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Showing results for tags 'mioplosus'.
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This is a re-post of a topic I started late this last summer, but got lost during the August forum migration. Late in July I took a trip with a few friends out to the American Fossil Quarry and Fossil Butte National Monument to hunt for fossils out of the lower Eocene Green River Formation. The Green River Formation is a lagerstatte which is perhaps the best site in the world for articulated fossil fish, many of which also display varying degrees of soft tissue preservation. Fossils from this locality are mined commercially and are ubiquitous on the fossil market. Living in Denver, the Green River Formation is only a few hours away by car and I've always wanted to plan a trip out there to collect it, which is very easy to do and fairly cost-effective thanks to numerous pay-to-dig quarries where you get to keep essentially everything you find. I decided to plan a dig at American Fossil Quarry, which is one of the more popular quarries. I managed to convince two of my friends to come with me, and we spent a day and a half (12 hours total) at the quarry while camping at the nearby Lake Viva Naughton. It was my two friends' first times ever hunting for fossils, and they both report that their expectations were far exceeded at the quarry! There's a very good chance this trip was the start of the making of two new fossil fanatics. We had a blast out in the quarry, with the thrill of discovery doing plenty to stave off the oppressive sun and desiccating dust. We also made sure to visit some of the fossil shops located in Kemmerer and spent some time at the museum in the visitor's center of Fossil Butte National Monument, which is fantastically well put together and was so awesome to see. Each of us found plenty of treasures, including lots of Knightia and Diplomystus fish as well as coprolites (fish, stingray, and turtle), scales, occasional plant material, and even a few rarer fish. Here's some pictures from our adventure: Myself posing with a very nicely preserved Knightia eocena. My two friends hard at work splitting shale for ancient treasures. A few of my day one finds on my shelf. A very nice partial Priscacara found by one of my friends. A small stingray with associated Knightia found by a different participant the first day we were there. A mostly complete Amphiplaga brachyptera (one of the rarer fish) found by me, associated with a Knighta alta. Only the tail and part of the dorsal fin is missing, the rest of the fish is intact! Easily my prettiest fish: An absolutely perfect Diplomystus dentatus found by me the second day. One of the displays at the visitor's center of Fossil Butte National Monument. Cheers, and thanks for reading!
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Picked this up a while ago. Finally prepping. Slow going as it's in some very hard sediment. Saw some teeth pop out today.
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It’s been a few years since I’ve posted, good to be back- I’m looking for unprepped material! I’m just a hobbiest who enjoys the prep work as much or more than the collecting. I’m not an expert by any means but I’ve done a handful of large green river fish, a few mammoth tusks, an Oreodont upper skull, and a few other miscellaneous specimens. One of the most enjoyable prep projects I did was a small oreodont upper skull that was in grade A condition, but since then (years ago) I cannot seem to find anything similar. I am most interested in any unprepped white River specimens, ideally skulls, turtle shells, etc. as long as they’re in grade A or B condition- I’m not an expert at reconstruction. I’m also interested in some of the larger and more rare species from the Green River formation. A large and complete Mioplosus preferably from the 18in layer would be great, I’ve only ever done one of those before and it was sadly around 30% disarticulated. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you! nick
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What Is The Smallest Arcticulated Fossil Ever Found?
Mioplosus_Lover24 posted a topic in Micro-paleontology
I was wondering if anyone ever made the claim to have the smallest articulated fossil, because I think I've got a decent shot! These are the smallest fish I've found so far. There are two Mioplosus labracoides and one Priscacara sp.
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Welcome to another Fossil Friday! My video today is my first time prepping a fish from the Green River formation, 18-inch layer. This fossil was from recovered from outside of Kemmerer, WY by a friend, @Ptychodus04
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From the album: Pisces
37cm. long. Eocene (Ypresian/Lutetian). Green River Formation. 18" layer. Found at Stone Fossils Quarry, Lincoln County, Wyoming. Acquired from Kris (Ptychodus04). -
Hi everyone, I got this fish at a mineral shop and he had no identification for it. My son thought it might be a knightia or a mioplosus. It also looks to me like it got fossilized when going to the bathroom. Can anyone help me ID it? Am I right about the poop? I'd really appreciate it. Pat
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From the album: Fossildude's Purchased/Gift Fossils
Mioplosus labracoides from the Green River Formation. No provenance on location, unfortunately. Inexpensive auction find.© 2021 Tim Jones
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Special thanks to Ptychodus04 for his help completing this beauty.
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I dug this up in Wyoming and was told it's a Mioplosus. The soft sandstone came off with only a bit of effort. Now I'm on to a harder crystalized matrix around the most delicate areas. I don't want to lose any of the carbon so I'm asking for help. I've used dental tools and pen razors so far. I see amazing, beautifully completed fossils on this site with no sandstone on them at all. Is there a method or tool I am unaware of?
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I’m pretty sure this is a Mioplosus labracoides, but I would like some confirmation before I label and frame it. Found in Wyoming, green river formation.
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One of the rarest and most unique fossils are aspiration pieces! I have been very lucky in acquiring 2 over the course of collecting, neither are incredibly good, but their rarity alone makes them that much more desirable! I would love to see anyone else's fish with eyes bigger than their stomachs!
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Hello all! This summer I took my yearly trip to Wyoming, and with my luck I again came back with several extremely incredible fossils! I found many less fish this time around, but I did find several more rare ones! I probably only found around 50 fish in the 3 days I was there. I found 8 Phareodus, including 2 juveniles! I found only 1 Mioplosus this year, the fish seems to be avoiding me sadly... I found 3 Priscacara, including a very large Priscacara serrata! I found an interesting Hypsiprisca preserved beautifully on an algea layer, also found several more Amia scales, but one of my favorite finds was a giant Amia tooth! (Though I suspect it to be gar) they said it was the largest one they had ever seen, and it is an excellent place holder for a future complete Amia! I also found dozens of shells! The shells especially the snail shells are considered to be one of the rarest components of the fauna, so it was very odd finding over a dozen! Including 4 mass mortality plates which each have dozens of shells on them! I also ended up finding an incrediblely incrediblely rare piece of bamboo, they told me that bamboo is rarer than a dozen stingrays! Speaking of stingrays, I FOUND MY FIRST ONE! A large Heliobatis that I split out almost perfectly! Speaking of rare finds, my absolute favorite find of this trip came as a surprise! Early in the day I found a very strange algea layer with several gastropod beaks, and I was excited as I thought I had found a Crossopholis. After having my heart broken I sulked over to a new pile of rocks and one my first split I found something very strange, a plate of small serrated scales! I did it! I found myself a paddlefish it's disarcticulated, but it still has a fin beautifully preserved! It's hard to describe the feeling of finding a Paddlefish and a Stingray the same day! I will be posting pictures soon! I will also be submitting my stingray whenever the prep work is finished!
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This Mio was pulled from the wall while collecting with a friend where all finds were split between the two of us. In November I prepped it. Added others from American Fossil in 2017 and 2018. Lit.: John A. Whitlock, 2010. Phylogenetic relationships of the Eocene percomorph fishes Priscacara and Mioplosus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(4):1037–1048, July 2010 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Lance Grande, 2013. The Lost World of Fossil Lake: Snapshots from Deep Time. Edition: 1 Publisher: University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 13: 978-0-226-92296-6.
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Hello, I was looking at one of my fossils, a Mioplosus I found in Wyoming to be exact, and I noticed some weird bumps in the rock under the jaw. I was like, "Is that a spine? It cant be." Now, the mouth of the Mioplosus was mangled, so you cant make out the jawline. After seeing what looked like a spinal chord under the mouth, I had a theory, "What if the mangled mouth is actually another fish the Mioplosus was eating when it died?" After gently scraping away some of the rock around the bumps I thought were a spinal chord, I confirmed my theory to be correct. There was another fish in the fossil. This Mioplosus was eating another fish, a Diplomystus, to be exact. What do you guys think? Two fish in one? Pictures are attached. Jared
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A Dream Trip To The Green River Formation!!!
Mioplosus_Lover24 posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
A few weeks ago, I posted asking for advice on splitting fish for Green River. Your advice helped me out A TON, so thank you for that . I ended up leaving with a shrimp, crawdad, 3 Pharo's, 8 Amphiplagas, both species of Hypsiprisca, and many more. But by sheer luck, we ended up finding a bird, which means, we're going back to Wyoming for a CT scan.(And for more splitting) According to Arvid, the bird appears to be a new species, slightly dis-articulated, but it still has it's skull. I'll post pictures of our finds when I get a chance, but I wanted to thank everyone that gave me advice.- 25 replies
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Well, we've had Brachiopods and Trilobites, so I figured let's give fish a try! I am going to start this off with my Enchodus marchesettii from the Hakel Quarry of Lebanon. Not only is this fossil 100% complete with the only restoration done was repairing the matrix itself, but I received this from one of my good friends on none other than my birthday! This is my favorite fossil in my ENTIRE collection! More will come from the Greenriver side of my collection, I just gotta get my camera fixed
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I have been on the market for a large Mioplosus for about 3 years. The largest in my collection now is a humble 11". I was wondering if anybody knew someone that was selling or trading for a larger Mioplosus.(Preferably over 15")
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Finding Green River Fish at American Fossil Quarry
Sagebrush Steve posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
My wife and I just got back from a week’s driving tour through Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. We stopped in at American Fossil Quarry outside of Kemmerer, Wyoming, for a few hours to dig for Green River fish. It was a productive day, and we both bagged some nice finds. Seth, the owner of the quarry and a TFF member, wasn’t there that day, but his assistant, Nick, was very helpful in getting us started. I brought a bag full of tools which were mostly unnecessary. As Nick pointed out, all you really need is a brick hammer and a thin chisel, both of which they provide. I noted that since this was the end of the season and the chisels had undoubtedly seen hard use all summer, they had pretty blunt tips. I had brought my own set from Geo-Tools (http://www.geo-tools.com/fossil-rock-chisels/custom-thin-rock-splitting-chisels) and found the 1/16-inch chisel with a single bevel was particularly useful. My wife used the chisel they supplied and was quite successful. The floor of the quarry was covered with a fine powder of shale. We worked for 3 hours before the wind picked up and started blowing the powder around so much we decided to call it a day. Nick loaded our fossils onto a cart and took me over to a line of saws that can be used to get rid of the excess matrix and trim the specimens down to a reasonable size. After a quick tutorial I was happily working on my own trimming down all my specimens. I noted the saw was a Chicago Electric 10”, 2.5 HP tile saw like they sell at Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/10-in-25-hp-tilebrick-saw-69275.html. But the blade was definitely much better than you can get at Harbor Freight. It was a 10” blade designed for dry cutting without the need for water. I was very impressed with the saw and wouldn’t hesitate to buy one from HF if I had enough need for it. But I’d look elsewhere for a top-quality blade. About 10 years ago we had visited the Warfield quarry across the road, and they had us digging right up against the rock wall where you could either split loose shale or extract your own shale right from the wall (which was a bit of a chore even at my then-younger age). At American Fossil Quarry, they extract the shale for you with a giant excavator and lay it out in rows of piles for you to access. Probably a lot safer than being right up against a crumbly rock wall. You don’t get the chance to record exact location and orientation of the fossils in-situ, but unless you are a professional paleontologist you won’t care. As Nick said, this is a commercial quarry, not a scientific expedition. The fun is in finding the fossils, of which we found plenty, even in the space of only 3 hours. I’d strongly encourage anyone to stop in at this quarry. The dirt road is reasonable for the family car right up to the descent at the quarry entrance. It’s then a bit of an adventure if you don’t have 4WD (which we fortunately did), but at the bottom there were even large travel trailers that had made it down safely. Be sure to mention that you are a member of The Fossil Forum and they will give you a 10% discount. Here are some photos of a few of our finds. My ID’s on them are tentative, so if anyone has any corrections, please let me know. Full collection after trimming: Mioplosus labracoides: Diplomystus dentatus: Small Diplomystus: Diplomystus needing more prep:
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Well what a quick dig. We started our trip to Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore with a couple of stops and our Search for fossils as we searched for two dig sites on our way. Our first stop was U-dig Fossils in Utah. Here we were suppose to hunt for trilobites but after to talking to a couple of people leaving the site they were very disappointed and found only a couple in their 2 hours. So because I had another site to check out we passed on digging there. Plus at 80.00 per person per day it didn’t not fit our plans. So our next stop ended up at the Fossil Safari in Wyoming where we were much happier and we all thought is was well worth it. It took us an extra hour to find the place because google maps put us on a goat trail that we had to turnaround on because we had an luggage rack attachment that had a low clearance. If it was not for a Park Ranger that was on the trail we would of found ourselves in trouble. But she was great redirecting us around the track we were on. So when we got to dig site we were surprised to see that their was only one other digger at the site. For me I just wanted to explore around the area and then start digging and the others just wanted to watch. But after I started digging and finding some fish fossils everyone wanted to dig. After talking to the manager of the site he explained that they found a prehistoric Horse on the ridge and he had two others digging. He allowed me to go and check it out but no photos as the site is privately funded and because I was a fellow hunter that I would enjoy it. Here are a couple pictures of us digging. Or should I say me!!!
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Way back in December, I received a handful of fish from @RJB as a trade for some prep. I finally got the first one done! Here’s how it all began..
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From the album: Green River Formation
This is a 6 inch long specimen of Mioplosus labracoides, an uncommon fish from the green river formation. The fossils of these fish are highly sought after by collectors because of their slight rarity, preservation, and yes....teeth. Many specimens of Mioplosus like this one exhibit a mouth full of small needlelike teeth. These fish would have lived a solitary life of being a voracious predator. Some specimens of Mioplosus are found with a fish still in their mouth, proof of their insatiable appetite and gluttony. -
I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the American Fossil quarry in Kemmerer Wyoming this past week and had an amazing time. @sseth and his business partners do an incredible job running the quarry and made my experience there a memorable one by giving me the opportunity to find some beautiful fossils over the two days I was there. These finds include a nice Mioplosus, a beautiful Phareodus and dozens of Knightia. I highly recommend the American Fossil Quarry and I am looking to make a second trip back this next summer. Below-Mioplosus Below-Phareodus
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I've been trying to ID all the little fossils on this plate besides the Mioplosus. So far I see two mollusks, a tiny clam, a possible burrow, and a shrimp. Can someone help me figure out if my observations are correct? Second picture is a close up of the shrimp.
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Misleading mioplosus????
Bone guy posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hello TFF. I'm considering this Mioplosus, it's nothing special but the teeth are real cool and I figure $60 is a ok deal. I was just wondering if anyone with more green river knowledge than me can spot any enhancements?
