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My last few excursions have been a continuation of my exploration of the Woodbine. In my experience, it is a very difficult formation to hunt on, so even the smallest of discoveries is a welcome sight to behold. If you have the fortune of finding something there, it is likely to be different and unlike anything from the nearby surrounding formations. My most recent outing took me to an exposure rich with coalified material. The "peat" layer I dug into was extremely brittle and fell apart with minimal effort. Densely packed in was numerous chunks of wood and fragments of leaves likely from the forest floor of the ancient continent Appalachia. If I hadn't dug it out from under several meters of rock myself, I would have thought these things to be modern in age (many of the leaves were just like the dried ones you could find in throughout a yard). I tried my best to spot any bones, but it seemed that only plants were present. I spent most of the day carefully splitting these slabs only to find bits of leaves that immediately fell apart upon exposure. Luckily, I was able to grab a handful of nice specimens that I could take home and consolidate with some paraloid b72. They are much sounder structurally now, though they are still very fragile. I'm not sure if it's even worth trying to ID as many of my specimens are extremely fragmented. However, I think they are distinct enough to see the general shape of the leaves and create a crude snapshot of a Cretaceous forest floor. If you see something you recognize, feel free to share! Here are some photos: Piece 1: Sort of looks like a conifer leaf Piece 2: Piece 3: Piece 4: A tiny leaf Piece 5: This one is actually double-sided. On the front is a large leaf. The other side has a conglomerate of many small leaves similar to the ones found on piece 3. Thanks for reading!

My first fossil hunt post. Yesterday (May 29 2022), I went down to the Florissant Fossil Quarry in Florissant Colorado. Its about a 45 minute drive west of Colorado Springs. Its a very well know site partly because of the very well preserved fossils and relative abundance but also because of how easy it is. You pay a small fee and they give you the tools and you pick up shale and start splitting, that simple. You're guaranteed to find something if you try. If you are in the area I would definitely recommend stopping by, its just not really on the way to any popular stops. There is also the Florissant national monument, separate from the quarry, where you can see the massive petrified tree stumps and learn about the fossils in the formation. Attached is an image to show you, I did not take this picture since I didn't go to the monument this time. I had gone prior and really liked seeing this giant fossils. It appears as if it is frowning. The "eyes" are sawblades that got stuck when people tried chopping it down over 100 years ago. You can't use a saw to cut a petrified tree this large though. There used to be many more but they were sold to people all over the world many years ago. Walt Disney even bought one for Disneyland. It was a very nice day at 65 F (18 C). This is what the exposure looks like. You are not allowed to collect from the exposure itself, hence the rope blocking it off. You have to settle for the piles of shale shown in front, which still contain many fossils inside the paper thin shale. The most common fossil besides unidentifiable plant material are leaves. Here are the ones I kept. I believe the next three are of the genus Fagopsis, one of the more common ones. They are 5.7, 3, and 3 centimeters respectively. I measured down the stem, I'm not sure how to properly measure a leaf fossil. Do you measure the stem, the slant height, the circumference? No idea. The next one is the largest one I found, a 7.7cm Willow leaf, family Salicaceae. I am terrible at leaf identification, and all the fossils I found this trip really. I looked through The Fossils Of Florissant book by Herbert Meyer, but still am not certain on many of my finds, so if anyone can identify them I'd appreciate it. From the largest leaf to the smallest, this one is only 7mm long, it split cleanly so I have both sides of it. However some material stuck to both sides. Here's some more leaves for you. 2.3cm Koelreuteria allenii, also 2.3cm 3.7cm for the longer one. 5cm Two and a half centimeters. Three centimeters. The next two seem like they would be easy to identify but I couldn't find a similar picture in Meyer's book. The first one is 2.4cm long and the second, 1.5. The detail that is persevered is incredible. It looks just as detailed as a leaf I could find in my front yard. Here's a close up of the leaf above. The "circle" has a 10mm diameter. This one is a winged maple seed, likely Acer macginitiei and is 11mm long. A knot on some wood, only 5 mm long. Here are the insects. Only 1.5mm long. The wings are barely visible. This one looks like a fly, order Diptera. I have both sides, unfortunately the other one isn't very good. Its half a centimeter long. This one is also a fly I'm guessing. Its 4mm long. An odd one, 5mm long. An unknown larva. Its 0.4mm long. Florissant is one of the rare places where eyes can be preserved. And last but not least are the four gastropods I found. They are very tiny but very interesting. The first one is only 3mm wide. It was split open so I have the positive and negative. This one is only 2.5mm wide, possibly the best preserved out of the four though. The "large" one, 4mm long. This one is also about 4mm long. The first and fourth gastropods are a yellow color whereas the other two are a pearly white. That's everything, I hope you enjoyed it. Again, thanks if anyone could ID anything, and thanks for reading this far and looking at the photos. I truly appreciate it.

Hello everyone, saw this Burmese Amber leaf for sale and it looked a bit too good to be true. I usually buy Baltic so I'm not familiar with who's reputable and not in the Burmese world. Dimensions are 31/14/6.9 mm and it weighs 1.87g. Is the whitish strip running down the side all natural or is it glue? Do you guys think it looks legit? Thanks!

Sorry for another post, hopefully last authenticity check Got some sort of leaf fossil and an ammonite of some kind Are they real, and could I have an ID and age if they are

Imagine working for a year in a small college science department and there was a room you vaguely knew was there but didn’t have the keys to and never saw anyone going in or out. Then one day, campus grounds workers open the door, and you inquire what is going on. You discover it is an old earth science storage room (earth science hadn’t been taught there in many years) and everything is to be discarded the next day into the dumpster to make room for some new purpose. It’s a room about 15 feet by 20feet packed with boxes on shelves filling the space up to the ceiling. It is a dusty disordered mess. You don’t have the authority to put off the clean out. What would you do? Exactly, cancel all plans and stay up all night sorting out the room and triaging the best stuff. So that’s what I did. Not heroic like running into a burning building to save children, but someone had to do it. Even with several trips I could only take a small percentage of the material but most of the fossils. Most were labeled, some had numbers on them but there was no accompanying key, and many had no identification at all. Perhaps 2% of the material was fossils, and it was scattered throughout the room, like some sinister easter egg hunt with every minute ticking down until the morning workers showed up. Here then, are some of the unlabeled and unidentified fossils I recovered. Some are obvious, others less so. I thought TFF members might have some fun with this. # 1

Went for a walk today through Dinosaur Park in Alberta. Came across this and took a picture of it. Is this a leaf imprint? If so does anyone know the name of the tree or plant?

Here's a new find from the I&M trip last weekend. The nodule was full of indeterminate plant fragments, and I almost tossed it until this one small bit (~1cm in length) caught my eye. Maybe a wing fragment or am I being hopeful? The texture is much different than what I've seen in plants, but that's a bit hard to capture in pictures. I can try to get better pictures tomorrow in the sun if needed. As usual, any thoughts are much appreciated.

Can anyone identify this leaf? Found in the Pictured Cliff Sandstone Upper Cretaceous Campanian

Hello everyone, This fossil really has really puzzled me, when I first found it, I assumed it was just a stick. (A cool stick, nonetheless.) On closer examination, however, it appears to have a 'vein' running through each of the three prongs and none of the typical woody texture you see on most wood specimens. Could it be a leaf?? Can someone help me figure this out? Thanks! The longest projection measures 2.5 inches. @piranha @Top Trilo @Rockwood

Hi everyone. I found strange leaf. Leaf venation is unusial. Can it be somebody's wing? Length 53 mm. Russia, Chelyabinsk region. Late triassic or early jurassic.

Here I have two more rocks that I found in the Woodbridge, NJ area. I could see some type of shell in one of the rocks and possible plant material in the other. Let me know what you think please. Sorry here is the other photo.

I was wondering what these leaves are?

I'm super new to fossils and was wondering if anyone knows what this is?

I've spent some time browsing this forum and I've noticed there is a huge range of fossil diversity between member collections and also within a members own collection so it led me to this thread idea.... let's see the best of the best in one area! What are your personal favourite fossils in your collection? To keep this sensible, maybe keep it to the top 2 in your collection (cos we all have more than just 1 favourite), what the fossil is, why it's in your top 2 and a couple of pics per fossil In my top 2 I have.... Megalodon tooth (96mm slant height), it's not my largest Megalodon tooth but it is the best condition, no chips on the blade, amazing enamel, good root etc and more importantly, besides a small Otodus tooth that got my attention first, this was the tooth that got me completely hooked on collecting teeth from very large sharks 2nd pick for me is my Carcharodontosaurus tooth (73mm total height). I've been into dinosaurs since I was a kid (39 now) and this is the real deal pointy end of one of the largest land carnivores to have ever lived! Also, the reaction you get from people when you say the word Carcharodontosaurus is priceless! (they're almost saying "say that one more time please..... and much slower")

Hello, Can anyone help identify this leaf with crenately lobed margins from the Florissant Formation? It sort of looks like a flower petal, even though that's probably a long shot. It's really prehistoric looking and it caught my eye! I haven't seen any leaves like it from the Florissant area. Thanks in advance for the help! Aforementioned leaf is approximately 7/12 inches long.

Location: Missouri Time period: Pennsylvanian Formation: Possibly Upper Winterset Limestone Hello! I happened to come across one odd fossil that I could not recognize Some close ups on the leaves The only thing I could certainly determine it is some sort of Fern but beyond that I am unfamiliar of what species it could belong to My next specimen is a Fern leaf of some sort but due to its poor preservation is hard for me to determine what it is from, any Ideas?

Hi everyone, I wanted to confirm the identity of one of the leaves I found in Florissant, CO back in 2017. At one point or another I saw the genus Cedrelospermum pop up on here or instagram associated with a leaf which caught my eye in its similarity to my own. I would be interested in seeing your opinions. compared to images I found elsewhere online

I am brand new to fossils and this forum.. and just dug a large boulder up in the garden which is full of bedrock like this. Is this a leaf?

Hello everyone I'm currently cataloguing my fossil collection and have came across some green river fossils with no real ID. I would greatly appreciate any advice from the green river buffs out. First up are some insects. Both labeled as from the Parachute creek member in Garfield County. Size is around 1cm each.

Hello, I found this fossil a while ago on a trip to Ras al Khaimah (an Emirate/state in the United Arab Emirates). It looks a bit worn, but it is still interesting. It has some strange patterns on it, and I am wondering if it could be a fish scale. I think the time period it's from is Cretaceous, but I am not very sure.

Hey all, Picked this up as a gift for my girlfriend's brother. Today's his birthday and I figured I'd try and start his fossil collection... I asked the shopowner for details but she said her mother must have received this one something like 50 years ago. Dead end. If anybody has any guesses I'd love to be able to tell him what he now owns! Thank you guys so much!