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Hello, I have a few gastropods/snails I found on my trip to Maryland, at the Matoaka Beach Cabins. They are Miocene in age, but I can’t really find anything online for species and genus names. I want to put together a display for an event tomorrow. Could anyone help me ID them please? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi all, I have probably around 500 shark teeth from Purse in Maryland. I’d really like to try to ID and categorize them, but I can’t seem to find a comprehensive source and a lot of the internet sources don’t have very good pictures. Does anyone know of a good resource to use for this? A book would be great.

For my last hunt of 2023 I got back out to the Calvert cliffs, launching my kayak a little after sunrise I made right to the beach. The water was still a little high when I arrived (I feel like it’s been higher on average this year) but I found a nice shark vertebrae and a 1.62” hastalis before low tide. Finding a few smaller teeth for most of the walk, I then at the end of the beach where I normally turn around found a nice epiphysis disk, sitting out in the water. Now for my walk back the water was nice and low, and freshly washed out, sitting on the water line was a gorgeous 1.78” Megalodon! The root is starting to wear, but the blade is perfect, great serrations, tip and all! Continuing back I find a nice tympanic bulla (whale ear bone) my first on this beach. Last but not least as I return to my kayak, sitting about two feet away is an amazing upper cow shark tooth! A lot of variety for the day in addition to the normal shark teeth finds, another great trip and a great way to end the year! Thanks for reading, see y’all next year!

Took a trip out to the Aquia formation along the Potomac river on Friday, I tend to go to the Calvert Cliffs a little more frequent so it had been a little while since I’ve been to this site. We had some rough weather and high wind earlier in the week so it had my hopes high. I arrived on the beach a few minutes before sunrise. I started out by finding a couple heartbreaking Otodus teeth that were just buried enough in the sand to give me hope of them being full. Alas, three times in a row I unearth a busted tooth. Finally my luck began to turn when I found a gorgeous Paleocarcharodon orientalis! A rare tooth for this site and it was in great condition. I continued on and to my disbelief there was another amazing condition Pygmy! I couldn’t believe my luck, then I just couldn’t help but laugh when saw a third great condition tooth. I could go a handful of trips and not find a single one, and here I am with three! The biggest only being .99” but the serrations on them make my heart skip a beat! But that wasn’t the end of my day, I finally find nice complete Otodus measuring 1.31”. On the walk back I managed to snag two more smaller Otodus to round out the trip. It was a crazy day; the weather was amazing and the river was calm, I had a bald eagle flying over head and I found three amazing Paleocarcharodon teeth! Thanks for reading, until next time!

While out hiking in Maryland I came across an interesting stone. I have very limited knowledge of geology or paleontology but it seemed to me that there were numerous prints on this stone. it looked like an ancient mud puddle where animals, including birds, had walked across in different directions leaving paw prints. The pads, toes and sometimes claw marks are visible. One print resembles a human footprint with four small toes and one large toe. With my limited research this should be from the Mauch Chunk formation or the Pottsville Formation, in which case they should not have preserved mammal footprints. I had only my cell phone so my pics are not great. What do you think, are these simply natural marks from weathering or something else?

Another fossil whelk from Montgomery county Maryland. Not sure how old.

Dug up in Maryland.

Collected this oyster? in Maryland, Prince Georges county, I believe it was in the Aquia Formation.

I had been itching hard to be on the beach, so I slipped away to the bay Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving to find some fossils along the Calvert cliffs. I really want to beat my personal best megalodon tooth from Calvert which measures at 4” on the dot; I know that will be difficult so I’m really trying to go more often. (Spoiler: I don’t find my record breaker) Day 1: I really didn’t have time to go out on Saturday but I figured I could delay my responsibilities for a little and fight the wind to spend at max two hours on the beach. I arrived on the beach about 20min before sunrise and started searching with my flashlight and quickly found a nice little megalodon, a little beat up but hey, a meg is a meg. I continued on and found a heart breaker cetacean tooth, the crown much larger than most cetacean teeth I find here, but alas the crown was missing a chunk and the root spit in half and hollow. Before starting my walk back I found a handful of usual teeth from this beach, a few hemipristis and physogaleus and a thumb nail size posterior meg. As I get back to the beginning stretch of beach that I first searched with my flashlight, I found a beautiful epiphysis disk with a 1.8” diameter sitting right next to a 1.9” megalodon . Leaving the beach just over two hours of walking I got a surprising haul, definitely worth the trip. Day 2: I had more time to hit the beach on Sunday, so accompanied with my girlfriend we launched our kayaks for sunrise then landed to begin our search. Same as the day prior the waves were hitting the beach rapidly and the water was murky making it pretty impossible to search beneath the water, so most of our finds were right at the edge of the shell line or high up on the beach. We started by each finding a few large hemipristis teeth all measuring around 1.4” and a couple nice hastalis. My girlfriend found her second megalodon tooth measuring 1.5”, it was a bit beat up but for her second meg she was thrilled. I don’t often go out back to back and I remember why, I’m exhausted. None the less I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I got the time and the weather and tides want to cooperate. It was a great two trips even though I didn’t break my record, but that day will come! Thanks for reading y’all!

Let me start this off with I’m not looking for anyone’s hotspots or honey holes. I’d like to get out to hopefully find some fossil fern plants. Are there any parks in central to southern Maryland that have the possibility to produce any results in that general area. I know that studying and finding unique areas are part of the hobby, but I’m kind of crunched for time. My girlfriend loves the outdoors and hiking through the woods to look at all the variety of plant life that it offers. She thinks that my fossil collecting is cool and interesting, but she just isn’t into the fossils that come from animals. I’d like to find her some fossils that she would enjoy for a Christmas present. It would be greatly appreciated if there’s anyone that point me to a place where I can find her the perfect gift. I’m even going to throw in a pretty please and drop to my knees to throw in a little begging.

With the surprisingly warm weather early last week, I could not resist heading out for what is likely to be the last hunt of the season. Although I did not have the greatest luck on my last trip, I decided to hit the new Severn spot once again - and I couldn't be happier that I did! Upon arriving I was greeted by the open expanse of weathered marl, reminiscent of the western badlands despite the bustling city only a few miles away. Chunks of orange ironstone stood out against the dark Severn matrix and abundant Exogyra costata oysters littered the ground. The Exogyra often occur in small clusters, presumably what would have been oyster beds at the bottom of the shallow Cretaceous sea. A couple of poorly preserved Exogyra weathering out of the marl. Although I had collected a nice handful of Exogyra on my adventure at the site, I could not resist slipping another into the rucksack . The single Exogyra costata specimen collected on this trip. Although it is only a partial specimen, the bottom valve had a particularly interesting appearance. I wandered across the weathered slopes, keeping my eye out for my vertebrate quarry. Due to the poorly preserved nature of the fossils found at this site, I had an exceptionally difficult time differentiating fossils from suggestively shaped rocks. After the first hour, I had only collected about one piece that I felt was a fossil. Although the vertebrate remains remained elusive, I chanced upon an unexpected fossil - a nice chunk of lignite. The marl was rather rich in lignite, with carbonized remains of ancient plants appearing rather frequently. However, these tended to be highly fragmentary and would disintegrate at the slightest disturbance. A nice chunk of lignite that popped right out of the matrix. The lignite, indicative of a nearshore environment, hints at the exciting possibility of finding the remains of certain terrestrial Mesozoic reptiles in the Severn marls... After finding the chunk of lignite, the finds slowed once again. The misshapen ironstone concretions were certainly making their best bone impressions! . While investigating a cluster of Exogyra, I happened upon my first vertebrate fossil of the trip. A nice-sized shark tooth of a similar size to that recovered on my last trip. Based on responses to my last post, I am unsure if it would be appropriate to label this tooth as Scapanorhynchus sp. Any insight would be appreciated . Following the discovery of the first shark tooth, my eyes quickly began gravitating to the suddenly abundant fossils that littered the ground. It was not long before I had gathered a small sampling of surface-collected Severn shark teeth. A few more shark teeth found shortly after I happened upon the first. Unfortunately, the teeth are very poorly preserved and some smaller, brittle teeth disintegrated under the slightest pressure. A few of the smaller shark teeth. The poor preservation combined with the weathered condition of these teeth renders them almost unrecognizable. The shark tooth haul of the day. Along with the shark teeth, numerous white bone fragments littered the matrix. Although these initial seemed quite similar to the concretions and pebbles that lay alongside them, I gradually began to develop an eye for bone. Like the shark teeth, the bones were coated in a white, crusty covering and many were extremely fragile from constant weathering. A handful of fish vertebrae and some miscellaneous bone fragments. Some chunkosaurus, possibly from marine turtles or mosasaurs. The largest bone fragment of the day. This is likely too fragmentary to be identified, though I would be curious to see if any members have suggestions. A view from the end of the bone. What I have tentatively identified as a fish jaw section, possibly from a fish similar to Enchodus. Another intriguing bone fragment. After having spent several hours at the site, I was far more successful than I had been on the last trip. With my eyes attuned to the preservation of the fossils, I decided to give the place I had started at another try. I happened upon several bone fragments before my eyes landed on the last thing I expected to see weathering out of the steep slope... ...a large mosasaur vertebra! The processes were missing and it was badly weathered, but it was a season-maker. In my excitement, I forgot to take in-situ pictures, though it seemed to be little more than another concretion before I picked it up. The vertebra is quite busted up from being exposed to the elements, though some consolidation should help preserve it. Owing to its poor preservation, I do not know if an identification would be possible. In case there is a chance of ID, my understanding is that the three main species of mosasaur recognized from the Severn are Halisaurus platyspondylus, Mosasaurus condon, and Mosasaurus maximus. The vertebra seems to bear a resemblance to that of M. maximus, though the condition makes it very difficult to tell. Overcoming the initial excitement of the discovery, I had to wonder how many times I had walked over the vertebra... and what else I may have overlooked. Thanks for stopping by and happy hunting!

It has been quite a while since I have written a trip report and I thought I'd share the results of some of my most recent fossiling adventures. Before diving into the fossils, this past weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage of the east coast. The Appalachians, usually quite unassuming hills that are nothing near the grandeur of the mountains to the north and west, were quite a sight to behold. The fall foliage was clearly quite popular, as I did not expect the entrance to Shenandoah National Park to be quite as backed up as it was. I made it up to the overlook as the sun was setting, as it is said that the colors are most impressive under the light of the westering sun. Unfortunately, the sun was mostly obscured by clouds, but the views were breathtaking nonetheless. Now, for what I am sure everyone has come here to see: the fossils! Over the past couple of months, I have acquired a renewed interest in the fossils of the Maastrichtian Severn formation of Maryland. As any who are familiar with this formation know, it is quite elusive and its most famous exposures were temporary construction sites in decades past. Several weeks ago, I visited a small creek that I had heard exposed the fossiliferous shell layer of the Severn. Initially, exploration of the creek did not seem promising and I only managed to locate only one poor exposure of the Severn at creek level. After some searching and many shell fragments later, I was rewarded with two relatively complete specimens: Crassatella vadosa Cyprimeria alta Although the yields had not been high, I was quite satisfied with these specimens due to the relative rarity of sites containing original-shell mollusks. A huge thanks to @historianmichael for identifying these specimens and for the preparation tips (unfortunately the shells have begun to crack but I am hoping they may remain salvageable). Inspired by my recent success and hoping for some vertebrate remains, I headed out to a new site. After taking quite a circuitous route through some woods and tall grass I made it to the exposure. The invertebrate fauna at this locality was not incredibly diverse, consisting almost wholly of the oyster Exogyra costata. A handful of Exogyra costata A more complete specimen of Exogyra costata with both valves intact. After encountering these first few Exogyra, I was left with a few hours to devote to searching for vertebrate remains. With my lack of experience with these fossils and their notoriously poor preservation, I only managed to recover a small selection of possible fragments. The entire haul of possible vertebrate remains. If any members have any insight on whether these are identifiable vertebrate remains, it would be greatly appreciated . Below are isolated photographs of some of the more intriguing finds of the day. This fragment bears some resemblance to a partial mosasaur tooth. However, it may be too fragmentary to assign a confident ID. Scapanorhynchus texanus I cannot say what this is, though I am hopeful that it might be bone. I believe that mosasaur and turtle remains can be found at this site. I am very grateful for any opinions. With the weather cooling I do not anticipate that I will be able to get out as often as I would like, but I hope to make a few more forays into the Severn before the year's end. Thanks for taking a look and happy hunting!