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Hello everyone! I've once again made a return trip out to Holden Beach, which is my first trip of 2024. I briefly showed a few of my finds on my last report, but there were a lot of really interesting finds I've found that I'd like to show off. I didn't even realize I had some of these until I was sorting them earlier this week! It was a fairly nice weekend for early February, with it being rather warm during the day, but about the usual winter cold at night. The crowds were elevated similarly to they were in December due to the coverage the beach has been getting online, but otherwise weren't too bad. As usual, the best times to go were in the late evenings and early mornings, though I did try to do some midday hunting with a couple of friends this time as well, who stopped by for a little while. The beach was covered in Peedee Formation sediment chunks from some mid and late December storms, which made for some interesting finds. These are a couple of shots of my finds as I was cleaning them off. I picked up a fair bit of modern specimens as well this trip, which I'll show a little of at the end of this. The first of my main finds is this really neat paired Exogyra costata, which is the first one I've found! I'll have to see if I can work on getting the matrix off of this one, I'm looking into air abrasion to see if I can speed up my process, and maybe make it better as well. These are some Prehepatus harrisi crab chelae I found. This is the largest haul I've found since 2022, and the first I've found since February 2023! The left middle specimen and the one in the matrix have fairly decent fingers and dactyls, which are usually broken off beyond the end of the socket. My friend found a different segment of one leg, which isn't very common. This is a fish skull fragment and a fragmented mosasaur tooth. I didn't luck out with the mosasaur teeth this trip, though my friend found a nice one fairly quickly once she started looking. I did find a decent number of shark teeth this time, which was nice! I haven't been focusing down on these the last few trips, so next family trip we'll be having in the spring I might try to look a little harder for them. This is the first vertebra of this variety I've found since 2022, right after the beach work took place. My current thoughts are that it's from the primitive ray Brachyrhizodus wichitaensis, but there is some question if it came from an angel shark. An array of turtle scute fragments, some of the largest ones I've found there. I'm not sure if there is any specific identification for these, although I've been told that a lot of them are from softshelled turtles. Some I've found from previous trips look almost like box turtles or something similar. A horse tooth fragment. My friend came back again the next weekend and found a really nice intact one. Most of my finds are similar to this quality. These are some steinkerns I found. The first picture is a bivalve of some variety, and the second one is of some partial ammonites. This is a really interesting rock or phosphate nodule that has a shark tooth embedded into it! I've never seen a tooth in matrix quite like this from the area. It's far from perfect, but a really interesting piece regardless. On to some of the Hardouinia mortonis echinoids from this trip, this one was a particularly tall and narrow specimen, which is fairly interesting. There are some really interesting variations I've found over the last couple of years, but narrow ones or tall ones like this are probably the least common variations I've found, and the fact that it is both is really neat. This is a really interesting pathology I found, on the opposite side from my last one! This one unfortunately had some damage on the anterior end from the dredging pipe, and it started falling apart once I got it home and washed, so I had to stabilize the broken area with some strong adhesive. Here are some of my favorite echinoids from this trip. I didn't total up all the ones I ended up keeping, but my grand total of lower grade specimens I've collected to donate between this trip and my December one is 322. This last specimen is a broken one, but it is really neat in the fact that it shows the void of material present in most of these echinoids. This one obviously broke differently, but in a lot of specimens that are broken from the dredging process it tends to be in this area devoid of material. There are some small Scabrotrigonia bivalve molds on the aboral surface matrix. This is a large rib bone fragment of some variety. I've always understood them to be sirenian ribs, due to their dense and heavy nature. This is probably one of my best finds from the trip, a whole but small ammonite steinkern! I misidentified it as Sphenodiscus before, but after talking with some people I'm thinking it's a much rarer scaphitid ammonite, perhaps a Discoscaphites(?). It did break while in transport, but I was able to get it back together the best I could with the loss of material surrounding the break. This is a chunk of Peedee Formation sediment with a bunch of small gastropod steinkerns throughout, as well as two sizable Scabrotrigonia bivalve molds on one side. I saw a lot of these molds this trip, but these were some of the nicer ones. And speaking of trace fossils, this is another really good find from the trip! I picked up a lot of Exogyra costata oysters, but I didn't check them all very thoroughly while out on the beach, and didn't notice this until I cleaned it at home. It appears to be a bioimmured gastropod of some variety, existing as an impression on the oyster. These are some other bioimmured mollusks on Exogyra oysters I found. One is likely some variety of Turritellidae gastropod, while the other might be a type of Cardiidae bivalve. This is some material that contains what I believe could be trace fossils of burrows, but I'm not too sure. It also resembles the shape of some branching bryozoan fossils that are common in the area. This little chunk of material contains two unusual steinkerns! I'm wondering if the cone shaped one is from a type of limpet, but as far as the gastropod one goes I have no idea what it might be. There are some odd round shapes on the surface of it that are visible much more clearly under my new UV light. I wonder if it's a type of turban snail or whelk. And lastly, this is a chunk of Late Cretaceous Peedee Formation material containing a bunch of what I've always considered to be Heteropora bryozoan fragments and Exogyra fragments. However, the most interesting part of this cluster is the presence of appears to be a Biflustra bryozoan of some variety. I've seen them in Pleistocene material quite a bit, but never in the Cretaceous stuff. The surface detail shows better in the UV light. And as a bonus, these are just some of my nicer modern mollusks and a sand dollar I collected that weekend. Holden Beach is really good for modern specimens, and I've found quite a number of them there over the years. When I eventually start an album of my finds from my travels and work on my Waccamaw Formation collection, I might try to have a side-by-side comparison of them with their modern equivalent, closest relative or direct descendant, just to show any potential appearances they might have had before becoming fossils. And that's all I've got for now! I was considering going to Texas this spring with some friends, but I realized that was going to require too much time off of work to pull off, so I'll have to pass for now. I don't have anything planned before my family trip back to Holden in April, as well as a Virginia trip in May/June, but who knows what the future has in store.

Hi all from rural Worcestershire in the UK. Been collecting around 20 years but have now really got the bug!! Recently started prepping and getting lost in the shed for hours and hours. Looking forward to contributing in the future and conversing with like minded souls. Kind regards Craig

Just wanted to share results from tumbling this echinoid I previously posted, I was quite pleased with the outcome and think it's rather fascinating as you can see the individual tests and suture lines.

Hi all, See attached - most of these are 5-10mm in size (cm/mm ruler in background). Found at/near base of sandstone cliffs near Aireys Inlet, Victoria, Australia. I have previously found Lovenia fossils in the area (and found a couple more today), but these are much smaller and flatter - more like sand dollars? IDs appreciated, and also suggestions re further cleaning - I just soaked them in water (~30min) and tried to remove loose material, but haven't done anything further. Would it be worth soaking/cleaning them further to try to remove more matrix? Also, do you think the small spines/tripods in 2a/2b/23c are the original spines of the sea urchin? I think 4 is probably the top lid of a similar brachiopod to 3/3a - does that seem reasonable? Cheers & thanks in advance, Oli

Today I took a spur of the moment trip up to the Canyon Lake area for some hunting in the lower Glen Rose. My first venture into the region took place last year and was only a limited success in that I scored a measly two micro echinoids. The plan for today was to try some new spots in hopes of striking the perfect layer of echinoid diversity. The first site was a complete bust, but the second immediately showed promise when I noticed the ground was littered with broken bits of thin echinoid test. Because I had arrived so close after the recent rains, the ground was still a sticky slop of Glen Rose mud. The combination of running along the slopes and frequent crouching set my calves on fire, but the scent of urchins kept me on the chase. Very quickly I was lucky to encounter some really nice crab claws from Pagurus banderensis. A couple had both pincers still preserved. Surprisingly common was also the tiny crushing dentition of Pycnodont fish. They aren't all that interesting to look at, but the simple fact that vertebrate material was present gave me daydreams of finding an elusive Glen Rose shark tooth. I tried to shake away such a hopeless goal, but it continued to sit in my mind. After a couple hours, I found an Amiid fish tooth and some star-shaped Isocrinus annulatus columns. For whatever reason, I could not find a single echinoid spine, let alone a complete test. I was searching the ground very closely, so my thinking was it may be more to do with the site than myself. As I was doing the usual close inspection, I snuck up on a black figure nestled securely in a pile of Glen Rose matrix. It took a moment to register that I wasn't looking at just another chunk of black bug. I safely stashed the two pieces of Polyacrodus. Sadly, the third fragment was nowhere to be seen despite my best efforts. After finding some more crab claws it was time to head out. On the trek to the car, I spotted a Trigonia whitneyi? clam, maybe from the upper Glen Rose. I'm not sure what species this is. I see Polyacrodus aff. parvidens is described form the Texas Albian up north. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be much info. I've seen some discussion on Polyacrodus brevicostata being a possibility as well. Top L to R: Trigonia whitneyi? and Pagurus banderensis Bottom L to R: Amiid tooth, Pycnodont teeth, Isocrinus annulatus It seems my streak of urchin unluckiness has continued, but I'll take a Polyacrodus any day of the week!

I was cleaning up these ammonites from the Grayson formation and something popped out of one and another thing came out of matrix. My cataracts are making hard to see small details even in pictures so want to confirm what I think I see, a regular echinoid and maybe a gastropod? Thanks for helping my eyes

I could use some help identifying this extremely large echinoid. I believe it is from Sardinia, Italy. Measures - Base 133 mm, Height 107 mm

Between the long days of classwork, I've been making time to check out some new and old places in and around South Texas. No real homeruns this month necessarily, but each venture has been a success in one way or another. Along with my fossiling, I've picked up my aquarium hobby again which pairs pretty well. Here and there I've collected various souvenirs to decorate my tank with. Expect my aquatic garden to be the backdrop in a lot of fossil photos from now on. A little over a month ago I decided to check out some river localities around Uvalde in hopes of discovering Eagle Ford. In all of my walking I came away with only a single tooth from what I am pretty sure is Kef. I don't think it is identifiable to a species sadly, but it was still cool to get something concrete out of the day. The geology in the area is super interesting as the land is speckled with the remains of ancient volcanoes. There is actually a huge quarry along the Frio River digging up basalt from one of said volcanoes. Despite the lack of fossils, I came home with a bag full of basalt rocks for the aquarium. Kef shark tooth and basalt rocks Several weeks back I explored some developments cutting through the Anacacho Limestone (Campanian). It took visiting a few duds before I finally found my first productive Anacacho honey hole where I was met with a handful of new echinoid species, mostly Mecaster texanus. I was pretty excited when I finally turned over the unusual, but locally common Petalobrissus cubensis. The prize find of the day, however, was a rare regular urchin named Lanieria uvaldana. Petalobrissus cubensis and Lanieria uvaldana The week after I took a lowkey trip to an old site a ways up north in the Ozan. Somehow it'd already been nearly a year since I had last hunted the spot, and with my maturation as a hunter I came in bearing a fresh perspective on things. I scored a neat pair of associated shark verts. Sadly there was no associated dentition with it. Things went really well in the invertebrate department. Usually, I refrain from extracting the ammonites there as they are completely shale and often impossible to extract in one piece. This time I got lucky in finding a robust one and got it mostly complete. I believe it is either Menabites danei or Submortoniceras sp. I would say the biggest prize came at the end with the best example of Gauthieria sp. I have found so far. These guys are extremely rare up in the NSR, but at my spot their fragments are uncommon. The real challenge is finding one complete. Menabites danei?; Two views of Gauthieria sp. a rare Ozan echinoid. While in the area, I collected some of the creek wildlife to fill out a jar of microfauna for my growing aquarium. I lucked out with some wild Ludwigia and Hornwort which I had no idea were native to Texas. The Ludwigia looksespecially stunning in the fish tank, growing most of its foliage emersed above a bed of Crystalwort. Ludwigia from a creek in Central TX The next trip was in the Canyon Lake area for some lower Glen Rose hunting, a new region for me. Even though I had some really promising locations lined up, it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. The fossils were a lot sparser than I assumed they'd be, but I did come away with some interesting things. I managed to snag a couple Hyposalenia phillipsae which are a first for me. I also picked up a small Coenholectypus, but I think it is too damaged to tell the species (planatus vs. ovatus). Besides these I gathered several unremarkable crustacean bits and a pycnodont tooth. Hyposalenia phillipsae and Coenholectypus sp. Fast forward to today and I made a brief foray into my Corsicana spot. I haven't found any new mosasaur material since my initial expedition, but I think that's to be expected given the rarity of such things. Regardless I made some cool finds including my best shark tooth yet for the place: a complete Cretalamna maroccana! Several smaller Serratolamna serrata teeth were found as well. I also happened upon a rarer echinoid known as Cardiaster leonensis. It's not cleaned up yet so I do not have it pictured at the moment. Cretalamna maroccana I've been in South TX for 2 months already and yet I've hardly made a dent in the list of fossil spots I want to explore. Keep an eye out for future reports!