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My sister found this at Mineral Wells the last time she was there. Anybody have any idea what it might be? It's very thin and plate like. Could it possibly be a crustacean shell?

Every time I begin a new trip report here on the forum I feel like I need to apologize for how long it's been since my last one. Because although I haven't written anything up since October, I've actually been on more fossil hunting trips in the last few months than in the entirety of last year. This is mostly the result of finally getting a car again back in August after spending the back half of 2021 and almost all of 2022 without one. In fact, I've made so many trips I haven't actually given myself enough time to write up a report about the last one I've undertaken before I'm back on the road and off on the next. So hopefully this report will be just the first of the five I need to eventually type up. With that out of the way, let's talk fossils! Specifically Pennsylvanian ones - the second half of the Carboniferous for non-Americans. Last fall I was finally taking my first paleontology course as part of my geology undergraduate degree. It was invertebrate rather than vertebrate paleontology, where most of my interest lies, but it was a paleontology course nonetheless so I had nothing to complain about. I was incredibly excited to take the course, and even more excited when I saw that there was a field trip planned for the middle of October to Mineral Wells, an incredibly popular fossil locality west of Forth Worth that I had only had the chance to visit once before. As a member of the Dallas Paleontological Society like myself, my professor decided to plan for us to make a brief stop at the DPS-hosted Fossil Mania convention in Glen Rose on our way to Mineral Wells further to the north. It was great getting to catch up with different members and seeing all the incredible fossils on display - especially those that were self-collected elsewhere in Texas. The two that really caught my eye that I just had to take pictures of were two riker mounts of Xiphactinus fossils. I'm obviously a little biased towards this giant Cretaceous fish species as I'm still eagerly awaiting the eventual excavation of one that I found with @Jared C last August. Seeing these displays definitely got me excited for what we might end up digging out! Bonus: To the left of the framed Xiphactinus material is the largest plesiosaur vertebra I've ever seen found from the North Sulphur River. While at Fossil Mania I also got to meet another member of the Forum in person: @JamieLynn! I hadn't realized she was a member of the DPS as well, so I was pleasantly surprised to finally meet the woman behind the incredibly well-done identification guides to Texas fossils that I've seen posted here on the Forum before and that she was selling laminated versions of during the convention. It was nice meeting you Jamie! After leaving Fossil Mania it took us about another hour to get to Mineral Wells and the muddy borrow pit that serves as the fossil park. The last time I had visited was two years earlier and I had always intended to go back - but instead I had been tempted by the possibility of mosasaur bones at the North Sulphur River, which I've visited more times than I can count. It had just rained in Mineral Wells the day before and the sky was overcast and threatening to rain even more when my class arrived. Fortunately I had brought my creekstomping boots and was well-equipped to trudge through the thick mud that covered the pit. I can't say the same thing for my classmates, however - I saw a lot of shoes go from white to dark brown within the first couple minutes. The upside of the bad weather though was that we had the whole park to ourselves, and I had the feeling that the rain had probably washed out some good stuff. The last time I had visited the pit was full of other fossil hunters and was bone dry and had been for weeks, explaining why it had been so thoroughly picked over. This time I hoped I might finally find one of my bucket list fossils: my first trilobite. I knew it was possible to find trilobites here, both from what I've heard other people on the forum say before and from the giant sign that the DPS erected near the entrance to the pit, showing some of the fossils that had been found in the park before. Although I love my prehistoric vertebrates, trilobites have always been at the top of my list of prehistoric animals that I'd like to find, so I was excited to get the chance to look for them again. Ready to look for the elusive trilobites, I half-skidded my way down the slick slope to the bottom of the pit. The ever-present crinoid columnals that the park is most well-known for covered every inch of the ground. It was impossible to step anywhere without putting my foot down on at least a small handful of them. Having collected far too many of the little round discs on my previous visit I mostly elected to ignore the crinoids unless I saw a large section of them joined together or a rare calyx fragment. Finding a complete calyx with all the arms at the head of the crinoid still attached has long been up there with a full trilobite as one of my bucket list finds. The first thing that I noticed once in the pit was how much larger the average fossil was compared to the last time I had visited. I chalk that up to the crowds of other fossil hunters not yet having a chance to come out and find them. Huge (by brachiopod standards at least) spiriferids were dotted all over the place. I took pictures of some that had already been broken before I managed to find one that was complete enough to save. I was able to find a couple of six inch long crinoid columns as well, but unfortunately didn't get any pictures of them. Either way, my attention was quickly drawn to a section of the pit where most of my classmates were gathered up and looking at something held by our class TA. I hurried over and was greeted by the sight of my first Texas trilobite. It was about half the size of the fingernail on my little finger and looked at first like a small white pebble, but the ridged lines that made up the trilobite's body gave it away. For something so small and unassuming it definitely lived up to the hype, and once I had overcome my jealousy I began scouring the mud with renewed excitement. Before I had gotten more than a couple of steps away, I heard a shout behind me. Our TA had somehow managed to find another trilobite in less than a minute. Even more incredible, this one was larger and fully splayed out unlike the first which was rolled up on itself. Apparently enrolled trilobites are much more common discoveries as when they were alive they would roll up on themselves when threatened, which was often the case when they were buried alive by mudflows on the seafloor. It's also possible that their bodies just naturally curled up after death like some modern insects, but I'm a lot less certain about that. Shortly after our TA found his second trilobite it was time to leave. Having stopped at Fossil Mania on the way meant that our time spent in Mineral Wells had to be cut down to only an hour. Annoyed that I didn't have a trilobite to show for my efforts, I began walking back up the incline out of the pit to where our vans were parked. But on the way something caught my eye. It was an incredibly thin, ridged fragment of "something." I picked it up and carried it in the palm of my hand back to the parking lot. It wasn't until I had sat down in the car that I got a better look at it. I couldn't be completely sure at the time, but it definitely looked like part of a trilobite. Specifically a trilo-butt! It was only a fragment, but it was enough to re-energize me. I decided that the following weekend I'd have to make my own solo return trip to spend more time in the park. That next Saturday I woke up bright and early and loaded up my equipment with coffee in hand. I made a stop in West on the way up, which if anyone is familiar with central Texas they will know as one of the best places in the state to get fresh kolaches. Taking my breakfast to-go I drove the remaining two hours back up to Mineral Wells. Once again the park was deserted and I was the first person there that morning. As far as I could tell the majority of the mud in the pit was undisturbed except for where my class had walked through it so I had my hopes up high that a more complete trilobite might be in the stars for me that day. And wouldn't you know it, within the first five minutes I had found what I had come for. Not just one trilobite, but several! The enrolled one furthest away from my fingers was what caught my eye, but there was also another fragment of a pygidium from a larger individual directly behind it (which can be seen slightly above and to the left of the enrolled trilobite). And not only that, but when I got home I spotted a third enrolled trilobite encased in the portion of the matrix obscured by my fingers in the photo above, although significantly smaller than the one I first saw. I believe the majority of trilobites at Mineral Wells are a species of Ditomopyge, with some of the larger and rarer ones being Ameura - I could be totally wrong though! Someone that knows the Texas Pennsylvanian better than I do feel free to correct me. After taking a couple moments to soak in the satisfaction of finding what I had come for so quickly, I turned my eyes back to the ground and continued my search. It didn't take long before I spotted yet another trilobite. And then another: None of the trilobites I found had the cephalon, or head, preserved. At the time I couldn't have cared less, but finding a trilobite from the park with the cepalon and its compound eyes still preserved has become my next goal. In my frenzy to find trilobites I had let my eyes become unfocused in terms of anything else. Taking a break from the little bugs I looked back over the patches of ground I had already covered to see if I could spot anything else. Not too far from where I found the first trilobites I saw one of the tell-tale button-like plates from an archaeocidarid urchin. As well as a nice little gastropod (probably Pseudozyglopleura - a first for me!). The morning wrapped up with a small fragment of a crinoid calyx. ....and one more trilobite for the road! Of course, already being in the area I couldn't resist the opportunity to visit another famous Texas Pennsylvanian site. But I'll save that for another report.... - Graham

I was going through some material I collected circa 2001 and found a crinoid that is not familiar to me. Any ideas would be appreciated. This is from the Mineral Wells Dump borrow pit, aka the Fossil Park. Top and bottom, scale bars in mm. Mike

Hello everyone, I am pretty new to the fossil hunting game, mostly just picking up a few shells or leaf imprints when I am out hiking but when I returned to school in Florida I started to get a bit more interested in actually researching and exploring with the intention of fossil hunting. On the drive back to Florida from Denver I decided to break the trip up into 6-8 hour drive days and camp while hitting some fossil opportunities. Also it kept me fairly isolated with Covid restrictions. With that in mind I planned a route to hit a few different sites: Quay County, NM has reports of phytosaur teeth although I was mostly hiking at this locale. Lots of literature on the area with some nebulous directions, I puddled around on a small streambed I scouted out prior to the trip and ended up finding a fossilized vertebra which I will call a phytosaur based on its size and reports that the area appears to host these species almost exclusively. I was a little out of my element and spent a bit more time hiking and enjoying the West side of the US while camping at the free Mills Canyon Rim Campground which I enjoyed very much. Mineral Wells and Jacksboro Fossil sites, TX - well known sites that I spent a bit of time at. Pretty much every other fossil I found on this trip came from these areas. I made a mistake and passed up my planned campground at Kiowa instead staying at Possum Kingdom campground because the reviews were good and was sorely disappointed. The area is very built up and it is more of a place to bring a boat and an RV than what I wanted. But never know unless you try, there is a nicer campground at Fort Richardson near the Jacksboro locality I would recommend instead. Found a few different specimens including an intact crinoid cup, a small trilobite, and some other common specimens. Embarrassingly while at mineral wells I found what I initially took to be a trilobite in Matrix and was incredibly excited as it was by far the most distinguished find there. Fast forward to being home I cleaned the specimen and started trying to id it only to find that it didn't really fit any description...then I gave it a quick lick and discovered that it was very much still organic and warm so I have included a picture if someone wants to tell me what strange bug eggs or cocoon I likely licked. 100% not a fossil though as it started to ooze once squeezed. North Sulfur River, TX - Flooded and rained out so passed it up largely because I didn't want to try camping after wading in freezing water all day. Campground is listed under freecampgrounds and is on the Ladonia Wildlife Area. I'll hit this site on the way back. Mississippi 'Red Hot Truck Stop' Locality, MS - No luck here either although I didn't put in much effort, the campground I selected was closed so I spent a night in the back of my car and felt like getting back to Pensacola. In retrospect, I should have spent more time touring around this area but the Red Hot Truck Stop is now a Walmart parking lot and I didn't really feel like poking around that area after spending the past week hiking around some of the areas out West. So overall, a mixed success trip but, like I said I was more looking for a good way to split up a drive back home and my experience is pretty limited. I've included pictures of the specimens I found with labels, if anyone from the areas wants to correct them please feel free, I am sure that many of them are wrong. If you would like a better picture of a specimen just let me know. A: Phytosaur Vertebra B: Assorted Crinoid Discs C: Chonetinella sp. - Brachiopoda D: Ditomopyge sp. - Arthropoda E. Bactrites sp. - Mollusca...some sort of orthoconic nautiloid

Well, it's hot in Texas in August. 107 is the forecast for Saturday. Soooo...I'm hunting at home! Still having fun with the micro matrix stuff! This time, it's from Mineral Wells, TX. While i have been there a variety of times and found lots of great stuff, I never looked quite THIS close to find fossils! So a pound of washed matrix and my microscope camera landed me a few neat things. I was hoping for a whole Trilobite (which I have found three small ones at Mineral Wells) no full trilos this time, but some trilo bits! But my favorite things are the Crinoid parts...the geometric architectural elements of crinoids simply amaze me. So here are my favorite Mineral Wells Minis. All of these are 1/8 inch and smaller. Echinoid Plates and Spines: (Big one is 1/8 inch) Trilobite Bits: Crinoid fragments (stems, calyx, bulb, and arm structures) I am simply amazed by the geometry of these! And a couple of tiny gastropods: I"m not completely sure what this is...I assume a bit of crinoid, but it has a different texture than the others.

Hi everyone! Well, I am completely in love with hunting micro matrix I got some Mineral Wells matrix and am having a blast finding the littles. But a few things have me flumoxed. Any help would be appreciated on ID'ing these things. All of these are tiny - 1/8 to 1/16 inch (2mm-4mm) Thanks so much!! Many of these "claw" looking things. If they were from the Cretaceous, I'd say they were Crab Claws....but Pennsylvanian I don't know. Are they crinoid spines? I have a variety of "typical" crinoid spines which look nothing like these: 1. 2, 3. "Club" looking things. Again, I'm assuming some part of a Crinoid? 4, "Arrow shaped" things....crinoid? And if so, what part? 5. 6. Weird "seed pods". Found at least 4 of them. I haven't tried to crush one, perhaps they are actually modern seed pods? 7. The weirdest one of all - "the bat" 8. And this thingl 9. Lastly....are these Arixtotles Lantern? Echionid Mouthparts? 10 . 11. 11 THANKS FOR LOOKING!

I was at mineral wells fossil park for the first time recently and was sorting some the finds today. I found 3 fossils that I could use some help IDing. #1 I believe is a Crinoid calyx. #2 is a crinoid but it has a weird growth on the side of the it. #3 also appears to be a Crinoid but it is full of holes. There’s no apparent pattern to them and they are on all sides of it. All holes are roughly uniform in size in shape. I can post more photos of any of them. Thanks for any help.

Hello Fossil Friends! I recently went on a kayak camping trip on the Brazos River in North Texas and made a stop by the Mineral Wells Fossil Park. We found some incredible fossils both on the river and at the park! I was so excited about our finds that cleaning and ID'ing the fossils took priority over any cleaning and tidying up of camping gear... I started with the Mineral Wells fossils, since there were a lot of great specimens and some decent information available online about the fossils from that park. I was able to ID a lot of specimens easily (crinoids, nautiloids, bivalves, brachiopods, bryozoa, gastropods, sponges, corals and trilobites). This post contains the fossils (or what I think look like fossils!) from Mineral Wells Fossil Park that I have not been able to ID. This is my first attempt at any fossil hunting and identification, so please bear with me and I am open to any and all advice! I don't have a macro lens, so these pictures are just about as good as it's going to get. HOWEVER I would be willing to try to get more/better pictures if needed to help ID! Any assistance TFF community can give me on ID'ing these would be so greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance. Location: Mineral Wells Fossil Park, Texas Park is dated to Pennsylvanian Period, just over 300 million years ago #1 #2. It is a bit difficult in the picture to see what I think is interesting about this find... In the first (scaled) image, it looks like there may be some small bumps around a central raised area.. possible echinoid plate? #3 #4 #5. #6 #7 #8 #9 #10. This didn't clean up as well as I'd hoped, but I picked it because it looked like a closed mollusk. A piece broke off during cleaning which makes me think it may be just a rock? #11. Crinoid cirrus? Root? Maybe a small piece of stalk? #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17

I went to Mineral Wells fossil park a few months back and I have a couple of finds that I'm unsure of. This is one of those finds. Is it a piece of a trilo or something else? Thank you.

A veterinarian friend of mine went on a cub scouts camping trip with his son. The group found this fossil at Mineral Wells State Park located in Texas. The cub scouts are curious if this is a plant or animal fossil? Any identification help would be appreciated. Thank you for any help!!! Jill

I found this out at Mineral Wells. I think it is a mineralization pattern, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any insight or could confirm that to be the case. Most everything I have found has been crinoids or sea shell in nature. If it is fossil it doesn't really match with anything else I have found there. The other sides are just yellow to cream colored stone.

I found these a while back at Mineral Wells, TX. I have been collecting fossils for years, but never bothered to ID any of them. To me it's about the fun of the hunt and discovery. But I'm trying to expand my knowledge of the field and the specimens I've collected. So I would appreciate any education as to what these are. They're all 2 cm or smaller. I've got more, but I think this is an adiquate sample of what I have to give an ID. The predominant fossils in the area are crinoids though.

Hello, I am hoping someone familiar with the brachiopods of the Mineral Wells Fossil Park, TX (Late Pennsylvanian) and vicinity, might recognize this taxon. It looks to me like an Athyrididae. Perhaps Cleiothyridina sp.?. @BobWill ? I also have some Punctospirifer cf. P. kentuckiensis from the same site. Here's the specimen in question. Thanks for any help.

This is from a second road cut west of Mineral Wells. I suspect plant of some type by the folding(?) seen in the end cuts. Any ideas or is it just a really cool piece of sandstone?

Found this is small item in a road cut west of Mineral Wells TX. The length is about that of a q-tip and difficult to get a good photo of. I'm guessing it is a smashed stem of some kind. Any help would be appreciated.

I was driving on Hwy 20 in TX just west of the Mineral Wells exit and stopped at an old road cut. I'm not sure what it is and my guesses are typically wrong but I'm going out on a limb and guessing the shell of a seed pod (?).

It has been a while since I posted last. School has been hectic, and I have been out of the country as well. I was blessed with the opportunity a few months ago to go to some of the best hunting areas in Texas, all of them places I had wished to visit for years. My mother was a real sport crawling down to the rivers, avoiding the snakes and leeches... We arrived in Ladonia, and drove by the river to get an idea of what the hunting would be like. We skipped on going to the park, knowing it would be well picked over, particularly since the last month it had been flooded, shifting everything. So I got a map and found a different overpass, and we got out to look. (Just so you know, if you ever plan to go here take LOTS of bug spray, sun screen and water. There are chiggers and mosquitoes and lots of spiders. And it is hot. Very, very hot.) It was a very steep climb down to the river bed it's self, so I would advise taking good boots and a walking stick. It started pretty slow, but we managed to find several giant oysters (Name seems to escape me at the moment!) Stumbled over a small creek that flowed into the main river, and headed down it. The goal was to find some mosasaur related material, but we were not having any luck. And just after we headed back to the car, I looked down to see a huge vertebrae! Not going to lie. I was ecstatic! (And yes, it was a lucky coincidence that I happened to be wearing a Jurassic Park T-shirt, haha) I cleaned it up a bit, and this photo was taken back at our bed and breakfast that we were staying at. Good explanation for the terrible lighting. It was a good start to the trip! The next morning we were up and at it again, early. Got out on the river probably by 8. Found some bits and pieces of a Xiphactinus bone, but no more mosasaur for the rest of the trip. There were some nice ammonites and baculites, and then took the afternoon one of the days to head up to Sherman and get teeth. The teeth are of course abundant, and it was so much fun finding them! We ended up with 70+ teeth before heading back to the car. If you have not been there, it has a steep incline if you choose to go to the small bridge rather than the highway. I filled up a five gallon bucket to take home and sort through. About 60 lbs! It was interesting getting it up the incline. We got back to Ladonia, and searched for fossils again, (My goal was to get a Mosasaur tooth) but were unsuccessful, so turned in for the night. We then headed out the next morning again, and saw several water snakes, They are completely harmless though, but a good reminder of the Cottonmouths that inhabit the same waters. And, the leech was an added but unnecessary bonus haha! And no, I didn't kill it. It wasn't doing anything so i just...took it really far off and put it back in the water. The mosy vert was nice, but I decided to split some of the shale because there are ammonites in it. They are just very fragile. Took a while, but I was picking up a large slab, and it split perfectly, all by itself when I lifted it out of the water. I need to prep it, but since this is a very delicate job I am considering hiring someone who has more experience. The special thing about this fossil is the fact the ammonites beak is preserved. I fell in love with it immediately. (Unfortunately I had my camera in a checked bag going to Africa, and it...doesn't work now. So I had to take these with a phone.) I am going to try to see about getting some better ones, because in these photos it is hard to tell what you are looking at. Continued in next post....

I took my first plunge into the Pennsylvanian on February 13th, with a trip to Mineral Wells Fossil Park in Mineral Wells, TX. The scenery headed toward the park Assorted crinoid parts (Continued... )