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I found the tooth below a couple of months ago at a Maryland Paleocene (Aquia Formation) site. Am I correct that it's Hypotodus verticalis? Thanks in advance for your help! The tooth measures just under 28 mm on the slant.
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The two shark teeth below are recent personal finds from the Nanjemoy Formation (early Eocene) in Maryland. I'd appreciate any help in ID'ing them. #1: Jaekelotodus robustus? I've been calling this one Jaekelotodus robustus and am curious if that's correct. This tooth measures 27 mm on the slant. #2: Brachycarcharias lerichei? This second tooth has me stumped. I'm leaning toward Brachycarcharias lerichei, but would not be surprised to find out it's something else! This tooth measures a little over 22 mm on the slant. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
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Tiny curved, translucent, conic tooth found at calvert cliffs, MD
TRexEliot posted a topic in Fossil ID
Found this today at calvert cliffs. The only things I could think of that it could be were a juvenile porpoise or crocodile tooth. Anyone have any thoughts?
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Made my second ever trip to Calvert Cliffs - did much better than my first time
TRexEliot posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Made my second ever trip to Calvert cliffs (went to Calvert cliffs state park). The first trip last year was fun, but I didn't really find any of the big shark teeth that I couldn't find near home at Big Brook in New Jersey. This time I did much better. Stopped on the way home from a family vacation and finally got some of the things I'd been hoping for. Still no megalodon teeth, but maybe next time! Got only a small handful of shark teeth, but was lucky to get two very nice hemipristis teeth, one of which was in absolutely stunning condition. Also got so many stingray teeth I started giving some away to other hunters on the beach, and a large pile of bone fragments. Most interesting find was probably a very small, curved, translucent, conic tooth that looks like either a juvenile crocodile or perhaps porpoise tooth to me.
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Most of my Maryland fossil hunts are at well-known Paleocene and Miocene spots. A few weeks ago, I got an itch to try something new and after studying a state geologic map and aerial photos, I found a potentially promising Maryland exposure of the less accessible Nanjemoy Formation (Eocene). It's an out-of-the-way spot and a lengthy trek along a river from the nearest public access point. As I discovered, it’s also kind of a brutal hike due to the number of downed trees and other vegetation lining the banks, forcing you to mostly travel through murky knee deep and higher water with plenty of tripping hazards from submerged and hidden trees. A kayak would undoubtedly be a better option, but as I don't own one, I had to make do with my waders! Eventually, I found the exposure and was rewarded with my first self-collected Eocene shark teeth--all sand tigers. While the river would likely soon wash away evidence of visitors, my suspicion is that this is a rarely collected site. While I was excited to have found this spot, the pickings were slim enough and the site inaccessible enough that I wasn’t sure if I would head back. But I couldn’t help myself—yesterday I decided to try again. The water was a bit higher than on my first visit and the heat index was quite a bit higher. There’s not much shade along the route, and I definitely felt the sun; the hike was tougher than the last time. When I finally reached the exposure, to my chagrin, the beach where I’d found my best sand tigers was also buried in black sand with almost no gravels visible. I did find a few fossils there, but they were quite worn. Continuing along the exposure I finally spotted a larger tooth in the water. At first I thought it was an Otodus, but I believe it’s actually Jaekelotodus—the blade on this one is in good shape but it’s missing most of its root. A ways further down, I finally found a nice stretch of wider beach and exposed gravels--and more fossils. Such as this intriguing tooth peeking out of the sand. Though upon extraction, not quite as interesting after all. Nearby, I noticed this one—from the exposed root I had no doubt it was an Otodus, but in what condition? Score! It’s missing a cusplet and looks like it's been tumbling in the river for a while, but it's decently sized (1.35") and I was quite happy with it--my find of the day and the first Eocene Otodus I've ever found. I continued to find a number of shark teeth along this stretch—everything looked like it had been tumbling in the water for a while. I found a couple of fragments of still larger Otodus teeth, but none that were intact. On my way back, I found another smaller Otodus in fairly good condition--just missing one of the root corners. Here are all my finds for the day: The temperature and hike were challenging enough on this early summer day that I won’t be heading out to my Nanjemoy spot again this summer. But perhaps I’ll return in the fall. I also brought back a gallon bag of river gravels yesterday, so hopefully I'll find some good micros at home!
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Tried a 1/20 inch sifter to collect sand to take home. Here are my finds.
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Not too bad a day. Sifting for small teeth. Got my third nurse shark tooth today.
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Drove down from Jersey to Douglas Point on Tuesday. Only my second time there, and I was worried that I'd make the 4 hour drive and it'd be crowded. Only one car when I got there around 1pm, and another pulled up as I was unpacking my gear. The narrow beach was pretty much open as the first vehicle was a family wayyy down over to the left playing in the water with a raft and the other was a lone fossil hunter hand searching the tide debris line. Beautiful day and I guess my take was pretty much around average for the site. I'm quite fine with that and I look forward to returning. Moving to the north (right, when you come out onto the beach) the cliffs made me a bit nervous so I stayed away. Some of those trees have their entire trunks hanging out over the ledge. I'd be surprised if they haven't fallen by the time I return.
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Water was high today, but just like this tree, I didn’t give up. Not as many teeth as I usually get. I get distracted. My first tooth of this type.
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Went out to Douglas Point (Potomac River, MD, Paleocene, Aquia Formation) on June 5th, first time taking the kids and we had a great time. Found a lot of sand tiger teeth as is typical. But this one has me a little stumped. The crown seems too wide at the base to be a sand tiger tooth. Could it be a small or juvenile Otodus? Or is it some kind of sand tiger after all?
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Live in Southern Maryland. Found this in creek feeding to the Patuxent River. Have no idea if it’s a plant or tooth or tusk of some kind. Also have found many Miocene shark teeth, a wild boar skull from the 1500s, and arrow heads. Thanks for the help
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I found the small bone below yesterday while out at Douglas Point in Maryland, which exposes the Aquia Formation (Paleocene - Thanetian). It has the look and feel of fossilized bones from the area and it passed the burn test, so I'm fairly sure it's a fossil. This is the most complete bone I've found at this site. Any ideas what it might be from? Side 1: Side 2: Side 3: Side 4: Ends:
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I went out to Douglas Point (Paleocene, Aquia Formation) in Maryland yesterday to see what fossils the recent rains helped bring out. I tried last weekend as well, but I didn't find a ton as it was too close to the storms and the Potomac River was running choppy and high with little beach exposed, even at low tide. Yesterday the water was calmer and lower and I had a more successful hunt. It's definitely the time of year for snakes! (They're almost all non-venomous around here.) I encountered this one a few minutes into my hunt and saw four others throughout the day. This is the most complete bone I've found from the Potomac. I'm fairly certain it's fossilized though I haven't subjected it to the burn test yet. If it passes, I'll post it separately for ID. I found a half dozen or so small shark/ray and bony fish verts. My first Otodus of the day: I've found Pachygaleus lefevrei teeth while hunting micro matrix at home, but given their size it's rare for me to find them beach-combing. I was low to the ground when I spotted this one with just its root sticking out of the sand. The tooth's in pretty good shape, and I was quite happy to find it. I also found a couple of small angel shark teeth yesterday. Sadly, not all Otodus are found intact. This is my favorite find of the day -- tentatively IDed as a first or second upper anterior from a juvenile Otodus. Another nice Otodus: This is my second Ostracion sp. dermal plate and the first I've found in the field. I previously found a small fragment of one while searching through matrix at home. Here's an extremely worn tooth with almost all of its enamel peeled away. From the size and shape, it's most likely an Otodus. A better one: Here are a couple of photos to give a sense for what it's like to explore this location. Now that the leaves are fully out, it's a bit more challenging to hunt the shoreline in places. There were some nice exposed gravel beds yesterday, though not as fossil dense as they sometimes are or as I'd expected. A box turtle (thought you might like this one @Tidgy's Dad): My largest vert of the day (about a half inch in diameter), though quite water worn: And finally, a group shot of some of my best finds of the day: Thanks for looking!
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I found this perfect little tooth today along the Potomac River in Maryland (Paleocene, Aquia Formation), which I think may be an Otodus obliquus parasymphyseal. The root isn't as oversized as megatooth shark parasymphyseals I've seen posted elsewhere on the forum, but it sure looks like an Otodus, is laterally compressed, and is quite tiny compared to other Otodus I've found. @MarcoSr, @siteseer, @Al Dente, and others, what do you think? This tooth bears similarities to another I found from this location several weeks ago (tooth on the right below).
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This one comes from a friend. He found this on a piece of sandstone that had fallen from an outcrop. With his GPS coordinates, it’s close to the border of the Greenbriar and the Mauch Chunk Formation. It looks like a modern mammal track to me, with 4 toe pads and a central pad. But I’ve identified 0 fossil animal tracks so far, so it might just be a strange arrangement of shapes. Mammals doesn’t fit, as it’s 100 million years too early. Synapsids are officially 10 million years out. So I’m at a loss. Anyone good with tracks?
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I went shark tooth hunting on the 8th of May. When I got to the shore, I decided to fill a ziplock bag with the sand and shells to take home and search for small fossils later. I’ve never done it and was curious in what I would find.
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Thought this might be a tiny piece of a fish mouth plate.
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Fossil Hunt 3/14 21 and 5/8/21 - Glad to be back
FossilsAnonymous posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
It's been a long while since I've had the opportunity to go hunting - indeed, trips have been far and few between. But the few I have had have been lucrative. There's been quite a bit of new material, ending up with some new finds (for me, at least.) One of these was a complete ray mouth plate. A couple Otodus jumped into my hands as well, including this perfect one, about an inch. The wildlife was out in full, including a dog that must have been born into the hobby Thanks, FA
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Two separate trips (Stratford hall and Douglas Point)
Fossil_Adult posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
I hit the Potomac yesterday after a long hiatus for some Paleocene sharks teeth. I also decided to include a few of my finds from the recent Stratford hall trip, which was pretty decent. I always go to Douglas point for my Paleocene teeth because it’s just a good area and I almost always come back with a complete otodus. This time, that didn’t happen, though I did find a few broketodus teeth so meh. But I did come back with some good stuff, including a monster croc tooth, and a gigantic goblin sharks tooth. I also got a fish jaw with a lot of teeth in it and some other nice stuff, in addition to what I think is either a tortoise or turtle leg spur, which I thought was a large worntodus on first glance. On the Stratford trip, I got some cool Snaggles (not pictured below) some makos, and a drum fish jaw with two teeth on the side that came right out the clay. 6 people walked right by it! Plain as day I don’t even know how they could not have spotted it the thing was very obviously exposed! Anyways, here’s all the spoils.
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Hi Everyone, I'm very excited to have found and have an opportunity to post on this forum. The rock with a potential fossil was found by my six year old son while we were hiking along a riverbed (Paint Branch watershed) within greater Silver Spring, Maryland area. The rock was in a shallow stream. My son was pulling me by the sleeve to show me a "fox track". He loves nature and always draws my attention to various tracks and animal bones on the ground so I didn't think much of it at first until I realized this time the track was in stone instead of the usual sand/mud. I'm wondering if it could be an early mammal, a small dinosaur track, or some other type of fossil? I attached several photos that I hope are helpful and show the rock with the potential footprint/track form various distances. One of the photos is showing the size (about 1.5 inches or 3.8 cm long), and one is a close-up showing what seems like a "thumb" imprint with a claw and even something that looks like a thenar/pad area of the bottom of hand/foot. The bottom of each of the "toes" appears rounded, as one would see on animal tracks- this cannot be seen in the photos. Any help is greatly appreciated.
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I made a trip out to Douglas Point today and had one of those incredible fossil days that just makes you want to head out over and over again. There were two cars in the lot already when I arrived early this morning but their occupants must have been up to something else because I never saw them and I had the beach all to myself for most of the day. It was a chilly but beautiful morning on the banks of the Potomac. There's just no better sight at Douglas Point than a nice Otodus obliquus tooth waiting for you in the sand. And that wasn't the only one -- as it says in the thread title, today was an Otodus kind of day. #3 #4 #5 Yep, still going -- #6, which was in the best shape: And finally, lucky #7, which I found on somewhat higher and drier ground: I didn't only find Otodus today. There were also quite a few nice and sharp sand tigers. I often find large Striatolamia striata roots with broken crowns. But this one was complete! It doesn't hit the magical 2-inch mark, but at 1.7 inches, it is my largest sand tiger find to date. You can't tell in the photo, but the blade is sharp and the tooth is in quite good condition. I found another tooth that at 1.5 inches is also quite large, though this one's more river worn. Beyond shark teeth, I found a nice ray plate. There were also beautiful butterflies. All in all, it was a rather splendid day!
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Galeocerdo aduncus/Physogaleus contortus artificial tooth set
bthemoose posted a topic in Member Collections
Below is my third artificial tooth set for an extinct shark, this time for the Maryland Miocene tiger/tiger-like shark(s) Galeocerdo aduncus/Physogaleus contortus. This adds to the artificial tooth sets I previously constructed for Striatolamia striata and Hemipristis serra. For this tooth set, I’ve presented G. aduncus and P. contortus as the same species, with the former contributing the upper and the latter the lower teeth in the dentition. The possibility that these species are the same is further discussed in a recent topic started by @WhodamanHD here; I relied on Applegate’s construction posted by @Al Dente in that thread as my model. In addition to being an interesting proposal, I don’t have the teeth to make a full G. aduncus or full P. contortus dentition (if they are separate species), so the combined approach was borne out of necessity! The largest teeth below measure about 7/8” on the slant. I haven’t yet found an upper symphyseal for G. aduncus so there’s a placeholder for that tooth in my set for now. These teeth were collected by me from Matoaka Beach over the last year or so. The full tooth set: Quadrants: Final with labels:
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Douglas Point (Nanjemoy, MD) is as much fun as everyone says it is.
0sprey posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Took my first trip to Douglas Point with a couple of (equally amateur) friends, and while I didn't find anything rare or unusual it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. There was a family there with 3 little kids who had no idea it was a fossil site, the parents asked what we were all bent over looking for so I (safely, at a distance) gave the kids each a tooth and explained to them what to look for. The kids absolutely lost their minds, they were finding their own teeth in minutes. Half an hour later when the parents told them to pack up to leave the kids got very upset and insisted that they had to stay and find more shark teeth. I think I created several monsters haha. I found nearly 200 shark teeth in all, if you include the junky little fragments, plus some ray plate fragments, some gastropod molds, and a crocodile tooth. Here's a photo of some of the better-looking shark teeth.
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Following up on the artificial tooth set I recently constructed for the Paleocene sand tiger shark Striatolamia striata, I decided to see if I could put one together for the Miocene snaggletooth, Hemipristis serra, using teeth I've collected along the Calvert Cliffs in Maryland. I haven't found a great resource for an H. serra dentition, but I consulted a few different sources to get a sense for the arrangement, including Fossilguy.com, J-elasmo (which has a dentition for the extant H. elongata), and various TFF threads. The resulting tooth set is below. While I've found quite a few H. serra teeth, their abundance from the cliffs isn't anywhere near that of S. striata from the Potomac River, so this one was a bit more challenging to construct. In addition to several fairly worn teeth in my set, some that I've slotted into various jaw positions are likely a bit more fanciful than the last one. The best extreme posteriors I've collected are proportionally too large, so I also had to use less good substitutes for those positions. The largest teeth below are about 1.25" inches in length. Most of these were collected from Matoaka Beach over the last year, but I found a few of them from Brownie's Beach and Calvert Cliffs State Park. The full tooth set: Quadrants: Finally, here are some better examples of extreme posterior teeth. Both of these are a tad over 0.7" long.
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