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Showing results for tags 'microfossils'.
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Hello all, I have been sorting through some more Waurika Permian micro-matrix recently, and I was excited to find not just one, but two claws in one day when I hadn't found a single one before this! One is larger than the other and more curved and fearsome looking (well, as far as microfossils go). The bigger one is just over 4mm and the smaller one is a bit over 2mm. I also included a piece which looks maybe like a weird helodus tooth, maybe a fish mouth plate, or maybe a tiny prehistoric iron. Its size is just under 4mm. I'll summon the experts who helped me out last time, @ThePhysicist and @jdp, would you mind taking a look at these? Claw # 1: 4mm Claw #2: 2mm Unknown fishy bit: 4mm That's all, thanks for looking!
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Microfossils are the means by which we can most fully appreciate the diversity of a past ecosystem. From salamanders to Tyrannosaurus, an ancient river captured and preserved dozens of species that lived in Montana 66 million years ago, at the terminus of the time of dinosaurs. In this small collection alone, I count at least 27 species of dinosaur, lizard, crocodile, fish, shark, salamander, turtle, mammal, and mollusk.-
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- acheroraptor
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
One species I was hoping to find - a small Orectolobiform shark from the Hell Creek formation. It was named in 2019 for its teeth shaped like the spaceships in "Galaga." Amended from Gates 2019: “Orectolobiform shark possessing the following autapomorphies: central cusp with distinctly swollen lingual face forming a clearly demarcated constriction, or neck, between the cusp and the root; labial surface of central cusp ornamented with a raised ridge or closely arrayed plications, which in most cases are distributed in such a pattern as to follow the slope of the heels; convex heels, well developed both mesial and distal to the central cusp with a distinct convex angle mid-distance along slope seen in anterior teeth and some lateral teeth. This taxon is further differentiated by the following suite of shared characters: anterior teeth possess distinct, high central cusp; heels on lateral teeth slightly serrated; heels of anterior teeth and some lateral teeth do not slope gradually toward root lobes, but are instead squared-off or rounded at their terminus; one or two rounded diminutive cusplets may be present although this trait varies among individual teeth; apron is generally broadly rounded and shows a bifid habit on some but not all specimens; root lobes enlarged on [labial] side of tooth compared to more constricted structure on [lingual] side, bestowing an exaggerated heart-shape in basal view; a central foramen pierces between the root lobes with the foramen divided by thin struts in some teeth.”-
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- galagadon
- galagadon nordquistae
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
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- hell creek
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Richardoestesia teeth have very fine serrations. A couple of mm of the tip was reattached after I found it in the matrix I was scrupulously searching. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
A monitor lizard from the very end of the Cretaceous. The carinae are slightly serrated, and in basal view the mesial carina projects from the silhouette like a wing. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Among the iridescent mollusk shell shrapnel, lies a molar from a small Cretaceous mammal. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
A hybodont "shark" found in a channel deposit. This was among the last of the hybodonts - a group that spanned nearly 300 million years before going extinct along with the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago.-
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- hell creek
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
An Orectolobiform shark that swam the rivers of the Hell Creek ecosystem. Their teeth closely resemble those of the modern carpet shark, the "wobbegong." This was found in matrix from a channel deposit. -
Etheldred Benett (1776–1845): lady paleontologist and geologist
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Clary, R.M., 2023. Etheldred Benett (1776–1845): The Lady was a Geologist. GSA Today. Vol 33, no. 7, pp. 32-33. PDF of article PDF of full issue Web page of issue Yours, Paul H.- 1 reply
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- chalk marl
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From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Pectinodon (meaning "comb-tooth") is a tooth taxon, since no remains attributable to the genus beyond teeth have been found. Pectinodon seems to be a rare member of the Hell Creek fauna, with their teeth being fairly uncommon (though being so small, I'd guess that few people actively search for them). It was a small Troodontid theropod, with teeth that couldn't handle stresses as well as their Dromaeosaurid and Tyrannosaurid cousins (Torices et al. (2018)). This coupled with their small size suggest that Pectinodon was a small/soft prey specialist, preferring the rodent-sized mammals of the time, lizards, insects, etc. Some researchers have proposed omnivory as a possibility for Troodontids (cf. Holtz et al. (1998)). Troodontids famously are regarded as among the most intelligent dinosaurs for their large brain size / body size ratio. This notion serves as fodder for speculation that had the dinosaurs not gone extinct, Troodontids (Pectinodon being (one of?) the last) would have continued to grow in intelligence and develop sentience and civilizations. Troodontid teeth like Pectinodon can be easily identified by their small size, exaggerated, triangular, apically oriented posterior serrations. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
A small tooth from a Dromaeosaurid "raptor" dinosaur, located in an anterior position in the mouth. Found in a channel deposit. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
Triceratops's smaller cousin, this Ceratopsian lacked horns. Note the single root. This is a very small tooth, likely from a baby (the root being present also means that unfortunately this dinosaur did not survive into adulthood). -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
A mammal tooth from the group that includes the marsupials. Found in a channel deposit, it's remarkable that the roots are still intact. -
From the album: Hell Creek / Lance Formations
A river-worn, shed Ornithischian dinosaur tooth found in a channel deposit. Despite its rough shape, the prominent central ridge and denticles make me think it's Pachycephalosaurid. -
Hello! I've recently been sorting through some Waurika, Oklahoma Permian microfossil matrix, and I've been able to identify most of my finds (As a beginner in the Permian field, @ThePhysicist's Permian album really helped me) but some I haven't been able to pin down yet. I'd really appreciate some ID assistance! Let me know if you need better photos, my photo-taking ability is, alas, subpar. 1. Trimerorhachis jaw perhaps? Or fish? I've heard distinguishing between the two is quite difficult. ~2 mm. 2. A really strange texture, I was hoping it might be diagnostic. The other side is relatively featureless. ~3 mm 3. Another weird looking jaw. It looks fishy, maybe. (I included both sides) ~2mm 4. This also had a bizarre texture. A fish mouth plate? A bit bigger, ~5mm 5. I thought it might be an Eryops tooth but I wasn't certain. It has those kind of crenulations. ~4mm 6. Maybe a worn part of an orthacanth tooth? A really weird texture, almost perforated. ~3 mm 7. A really small possible claw? ~1.5 mm 8. Another possible jawbone? ~1.5 mm 9. I had my fingers crossed for Dimetrodon on this piece of enamel but I'm skeptical. It is pretty big though, (in microfossil terms, at least) almost 6mm. 10. Another possible Dimetrodon candidate? I'm doubtful for this one too. A touch over 3mm. Front: Serrations: The base: 11. Looks like a claw, but it could be a really worn piece of bone. ~2mm That's all, thanks so much!!
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Hello After doing some reseaech on some big Chert nodules given to me...I went back through some Chert that I found along the northern North Sea coast of The Netherlands... I really like Chert...I have always been curious about mineral inclusions and/or fossils in Chert...I am having trouble finding laymans info on the subject...the info I do find is a bit overwhelming... Im hoping someone could help me out identifying some of the things that I am seeing in my pieces...I have pointed to points of interest to me... I have posted the photos twice...one in natural light and the one darkened...all the same stone...4" x 3" (10x7.5cm) I see lots of pattern in these pieces...Plant, animal, bubble, scratch, fracture?...too much info...Im unsure... This next photos are interesting to me because the area that I point to (this?) is the outside of the nodule and the grouping of grains (?) Seem to me to possibly be some of what I am looking at on the broken and, by nature, polised sides in the previous photos... The next photos are of a different piece of Chert that had been painted...I am a bit weary about using paint remover on it...concerned about discoloring it...I wiil experiment on a flake later... Anyway...also 4" x 3"... next are 2" x 3"...same side at two different angles... I appreciate any help identifying the "spots" in these two stones...if someone knows a link to a "identify-stuff-in-chert/flint" resource for a lay-person, that would also be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance for your time
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Hello everyone, Following the previous posts about other fossils found in the same marine upper cretaceous sediment (campanian), here are two very intriguing finds I could not classify at all. Does anybody know what they may represent?
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Every facet of this specimen has me intrigued. Could this side contain fungi or flora? @JBkansas Potential Bryzoa? Ideas about the circles? Potential barnacle fragments below?
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- alabama
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From the album: Aguja Formation
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From the album: Aguja Formation
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From the album: Aguja Formation
Shed tooth from a very young "duckbill" dinosaur from West TX. Height: 4 mm. -
From the album: Aguja Formation
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From the album: Aguja Formation
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From the album: Aguja Formation
Freshwater "carpet shark" tooth - they closely resemble those of extant "wobbegongs."
