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Hey folks maybe you can help me out. Especially the European collectors. Here in Texas we have historically had several species of Tetragramma listed as occurring in the Fredericksburg Group (Albian) that are possibly synonymous. For those of us who collect here in Central Texas there never seemed to be any doubts about what was a Tetragramma malbosii versus a T. taffi. T. taffi are always larger and seem quite distinct from T. malbosii. (see my two examples) But in 2016 William Morgan wrote the Collector's Guide to Texas Cretaceous Echinoids (Schiffer Publ.) and in it he lists T. malbosii as having precedence, suggesting that they are just not as full grown as taffi. He sites the work of Smith & Wright, 1993. I know T. malbosii is found in Europe. What about T. taffi? What does a very large European T. malbosii look like? The one I am using as an example is the largest one I have but it is still not as large as the T. taffi and doesn't have nearly the same number of tubercles in the interamb. Your thoughts, opinions, observations, etc.??? And if anyone can point me to a link or a PDF of the following paper I would greatly appreciate it and could reward with a nice Texas echionoid... British Cretaceous echinoids. Part 3, Stirodonta 2 (Hemicidaroida, Arbacioida and Phymosomatoida, part 1) Author: Andrew B Smith; C W Wright; Palaeontographical Society (Great Britain) Publisher: London : Palaeontographical Society, [1993] Series: Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, v. 146, no. 593. Tetragramma taffi (Cragin, 1893) Tetragramma malbosii (Agassiz & Desor, 1846)

In the continuing saga of finding all the echinoids of Texas.....I found a few new things plus re-assessing my collection I found I already had another example (albeit small bits only) of another! So here are my latest finds (and re-finds). In my collection from Marathon Tx was a couple of bits of (I think) an Archeocidarid!! Stopped by a little creek in Austin and found this lovely Coenholectypus: Went on a little road trip to Glen Rose TX and found what I thought was a Loriolia but on closer inspection, it's a Goniopygus! Not a great specimen, but slightly better than my previous ones, so still looking for a nice one: And the piece de resistance : A Balanocidarid Spine!! Practically in my own backyard (well, within 30 minutes drive anyways)

So, I am formally stating my quest to find all of the echinoids (of Texas at least...let's not be silly) I live in Central Texas and we are blessed with an abundance of fossils. My first fossiking was in Cherry Creek, behind my house, in Austin. Although I did not really do much since those early days, now it has become my main hobby. I have collected a pretty dang nice collection of all kinds of Cretaceous creatures but echinoids are my favorite with ammonites a close second. I have decided to make it my goal to find all the species of Texas Echies I can find in my lifetime. So far I have hundreds of heart urchins, (Hemiaster, Pliotaxaster, Macraster and Heteraster), a fair number of Loriolas and Salenias, a couple of Coenholectypus and Phymostomas and one very very worn Tetragramma. I have been making forays to Canyon Lake to find some of the more "unusual" urchins. These are my finds of the last couple of weeks. They are not great specimens but I am totally excited about them anyways. Hopefully I will eventually find some better quality ones, but hey, gotta start somewhere. For an avid amateur like myself (who is still trying to figure out how to recognize formations and zones and not having much luck at it) its exciting to stumble across something a bit different. Goniopygus and Pygopyrinas

Hey have others been having trouble with the British Museum's online Echinoid Directory? It has been off and on for the last week or two and currently I can not get the Keys, Index to Taxa or Glossry to open. Hoping some of our friends across the water might have a little insight. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/echinoid-directory/

I'll post a full story in trips when I get time, but I was searching around a new spot, being unsure of the formation (Austin I assume now) I was picking up everything I found including oysters which I would normally leave, I assume they're exogyra or ilymatogyra but the Mark on the back is strange to me, 2 of the three I picked up had them and I haven't seen anything like it in pictures. Species and out formation ID would be nice

I was on call at work all week which meant I had to be within an hour of my work and have cell phone access. I wanted to go fossil hunting so I google mapped an area in Tarrant County, Texas. I found a few potential spots with some exposure and I headed that way. It was an hour drive from home. I’ve been seeing lots of echinoids come out of the area. I had made 3 separate trips to the area not knowing exactly where the echinoids could be found. Two previous trips resulted in abundant ammonite finds. Ammonite hunting often requires a lot of gear and tools. Ammonites are generally big and heavy. I wanted a break from the heavy duty hauling and labor intensive retrieval, but I had no clue what I might find at this new location so I came equipped. On the way to the first stop I passed a large area of exposed rock and soil. I had passed it at least 3 times before, but yesterday I decided to take the detour and stop at this site. It was right off the freeway, but yo access it I looked around to what I thought would be the back side. It was a couple mile loop to get there. I ended up in a daycare parking lot across from the area. I had looked at the weather in the morning and it said the high would be 74. I came hydrated for 74. I got my little bag with a single gardening tool and crossed the road to the site. Initially I thought the place was a construction site dump for dirt and rocks that had been flattened out, but I eventually realized that wasn’t the case. I think it was initially a housing development that fell through and the land was still sitting there after being somewhat grated and leveled. Here is a view of the terrain. Lots of exposure. I walked around for about 2 minutes before I saw the first fossil. I was dubious this place had any potential, but that one little fossil gave me the motivation to continue investigating. I walked on for another 15 min without spotting anything. The side had two sections. I had explored maybe 20 acres of the first many 40 acres. I decided to mosey over to the back 40. While in this area I realized it wasn’t a construction site dumb. I saw layering in the soil. I found a couple of ammonite fragments and while bending down to pick one up I found a shark tooth. Then a little while later I found another. They’re pretty small. About 1 cm I’d say. No idea what genus though. While in the back 40 I saw my first hint of echinoids. I found a fragment that was about 2.5 inches across. Bingo! This is what I have been looking for and what I had made 3 other unsuccessful trips to Tarrant County for. I knew I was in the right spot. I walked about 10 feet and saw my first large echinoid. When I look at these pics some of them have this optical illusion quality. It looks like there are a bunch of holes in the ground. If that is what you see go to the pic above, focus on the small rocks and come back to this one and refocus. There aren’t any holes in the ground. They’re all rocks sitting on top of the ground. It’s the weirdest thing. They’re my own pics, but I keep seeing the inverse picture so they look like depressions in the ground rather than stones on top of the ground. Anyway, there’s my first large echinoid in situ, upside down. Here is that sweet not so little find in my hand. It was the biggest I had ever found up to that point, but I found bigger than this yesterday. A couple more with top side view. Bottom side view. One in situ sitting on its side, just begging to be picked up and loved on. It’s like he’s saying “come scratch my tummy.” About this point I started not feeling that great. I was feeling a little over heated, but since the high was only supposed to be 74 that didn’t make sense to me. I drank some Gatorade I’d brought with me and went on. I kept walking around hunting for another 20 min or so, but the feeling got worse. I hadn’t found any echinoids for a few min so I decided to head back to my car. It would take me a while to get back. But then I stumbled across another patch of echinoids. Another one with an ammonite fragment. There were a lot of ammonite fragments everywhere. Here is a decent little ammonite I found. A couple more. I had just picked up the ammonite and another echi. I think I found 3 or 4 paired echies sitting right next to another. The feeling of being over heated and dehydrated got worse. I can take the heat reasonably well. So I wasn’t sure what was going on. Maybe my age was beginning to show (I’ll be 50 this week). I’d had oral surgery a couple weeks before and thought maybe I wasn’t back up to par yet, despite feeling fine even a day after the surgery. I had to sit down once, but didn’t really improve with sitting. I had wondered if I was going to make it back before fainting. I had stated to have a few short blackouts when I stood up after bending over, but I finally made it back to my car. To my surprise the temperature was a whopping 93. If I had known it was going to be 93 I would have hydrated completely differently than I did for 74 degrees. I can handle 93 if I hydrate for it. I went hiking last Summer in Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah when it was 115 degrees and did fine. Anyway, I went to get gas and a drink and something salty. I found my favorite chips, Funyuns. I only eat them when traveling though. They’re too dangerous to keep around the house. I’d eat the whole bag. I’m a bit of a health nut, but not a fanatic. So I try to not keep junk food around the house that I’m tempted by. With temperatures like that it is clear that Spring is here and summer is on its way. Driving back home, blue skyes and yes, even a little smog in Dallas. The Bradford pears and red bud trees are in bloom here in Texas and things are turning green. I found 23 echinoids in all. 2 shark teeth and a few ammonites. It was a pretty productive day fossil hunting. That might have quenched my appetite for echinoids for a short while. I’ll post a pic of them all tomorrow.

Hello everyone... been diving over 30 years...joined to display my fossils...thanks

sorry again, i dont know what the species of these specimens are and also sorry for some reason parts of the photos were cropped and made smaller i think its because i put too much on there so they had to cut down the file size (:

Figured we'd brave the cold today for a chance at some echinoids, first the leptosalenia texana.

Dear TFF friends, I have those unclenead Mecaster lusitanicus (Loriol, 1888) from a XIX century classic location available for trade. I woul like humble european Pliocene Bivalvia for those or another echinoid specimen. Thank you! Mecaster lusitanicus (Loriol, 1888) C level, Cenomanian, Cretaceous. Salmanha quarry, Figueira da Foz. Regards, Ricardo

Hello, I am traveling to the Waco and Austin Texas areas and was wondering if there are any easy to get to sites for echinoids and ammonites? Thanks, Dan

Got a chance to get off of work early so I hit a new creek I wanted to check out. I'm glad I did. I was only out for maybe 2 hours. These are my first ammonite and echinoid finds and now I want more!! I'm not use to creek hunting as I'm use to road cuts and mountain terrain

Hello all you folks from NC. My mom-in-law gave me a pile of fossils from Ocean Isle Beach that she has collected over the years. Do any of y'all know the age of the stuff that washes up on this beach? Thanks jp

I've always wondered what the 5 radial stripes on echinoids we're and what they do. Any urchin/sand dollar experts know? Polished Echie with the "stripes".

miocene Schizasters from south Austria for trade.

Best of our tag team take of Walnut fm echinoids from a recent trip.

Hello everyone! I have recently been going through my fossils from Mannum, South Australia and have been trying to ID them down to species. There is a couple echinoids that I have been a bit stumped by. I have ID them all down to genus but am having some trouble getting them down to species. What does everyone think? Here they are with a reference pdf: Any help is appreciated Thanks, Dan 1.(Photos 1-2) Eupatagus murrayensis? 2.(Photos 3-4) Eupatagus rotundus? 3. (Photos 5-7)Ortholophus morganensis? FC Mannum Echinoids Guide.pdf

I got my wife out with me today for the first time in a few months. Decent pickings in the Walnut Formation. Engonoceras ammonites in this formation are usually pretty fragmented. This one still needs 5 minutes of scribe work, but it’s a keeper. Can’t hate on those sutures.

The Ocala Limestone Formation is a relatively pure carbonate (90% to 95%) limestone that was deposited in a shallow, marine environment. The thickness of the unit in Florida’s central peninsula is typically less than 90 feet. The age of the Ocala Limestone is late Eocene or about 35 million years old. This geologic age is based on correlation using macro-invertebrates and microfossils with well-dated rocks of the middle and western Gulf Coastal Plain. In the Haile Quarries, exposed in section, is a portion of the upper Ocala Limestone, formerly named the Crystal River Formation. I joined a field trip from 9am to 2pm Saturday into this Eocene era Haile Quarry. @MikeR also represented TFF. I had been to Haile Quarry previously in October, 2015. Some sights from the quarry on this 2018 trip. The Quarry is a BIG hole, high walls, lakes in the bottom, with piles of gravel, sand, clay, and limestone scattered around. Just walk around doing surface hunting. It is just too brutally hot to dig or climb. I walked this path next to the water, thinking that the extra moisture and muddy areas might expose some fossils. It was pretty clear that I had competition. But I figured he/she would only get the small echinoids. The best chances are for Echinoids, seashells, crabs, coral, and maybe sponges. There are also a lot of shell endocasts. This was a little strange. I was not finding a lot of fossils, but almost immediately after taking this photo of the butterfly, I spotted this Shark tooth fragment with colors out of sync with its surroundings. @Harry Pristishas made an excellent case for an Eocene era extinct Mackerel Shark. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/84574-florida-eocene-shark/&tab=comments#comment-906155 I could not be more pleased than to have found a Florida Eocene shark tooth. Then a number of other finds, shells Endocasts, Something that looks like a sponge, Echinoids, It is likely that the 1st is Eupatagus antillarum and the second may be Oligipygus phelani. I really enjoy these field trips with good people and the real possibility of a surprise (like a Mackerel Shark tooth) while looking for Echinoids.

I went to my fav cretaceous beach today ,great sunny day

last night there were heavy thunderstorms in Myrtle beach so I figured some good stuff would get churned up and deposited on the beach, I braved the brutal wind and cold early this morning and it payed off, I found these 2 fossilized echinoids within 20 yards of each other, any more specific info would be great!the top of the first is missing, and I know the second one is in real bad shape and a positive ID is unlikely.

Long ago I sort of burned out on local collecting and placed priority on longer distance trips for variety...I guess it’s a “grass is always greener” kind of thing. But a good gully washer will sometimes motivate me to step out and sample more local fauna. Today was one of those days, so I started in the Lower K Glen Rose fm. Although there were sloppy footprints around, I still found some stuff. It looked like maybe there were a couple bands of rain, and some ambitious collector went out in the slop, then it rained again and eroded his tracks while flushing out more of our (assumed) common quarry. Anyway, Leptosalenia texana echs made the scene in the low morning sun, and I was there with my catcher’s mitt.

Hello all, I am working on my thesis covering fossils of the lower Glen Rose Formation. Could anyone possibly help me identify these specimens? These are heart urchins which I suspect to be Epiaster whitei... Could these be heteraster instead? They range from 3 to 5 cm in diameter and are mostly crushed or broken...

Different clypeaster from south of Europe (miocene)