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Hello everyone, and I hope you've all had a good day. I started to put my display cabinet together today, and after an exhausting day of work, I'm only half done and I haven't even started on the bookshelf! Yay! Sarcasm aside, I've got some more fossils I would like identified, as I am creating labels for my displays. Just as before, I would prefer the most specific identification possible - species would be preferable, but I would rather a genus or clade name over an invalid species name. Location would be helpful too. Again, if any of you want them, I can take more photos tomorrow. Specimen 1: Actinopterygii This specimen I purchased at a museum, which simply labelled it as 'fish fossil'. While I do not know the location, I suspected it was from the Green River Formation in Wyoming, as many commercially available Actinopterygii fossils come from that site. At first, I thought the specimen was Knightia, as that fish seems to be one of the more common from the Green River Formation, and the only common one of the same size and rough shape. However, after recently observing a slab of Knightia at a museum, I began to doubt my initial identification, as the Knightia in the museum looked more bloated than my specimen. Is it a Knightia, or something else? Specimen 2: Ammonite I apologise for the rather shoddy attempt at editing out the supplier's logo. As you can see, I purchased this ammonite in a small plastic case at a museum, and cannot take a photograph of it from all angles. However, the back of the box (or at least what survives of it) says that the ammonite is Jurassic of age and comes from Madagascar (thinking about it, the supplier probably had to stick the ammonite to the case in order to get it through customs). Therefore, after comparing it to other ammonites from the same location, I believe it is most likely a Phylloceras specimen, as those ammonites lived in the correct place at the correct time, and had the same shaped, relatively smooth shell. Do you all agree with this conclusion? Specimen 3: Gastropod Another specimen I purchased from a museum with no knowledge of its original location or age. Unfortunately, I know very little about Gastropods, so I do not know how to identify it. Do any of you recognise at least what group it came from, or even tell its species, time period or location? Specimen 4: Ray tooth I received this tooth as a gift in a set of various teeth from Chondrichthyes. The gift set identified the ray tooth as Jurassic in age, however gave no further information on the specimen. To add to the confusion, all of the fossil ray teeth I have found available to purchase online come from Myliobatis, a genus which only evolved in the Cenozoic. While I am pretty sure it is Myliobatis and the gift set's information was simply inaccurate, I would like confirmation that this conclusion is accurate. Also, I do know that there is only half of a tooth; it broke a while ago and I no longer have the second half. Thank you for all of your help! Next up will be a couple of Triassic plant fossils, and following that will be some fossils I am concerned are fake. Hope you all have a good night!

I am doing a prep from the 18 inch later. The head and ribs seem to look like Diplomystus, but I am still unsure. It might just be a huge Knightia. I think this specimen might be 7 or so inches long.

Hi there, I have just found stored away these two fosils that I bought as a youngster many moons ago and am hoping you may be able to help me identify thier authenticity or otherwise and perhaps ID them also. I assume the fish either is or is supposed to be from the green river formation, but beyond that I am lost... Any info would be much appreciated Ta, Dave

I wish this was a post to celebrate an incredible accomplishment but instead I am extremely scared that through my potential carelessness, the likely greatest find of my life may be forever changed. I just a few days ago on 6/6 found this stingray fossil at American Fossil Quarry in Wyoming just and was able to keep it because it was at that location. I have been on a road trip and have been storing it in a plastic tote bin with bubble wrap and then fish fossils underneath wrapped in paper towel. I took the lid off for a prolonged period to air out the bin and I think this was a grave mistake and let in humidity. The paper towel was all heavily damp and many of the fish fossils had very obvious signs of mold/mildew growth and discoloration. And now I fear the stingray may show some as well. I desperately need advice on repair and preservation asap. I really need help trying to fix this mess as I’m still on the road for another week. It may not be super obvious in the images but it is the areas that appear a grayish color in contrast to the orangeish brown. The last image is the closest picture I took on the day it was found to show any potential change. This was a lifetime find and I will be crushed if I’ve caused irreparable damage. Please help. Any advice in repair and preservation is greatly appreciated. And I’m sorry to all those that see this and are disappointed in the poor handling of this rare piece, I’m more than disappointed in myself if things are what they seem. And if by a miracle the stingray is perfectly fine then any advice on the fish fossils would be great.

I was wondering if anyone ever made the claim to have the smallest articulated fossil, because I think I've got a decent shot! These are the smallest fish I've found so far. There are two Mioplosus labracoides and one Priscacara sp.

hey! I would like to work on some fossil fish from the green river formation, does anyone know where I can find some that ship internationally. Please PM me any suggestions Cheers Leon.

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted, good to be back- I’m looking for unprepped material! I’m just a hobbiest who enjoys the prep work as much or more than the collecting. I’m not an expert by any means but I’ve done a handful of large green river fish, a few mammoth tusks, an Oreodont upper skull, and a few other miscellaneous specimens. One of the most enjoyable prep projects I did was a small oreodont upper skull that was in grade A condition, but since then (years ago) I cannot seem to find anything similar. I am most interested in any unprepped white River specimens, ideally skulls, turtle shells, etc. as long as they’re in grade A or B condition- I’m not an expert at reconstruction. I’m also interested in some of the larger and more rare species from the Green River formation. A large and complete Mioplosus preferably from the 18in layer would be great, I’ve only ever done one of those before and it was sadly around 30% disarticulated. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you! nick

Hello all! This summer I took my yearly trip to Wyoming, and with my luck I again came back with several extremely incredible fossils! I found many less fish this time around, but I did find several more rare ones! I probably only found around 50 fish in the 3 days I was there. I found 8 Phareodus, including 2 juveniles! I found only 1 Mioplosus this year, the fish seems to be avoiding me sadly... I found 3 Priscacara, including a very large Priscacara serrata! I found an interesting Hypsiprisca preserved beautifully on an algea layer, also found several more Amia scales, but one of my favorite finds was a giant Amia tooth! (Though I suspect it to be gar) they said it was the largest one they had ever seen, and it is an excellent place holder for a future complete Amia! I also found dozens of shells! The shells especially the snail shells are considered to be one of the rarest components of the fauna, so it was very odd finding over a dozen! Including 4 mass mortality plates which each have dozens of shells on them! I also ended up finding an incrediblely incrediblely rare piece of bamboo, they told me that bamboo is rarer than a dozen stingrays! Speaking of stingrays, I FOUND MY FIRST ONE! A large Heliobatis that I split out almost perfectly! Speaking of rare finds, my absolute favorite find of this trip came as a surprise! Early in the day I found a very strange algea layer with several gastropod beaks, and I was excited as I thought I had found a Crossopholis. After having my heart broken I sulked over to a new pile of rocks and one my first split I found something very strange, a plate of small serrated scales! I did it! I found myself a paddlefish it's disarcticulated, but it still has a fin beautifully preserved! It's hard to describe the feeling of finding a Paddlefish and a Stingray the same day! I will be posting pictures soon! I will also be submitting my stingray whenever the prep work is finished!