beat up, but I make sure to collect a little bit of each species I can find. I have enough Engonoceras serpintinum as it stands, but I can't help taking a picture when I find a nice one. Engonoceras serpintinum Mantelliceras sp. The first unorthodox find of the day was very clearly a tiny brittle sea star leg. I've always wanted to find starfish parts, so I was super excited to pick this specimen up.... little did I know. Not sure if it possible to ID beyond genus from just a leg segment: Ophiura sp. in situ Close up of same leg From there, I found a couple more very nice carapaces including a MUCH more complete Texicancer renfroae?. Face of the Texicancer renfroae? I hate to say I may have already found a Feldmannia wintoni that surpasses the one I submitted to FotM I need to figure out how to turn off that pesky time stamp on the bottom right. Starting to feel like I'm taking crab mugshots When I got home, I was able to clean up and analyze a couple of enigmatic specimens that had initially given me starfish vibes. After a bit of research, I believe my hunch was right. These two specimens each have one side covered in "spikes". I found a paper (Blake and Reid 1998) on Pawpaw starfish that had similar structures on the oral sides of the arms. Betelgeusia reidi (cool genus name btw) seemed the closest match, but it's a tough call. And to round it off with one of the most legendary finds in my fossil hunting career, a mess of associated brittle sea star chunks including the central disc and several arms fragments. I tried to find more, but these were the only pieces I came up with. It was a massive pain paraloiding this thing together I must admit. There's not much surface area to work with, but it eventually came it alright. Actually looking at it again, I think I put the short arm on upside down, but that will be a headache for another day... The only local brittle star species I know from this period would be Ophiura graysonensis and O. texana. Hard for me to say which it resembles more closely, but I'm leaning towards graysonensis, assuming those exist beyond just the Grayson Marl. The central disc and a couple of arm bits in situ Oral side? Aboral side? It's safe to say this is my most productive hunt yet! Hopefully you all enjoyed reading through this little report. Here is an overview of the finds: Fish jaw section, Leptostyrax macrorhiza, and xiphactinus? tooth fragment (was hoping it was pterosaur ) Crabs of the day L to R: Various Steorrosia, Feldmannia wintoni, Texicancer renfroae?, and Steorrosia reidi? Top: Engonoceras serpintinum Bottom L to R: Mantelliceras sp., Mariella worthensis, Scaphites hilli, and Baculites comanchesnis? Ophiura sp. arm fragment, chunks of Betegeusia reidi?, and a couple of bivalves Thanks for reading!

Hello, I am new to fossil preparation but I bought one of those Miocene Crab concretions, but I am not sure how to separate the rock without damaging the crab inside. I only have dental tools and chisels, but they are not enough to separate the two sides for a pos/neg display that I could like. What sorts of tools could I use for the job? It is something similar to the picture below.

Do you see any obvious red fkag with this one? It is described as Zanthopsis dufouri, 8×7×5 cm, Eocene (47.8-56 m/y), from the French region of Aude. It llooks very nice, but what both attracts and puzzles me it that it appears ti be "sitting" onto its matrix, like a jewel on a silk cushion. What do you thing? An excellent prep work, or...? Auf Deutsch übersetzen

Found this walking some rocks today, thought it kind of resembled a crab. Measures roughly 4.5 inches. Anyone care to give their opinion?

This one turned out good

Last week I visited my little spot in the Britton formation for the first time since all the flooding rains, it's only a small strip about 20 yds long that's slowly eroding but I always find things. There were the usual baculites, ammonites and crabs, an Inoceramus and a few I'm not sure about. The crab that's circled doesn't look like the other Notopocorystes, it's too long, is it lobster? Then there's the little baculite packed rock that had 3 tiny ammonites, #3 I pried off, Mortoniceras? #2 scaphite or Placenticeras? #1 so small not sure it can be ID'd. #4 separate rock looks like squished Allocrioceras with smaller one beside it? Pics will probably end up out of order so numbered ones in question.

Here's one of my really nice invert fossils. A little crab, almost perfectly preserved in a cave made of Travertine. Quality varies wildly with these, this isnt a super high quality one but ever since I saw one of these on an auction site I wanted one and this one was most affordable for me. Anyone else here own one of these? Lmk!

Hi everyone. My name is Sonny and im a fossil collector from the Netherlands. I got into this hobby as a kid, but now with a stable income and my own house I decided I would take the hobby more serious. Since March I began picking up high quality pieces, with my main focus being anything reptile or dinosaur related. All the fossils I own are checked for authenticity, unless stated otherwise. My main pieces right now: A 3 egg hadrosaur nest from China A high quality keichousaurus from China High quality megalodon tooth from Florida Branchiosaurus with a fish on the same matrix A travertine crab from Turkey 3 charcharodontosaurus teeth from Morocco And some cool ammonites. I have more, including a unidentified reptile skeleton on matrix from Utah and theres a museum quality turtle fossil coming soon. Im looking to learn more, im not as knowledgable on some fossils and im looking to slowly expand my collection. Hope I get to know some of you better! With kind regards, Sonny

I went collecting today with @Jeffrey P and @frankh8147 in a nearby creek in New Jersey exposing the Late Campanian Wenonah Formation and I came across this concretion containing a crab carapace. Unfortunately the carapace lost its right side to weathering in the creek and the carapace was crunched and broken during fossilization. I checked Richard's The Cretaceous Fossils of New Jersey as well as a few others and I was unable to come up with a definitive identification. Does anyone recognize this crab genus? It seems so familiar to one I came across while collecting in Texas but I have not been able to put my fingers to it. My only guess would be Cretacoranina testacea but it seems too short and wide to be a raninid crab and I did not see the typical crescent markings. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

I am going to take my 9 years old son to California in mid February for a week. We plan to collect shark tooth at Ernst Quarries and we also want to collect other fossils along the coast from San Francisco to LA. I did many research and found a few sites that we really want to go. Bean Creek at Scotts Valley for sand dollar, Capitola Beach for shells and maybe whale bone, Carmel valley for crab, and Jalama Beach for fish. I did more research and found out that the Bean Creek location is off limit now. I would like to ask if the other places still ok. We will fly to LA and drive up north to San Francisco so I don't want to have to drive all the way up just to know that we can't collect the fossil. Also if you have other locations that you can share, it is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much and I can't wait still February.

Hello all, I live in Washington state! I recently discovered fossil hunting/rockhounding and during some online research, I had stumbled upon this forum multiple times, so I decided to join! As of now I don't have much experience with fossils and so on, but I hope to go on my first search soon! My first big goal would be to discover a well preserved crab. Thanks for reading!

Got me some matrix from a couple of sites in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation- one of my favorite (and closest to me!) formations. So much tiny stuff!! It's too dang hot to hunt in Texas (we are on day 58 of 100+ F degree ). So, hunting from home is my preferred pastime! Here are some of my recent nice finds. My best thing I found, which I was quite excited about is a little madreporite - part of a starfish cirulatory system. I found one big one (1/2 inch) at this same site a few years ago but had not found one since, so was happy to find this little one. It's only 1/4 inch. Here's the big one and the little one: Found quite a few little starfish ossicles. Not many Glen Rose starfish have been found "whole" or even partly whole. If I remember correctly @JohnJ is one of the few who have found them at least partly whole. My favorite are these bumpy ones. There are two found in this formation - a larger more robust smooth with tiny dimples and these smaller, skinny bumpy ones. Another treat to find are these floating crinoids - a relatively rare thing in the Cretaceous. I was happy to finally find this mostly whole one....often they are missing a section. I think this is a Solanocrinites sp. This one preserved a little better, but as you can see, has a chunk missing. But that Star!! And more crinoids - the variation in the Isocrinus annulatus amazes me: And don't forget the Echinoids! I found a lovely Pygopyrina hancockensis size 1/4 inch a nice sized Hyposalenia phillipsae 3/8 inch a small one: 1/8 inch and a juvenile! 1/16 inch Also found this interesting spine - possibly a Cidarid spine. Some decent tiny crab claws (unknown) and finally, a Foraminifera Orbitolina texana which you can see some of the structure of. I thought that was pretty cool

Hiya! First time posting so please forgive me if I’m doing something incorrectly. I’ve recently gotten into fossils after previously collecting different minerals. I would like verification for two fossils before I go ahead and purchase them.

Hi guys, I have recently found what I presume is a fossil crab on a beach in the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia. I’m wondering if anyone knows any more details about it, age, etc? Thanks! NP

Hello All, We recently took our kids to the Aurora fossil festival to "fossil hunt" though piles of material from the local Nutrien Phosphate mine in North Carolina. We brought a small amount of material home to look though and one of the kids found the attached tiny hermit crab. It looks so delicate that I have a hard time believing this is a fossil. That said, if it is a modern specimen I have no clue how it ended up in our sample of gravel? Any thoughts or help with the id would be appreciated! Brent

I don't usually publish a you tube video on Sundays, but my youngest son came over and we popped open a crab concretion from New Zealand in real time for everyone to see. I decided to make it into a video and had some fun doing it. Enjoy https://youtu.be/8PDo3yRP5zE

Very rare find a Cuban Necronectes collinsi. This is only the third example I have seen come out of the limestone of the Canimar formation in the last 12 years.