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Dear fellow forum members, some years ago I acquired some remnants of an old collection with poor documentation, most fossils where from germany. Among these was a gastropod shell in very light matrix I assumed to be lignite or something similar. Yesterday I found a very similar shell for sale online with the following ID: "Schnecke, Mesontopsis nehringi, Tertiär, Pliozän,Tagenbau Hambach" "Tagebau" is open pit mining, lignite in that case. The one on red background is mine. I think I can assume they are the same species. I just cannot find any information on "Mesontopsis nehringi" except for that online auction. Who knows that snail?

I just went to a local rock and fossil shop in Montana and they had an amazing selection of fossils for really reasonable prices, so I ended up getting quite a few. They had a lovely Solnhofen rack, mostly filled with fish, insects, and coprolites and some beautiful squid but I saw this questionable creature in the corner for very cheap so I decided it was worth it to purchase. I am guessing it is a jellyfish due to the shape, and I hope it is, but if it is something else, I really did not waste my money. It's around an inch and a half in diameter (4cm.) Just hoping it's not a coprolite lol. Anyone know a thing or two about Jurassic Jellies? Pic below, I can take a better quality photo in the daytime if that helps.

Germany is one of the top fossil-hunting destinations in Europe, having plenty of easy-to-access, highly productive localities that are visited every day by experienced collectors and families alike. The Swabian Jura (or Swabian Alb) region (southwestern Germany, near Stuttgart) has a highly significant geological heritage, which is part of the network of the UNESCO Global Geoparks since 2015. The most popular destination within the park is the area around the village of Holzmaden. In the early 20th century, several quarries dotted the area. Nowadays, the mining operations have almost completely ceased, but one or two of them can still be accessed, for instance the ‘Schieferbruch Ralf Kromer’ quarry, located in the neighboring village of Ohmden. By paying a 4 euros daily ticket, you can access the place (in our case even with the car) and collect fossils. You may keep everything you find, except for the highly unlikely case when you find something that is of scientific interest. The rock which is exploited is a finely laminated limestone, called Posidonia Shale. It has a dark colour, due to the high amount of organic matter and mineral oil. These rocks are Toarcian (Lower Jurassic, around 180 million years ago) in age. At the time a sea extended over the area, which was affected by a monsoon climate. During summer months, water stratification led to the bottom waters and sea floor being oxygen-free. As a result, bacteria and scavengers were absent: organic matter was very slowly decomposed and, if it was quickly covered by sediment washed in, it had a high chance of being preserved, turning with time into fossils. The taphonomic conditions explained above account for the often exceptional preservation of Holzmaden fossils. Several complete specimens of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, thalattosuchians (so-called sea crocodiles) and fish are known. Flying reptiles and dinosaurs are extremely rare. Molluscs (bivalves, ammonites) and crinoids are very abundant, whereas arthropods and echinoderms are rare. _______________________________________ I visited the Swabian Alb Geopark in August 2022 with a friend (@Marcosaur) , stopping at the Kromer quarry for two days. Here follows a brief account of my experience: The Kromer quarry yields a very high number of ammonites, ranging in size from a few millimeters to 40 cm or even more. Brachiopods and bivalves are less common. Crinoids and fish are not preserved in the layers exposed in this quarry; disarticulated reptile bones (chiefly vertebrae) and teeth can be occasionally found and if you are extremely lucky, you may even find articulated specimens. First, here is a panoramic view of the quarry from near the entrance. The fossil-rich layers are best exposed at the opposite end, but, not knowing this, my friend and I began excavating in a different location. Soon, however, we realized that and we moved to a better site. At this point, things improved quickly. We could work on larger limestone surfaces, which split more easily, so that we could prevent the fossils from breaking. Here you can see a panoramic of the quarry from above: View of our definitive excavation site; most of the large slabs lying on the ground were packed with fossils: Ammonites were extremely abundant and they made up more than 90% of the fossils that we found. They are always flattened and pyritized, thus being golden yellow in colour. When you split a rock, you get part and counterpart. Three genera are predominant in the Kromer quarry: Dactylioceras, Lytoceras and Harpoceras. The former attains small to medium size, whereas the other two are represented by large specimens. A slab could preserve countless Dactylioceras shells on its surface, making the slab itself almost completely yellow and shining, a delight to behold! We recovered two or three Harpoceras specimens, 20 to 25 cm in size. We didn’t find any Lytoceras, only fragments; however, other people working next to us did find some and they were massive, more than 30 cm in size! Here you can see several Dactylioceras specimens: And here a massive slab, fully covered by countless Dactylioceras! Bivalves and brachiopods are usually not pyritized and dark in colour, thus being less easy to spot on the slab surface. We recovered only a handful of them, but they were quite well preserved. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any vertebrate fossil and, as far as we know, neither did any other people working during the two days that we were there. If they had, the news would have spread pretty quickly! The limestone is quite hard and it often doesn’t break along a line. The thicker the rock, the easier it can be split in flat surfaces, revealing part and counterpart of the fossil specimens. When working with large slabs, a crowbar is essential. It was by lifting such a heavy slab that we saw before our eyes a complete Harpoceras: it was our best find and we committed not to break it, by carving out a slab that we could then lift and put aside. Soon we exposed another specimen right next to it. Here you can see how that looked: Two other Harpoceras ammonites: Another Harpoceras, this time a counterpart: To sum up, this two-days trip in the Kromer quarry was highly succesfull and rewarding, despite a slow start in the first day and the hot temperatures. The trunk of the car was fully loaded by the end of the second day! I highly suggest to anyone visiting southern Germany to stop at this place, you won't be disappointed. Besides, you can then visit the impressive UrweltMuseum Hauff in Holzmaden, where many wonderful fossils are on display. I will upload a post about my visit to the museum soon. Last thing, my friend and I recorded a short video (in two parts) at the quarry, where we kept track of our progress and finds. The dialogues are in Italian only, but I guess that you could let the fossils speak for themselves! Here it is - Part 1: - Part 2: If you want further information, here are two useful links: - Website of the quarry: http://www.schieferbruch-kromer.de/ - Overview of the Posidonia shale: http://www.holzmaden.com/Holzmaden_fossils_informations.html Thank you for the attention, Italo40

This is a fish from germany frauenweiler, oligocene. Recently buy from ONLINE, seller says it is belong to perciformes,but I dont know the exact genus. By the way, the fish is about 6cm. Do anyone know the exact genus this fish is? Thanks for helping.

For the Germans out there: what is an area in Germany that is particularly suitable for finding fossils? Or that you were lucky in finding fossils? I'm new to this so I don't really know how to search for the rocks in the area or what type of rocks are suitable for finding fossils. I live in Darmstadt, Hessen and would like to take a trip to a place in Germany to search for fossils this winter. Also, if someone knows this additional information too, where can I search for nice pieces of minerals in Germany? Thank you!

Hi Forum, i'd like to ask you identification of these shells from omhden quarry. I'll try to guess by myself using the Holzmaden Museum speciments photos i took when i visit it as reference, maybe i can get some of them good 1. Pseudomytiloides dubius 2. Pseudomytiloides dubius 3. Pseudomytiloides dubius 4. Plagiostoma punctatum 5. Pseudomytiloides dubius 6. Ammonite apticus (cornaptychus sanguinolarius) Thanks a lot Paolo

L.S., I recently purchased an old collection of plant fossils. The boxes also contained an odd couple of non-plants, which I would like to offer up for trade. Ideally, I would like to get some plant fossils in return. Photos below, with scale in centimetres at bottom. Disclaimer: The information below is "as received". I cannot guarantee provenance/identifications are 100% correct since these pieces come from an old collection, plus marine beasties are not really my cup of tea... Kind regards, Tim Specimen A: Large plate with several ammonites (Harpoceras sp.?) on a large plate from the Toarcian (Liassic, Jurassic) of Dudelange in Luxembourg Specimen B: Polished section with several belemnites (Dactyloteuthis sp.?) from the Jurassic of the area around Bayreuth in Bavaria, Germany (note: could use a re-polish to bring out the texture better).

Loc: https://www.geopark-thueringen.de/entdecken-erleben/nationale-geotope/standard-titel Age: Triassic, Keuper For wchich Archosaur, this tooth belongs? I know that it's hard to say, but maybe somebody can do this

L.S., Specimen in the photographs below was found in the Upper Carboniferous (Westphalian D) of the Piesberg, near Osnabrück, Germany. Scale on last photo is approximate. To me this looks like the rear end of some segmented animal. Any idea what it could be? Thanks, Tim

I found this rock and it looks a bit weird, does anyone have any idea what it is? Found in a village on the ground, in Germany, 7-8 cm.

Hello everyone, I would like to know what this Fossil might be. I thought it looked a bit similar to a whale hearing bone, but not as much that I could be certain. The Fossil was found in the north of Germany, near the Baltic sea. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you very much in advance. Greetings Lukas