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  1. Jared C

    Coenholectypus planatus

    From the album: Texas Albian (Cretaceous)

    Coenholectypus planatus Albian (upper glen rose) Texas
  2. On Wednesday, I got a text from Lee of an incredible discovery he made. I rushed off with in a multiple hour drive to assist his dig, ultimately spending two days working together on his find until we were both exhausted. He'll tell that epic, still unfolding story when he's ready The last day of that dig though, I made it home well into the night, looking like a swamp monster covered in plaster and mud. I took a brief shower, woke up the next morning bright and early with plaster still in my hair, and loaded the car buzzing with energy. Pita and I were to drive out west to see the solar eclipse, putting ourselves right in it's path. The Texas hill country can be a wild place- broad swathes of limestone canyonlands and valleys, full of interesting extant wildlife and millions of years of early Cretaceous gems. It was a beautiful way to see a rare astronomical event. Some phone pics of the event below. The blacked-out photos are how the eclipse appeared through the special eclipse glasses (essentially pieces of X-ray paper in a frame) Dung beetles were rolling horse manure everywhere we went Herpetofauna of course. Usually while I'm hunting, Pita frolicks about looking for local herps On the way back home the next day I spotted a roadcut that I was willing to try. I've tried small roadcuts a couple times before, and I've always been skunked. We hoped our odds would be different. Mapped as upper-glen rose limestone, I didn't have high hopes, since I knew the really productive Glen rose member was the lower unit. Little did I know I was actually about to embark on a sea urchin bonanza of my wildest dreams. From nearly off the bat, Loriola? showed up in force: Other fossils showed up as well, such as this: Algal fruiting body? There were also some larger Tetragramma bits lying around here and there Early on, I saw a beautiful complete Coenholectypus gracing the exposure too. This will be a nice prep project: at home: So, a good show from the upper glen rose, a lovely weekend of solar eclipses, rolling hills, unusual animals and amazing fossils concluded! Wishing y'all good times in the field, Jared
  3. 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!
  4. I had a pretty great birthday 11/09! Still young at 31! Cole woke me up the night before and said after work he is taking me out to Glen Rose Dino Valley State park in Glen Rose, TX and then going ammonite hunting for some decorations for Ruby’s vivarium. (Ruby is my pink morph western hognose snake) Of course I couldn’t go back to sleep before work after that! I know a lot of Texans probably went there during grade school and to some people dinosaurs are too “typical” but for someone who has lived in Indiana & Texas where it’s mostly marine fossils (and in Iceland there were pretty much none!) this was something new and exotic to me, albeit trace fossils. I worked my night shift super daydreamy and stargazy knowing it was going to be a fun day later on, clocked out, and we immediately drove out there! About good 2 hours away where I live and I couldn’t sleep on the way out there. When we finally got there they tried to charge me a child/teen ticket! The park ranger lady thought I was Cole’s teenage daughter. I immediately corrected the ranger and showed her my ID to prove I was 31 to charge me the correct amount (because thats the right thing to do!) and she gasped in shock, complimented my youth and my handmade ammonite earrings, gave me some free goodies along with a map. I haven’t eaten or slept in over a day and honestly it didn’t matter! I was so energetic and excited to be here I didn’t feel any fatigue at all! ^ If ya’ll don’t have the Rockd app- do so! So nifty especially when exploring a new place. We went to all the places on the map that had tracks, I waded in the water of course to see them up close! It was an incredible new intimacy with nature seeing them in person. You hear about them and think “yeah that sounds cool” but your eyes inches from them is whole other experience. The first one I spotted was an Acrocanthosaurus! I crawled immediately down the trail into the Paluxy river and splashed right into the water. After waiting a few minutes for the water to clear I was awarded with this: I reached down and touched it extremely delicately and it sent a jolt of adrenaline through my body like electricity I can’t describe! I got goosebumps like CRAZY. Cole knew I was having one of my “connection with nature moments” and watched me from the dry trail since he is hydrophobic as heck and didn’t want to join in. I’m the total opposite and if there’s enough water at a site- I go wading or swimming even in Texas! I just went on without him in the water and he followed me using the trail. Luckily he had my fanny pack but my phone is waterproof and stayed with me so I could take pictures. Roped off area: I want to share some odd prints I found that I dont think were marked on the map between Wildcat Hallow and the track site by the camping area. I don’t know if the map just needs updated or they are meant to be a “surprise” for the curious explorers but either way I’m sure the rangers know about them and it was fun to see them. Sorry for the finger and shoe marks, I actually tripped in one because I didn't expect any and wasn’t paying attention. (I was spying for any scaley babies at the river bank! Lots of turtles out that day, unfortunately I didn't spot any snakes.) I tried not to directly touch the dry prints. Hoooooly spit. My favorite part is “the ballroom site” where there are HUNDREDS of tracks! Lots of sauropod and predators prints here, the metatarsal tracks of the Acro were ADORABLE. Its amazing how if you look at a set and follow them you can imagine the walking behavior of the animal where they started walking and picking up speed to a sprint. SO. CUTE. My favorite prints were the rear- leg footprints of Sauroposeidon! You can just tell that it stood in thick, firm limy mud the way it was preserved and you can just “feel” it was a hefty animal by the look of the prints. I yelled out loud in awe it was so neat! (There were also just too many tracks to photograph) There were some lines in-between the series of sauropod tracks I was curious if that was the tip-end of its tail that may have left them? map of this track site: Blue is sauropod tracks; red is theropod tracks After this I went over to the deeper water by the swimming hole threw my boots & socks off and just dove right in with my clothes on. (We had pretty much that whole area of the park to ourselves and I brought extra pants & socks anyways!) It felt SO refreshing. I just relaxed enjoying the gorgeous weather ignoring Cole yelling at me (barely audible) worried about brain eating amoeba and wet car seat towels. (He shouldn’t be surprised being my best friend for 13 years now ) Sorry but the water was just… calling me! I was swimming over 100+mya dinosaur tracks and I felt so comfortable in my element. It felt so “right” and I was in full serotonin overload. Exhilarating! The only other fossil I saw besides oysters and dino tracks: Gift shop because I’m such a tourist in my own State. xD I can’t resist a signed book about paleontology! I have yet to read it as of this post but I know it’s about the history of the park and it came with a “dinosaur ballroom dance” CD. We went to Brookshires and then rewarded Cole with the biggest bag of jerky I could find, caffine, paid for a full tank of gas, and said thank you a billion times. This place was worth the visit no matter your age! The nature and hiking trail options itself are enough to visit if you like outdoors. *I have pictures and a few vids on my IG paleopastels as well! After spending most of the entire daylight there so I could dry off we went to my favorite spot in the Goodland Form and plucked out a few fast things on the way back home! I love the Oxytropidoceras the most Cole found me (Yay! So proud!) and I was happy to add another Heteraster to my shelf. I left the Pliotoxasters alone since I have a handful of them from last time. I got a few nice pieces of snake rocks to take home as well. Wet pants, dont care. What’s exciting is my zoic air pen from the UK + a few unique Dactylioceras fossils are coming in the mail soon! A little present to myself. What a great day! That day was the BEST present and best birthday to date! Hopefully this report helps others planning a visit to there! Thanks for reading!
  5. So this trip report is a little late in coming, but it's because the week before last was a lot to process! Just saying it was amazing would be an understatement. The Sunday before last I found the Xiphactinus with @Jared C that I've already posted about (and plan to provide an update on as soon as I'm done writing this). On Tuesday I had a job interview at the Waco Mammoth Site, and on Wednesday I got the job! Then I spent the weekend in Glen Rose, joining other volunteers from the Dallas Paleontological Society in helping Glen Kuban clean and map the dinosaur trackways recently uncovered by the horrible drought Texas has been experiencing this summer. Each of these three by themselves would be a huge highlight on my path to (hopefully) becoming a professional paleontologist, but to have all three happen in the same week? The stars must have aligned! I got more experience doing real paleo work in one week than I've had at any other point in my life, and with the new job and the fish excavation seeming like it'll be soon it looks like there's a lot more to come and I couldn't be happier about it. On to the trip report! As I said, last weekend I made the trip up to Dinosaur Valley State Park to help with the dinosaur footprints before the rain finally decided to make its way back to Texas and covered them up again. I left before sunrise on Saturday morning so I could arrive before noon while also leaving some extra time to make some stops along the way. I was hoping that I'd have some luck in the Glen Rose formation as my only experience with it before was in exposures of the lower half of the formation in Austin. Unfortunately, I didn't quite do enough research beforehand and ended up skunked - apparently the Upper Glen Rose is notoriously lacking in fossils aside from the famous dinosaur footprints. For once I was glad that I couldn't help myself when it came to making stops at every good-looking roadcut I saw. The slightly older and much more fossiliferous Comanche Peak formation is exposed almost everywhere you look closer to Waco and I had much better luck there. Here's a decent-sized Oxytropodiceras I found at one spot but ended up leaving behind since none of the fragments were very large on their own. I still want to find a complete one! By the time I got to Glen Rose I had a nice assortment of irregular echinoids (all Heteraster texanus I believe), gastropods (Tylostoma tumidum and Turritella seriatim-granulata, the latter represented by both external and internal casts), and one bivalve that could be Protocardia that I decided to keep because one side preserved both upper and lower valves and retained the original shell material which isn't very common. Of course, even though I told myself I wouldn't be tempted I did wind up taking home a different Oxytropidoceras fragment. What can I say? I'm a sucker for ammonites! I was hit with a flood of memories when I arrived in Glen Rose. I used to spend a week with my grandparents every summer at their house near Tyler when I was growing up, and they knew how much I liked all things dinosaur-related. When I was seven they took me to Glen Rose for the first time and it completely blew my mind. I liked it so much, in fact, that we went back every summer for the next five years. I hadn't been back to Dinosaur Valley State Park or the town it calls home in a while before last weekend. A lot was just as I remembered it: the Dairy Queen with its dinosaur mural, the Stone Hut Fossil Shop, and Dinosaur World with its array of concrete (and charmingly inaccurate) dinosaur statues. Even the woefully fossil-barren roadcut that I had begged my grandparents to let me explore once upon a time was right where I had last seen it. What I definitely didn't remember was the over half a mile long line of cars bumper-to-bumper trying to get into the park! It seemed like the national news coverage of the newly-exposed dinosaur tracks had been bringing people from all over - I saw more than a few license plates that were from out-of-state. As soon as I realized just how long of a wait I was in for I understood why the DPS had asked for people to begin arriving at 9 - both to beat the heat and the lines to get into the park. One fifty minute wait later and I was finally rolling up to the visitor's center. A sign out front that looked like it had just been set there said that the park was at capacity for the day, and unless visitors had prior reservations they would have to be turned away. I'm sure there were more than a few exhausted parents that were not at all looking forward to the difficult explanation they were going to have to give their dinosaur-obsessed children. After explaining to a ranger that I was there to help Glen Kuban and the DPS with the track clean-up a very friendly park ranger directed me where to go. On the way to the track site I passed the famous T. rex and Brontosaurus statues that the park was given after their debut at the 1964 New York World's Fair as part of an exhibition put on by the Sinclair Oil Corporation (their logo has been a sauropod for over 100 years!). While many of the tracks at the park are from theropods and sauropods, the park staff are keen to remind visitors that T. rex and Brontosaurus were not the trackmakers. Since their discovery the long-running theory has been that the theropod tracks were made by Acrocanthosaurus and the sauropod tracks by Sauroposeidon. The most famous tracksite is that first studied by American Museum of Natural History paleontologist R. T. Bird, showing a lone Acrocanthosaurus pursuing a herd of Sauroposeidon across the Early Cretaceous coastline. There are also other tracks made by an ornithopod similar to Iguanodon. Following the ranger's direction took me through a bumpy stretch of dirt road winding through a pasture on the western side of the park. The track site where I was headed, the Taylor Site, is easily accessible by hiking along the riverbed from the center of the park, but driving there was a lot more difficult. When I finally arrived I could already see crowds of people down in the river. I had never visited this spot before in my previous trips to the park since there were so many other track sites that were more well-advertised, but it seemed like the news coverage was drawing people out to the less-visited areas. As soon as I made my way down to the riverbed I was blown away. The DPS volunteers had clearly been busy the previous weekend. A huge pile of mud and sediment was stacked to one side, revealing a neat line of giant theropod tracks so pristine it looked like it could have been made only hours before. Thankfully there wasn't an Acrocanthosaurus lurking nearby! Ripple marks were also preserved alongside many of the tracks. I made my way over to the EZ-Up tent some DPS members had set up and introduced myself. It was surreal to meet Glen Kuban, as I remembered reading an article of his when I was only 12 and curious about the "human footprint" controversy. The Taylor Site is actually the exact spot where the misidentifed human trackway is located and so Mr. Kuban generously offered to give me a short guided tour. He was quite the character, full of obvious passion for the tracks he's spent over four decades studying and willing to answer any question asked of him by interested passerby. I asked him to set me to work and he directed me to the spot where you can see a bunch of people standing in the picture above. It turns out that there is a separate set of tracks preserved very differently from the rest at this location. The tracks were also made by a theropod, but instead of appearing as indentations in the limestone they are instead raised "casts" - the result of infilling with a sturdier sediment than the other tracks close by. When the river eroded away the layers of rock covering up the tracks it also eroded out the weak sediment that had filled many of them; however, the opposite happened to this particular set. The sediment that filled them in after they were first made over 113 million years ago is actually stronger than the limestone that makes up the river bed and is thus much more resistant to the Paluxy River's currents. As Mr. Kuban explained to me, the orange-ish coloring you can just barely see in the picture below is the result of iron present in the sediment that's slowly been oxidizing as it's exposed to the air. I joined several other DPS members who were diligently scrubbing the tracks so that Mr. Kuban could get better photos of them for the grid map he was planning on making of the site. I was told that that was the real reason the effect of the drought had been so significant: all of these footprints had been visible at some point or another, but it had been many decades since they had all been visible at the same time. No "new" tracks were discovered recently despite what the news had been saying. After several cycles of dumping buckets of river water on the tracks, then sponging them, then scrubbing them, the tracks were finally ready for their headshots, which was then followed by an hour's worth of measurement-taking and documentation. Below is a picture of the dream team at work! From left to right: Joe (a graduate student from Columbus who knew Mr. Kuban and who flew down just to work on the tracks), me, Murray (a DPS member and volunteer fossil preparer at the Perot Museum in Dallas), and Mr. Kuban, with grid paper and trusty clipboard in hand. I felt guilty not doing much more than scrubbing limestone and holding a tape measure for the rest of the day (not that I wasn't having the time of my life doing it!), as I could imagine just how much work had gone into shoveling and sweeping away all the mud that had been covering the main trackways. Major props to the hard-working members of the DPS that spent the weekend prior doing all that labor in the Texas heat! The tracksite looked amazing, and many of the visitors to the park passing through where we were working agreed. I had to deflect more than a couple of thank yous - what I was doing didn't hold a candle to the mini-excavation that had been done before I ever showed up. I ended up spending the night in town at the Comfort Inn (behind which forum member @LanceH actually did discover new dinosaur tracks). Although I tried to see them the next morning before I drove back to the park, it seems like the elements haven't been kind to Lance's discovery. The footprints are in a drainage ditch and were preserved in marl that is far weaker than the limestone in the river and so were probably only visible for a couple of years at most. Sunday was spent sweeping away some of the sediment that had already been moved just in case one of the dinosaur trackways extended to the area underneath it. As it turned out, it did! After that was done I went to another spot in the park with some other volunteers to see if the tracks there needed cleaning as well. This was the tracksite I remembered visiting with my grandparents. It's called the Ballroom because unlike the Taylor Site the tracks here are a mix of overlapping trails that don't form clear pathways. Maybe the Early Cretaceous was characterized by frequent dinosaur dance-offs. The scientific community may never know. Here's one of the largest Acrocanthosaurus tracks with my size 12 shoe for comparison. The clawmarks at the end of each toe where the theropod dug into the silty earth to keep its balance are still visible after all this time. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the sauropod tracks, but there were several nice ones at the Ballroom made by a juvenile that showed each of the strange curved toes very clearly. Speaking of sauropods, the last thing I did in town before I headed back to Waco was try some of the best good old Texas barbecue Glen Rose had to offer at a local joint named Hammond's (not a Jurassic Park reference, but I like to think it was ). Out front was a statue of a sauropod complete with horns, cowprint, and a brandmark that made me ask myself what they would have tasted like if they were still around. And that was it for my weekend! It was incredibly fun to visit one of my favorite places in the world again after so long away, and even more rewarding of an experience to get to do some real paleontology work with people that I was able to learn a lot from. Hopefully it won't be the last time- I think I'd like to make a habit of this sort of thing. Now to get to work on that fish update! - Graham
  6. Got me some matrix from a couple of sites in the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation- one of my favorite (and closest to me!) formations. So much tiny stuff!! It's too dang hot to hunt in Texas (we are on day 58 of 100+ F degree ). So, hunting from home is my preferred pastime! Here are some of my recent nice finds. My best thing I found, which I was quite excited about is a little madreporite - part of a starfish cirulatory system. I found one big one (1/2 inch) at this same site a few years ago but had not found one since, so was happy to find this little one. It's only 1/4 inch. Here's the big one and the little one: Found quite a few little starfish ossicles. Not many Glen Rose starfish have been found "whole" or even partly whole. If I remember correctly @JohnJ is one of the few who have found them at least partly whole. My favorite are these bumpy ones. There are two found in this formation - a larger more robust smooth with tiny dimples and these smaller, skinny bumpy ones. Another treat to find are these floating crinoids - a relatively rare thing in the Cretaceous. I was happy to finally find this mostly whole one....often they are missing a section. I think this is a Solanocrinites sp. This one preserved a little better, but as you can see, has a chunk missing. But that Star!! And more crinoids - the variation in the Isocrinus annulatus amazes me: And don't forget the Echinoids! I found a lovely Pygopyrina hancockensis size 1/4 inch a nice sized Hyposalenia phillipsae 3/8 inch a small one: 1/8 inch and a juvenile! 1/16 inch Also found this interesting spine - possibly a Cidarid spine. Some decent tiny crab claws (unknown) and finally, a Foraminifera Orbitolina texana which you can see some of the structure of. I thought that was pretty cool
  7. Hello, this is my first post here on The Fossil Forum. I recently went fossil hunting in the Glen Rose formation near Canyon Lake, looking for echinoids and other invertebrates. I did end up finding a few and tried to identify them myself, but I would appreciate confirmation from somebody more experienced than me. Is the fossil in the images above Heteraster obliquatus? I also found an echinoid that looks to me like Paracidaris texanus. This specimen has foraminifera tests and other bits of limestone still attached to its underside, but I don’t know enough about preparing fossils to work on it right now. Finding these was super fun, and eventually I’d like to learn how to clean them up properly. Any help in identification would be much appreciated!
  8. historianmichael

    A Cold Day in the Glen Rose

    Back in the Fall I got permission to visit a small exposure of the Early Albian Glen Rose Formation. Unfortunately the property owner told me that I could only visit on a Friday. We had planned a visit a few times but for some reason or another the plans kept falling through. Today I finally got the chance to visit. Sadly today was one of the coldest days this month. Temperatures hovered in the low 40s with a wind chill factor in the low 30s. After visiting the site I checked out a couple of other spots in the area that I had previously visited. The finds were tough to come by, partly because it was so hard to focus while strong wind gusts chilled my mind and soul as I stared at the ground. But for what today was, I am happy that I at least found something new. Today's new find was this cool partial sea star arm. @erose found one a few years ago in the Glen Rose Formation but this one seems different from the one he found. I have had a lot of success finding claws of the hermit crab Pagurus banderensis at one of the other sites I visited. Today was no different.
  9. swr10a

    Need help identifying

    I found this in glen rose, Texas at Dinosaur Valley State Park. Looks like it might be a clam or shell of some sort. Anyone have any idea if it's anything or maybe its just wishful thinking.
  10. historianmichael

    First Texas Cretaceous Hunt

    Well it is not my first ever hunt in the Texas Cretaceous, but it is at least my first hunt since moving to Texas at the start of this month. This past Sunday I had the chance to journey to several sites that expose the Early Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation. Through some research on known sites and scanning Google Maps for other potential localities worth checking out, I came up with a list of about more than a dozen nooks and crannies in Central Texas worth exploring. Virtually every place I stopped showed potential, although I did not find echinoids at every site, but that also meant that I could only accomplish half of my list. Sometimes the good comes with the bad. I will just have to save the rest of my list for my return visit to Central Texas. If I waited to photograph my finds until after I cleaned them all, I would probably never put a trip report together, so here is an assortment of photos from the field and a couple photos I recently took at home after a quick cleaning. A telltale sign of the Glen Rose Formation- Orbitolina texana Some claw bits of the hermit crab Paleopagurus banderensis The giant clam Arctica gibbosa And six different species of echinoids Leptosalenia texana Heteraster obliquus Pliotoxaster comanchei Balanocidaris(?) strombecki Spine Coenholectypus planatus Loriolia rosana I also found several other bivalve and gastropod internal molds, annelids, echinoid spines, and some Porocystis globularis. I found a small stem section of the crinoid Isocrinus annulatus but lost it in the grass before I could take a photo of it. Hopefully I can find another one on my return visit to the Glen Rose Formation!
  11. Found this little blade in the Lower Glen Rose Formation. Sadly, no root, so I am not even sure it's possible to ID. What has me questioning is the odd "extra layer" of growth on the tip..... Any thoughts? For a bit of reference I am including pics of the only other shark tooth I've found in the Glen Rose. It is a Protolamna and has distinct striations on the root. So I am pretty sure it's NOT that. 1/2 inch
  12. Zenmaster6

    Glen Rose Texas ID help

    GlenRose Formation 105 - 115 MYA Found near roadcut in San Antonio First I want to warn you, These are low quality photos due to it being night and having a dim light in translucent glass. So if you are unable to further identify due to poor quality photos, I understand wholeheartedly. Without further adieu, Here is the lot Below I will post individual photos in the comments. Firstly I'd like to state a few in which I think I know the answer. 1 I believe is a Neithea irregularis 2. I don't know if its a messed up ammonite, echinoid, gastropod or what it could be. 3. mess of gastropods I dont know 4. some kind of turritella? For 5 I think the middle 2 and far right one are Heteraster obliquatus while the far left two are Pliotoxaster comanchei due to how its only depressed on one of the ambulacrum in some and all 5 in the others. I feel that 6 might be a Leptosalenia texana but I can't tell the difference between a Paracidaris texanus from the other. 7. I am 99% sure its Porocystis globularis 8. Bivalve I don't know. 9. very odd bivalve I've never even seen or heard of 10. 99% sure it is Tylostomas and nice ones at that. If any of you could help me out, I'd be very grateful to label the correct names on these wonderful specimen
  13. Zenmaster6

    Is this an Ammonite?

    Glen Rose Formation 105 - 115 MYA Found in Roadcut near north San Antonio I know its not great quality but from just this, is this an ammonite and if so, is it possible to narrow it to a species?
  14. erose

    Pycnodontid Teeth

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Large Pycnodontid Teeth Keys Valley Member, Walnut Formation, Fredericksburg Group Albian (Lower Cretaceous) These are the largest Pycnodontid teeth I have seen in the Walnut and were collected by another member of the Paleontological Society of Austin

    © ERose 2021

  15. erose

    Worn Loose Pycnodontid Tooth

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    This is another Pycnodontid tooth from the Walnut Formation showing a great deal of wear on one end. The other item in the image is a rather spiny crustacean leg I am still attempting to ID.

    © ERose 2021

  16. erose

    Lepisosteus sp.

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Lepisosteus sp. Unit 2, Lower Member, Glen Rose Formation, Trinity Group Albian (Lower Cretaceous) Comal County, TX These small fish teeth are fairly common but not abundant. I Have them from several locations.

    © ERose 2021

  17. erose

    Glen Rose Fish

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    This fossil is in the visitor center at Westcave Preserve in Travis County. The stone was quarried from the Glen Rose Formation near Sisterdale, Kendall Co. This is a little over 10 inches long.

    © ERose 2021

  18. erose

    Pycnodontid Jaw

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    This large (2" long) jaw is again built into the wall at Westcave Preserve. From the Glen Rose Formation. Quarried near Sisterdale, Kendall County.

    © ERose 2021

  19. erose

    Fish Jaw, Unidentified

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    This is one of two jaws that are in the walls at Westcave Preserve. Quarried from the Glen Rose near Sisterdale, Kendall County.

    © ERose 2021

  20. erose

    Large Glen Rose Fish

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Another large fish preserved in a hard limestone that was used to build the visitor center at Westcave Preserve. This one is the largest at at least a foot in length.

    © ERose 2021

  21. erose

    Pycnodontid Jaw Plate

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Pycnodontid Jaw Plate Lower echinoid marker bed, Unit 2, Lower Member, Glen Rose Formation, Trinity Group Albian (Lower Cretaceous) This is a favorite! I found the two pieces in the same spot TWO YEARS apart. PS they glued back together perfectly.

    © ERose 2021

  22. erose

    Various Teeth

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Unknown tooth, 2 tiny Pycnodontid teeth Upper Member, Glen Rose Formation, Trinity Group Albian (Lower Cretaceous) Blanco County, Texas The pycnodontid teeth are fairly common at this local. The longer tooth is quite different and I still do not have a solid ID

    © ERose 2021

  23. erose

    Unknown Reptile Bone

    From the album: Lower Cretaceous Vertebrate Fossils of Central Texas

    Unidentified Reptile Bone Upper Member, Glen Rose Formation, Trinity Group Albian (Lower Cretaceous) Blanco County, Texas possibly the femur of a marine turtle

    © ERose 2021

  24. erose

    Unknown Reptile Bone

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