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Showing results for tags 'isle of Wight'.
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Hi, I headed out yesterday morning to Bouldnor Cliff on the early morning low tide for what would be a rather "interesting" collecting trip (finger numbingly cold weather followed by getting badly bitten by a loose dog). I picked up some nice pieces including a Bothriodon jaw, and this very nice metatarsal bone. My initial ideas were that it was crocodilian however after doing research online I've seen quite a few similar looking metatarsals in variety of other animals, so I was wondering if anyone would be able to lend a hand in IDing it. It seems to be fairly intact apart from slight damage to the proximal and distal ends. It's 7.5cm long and 0.7cm wide, with a very flat and thin profile. Unfortunately when the dog bit me I dropped my collecting bag smashing the bone in half, so I've had to glue it back together as best I can. Thank you, Theo
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Hi My brother has given my kids a fossil he found on Compton bay, Isle of Wight(uk) we are curious to know what it is from (if anything!) any help would be appreciated It is 46mm long, 25mm wide and 20mm deep.
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Hi, I haven't posted in a while on here so I thought I'd show some of my best Bouldnor Fm. finds from this autumn (so far). As winter comes in the productivity on the coast has noticeably increased since the summer. We've had a lot of wet and windy weather through October and November, especially with Hurricane Ophelia and Storm Brian which has triggered a lot of falls and slips especially at Bouldnor and Hamstead Cliffs producing new material. I've also recently started as a lab volunteer at Dinosaur Isle (mostly accessioning Insect fossils from the Bembridge Insect Beds etc.) which has inspired me to get out on the coast a lot more often, meaning I'm now out collecting at least once a week. So here are my bests from the last few weeks: 1) A large piece of Emys plastron from Bouldnor. 2) A distal piece of an anthracothere humerus, most likely from Bothriodon
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Hi, I was out collecting from the Bouldnor Formation on Tuesday as usual and came across this piece of bone on the foreshore west of Cranmore. I initially thought it may have been part of a vertebra, but from what I can tell after looking at it further I think it may be part of the occipital bone/nuchal ridge (not sure on the proper name for this region of the skull so please correct me if I'm wrong) from the back of a mammal skull, as I can see an area that may be the beginning of a sagittal crest. The specimen is damaged in some areas and has clearly been broken off from a larger specimen at some point and worn by the elements. I was wondering if anyone would be able to confirm if this is a piece of occipital bone, and if it would be possible to ID it further based on its morphology etc. Thank you, Theo
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Hi, Whilst collecting yesterday along the coast between Bonchurch and Luccombe, I was searching around on some accessible parts of the cliff face and came across this very nice, nearly intact ammonite in a scree slope of clay like material (@Ludwigia you were right!). The cliff is divided up between the Sandrock Fm. and the Monk's Bay Sandstone Fm. which are the upper parts of the Lower Greensand group, dating to the Albian stage of the Cretaceous. As far as I can tell it's a likely a member of the Hoplitidae, which is a very common family in the Albian strata here, however considering the fairly nice and nearly whole condition of the specimen would it be possible to ID it further to a genus or even species level? The closest match I can find is Euhoplites bucklandi but even then there are some differences. I've attached images below showing the specimen and it's keel. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Theo
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Hi, I was out this morning doing some collecting at Bouldnor Cliff (thought I'd mix it up from Hamstead for a change) and came across this distal portion of a mammal humerus lying on a mudflat. I'm regular collector along the north coast and know the vertebrate taxa and stratigraphy like the back of my hand but this humerus is unlike anything I've found before mammal-wise. I noticed straight away that it has a supratrochlear foramen, which from my own knowledge and some online research is a feature often found in canids. Material from amphicyonids like Cynodictis and Amphicyon have been found from the Bouldnor Formation (Rupelian aged, and spans 34.0 - 32.5 mya) but I'm unaware of any canid material, so I was looking to perhaps get a second opinion on whether this is canid, and/or whether the supratrochlear foramen is a reliable indicator of canid/carnivoran material. Any help is much appreciated.
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Hello, This is my first post of this forum and I would like to show you some of my unidentified macro plant spores and vertebrate remains found in residue from fallen bits of plant debris bed picked up at Yaverland IOW, photos were taken under AmScope USB microscope, hope you like them. Still to experiment with the Toupview stacking software, watch this space. The Albaneretontid jaw holds nine teeth, this is the one I hope to get my stacking software working on. I have thrown in a close up of a termite coprolite apparently they have not changed in shape (hexagonal) for 75 million years. These are so abundant in the plant debris bed residue you end up ignoring them after a while. The rest I have not identified yet and are actually mega spores I believe. Also I found a tiny insect wing on the surface of some Bembridge limestone and a section of reed from a different piece. This is why the Isle of Wight is such a special place for me.
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I picked up this tooth from Bouldnor Beach on the Isle of Wight in the UK a couple of years ago. It is from the Bouldnor Formation and is earliest Oligocene, about 33 million years old. I'm confident it comes from a mammal of some kind, a rooted canine but that's as far as i've got. To provide some context the site has produced a number of pig-like anthracotheres (the most common mammals), carnivores like Hyaenodon, entelodonts, early primates like Leptadapis, the rhino-like Ronzotherium, deer-like forms and various others. Can any of the mammal people offer their thoughts? @Harry Pristis? Unfortunately the crown is almost completely worn away which i know is a huge detriment to identification. It measures 3.8 cm long, but of course would have been longer with the crown intact.
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Hi, Sorry I haven't been that active on here recently for the last few weeks, I've been incredibly busy. I've made a few trips to Hamstead over the past few weeks (I'll post some of the highlights later) and have just got back from a very wet and windy trip today, which as usual did not disappoint. The most interesting find of the day, along with a snake vertebra and an anthracothere premolar, was this fairly intact vertebra. My initial thoughts were perhaps crocodilian or mammalian but it looks very different from any Diplocynodon vertebra I've ever found, and I can't find a match to any mammals. The spinous process is nearly intact and it has a very narrow neural canal. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Theo
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Hi guys; I have recently been treated to a nice week down the Isle of Wight and having spent the first day down in Yaverland today I though I would share some of my finds. 1) these both appear to be Vertebra, I'm assuming they are dinosaur as I'm preatty sure I've read somewhere that crocodiles have concave and convex ends to their Vertebra but may be totally of base with that assumption.
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Hi, Firstly, excuse me for my ignorance. Myself and a few friends went walking in the Isle of Wight last weekend and came across some interesting Fossils. The problem is that we had a 50/50 split, with one side arguing that they are indeed fossils and the others saying they looked like an exotic patio slab. Is there any chance you could clear this up for me. Thanks in advance
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Hi, I officially finished school forever on Monday so to celebrate my new fangled freedom I decided to spend an afternoon and evening collecting along the Hamstead to Bouldnor coast, so I thought I'd show some of the highlights from the trip. We had very strong winds and some rain here last week so I figured that the beach conditions would be good for collecting, and the Bouldnor Fm. didn't disappoint. I reached the beach at Hamstead point around 1:30pm, and the spring tide was the highest I'd ever seen it. The tide was technically going out but along this coast the tide doesn't actually fall until two hours prior to low tide, which meant that only a small area of beach was exposed and I'd have to wait a few hours until I was able to make a lot of progress along the coast. I decided to sift through the small patches of shingle exposed to kill the time, which can often produce a lot of smaller bone fragments and teeth, especially those of crocodiles. After a few minutes I'd collected a handful of fish vertebrae from Bowfins and Unidentifiable teleosts, turtle limb bones, some sections of crocodilian or mammalian ribs, and a worn centrum from a crocodilian cervical vertebra (most likely Diplocynodon, the genus to which crocodilian material from the Bouldnor Fm. is referred). I moved on to a new patch further along the still very narrow beach and again turned up fish vertebrae, mammalian tooth roots, small fragments of crocodilian scutes, and excitingly a large distal portion of a mammal phalanx (presumably Bothriodon). The tide still hadn't moved so I hedged by bets and moved as far as I possibly could hugging the cliff edge. The base of the cliff at Hamstead Point exposes the boundary between the Bembridge Limestone Fm. and Bembridge Marls Mbr. of the Bouldnor Fm. Just above the junction are the Insect Limestone (world famous for it's insect fossils) and the Oyster Bed (a marine in-raid deposit that can produce fish remains) so I gave these beds a look over but unfortunately nothing was weathering out (Hamstead is an SSSI therefore hammering into the cliff is illegal). Finally the tide started to move out, and when it does it moves out very quick, so there was soon a large area of beach to survey and I could begin making my way down the coast. The finds started coming in thick and fast after that, scores of turtle carapace and plastron fragments (more than 100 in total), crocodilian scutes, mammal teeth, fragments of mammal bones, and much more. The best finds of the trip were by far a large crocodilian cervical vertebra, pre-molars from the anthracothere Bothriodon, and a fragment of crocodilian jaw, again Diplocynodon. But the best by far was a large distal portion of a mammal tibia found lying in the mud a few metres along from the 'Black Band'. As of yet I don't have an ID for the tibia as it is larger than would be expected for Bothriodon. There are numerous other candidates it could be, so I'll research further (if anyone has any suggestions, even if just to an order level, then that would appreciated). It also seems to have provided quite a nice home for a lot marine colonial species and plants which are currently being removed. I wrapped up the trip at 7pm and headed home, with a nice haul of finds. Now I've got a few months off before I start university I should be hunting much more regularly, all over the Island, so hopefully the summer will turn up some good finds! I'll attach images below, including of the tibia fragment. Thanks, Theo The distal portion of mammal tibia, covered in seaweeds etc. A large cervical vertebra from a crocodilian (Diplocynodon s.p) A section of trionychid turtle carapace (Trionyx s.p)
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Please help identifying this rock/bone/fossil for my 6 year old :)
iow_usa posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hey there, My family and I were vacationing on the Isle of Wight, specifically an area called Totland Bay. We stumbled upon the rock in the images below, and my 6 year old daughter (who is obsessed with fossils and dinosaurs) is extremely hopeful it is some form of bone fossil (she has even bigger hopes it's a dinosaur bone...). The island is known for a dense amount of of dinosaur fossils so she's extremely excited by this prospect. It actually dropped on the walk back and so I have a picture on the inside, from what I can see there is some kind inner line that follows the contours of the shape of the rock/fossil and then tiny dots outside this (its hard to see in the picture but they are definitely there). It also feels lighter than it perhaps should do, but I guess thats a little subjective. Based on some googling it fits the traits of a bone? Thank you in advance to anyone who can offer some feedback!
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Ronzotherium from the Bouldnor Fm.
TXV24 posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
Hi, A few weeks back I posted in the ID section about a fragment of mammal molar I had found whilst collecting at Hamstead. The Hamstead to Bouldnor coast is an Eocene/Oligocene locality and one the best sites in the UK for tertiary vertebrate remains from crocodiles, turtles, fish, and quite frequently mammals too, and was deposited in a paludal environment in the Hampshire Basin. I was aware it was a fragment of a rhinoceros tooth but couldn't be sure if it was from a more modern Pleistocene type like Stephanorhinus or a much more older rhinocerotid like Ronzotherium, an early hornless rhinoceros which is a a very rare part of the post Grande Coupre mammal fauna found in the Bouldnor Fm. Only 6 finds attributed to Ronzotherium have been discovered here since the late-19th century, the last record I can find is from 1999, all have been referred to the species romani. After the suggestions of some users on this forum and further research online I excitingly noticed some similarities to the molars of Ronzotherium. Straight away I contacted Dr Martin Munt, the curator at the Isle Of Wight's paleontological museum 'Dinosaur Isle' to bring the find to his attention in case it was from Ronzotherium. He passed the images on to colleagues at the Natural History Museum in London, who confirmed the molar as being from Ronzotherium. This was really exciting news to hear considering the rarity of material like this in the Bouldnor fm. The museum staff were really excited too and asked if it would be possible for me to bring the specimen in for them to borrow for a period and look at it in further detail. Suffice to say the molar is on it's way to the museum tomorrow afternoon to be dropped off and spend some time the laboratories there, and if needs be I'm more than happy to make a permanent donation to help learn more about the species and the UK's tertiary past. It's a really exciting find that I feel really lucky to have discovered, and definitely makes 6am starts and Saturday mornings scrambling through fallen trees and mudslides worth it! (I've attached a picture of the specimen below along with a reconstruction of the species, the proto and metaloph are present and so is an intact lingual valley, the enamel is also really well preserved)
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Hi, I thought I'd share some of my best finds from my trip to Hamstead earlier today. Today was my first collecting trip there in almost a month due to the living hell most British 18 year olds have to endure, commonly called, A level exams. As my exams are starting to wind down and finish next week, along with my entire school career (I'm nearly free!) I thought I'd head up there and do some collecting to get back into the swing of things for the summer. We've had a long period of very hot, calm, and still weather here in southern England, and that coupled with the recent influx of eager tourists during the early June school holidays, has meant that on many parts of the Hamstead - Bouldnor coast decent finds other than turtle carapace and plastron fragments are pretty thin on the ground. Nevertheless I hit the beach at about 8am this morning and over the course of the morning/early afternoon found some fairly nice specimens, although the reduced productivity was quite noticeable. The best find of the day was a large section of Diplocynodon s.p jaw, seemingly from the left mandible, lying out on the Bembridge Marls on the foreshore (although it's most likely from the Lower Hamstead Mbr). Another really interesting and nice find was a fragment of mammal mandible, with a molar still in situ within it's alveolus. Unfortunately the tooth itself has been heavily worn so the crown is missing, although the roots can be seen within the mandible. Based off of the shape of the alveoli and the size it's likely its from an Anthracothere such as Elomeryx or Bothriodon although without the crown it'll be difficult to properly ID it. Other finds included a small section of mammal rib, a worn proximal end of a femur, various fish vertebrae from Amia s.p (Bowfin) and from unidentified teleosts, a worn crocodilian vertebral centrum, and about 50-60 small to medium sized fragments of turtle carapace (from Emys and Trionyx) and crocodilian scutes, including posterior marginal, marginal, and neural plates. I'll attach images below. Thanks, Theo 1. Large section of Diplocynodon s.p mandible. 2. A section of mammalian rib 3. Mammalian mandible fragment with molar roots in situ.
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Hi, Some of you may have seen my post yesterday about unexpectedly stumbling across some ammonites here in the Lower Cretaceous sandstones (Lower Greensand) on the SE Isle Of Wight, on a beach I would never have thought to look. Last night I headed back down there with the intention of properly collecting and testing how abundant this new site was. I was not disappointed. I scrambled along the rocks from Bonchurch and got down there around 7pm, (just a 10 minute walk from my house) and began to systematically scan the beach. Within about an hour I'd picked up more than 50 phragmocones and fragments of ammonites, some of which were a decent size. Phragmocones are by far the most common find, although why this is I'm not sure, possibly due to environmental energy breaking up the ammonites? As far as I can tell the ammonites are parts of nodules which are originating from a hard, glauconite rich bed at the base of the cliff meaning they seem to be from the upper most parts of the Sandrock fm. Some however also seem to come from the Monk's Bay Sandstone fm. (Carstone fm.) which overlays the Sandrock. These were laid down in a shallow sub-tropical shelf sea during the Albian stage (100-113mya), other formations of the Lower Greensand are estuarine/mud flats showing a cycle of sea level rise before the final marine incursion laid down in the Gault (which is also present here on top of the Lower Greensand). As far as species, most of the fragments seem to be members of the Hoplitidae, I've identified one as being Hoplites maritimus, although I think I'll post some up in the ID section as my ammonite knowledge isn't that great. There seems to be much larger ammonites present at the site too, as at the base of the cliff some large moulds could be seen (although the ammonites themselves were gone). There is also an abundance of large pieces of fossilised driftwood, which would likely have originated from land to NE. Needless to say it was a very productive trip (unfortunately the seal didn't return), and it's definitely rekindled my interest in the cretaceous strata here on the island and the fantastic finds it has to offer (I might even start pursuing the dinosaurs again!). If the weather holds I'll head back again this evening to continue investigating the site and the strata, I've also attached images of the finds below (including the larger moulds). The entire haul from the trip, lots of phragmocones An example of the phragmocones Some larger sections of ammonite, although I'm not sure on their ID's
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Hi, I haven't been able to get out to the north coast this weekend to collect as I would normally do, so unfortunately I've got no croc teeth and mammal bones to show. However last night whilst doing some landscape photography along the coast been Bonchurch and Luccombe on the south coast of the Island, I made some pretty nice finds and had a really lucky wildlife encounter! The local bedrock here at Bonchurch are the upper formations of Lower Greensand group, including the Sandrock and Monk's Bay Sandstone Fm. (named after the beach at Bonchurch). I've always presumed the Lower Greensand on this side of the Island is fairly unfossilferous, and being an addict for the tertiary beds up north I've never really taken the time to look so close to home. But last night whilst photographing the sunset in the rockpools, I thought I'd take a little look around, and was really surprised. I searched for about 15 minutes (light was fading) and picked up 5 ammonite phragmocone casts (sorry if that's wrong I haven't properly collected ammonites for years) and 3 fragments of ammonites, one of which I've tentatively ID'd as being Euhoplites. I was pretty pleased with this I've collected ammonites before from around Ventnor but never thought of looking for them here in Bonchurch. The best 'find' of the evening however was a little bit more alive and 'mammaly'. I was picking up the ammonite fragments when I heard a loud breathing sound coming from the water, having done marine mammal surveys and been up close and personal to loads of cetaceans in the wild, I thought it sounded almost identical to a cetacean, I looked up and found myself eye to eye with a Grey Seal instead. Seals, and especially Grey Seals, are not common on the Island so seeing one on our coasts was really lucky! I only had my wide angle lens so the photos are pretty (very) bad quality, but I'm planning on heading down there again this evening with my telephoto, to collect more ammonites, and see if he's still in the area. Overall not a bad trip aha! The ammonite finds, phragmocones and fragments. Euhoplites s.p? The Grey Seal, watching me suspiciously.
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Hello everyone, Today I was going through all my older fossils, and I found this in my box of ammonites. Obviously this isn't one, and I must have put it in that box by mistake. It looks a lot like a coprolite to me, but I have no clue from what animal. Unfortunately I don't remember anymore where I found it. There are two possibilities: either from Lyme Regis (UK), or from one of the Cretaceous beaches on the Isle of Wight. Any clue to what it could be, and maybe what location? Best regards, Max
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Hi, I thought I'd share some of my nicest finds from recent trips up to Hamstead in the past two or so weeks. The tides have changed now in the western solent so I wasn't able to get out for as long as I usually am able to this weekend, (only 10am - 1pm instead of 7am to 4pm) so I didn't manage to find as much as usual. However, we've had a lot of periods of wet and windy conditions followed by warm and dry weather, which has brought down some areas of the cliffs and really churned up the sediments and seabed bringing a fair amount of material (the other week I came back with nearly 1kg of finds!), so conditions are currently pretty good. Turtle remains, most from Emys and occasionally Trionyx are still massively dominant over any other type of material followed by fragments of crocodilian scutes and vertebrae, fish remains, and fragments of bones. Mammal and crocodilian mandibles have been occasionally popping up here and there though along with loose teeth. Below are some pictures of the highlights from the last 2 weeks of collecting (may be in more than one post). 1. A very large (for Hamstead at least), nearly intact crocodilian scute, likely Diplocynodon s.p
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Hi, I thought I'd share some of my best finds from yesterday's trip to Hamstead. It was definitely one of the best trips I've had in terms of the sheer number and variety of fossils I picked up. Tide was going out slowly so had to spend a lot of time climbing over and through the fallen trees that litter the beach from the landslides, but it was definitely worth it. As usual fragments of Emys carapace were by far the most common find along with loads of worn pieces of crocodile scute and fish vertebrae. I also found quite a few of the nicer pieces that come out of the Bouldnor formation including a diplocynodon tooth, mammal teeth and bones (which seem to be quite common at the moment), 3 diplocynodon vertebrae, a large section of diplocynodon mandible, and the largest fragment of Trionychid carapace/plastron I've ever found! The coast is always very productive but the strong winds and rain we had here for much of last week seem to have exposed/brought in lots of new material. I'll attach images of the highlights from the trip below (will have to do it in multiple posts because of size limits). (Below) The best Emys fragments of the day, a large plastron piece, a neural plate, and a peripheral piece.
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Hi there, researching on behalf of my son. We found this on a beach at the Isle of Wight and wondered if it is Coprolite? and if so, any ideas what dinosaur might have made it. It's not dissimilar in shape and size to sheep poo. Thanks for your help
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Hi guys I recently acquired a nice Vertebra from the Isle of Wight from someone I know. It was found in yarvaland and comes from the Wealden. It's Cretaceous in age. It was labelled as polacanthus but I'm unsure if it is and the price was quite cheap so I went ahead just wanted to check in case it's an Iguanadontid Vertebra instead so I can relabel. Many thanks for looking GK
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Hi, I was wondering if anyone would be able to help in identifying a few mammal teeth I've picked up at Hamstead during my last two trips there. There's four teeth in total (all found separately not in association with each other), the 3 larger teeth appeared to me to be 2 possible canines and an incisor. My initial ideas for ID of the larger teeth were Bothriodon as it is the most common mammal species from the Bouldnor Fm. and the incisor shows signs of being worn on the incisal edge suggesting it could be a herbivore? but I'm not sure. As for the smaller tooth I'm completely at a loss. It's considerably smaller than the other 3 and looks like a premolar but as for potential ID I'm stumped aha! I'll attach pictures below. I'd be really grateful for any help.
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Hi, I'm Theo I'm new to the forum (I'll properly introduce myself on the introductions pages) and I've been collecting from the Oligocene beds on the north east coast of the Isle Of Wight for some years now. Yesterday afternoon whist collecting on the coast at Hamstead I came across this bone on the foreshore. I can tell it's a calcaneus bone and my initial thought was a mammal but I'm not sure. (I also stumbled upon some quite nice Bothriodon? incisors). Any help in identifying the calcaneus would be much appreciated. Thanks, Theo
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Rhynchonella parvirostris found on the beach in Shanklin Isle of Wight, just past Fishermans Cottage. It took me ages to identify them but glad I took the time as it seems they have only ever been found in two locations on the Isle of Wight. I have left one in matrix as I think it should look great with gentle polish. Taxon Name Rhynchonella parvirostris Taxonomy • Kingdom - Animalia • Phylum - Brachiopoda • Subphylum - Rhynchonelliformea • Class - Rhynchonellata • Order - Rhynchonellida • Family - Rhynchonellidae • Genus - Rhynchonella • Species Name - parvirostris Geospatial Information • Continent - Europe • Country - UK • State - England • District - Isle of Wight • Nearest Named Place - Little Atherfield & Shanklin (Mine) • Era - Mesozoic • Period - Cretaceous • Epoch - Early • Stage - Aptian-Albian • Geological group - Lower Greensand Group
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