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This is embedded in hard calcified sandstone layer of the upper Eutaw fm. I have been collecting from the site for years but have never encountered anything like this. The paleontologists I have shown it to are also stumped. The cell structure is similar to a pelecypod, but this is no bivalve. The shape is reminiscent of an egg but fairly sure it isn't that. The diameter is 12 cm. I know that photos cannot capture all the details. Any guesses?

We got a donation at work of a lot of little finds from post oak creek Texas. I’m not familiar with the site at all and the labels for these appear to have gotten wet some time in the past. I looked at the book on Cretaceous sharks and rays of Texas and it made me more and more confused. Would love any help to get these relabeled. If not, they’ll sit for a decade, be thrown out or given away here are my really unsure ideas- 1. Texatrygon sp. or ptychodus sp. 2. Pseudocorax sp. 3. Not enough there ? 4. Not enough there ? 5. Goblin ? 6. Carcharias sp. 7. Carcharias sp. 8. Carcharias sp. 9. Not positive enough to guess 10. Carcharias sp. 11. Hybodus sp. 12. Not enough there ? 13. Ptychodus sp. 14. Too broken ? 15. Ptychodus sp. 16. Too broken ? 17. Fish tooth? 18. Enchodus tooth 19. Drum tooth? Not a vert. The bottom is flat and shiny 20. Small fish tooth 21. Slag? Super shiny in person 22. Stumped here. Bone? Coprolite? Straight shelled cephalopod? Just rocks ?

I believe this mososaur tooth was unearthed in Morocco. Included in the photo are my thumb and index finger for scale.

The Theropod Dinosaurs of the genus Allosaurus since their discovery in 1877 are perhaps one the most recognizable theropods of the whole Jurassic period (201.4 ± 0.2-145.0 Million Years ago) despite emerging only in the late Kimmeridgian stage of the Jurassic period. Growing up to 9.7 meters (32 feet) in length fully grown, Allosaurus (also known as the Lions of Jurassic) were the apex predators of most of the terrestrial ecosystems they inhabited. The only theropods from these time that were higher in the food chain were some European non-Allosauroid Theropods and other members of Allosauroidea including the much rarer Epanterias (validity debated, possibly grew fully grown up to 12 meters (40 feet) in length) and Saurophaganax (validity confirmed, fully grown reached 10.5 meters (34 feet) in length). Digital Reconstruction of an adult Allosaurus sp. By artist Frederic Wierum Image Source: https://fredthedinosaurman.artstation.com/projects/Qg0WB The Allosauroids eventually gave rise to some of the largest theropod dinosaurs known in the fossil record currently including the closely related South American genus Giganotosaurus from the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period (99.6-95 Million Years ago) in what is now Argentina (which fully grown grew up to 12-13 meters (39-43 feet) in length). But Allosaurus itself has largely been considered to have lived only in the latest stages in Jurassic period (155-145 Million Years ago). I have found some records that might challenge this assumption!!! Digital Reconstruction of an adult Allosaurus sp. By artist Frederic Wierum Image Source: https://fredthedinosaurman.artstation.com/projects/Qg0WB

I just returned from a few days up in NJ where I had time to visit Big Brook (and Ramanessin for a little bit too). I went for a couple hours last Wednesday when I first arrived, then picked up where I left off Thursday morning. It was pretty chilly. About 28 degrees when I first woke up at 7. So I did some other work at the Colt's Neck Inn Hotel (highly recommend) until about 11. Over that time it warmed up almost 10 degrees. But I headed out. The positive to the cold weather was that I was the only one out there. It was also sunny despite the cold, and was otherwise a great day to go out. About 2pm and nearly to the Boundary Rd bridge, sifting through pile after pile of gravel, this beauty rolled across my sifting pan and I could hardly believe it. After a good 5 years and several trips, I finally found my first mosasaurus tooth! It's a bit beaten up and chipped, but I couldn't have been happier. Totally worth my beet red hands. This was my big trip maker and will have an honored place in my special fossil cabinet.

Yesterday was a day to remember! Unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. My youngest Son, once again had a band competition in Tom's River N.J. As it has become sort of a tradition now that whenever he has a competition in N.J., my wife and I drive down early so I can hit up the Cretaceous streams before his school is scheduled to perform. I started watching the forecast last week, and it did not look good, as it called for rain. Being the hard-core fossilhunter that I am, I figured that unless it was hurricane squalls I would be doing some hunting. Well I woke up around 5am, to several inches of snow at my house. That wouldn't have been bad, but the roads hadn't been plowed yet. The first hour and a half were a slippery, slushy mess. Several vehicles were in the ditch along route 81 through the hills and mountains. Eventually the snow turned to rain which was very heavy for the next 3 and a half hour or so. I knew at this point the streams were going to be over flowing. But I also knew that I was stubborn and would still try regardless so for the rest of the ride I tried to come up with a plan. We Eventually got to the stream and my wife dropped me off to do some shopping. Of course she thought I was crazy and asked if I was sure I wanted to do it. I told her yes. As I walked to the stream I was passing by one of the small feeder creeks and I could here the water trickling through. I got close enough to look over the bank and I could see some areas with exogyra oyster fragments and gravel lying in and around the waters edge. I figured if the main stream was to high ( which I knew it was) I would try this creek and make the best of it. I walk to the main stream and sure enough, it was flowing high muddy water. I walked upstream a bit trying to see if the was anywhere that I could possibly dig. I only was wearing rubber boots that didn't even go up to my knees. I knew I would get water in them and I did. I actually found a spot to dig a couple scoops of gravel and got a couple broken Sharkteeth first try. That got my hopes up, but was very short lived. After that I had a tough time trying to get a shovel full of gravel and not mud and debris. Plus the current was so strong it would blow most of the material off the shovel. Atleast I gave it a shot. But I didn't want to waste any more time so I decided to go to the feeder creek. As I got to the top of the bank, I fell on my side and slid down. I didn't get hurt, only muddy. I immediately started looking around and there was alot of the exogyras I spotted earlier as was as belemnite pieces everywhere. I had been told that this is pretty much all one would find in this creek, but I figured it would be better then nothing and who knows, maybe I would get lucky and find a nice surprise. I began surface scanning and found myself picking up every belemnite piece I saw. Then I turned it into a game, let's see how many I can come home with. I actually found a few complete or nearly complete ones with both tip and phragmacone. Surprisingly these were very small ones. I kept my eye out for any worthy Exogyras but unfortunately everything was very worn and broken. Eventually I started sifting and was very surprised to see a very nice sharktooth in my screen first try! This looked very pristine for a stream find. Unfortunately part of the root was broken off. Then in this one area I started finding these small Brachiopods which had both halves. They where pretty neat. Also found was what I believe are some sort of worm tube and some other mystery item that gives me a crab vibe. So I stayed out there a little over 2 hours. My wife picked me up and had stopped at Panera and got me a sandwich. I was completely soaked to the bone. So I changed into dry clothes, ate my sandwich and went to watch my Son perform at the competition. At some point the rain stopped at the sun came out for a bit on the ride home. I know that all of the New Jersey fossilhunters are going to find some good stuff after the waters settles. I wish you all good luck and expect to see some good trip reports! I am tempted to take tomorrow off from work to go back down! Anyways this is what I found......

This was my first winter fossil hunting in NJ (or anywhere, as a matter of fact). Definitely a different experience from summer and fall. Less people, and much better fossils! Although the people I have run into were pretty devoted, which I can appreciate. Thought I would document my 4 hunts between December and this past weekend. First up, 12/16. On of my favorite Cretaceous brooks. Found an awesome variety of fossils, one of which turned out to be a Theropod tooth! Group Shot Devonian glacier erratic with Crinoids, Bryozoan and Brachiopod or Bivalve impressions. Gastropod Steinkern Ammonite Steinkern Crustacean claw piece A. phasolus Crusher Tooth Enchodus sp. Tooth w/Jaw fragment Squalicorax sp. (Crow Shark) A. kopingensis (Mackerel Shark) Theropod Tooth

First: Happy Fossil Day! I've been waiting to post my most recent report so someone has something new to enjoy reading on National Fossil Day. This past weekend Cole unexpectedly didn’t have to work on a morning that I also had off! He asked me what I wanted to do while I was grocery shopping at 6am for fruit snacks, jerky, chocolate rice cakes. I told him to take me to Fort Worth area! He asked me how serious and I got him the big bag of jerky and offered to pay for the toll road fee. xD I messaged my insta friend who lives out there and regularly hunts heart urchins! He gave me the location of one of his favorite spots in the woods, he couldn’t be there because of work obligations but he gave me the okay to park and hunt there, I’m forever grateful. Ya’ll on the forum have REALLY made me envious as I’ve always wanted to find my own urchins & echs! Living almost two hours away north east (that’s with morning traffic) makes it a little hard to go to Fort Worth where the echinoid goodies are plentiful. Anyways, we went out and about to Fort Worth! On the way out there I spotted a creek- we were still a while from our destination but wanted to check it out. *Adding pictures with captions* I pulled out my trusty TX geomap on my phone (which I strangely had a slow signal being in a big city!) and saw we were actually in the PawPaw formation. All I could find were stinkin’ oysters with an occasional different looking bivalve- and I combed the gravel good and walked down to many other sandbars. If there were echinoids here Im sure they are a little more uncommon in this spot, this area was well picked over, or isn’t very productive of the good stuff. I’m not in my usual hunting grounds anymore and all of these places are new to me! This isn’t my usual playground. We decided to leave for now and focus on the area my friend invited me to visit. No disrespect to the oysters, but I have plenty of those variety at home! I could come back later and see if any have pearls I guess! ***Im kicking myself because after returning to an area with better internet connection I found out PawPaw formation has asteroid/sea star fossils! I have no idea if these are found here at this site. I’ve been itching to find a sea star like CRAZY. It never crossed my mind they could be here! We finally arrived in the Goodland Formation and I was so excited! The woods were so interesting and a little different than the woods I have back home! Crazy how Texas can look so different depending on how many hours you drive in a given direction!? I was told there are deer so apples for deer: These don’t grow very often wild in my part of Texas. I love the juice of the purple “tuna” fruits they make! I started seeing the rocky, chalky looking exposure and followed it down and dove right in! I found a little ammonite piece (eek!) and knew I was in the right spot! I didn’t expect to find ammonites, even though I knew we were in ammonite territory. Again- not my usual playground! (I actually got stuck by a heartleaf nettle later!) Oh my stars! My first heart urchin EVER. I named it Mary. I haven’t seen coral fossils like this since I lived in Indiana! It was neat to see. So I have a video/reel of me actually finding this ADORABLE little Salenia mexicana urchin! I didn’t know you could find these types of regular urchins here! I came here with heart urchin goggles but the universe gave me this little button! I messaged my friend and he was like, “HOLD UP- you found one of those!?” with some happy emojis. Finding this was so cool, it was just chilling on the ground like, “Pick me Up!” It’s perfect. Im OBSESSED. Regular Urchins/Echs are now my new love. (I might have to request to change my username! J/P btw ) I want to come back and find another! OB-SESSED. ^ Poor Cole, who hasn’t found anything yet, was feeling sad so I told him he was right next to one! I had him look in a spot next to a stick. I told him where it was and he couldn’t find it! I showed him Mary and he scanned the ground with no luck. I gestured my hand over it and he said “how can you tell thats a fossil and not a regular rock?” I made him pop it out and he said “Oh.” LOL I found a mini honey hole! A ton clustered in this one spot! Yay! This should be enough- I came here not expecting to find anything TBH. There was more in there but I left them alone for next time to look through. Cole found me four more! He was so proud and happy and I told him I will keep all four for my personal collection. I was proud of him! Recognizing cars and insects are his knowledgeable thing… rocks not so much. He likes fossils a lot but isn’t good at finding them. He found lots! Yay! My fanny pack is FULL of cool stuff! 85% what is in here are heart urchins, I’m guessing are Hemiaster whitei AKA Pliotoxaster whitei (EDIT: This genus had a name change!) from the looks of it. We kept finding more, but we left them in the open for my friend to find like easter eggs! I’m responsible and never over-collect at a site. Cole gasps and points to the woods- personally, I’m hoping its a snake or other reptile species I haven’t met yet because I love the darn critters…but he finds me an ammonite fragment! There was more of it buried in the dirt. It looks like an oxytropidoceras! Also the negative of one in the dirt! I told him amazing job today, and we celebrated by me taking him out for Cane Rosso pizza! We each ate a whole pizza. xD We also visited that cute little rock gift shop in downtown. ***I wanted to visit other sites but he was so hungry and then we unexpectedly had to go pickup his new contacts at the Opt before they closed for the weekend. He promised another time! He actually REALLY loved finding fossils and asked me if it feels that cool ALL the time like that. He liked the idea when I told him how it’s special to find “lost sea friends” in the ground and show them to the world after millions of years! Back at home, noticing during their first wash one of these isn’t like the other! The “petals” design is different! *Gasp* I immediately message my friend the “ECHpert“ and asked if this was maybe a Heteraster and he thought it was so cool I found a Heteraster and Salenia in the same trip, first trip ever! Yay! Learning new stuff, finding new stuff! (phone camera zoom lens attachment) Hmm not sure what to name this one! *I name certain rocks and fossils. While I was cleaning I also found this little tiny one that got into my bag! It reminds me of the “spiny jewelry box” shells I used to find in Florida when I lived there- but TINY and Cretaceous! Adorable! I named it Julian. (I’m not sure of the species!) Spread: ^ Lots of Hemiaster whitei urchins, I spy lots of Pelecypods and a Tylostoma snail, other snails. I also found a tiny piece of coral and petrified wood. Lots of ammo Oxytropidocedas pieces. Some were glued back together! The rest I will have to simulate into the shape until I find a whole one. If anyone spots other kinds of urchins in the photo I’m mistaking for Pliotoxaster whitei please point them out so I can label them and study the details on how to ID them. I already know I have one Heteraster! I cant wait to clean the chalky limestone plaque off them later! I found that super hot water, a firm tooth brush, and dull pushpin work the best. No acid, Im too chicken to try any drops of vinegar. Im still super obsessed with Salenia. I might gloss it later! Wow! I need to find more regular urchins ASAP. I WILL RETURN! Next time more prepared and ready for the ammonites and other places my friend recommended when he has time off work. I even want to help him find a Salenia too since he is missing one! I will say this short impromptu mini trip really got me bit by the echinoid-bug so much I even ordered a book about the Cretaceous echinoid fossils of Texas online! Maybe I will eventually try Austin and San Antonio too, San Ant apparently has a good spot! I know this was a long post- thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed an insider to this awesome day! Also if anyone else recommends me back to PawPaw since I’m in search of sea stars please inform me if that’s a decent formation to find them in. If so- I’m sure I can find my own spot.

Hi all, I found this at Big Brook in NJ (late cretaceous) a few months ago during one of my trips. I recognize it as a vertebra, but not like any shark or fish vertebra I've found before. Any ideas?

The idea that sensory pits were present in Theropod dinosaurs is not a new one, but for some reason I can't find any information on them and chat GPT says the presence of these structures in dinosaurs lacks fossil evidence. Below I present sensory pits in the jaw of an alligator and in the jaw of Albertosaurus. These pits are also known to be present in the jaws of some birds. In birds and crocodilians these sensory pits are believed to be used to detect vibrations in different substrates ( water for crocodilians and wood/soil for birds) in order to enhance prey detection and capture. My idea for sensory pits in Theropod dinosaurs (the ones that had them) is that they may have been used to detect prey in rotting logs or in shallow burrows. Why would large theropods have them? It is generally believed that young theropods were obviously alot smaller than the adults and probably ate things like insects or small vertebrates. I believe it is very likely that young Theropods used these sensory pits to help them locate these small animals that would be in substrates like wood (rotting stumps?) or soil. It's possible they were able to detect vibrations in the ground from approaching animals as a defense mechanism while they slept. It seems probable to me that these sensory pits may have been retained into adulthood by animals like Albertosaurus, etc...and lost by others. Of course these are believed to be present in piscivores like Baryonyx and Spinosaurus as well, which probably would have used them to enhance their fishing abilities. I intend to do some research into this and see if these sensory pits appear to be more common in juveniles ( where available) and how wide spread they were among Theropods in addition to the implications for feeding habits, etc in these animals as they aged. I would be interested in hearing some of your ideas about this.

Hello everyone! I found this recently in the Cretaceous of Monmouth County, New Jersey by splitting open a Wenonah concretion (which usually contain bivalves, gastropods and ammonites from time to time). I came across this in one of them and really have no idea what it is. Does anyone happen to know? -Frank

Hello, everyone! Below are a few finds from the North Sulphur River and Post Oak Creek, and I’d love to get some help with identification. The ruler is in centimeters. 1. This first picture includes two mammal teeth (top two)(fossilized or no?), ???, and a small bone that appears to be fossilized. these were found at Post Oak Creek. 2. This bone was found at the North Sulphur River. 3. Nautilus found at NSR. Could anyone help with identifying the species? 4. Jaw fragment? Found at NSR. 5. Coprolite? It appears to have fragments of bone(?) in it. Found at NSR. 6. I found this tooth at NSR a while back, but someone recently IDed it as Latoplatecarpus (mosasaur). I can’t find too much literature on Latoplatecarpus; could anyone give me more information on this tooth and the animal it comes from? Thank you!

Hey guys! reposting this with better description and High res pictures with a better camera and measurements. Found this near a natural spring on a hill cliff side in central Texas on the surface after clearing trees from land on the side of a hill kinda of cliff like and eroded. the specimen is hard and heavy, lots of porus holes(see pics) did the lick test and seems like more of a a fossil thank a rock but Im a newbie. i did some recon on the geologic data base for rock type and time period in my area and added that in the images. it tells a little bit about the geological makeup here. Im kinda on the border of two of them. any thoughts are much appreciated and thank you all so much for your time.

Oklahoma 2 After heavy rains arrived the afternoon of my first day fossil hunting, I headed further south and west in hopes of better weather conditions on day two. My decision was to overnight in Waurika and then check out a Lower Permian site in the area. To my surprise, no motel or restaurant existed in town, so I had to backtrack 40 miles to satisfy my belly and find a place to sleep. Not a good start. In the morning, I headed to a popular easy pickings spot to spend the morning at. What I encountered was a water saturated landscape. Quicksand mud was everywhere after the rains of yesterday. In addition to the problematic mud, the terrain was interspersed with rough rugged reddish Mars like rocks. I made it out to the exposure, only to be disappointed that finds were almost nonexistent. A little Malachite and a few possible fossils were all I could find in areas able to be traversed by foot. Those that suggested me to be on my hands and knees will be disappointed that I did not follow their advice due to the mud. 1. This was the typical red rock I mentioned. At least some had Malachite attached. 2. Possible plant fossil, and a strong suspicion its from Lepidodendron. 3. Finally, these specimens take on the look of a bivalve and the donut-shaped piece could be a vertebra from Archeria, a Permian amphibian The afternoon would be spent further east along the north shore of Lake Texoma. On the way, I stopped at a small roadcut and collected these fossils. The formation seems similar but a little different than what I saw at the lake. These are the finds from the roadcut. Does anyone have a guess as to the formation these came from? 4. 5.Texigryphaea 6.Texigryphaea 7. 8. 9. 10. Some angles look like turrilites but then another angle looks more like turritella After that short stop, it was off to the lake. Research at home showed a suggested public access road down to the lake. In reality, it was gated off and signage for trespassers to be prosecuted. As I turned around in disappointment, a gentleman was walking on the road. I stopped and asked if my directions to this site were correct. He verified it was but then told me of public land close by that if I didn’t mind a long walk, would take me to my desired location. I took his suggestion and after a vigorous downhill walk, arrived at the lakeshore. Water levels were low, exposing quite a bit of rocky shoreline. Oyster, bivalves and ammonites were everywhere. Unfortunately the nice ammonites were too large to drag back up the hill, let alone fit in my suitcase for the trip home. So representative pieces were collected as a remembrance of the area. Once home, I felt these specimens fit the Cretaceous Duck Creek Formation. 1. 2.Texigryphaea 3. 4. Plicatula. 5. 6. 7. This specimen is likely rock, but mimics a fossil enough to let those familiar with the area give their thoughts. 8. 9. A smooth large ammonite. Are those oyster attachments on its one side? 10. 11. The only small ammonite found, a tiny Mortoniceras. 12. 13. Smooth ammonite 14. This is the largest chunk of ammonite collected. I stumbled on another complete Eopachydiscus that appeared to be 2.5 to 3 feet across laying on the beach appearing to have been prepped out. It took all my might to even flip it over to examine the other side. My suspicion is that the owner of this ammonite ran out of steam and decided to just leave it on the beach. I also left it for someone stronger than I.

Found this tooth in my Aguja Formation micro matrix. It's about 6mm in length. I know it's in really rough shape, and I actually broke it in half attempting to get pictures of the distal/mesial sides. Can anyone give me an idea of what it may be? Could it be a theropod tooth? I don't see any evidence of serrations on either side. Sorry if the pictures are not the best. It was extremely difficult to take pictures, especially after it broke in half. Base of tooth Distal Mesial

I have (finally) got around to going through my Moroccan phosphate shark teeth. I've attempted to identify them but I am still not particularly confident at identifying fossils so I thought I'd run it by the experts first. All the teeth are (supposed to be) from the Eocene, save 4 which is (supposed to be) from the Cretaceous. I attempted to label the images with my proposed identifications but there wasn't enough space for all of them so I'll list them all here: 1. Ginglymostomatid (Nebrius?) 2-3. Hemipristis? 4. Unsure 5. Pristid/Sawfish (Pristis?) 6. Otodontid (Cretalamna?) 7-10. Odontaspidid The lighting is also quite poor on these images as the enamel on the teeth is very reflective and they show up as amorphous white blobs if it's too bright as my phone camera is by no means the best. Thanks in advance for any proposed ID's Othniel

You may or may not know that I have been obsessing over finding a mosasaur vertebra and tooth. I am lucky to live in Texas where fossils are plentiful in some areas but the most productive mosasaur area is still 6 hours drive from me. So I don't get there often and the few times I have.....no verts or teeth for me. I am not complaining (too much) because I have found other great things in the North Sulphur River, but not the mosie vert or tooth of my dreams. I am lucky to have friends who hunt there regularly who feel sorry for me and give me verts and even a lovely big tooth. But I DIDN'T FIND THEM. I do know that mosie stuff can be found in Central Texas where I live (thanks to @Jared C and his amazing adventures) I know they can be found (although very rarely) in our local creeks and such. So of course I keep an eye out while hunting but with no real hope of finding them. But I hope anyways! Which brings me to today....which I count as part of my birthday weekend (birthday was Friday, but you know.....weekend still counts! ). Went out on a little fossil hunt to a new site that a friend told me about...lots of baculites (which are relatively rare here in Central Texas) and lo and behold.....I FOUND MY VERT! And not two feet away....a little tooth! Mother Nature decided to gift me not just one, but TWO of my bucket list fossil finds today! Granted, they are pretty busted up and the tooth is not complete, but WHO CARES! I FOUND A MOSASAUR VERT AND TOOTH practically in my own backyard!!!! Turns out this little exposure is Ozan Formation and I can't wait to get back out there again....after a good rain! And, to top it off, found a complete ammonite in addition to some lovely gastropods and about a billion baculites. It's no mosie in situ, but I'll take what I am gifted. Thank you Mother Nature!!!