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While I was sorting through my collection of croc fossils, I came across these Elrhaz Formation teeth I bought 6 months ago and never did figure out what they were. I assume they are croc and not some kind of fish, though I could be wrong. I've never seen these apart from the one source I purchased them from. I've been told they were Sarcosuchus, then Kaprosuchus, then Suchomimus. Pretty sure it's not Sarcosuchus, and the images I can find of Kaprosuchus don't seem to match. Suchomimus, I don't know, but my gut feeling is, no, I've seen dozens of Suchomimus and fake-Sucho crocs, and never found a match. If anyone is familiar with this morphology, any input is appreciated. Locale: Gaoufaoua, Tenere Desert, Niger Last picture is a couple of other crocs from the same lot. One (the robust one on the right) is probably Sarcosuchus.

After our two-day fossil hunt in NW Queensland, Australia we collected a few specimens and fish mash material to sort for micro fossils at home. I collected a pieces of mudstone/siltstone with a few lizard fish teeth sticking out I didn't think much of it at the time. Once home I washed and started to prep the fossil, I was happy to find and expose a large section of its jaw. While lizard fish fossils are extremely common, I was happy with the result. Please let me know what you think of the prep and what else I can do this has been a weak point of my fossils collecting ,the fossils are of Early Cretaceous, Albian, Toolebuc Formation.

Went out to the Central Texas Coryell County and looked for some Early Cretaceous fossils. I recognize most of these fossils like Exogyra Texana, Gastropods, and clams I found before, but I can't seem to ID one long elongated bivalve that looks a modern razor clams.

I took a advantage of the cool weather today (low 90's) and headed out to Central Texas near Waco. This was first time hunting in the Texas Paw Paw formation ( The Paw Paw Formation is a geological formation in Texas whose strata date back to the late Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation). I didn't find any dinosaurs , but found plenty of ammos on the cliff and in the creek bed. It was an interesting experience finding few ammonites. Here are few photos that I snapped today. Beautiful day lower 90's. Creek water level is always low this time of the year. I found this complete ammo sticking out of the cliff. Typical Paw Paw formation. Got my trusty old tools out and hammering out the ammo. Other Ammos are in the creek bed, but badly worn. Got one out!

Hello Fossil Friends, Saw this in the news today so thought I’d share: ******************** World's smallest dinosaur egg fossil discovered in Japan Source Link A team of researchers said Tuesday it has discovered the world's smallest dinosaur egg fossil, measuring about 4.5 centimeters by 2 cm, in western Japan. The fossil of the egg, estimated to have weighed only about 10 grams more than 100 million years ago, was found in a stratum dating back to the Early Cretaceous period in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, according to the team. Supplied photo shows the world's smallest dinosaur egg fossil found in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan. (Photo courtesy of the University of Tsukuba and the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo)(Kyodo) The researchers at the University of Tsukuba and the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, among others, who have analyzed the fossil, said it likely belonged to a non-avian small theropod. Skeletal remains of small dinosaurs are far less common than those of large dinosaurs, such as the Tyrannosaurus, which was also a theropod, and Kohei Tanaka of the University of Tsukuba, a member of the team, said he hopes the discovery will "help shed light on how small dinosaurs reproduced and nested." The team surveyed the stratum, which dates back 110 million years, between 2015 and 2019 and found four fossil eggs and over 1,300 scattered eggshell fragments. It has confirmed the findings, including the newly discovered one, which has been named Himeoolithus murakamii, can be categorized into four different types. The team said the discovery suggests that various small dinosaurs were nesting together in the area, known as one of the world's richest Lower Cretaceous fossil egg sites. Fossilized dinosaur eggs have been found elsewhere, including Spain and Mongolia, but many of them are 5 to 7 cm in length and weigh about 30 g. ******************** Thanks, Robert

Here is a piece from the one of the Early Cretaceous formation in West Beijing. I could not find any clues for ID. I spliced the closeups .

Found these next to the creeks in nearby Lake Texoma. I'm thinking this maybe the heteromorph ammos, but not quiet sure. Thing I have noticed are tight coil patterns that are not present on these ammo pieces.

Thought I would share some of my Acrocanthosaurus tracks in my collection from Texas. These are from the Glen Rose Formation. Anyone who has dino tracks, please feel free to post them here on this thread too...would love to see them! The associated pair are big...both over 20 inches long.

A news article about the first Early Cretaceous avialan from Japan is available at the following link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/newly-discovered-fossil-bird-fills-gap-between-dinosaurs-and-modern-fliers-180973551/ Fukuipteryx is the first Early Cretaceous non-ornithothoracine avialan to be described from an Asian locality outside China or Mongolia. Since Fukuipteryx has a pygostyle and is recovered as basal to Jeholornis, it is unclear whether some non-pygostylian birds had a pygostyle. Link for original description of Fukuipteryx: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-019-0639-4

For those of us fortunate to obtain specimens before the ban was put in place here is a study published earlier this year that looked at a fair number of teeth. The blog provides a good read for collectors plus other readings in their references.. Blog http://rexmachinablog.com/2019/09/04/thailand-spinosaur-teeth/ Paper https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332698408_Spinosaurid_theropod_teeth_from_the_Red_Beds_of_the_Khok_Kruat_Formation_Early_Cretaceous_in_Northeastern_Thailand Wongko et al. found in their study that two distinct spinosaur morphotypes were present. Surprisingly, the team concluded that at least two spinosaurs are represented in Khok Kruat.

Natalie81 and I are back from our fossil hunting holiday. On the 20th of july we left for a long camping and fossil hunting week in the UK, we took the ferry in Calais to Dover, drove to Porthsmouth and the 2nd ferry to our 1st stop: 5 days on the Isle of wight. the 1st day on the Island, we prospected the beaches on the the south west of the isle where the Wealden cliffs could deliver some dinosaur remains.We had no luck this time. the 2nd day we went to the southern part of the Island where we could find some cenomanian ammonites in the chalk. This time we had better luck, and we found lots of them and even a few nautiluses. There was a sealion in the water not far from where we were prospecting, but since it was yawning a lot I don't think he was very interested in our activities Day 3 was a stop in Yaverland, here we found some hybodont remains and a possible pterosaur tooth ( we will know for sure after the prep ), in the afternoon we went a bit further to Whiteclif bay where we found a few echinoids. Day 4 Back to those Wealden cliffs in search for dinosaur material, again in vain, but we did se al those impresive Iguanodon foottracks at Hanover point. later on the day we tried to find the lobster bed near Atherfield, but only a few parts were accesible, but I found a nice big lobster in situ, it came out in a few pieces. I had super glue in my backpack, so I glued the parts back together and stuffed the fossil safely away in a box with soft paper. It is still in that box now, so I hope it wil still be ok when I start prepping it. Day 5: we had a meetup with a local colector to prospect the beaches on the north of the island, those were Oligocene deposits and we did find a lot of turtle fragments, a few croc scutes and even a few croc teeth Day 6: we had our ferry back to the mainland of the UK, from there we drove further to the jurassic coast. In the afternoon we went on the Beach between Dorset and Lyme Regis, but the beaches were full of tourists looking for fossils, so the finds were poor. Day 7: we visited Eype, and Golden cap, not far from Dorset, again verry few finds due to overprospected beaches, but we did find a decent ammonite. In the evening We visited the town of Lyme Regis and the birthplace of Mary Anning Day 8: this time e went east of Dorset, still very few fossils to be seen, but still multiple good belemnites , some of them still in the matrix. Day 9: time to pack the tent and drive back to Dover, we still had time before taking our ferry back to France so we did a quick stop in Folkestone. 2 hours of prospecting in the gault clay did deliver 2 decent ammonites and lots of ammonite fragments, belemnites and inoceramus shells. I didnt take a lot of pictures of the fossils we found yet, but we took a few ones in the field. more pictures will follow when we start unpacking and prepping the fossils from this week. Shipping to Dover: vieuw on the camping from Wight: of to the beach: no fossils to be seen Lots of beach to prospect: Still looking for bone in the shingle: sunset on Wight: to the cenomanian chalk: ammonites the Sealion: possible pterosaur tooth: footprints Oligoceene deposits: A vieuw on Wight before we leave: Dorset and Lyme regis: Ammonites everywhere Mary Anning:

Noasaurinae represents an enigmatic group of small-bodied predatory theropod dinosaurs best known from the iconic Masiakasaurus knopfleri, from the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Madagascar. This paper describes a new species from Brazil, Velocisaurus paranaensis . This paper might be a good reference source for material found in the Kem Kem of Morocco since Deltadromeus agilis or may be possibly related to Noasaurinae. Systematic: Abelisauroidea (Bonaparte and Novas, 1985) Noasauridae Bonaparte & Powell, 1980) Noasaurinae (Bonaparte & Powell, 1980) Vespersaurus paranaensis gen. et sp. nov. Blog https://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2019/07/24/one-toed-brazilian-dinosaur-dashed-across-ancient-deserts/#.XTiKnGdIBTA.twitter Paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45306-9

A few weeks after my mother found her most recent cidarid in an Edwards formation check dam, I took a few minutes to swing by the same dam to see for myself what else could be found. Within minutes I dug up a cylindrical fossil that for a few weeks puzzled me due to its resemblance to a belemnite phragmocone. Then on Wednesday night I went to the DPS meeting and afterwards met briefly with Professor Andy Gale and showed him this specimen. He identified it as a rudist and immediately corroborated that with another DPS member familiar with rudists. What confused me is that it doesn't look like any of the other rudists that I have found in the Edwards. So far in my research I have found there to be 4 predominant rudist genera in the Edwards, which are listed in the tags. From pictures online I can't seem to definitively match this fragment to any of them, but it at least resembles some caprinid rudists I have seen online that are not from the Edwards. I know there must be many more rudist genera in the Edwards that I am unaware of, so I am hoping anyone more familiar with rudists than me could at least narrow it down to more than just a likely caprinid. The specimen is 3.75 cm long (Fig. 1), 4.2 cm in diameter at its concave end (Fig. 20), and 4.1 cm in diameter at its flat end (Fig. 22). I really know next to nothing about them so any help is appreciated. If anyone wants to compare this with the many other rudists that I have found from these Edwards dams, see the excessive amount of pictures in this thread. Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

A few weeks ago my mother, Stella (dog), and I went to a old-reliable heteromorph site in the Atco. After I dragged all my equipment to the part of the site that I was going to work, she went walking with Stella to look at some of the check-dams full of brought in Edwards limestone, chicken wire bags full of the brought in matrix put in the ditches for sediment control. In 2017 while we were at the same Atco site she was looking at a dumped pile of the Edwards and found a rare cidarid (see thread here) that compares well with Temnocidaris (Stereocidaris) hudspethensis. The sight of seeing that bizarre looking fossil just laying on the ground was quite a shock for both of us and motivation to hunt the dams more, and since then she has been casually looking over every check-dam hoping for another one. But because this Atco site is also rich in heteromorphs, I tend to focus all my attention on the chalk and neglect the Edwards dams, in these cases to my slight ire but also amazement at what she found with Stella. She did it again on the 9th, and found another cidarid that appears to be the same species as the last one from 2017, though from a different dam. I was at my Atco pile when she came over and showed it to me, completely blowing away all my finds in a very welcome way. The brought in Edwards is early upper Albian in age (about 107.6 mybp) and is a very fossiliferous crystalline limestone jammed packed with rudists and Chondrodonta sp. as well as the occasional gastropod. It makes for quite the sensory overload when trying to look for other things amongst the fossiliferous morass. The limestone is also interspersed with somewhat softer red sandstone that infills crevices in the much harder limestone and is more quickly weathered away in older exposures. I have tried so-far unsuccessfully to isolate the quarry from which the matrix originated to ask them permission to get a chance at the fossils before they are dumped in bags and hauled tens of miles to sites, damaging them. The problem is that there are multiple quarries in the nearest counties that expose the Edwards, namely Hood and Johnson counties. I have seen this matrix at sites all over North Texas, but I don't know if all that matrix is from the same quarry as the matrix from my Atco site since the Edwards is heavily quarried for fill all over the state. For now we are left to dig though the jumbled, knocked around bagged matrix, but even so the limestone is extremely hard so the fossils are not usually completely destroyed. And the site is big with lots of busted open bags. This latest cidarid is in about the same condition as the first, that being not so great but not so bad. Both specimens are missing most of their adoral sides and their apical plates are gone, leaving their circular apical scars. But they are still quite nice and intricately detailed, and also preserve some of their big mamelon tubercles, with the first specimen preserving 2 and the latest preserving 5, though there could be more under the globs of matrix stuck to them. This latest is also bigger. The first had a diameter of 52 mm at the ambitus and a preserved height of 37 mm, while the latest is 59 mm at the ambitus and 45 mm in height, though keep in mind that since they are both missing most of their adoral sides they would have had more height in life. The apical scar on the first specimen is 19 mm in diameter and on the second is 21 mm, with the crushed calcite fragments of the apical plates seen in the cavities left behind on both. I really didn't expect her to find another specimen of this rarity again, but apparently this matrix is a honey hole brought in by the truck load, making this site two honey holes in two epochs. Then on Wednesday I went by the same check dam from which this latest cidarid came and found what really appears to be a belemnite, but that is for another topic in the ID forum. Hopefully I can post that find soon. Since new Atco exposure at the site has temporarily slowed down I have an excuse to take a good hard look at the Edwards dams tomorrow afternoon. If we find anymore from the dams I will post it to this thread, so hope to see more In the mean time, here are the pictures of the echinoids, the check dam from which this latest specimen came, and a nifty Chondrodonta sp. she found in said dam. I welcome any other finds that anyone has found in the Edwards or its equivalents and any tips on how to prep limestone as hard as crystalized concrete. Also, sorry for the picture quality. My Nikon decided to die a few months ago for some reason and I have yet to get it fixed, so if anyone knows a camera repair shop that fixes Nikons in the DFW area, I am all ears. *Pictures incoming, computer acting up*

Trapped in an 18,000-pound block of quicksand now turned to stone is a hidden treasure of well-preserved Utahraptor fossils. Utahraptor ostrommaysorum is a large (around five meters or 18 feet long), feathered, predatory theropod dinosaur from Utah’s early Cretaceous (~124 million years ago). Utahraptors sported huge sickle claws on their second toes, with the largest specimen measuring at 22 cm (8.7”) long. Utahraptor is a dromaeosaurid dinosaur — popularly called “raptors” based on the Jurassic Park movie franchise shorthand for it's sickle-clawed stars. The illustration below shows the suspected setting for the origin of this amazing fossil block. Bones of an iguanodontid dinosaur that was also believed to have gotten mired in quicksand. So far bones from perhaps six individual Utahraptors have been found and they think were attracted to the quicksand mire by the easy prey and we're trapped. This block could provide evidence for pack hunting behavior in Utahraptors Funding is required to keep the project moving The setting, Utahs badlands the Cedar Mountain Formation initial discovery Sickle Claw visible More initial discoveries Jaw fragment Dentary Utahraptor Project Link to learn much more about what is going on. http://utahraptors.utahpaleo.org/#gallery

A news article concerning a new ornithomimosaur site from the Early Cretaceous of France..... http://www.sudouest.fr/2013/08/21/des-dinos-et-des-pinceaux-1146355-811.php The French ornithomimosaur represents the second confirmed record of an Early Cretaceous ostrich-mimic from Europe and may provide another insight into the biogeography of the earliest ornithomimosaurs, as Nqwebasaurus has been recently considered an ornithomimosaur and Pelecanimimus is by far the only European ornithomimosaur named so far. I wouldn't be surprised if we find an ostrich mimic in the Wealden of England or the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. Who knows?

The discovery of the Early Cretaceous ichthyosaur Malawania surprised me because fossil discoveries in Iraq have long been hampered by the legacy of Saddam Hussein's tyranny and bloodshed in Iraq that was perpetrated by Al-Qaeda against the Shiites after the 2003 US invasion. Why's it taken so long for the palaeontological community to find an Early Cretaceous marine reptile in the Middle East even though it's known that Iraq was submerged beneath the Tethys Ocean in the Mesozoic? Would it be cost-effective for the Iraqi oil industry to search for marine reptiles in the Cretaceous strata in Iraq?