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Where Does the Rock End and the Fossil Begin? + Other Identification
Salamander0421 posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello. This is my first real post to these forums, so let me know if I do something incorrectly. I found these last year in Montana, USA. For the first one, I’m not quite sure where the fossil ends and the rock begins. I am worried about accidentally chipping away the fossil. It's 10x5.5cm. Here is the piece in question: I also found two other large pieces. The first I will call “trident” (because it has three prongs). It's 8 x 7.5cm. I am wondering where the rock begins and fossil ends on this one as well: And the last one, which is 5 x 4cm: Thank you and good luck! -
Hi everyone! I have my eye on an interesting claw from Hell Creek in Carter County Montana on "that website" and was wondering if anyone could give some extra insight. The seller listed it as Alvarezsaurus, which I had honestly never heard of before, and a quick search revealed that genus is much older than Hell Creek and from South America. I think they might mean it's from the Alvarezsauridae family, but in any event before I try for it I figured I should ask for an outside opinion on what this is from since this group is new to me.
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Hello everyone. I’m an amateur fossil hunter that goes out occasionally by our cabin in central Montana. We often find crinoid rings which are common. Found this today which made my day! I’m wondering if anyone can help ID which family or group this is from? Found in Judith Basin County in the Little Belt Mountains. Thank you!!
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Female, head disarticulated and displaced. The fish is embedded in a mass of filamentous algae. Alternative combination: Physonemus falcatus. "The genus Physonemus was originally erected for P. arcuatus by McCoy (1848) to receive elegant forwardly-curved, well omamented Paleozoic fin spines of unknown affìnities ... The Paleozoic fin spine Physonemus falcatus St. John and Worthen 1883, from the Valmeyeran St. Louis Limestone of St. Louis, Missouri, has been found on sexually mature males of a small, highly sexually dimorphic chondrichthyan from the Chesterian Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana" (Lund 1985, p.1). Diagnosis from Lund 1985, p.3: “Small sharks, maximum known size 145 mm fork length, with forwardly-curved spines, inclined at mean angle of 14.5 degrees to the horizontal. Neither spine nor first dorsal fin present on juveniles below 124 mm length, nor on females. Males with elongate rostrum, denticles covering dorsum of rostrum, cranium and dista] portion of dorsal rod, females with short rostrum and devoid of denticles. Teeth delicate, cladodont, tooth whorls of larger, non-cladodont teeth external to jaws. Pectoral fin with five prearticular basals, a metapterygium bearing six radials, and an axis of seven elements with only one radial. Pelvic girdle supports 8—10 radials; clasper of male consisting of 6—8 axials and a three-part mixopterygium. Second dorsal fin of 12—14 well spaced radials followed by a triangular basal plate, l9—21 distal radials. Axial skeleton of 44 precaudal segments, 18 preural caudals and 16—18 ural caudals. Caudal fin deeply forked, equilobate, with no radials between dorsal and ventral lobes.” Line drawing from Lund 1985, p. 13: References: St. John, O. H. and Worthen, A. H. (1875). Descriptions of fossil fishes. Geological Survey of Illinois 6:245—488. St. John, O. H. and Worthen, A. H. (1883). Descriptions of fossil fishes; a partial revision of the Cochliodonts and Psammodonts. Geological Survey of Illinois 7:55—264. Lund, Richard (1985). The morphology of Falcatus falcatus (St. John and Worthen), a Mississippian stethacanthid chondrichthyan from the Bear Gulch Limestone of Montana, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 5:1-19, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1985.10011842.
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Hello! I bought this dromaeosaur tooth and I’d like to know what genus maybe even species it is from. Thank you! (The tooth measures 0.46 inches and is from hill county Montana it is 74 million years old.
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Hell Creek Theropod teeth id help Raptor? Troodontid? Nanotyrannus?
jikohr posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hi everyone! I recently acquired some really interesting little Theropod teeth from the Hell Creek Formation of Carter County Montana. I have my suspicions on IDs, but I would really like a second opinion. Tooth 1: My first thought with this little guy was Troodontid, but I have no experience with Troodontid teeth. It might also be a really tiny Dromaeosaur. No serrations or even a trace of serrations on the mesial side is kind of a unique feature. It doesn't look like they were there and wore off either, it looks like there were never serrations on that side. Tooth 2: I posted a similar tooth before awhile ago. It was also kind of a mystery. This one's a fair bit bigger though. I've heard rumblings of a "third Hell Creek Dromaeosaur" similar to this. Of course it could also be a Nanotyrannus. Tooth 3 and 4: These are really interesting. I initially thought they were Nanotyrannus, but much like the first tooth there is no trace of serrations on the mesial carina and it seems there also never was. Tooth 4 has some wear on some parts of the carina but other places are without wear and have no traces of serrations. Meanwhile tooth 3 has a great carinae and no traces of serrations. Another member showed me pics recently of Dromaeosaur teeth similar to this and I'm wondering if these are Dromaeosaur anteriors or I'm just imagining things and their little Nanotyrannuses. Any insight is greatly appreciated as always!
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Hi everyone! I acquired these two pretty recently and immediately though Juvenile Rex, but after that other one I figured I should be more careful and ask for a second opinion. Both are from the Hell Creek of Powder River County, Montana. Tooth 1: Crown Height: 11 mm Crown Base Length: 5.5 mm Crown Base Width: 5 mm Mesial serration density: 4.5 per mm Distal serration density: 4 per mm Tooth 2: Crown Height: 14 mm Crown Base length: 7 mm Crown Base Width: 5 mm Mesial serration density: 4.5 per mm Distal serration density: 3.25 per mm
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The Two Medicine Formation is a late Cretaceous geological formation that was primarily deposited in North Central Montana 84 to 71 million years ago about the same time as the Judith River Formation, See Map - pink area. The Two Medicine is found along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains and represents the upland area of the Cretaceous Seaway while the Judith River Formation represents the lowland area. Although deposited in the roughly the same period the Two Medicine has yielded an amazing list of dinosaurs that are not found in the Judith River. These include Einiosaurus procurvicornis, Maiasaura peeblesorum (Montana's state fossil), Achelousaurus horneri, Bambiraptor feinbergi A good portion of the formation is on Tribal land (Blackfoot Indian Nation) so collecting requires access with Native Americans. I was fortunate not only know a private landowner but a couple of tribal folks. My collection is varied from adults to infant specimens with some being articulated. My first specimen to share is what I believe to be a Euopcephalus sp skull. The very front end is reconstructed so I'm not 100% positive. Around 15" (38cm) Square Condyle Maiasaura peeblesorum A hadrosaur closely related to Brachylophosaurus from the Judith River Fm. An complete articulated arm and shoulder. Has folded its 56" (1.4m) Long. A pair of Unguals - The ventral ridges are diagnostic to this species
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- late cretaceous
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Hello, Heres another chunk of interesting-looking bone for which curiosity has finally gotten the best of me. This is a piece I picked up in 2021 on my summer dig at the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. I feel there’s a chance this piece might be identifiable. This piece of bone is bowl-shaped with a strange web-like texturing on the convex side. The edge of the bone which is not broken is rounded and almost flower petal like. There is a set of T-shaped rounded ridges on the concave side. Not the best quality bone either, with significant siderite encrustation being present. I have a few wild ideas about what this might be but want to hear some unbiased opinions. Any ideas and help is much appreciated.
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Hi everyone, I wanted to share my favorite find from the Hell Creek of eastern Montana from the last few weeks. It's overall shape and size suggest to me that it's a hesperornithid vert. The bone is a bit over 3 cm long and around 2.5 cm in height. After some comparisons to Hesperornis vertebrae online I feel that this is the best match. From "Identification of a New Hesperornithiform from the Niobrara Chalk and Implications for the Ecologic Diversity of Early Diving Birds" by Alyssa Bell and Luis Chiappe in 2015 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141690
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My youngest brother found this on his first microsite hunt. I could not believe it. I have not found many mammal teeth and am unsure as to what this belonged to. I also added some pictures of another tooth found in the area that I am having a hard time placing an ID on. Any help is appreciated! Hell Creek formation, Dawson County, MT.
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Hello all, looking to get some opinions. 5-6 years ago I came across a ton of fragmented bones while scouting out a new collecting site. One of the first things that really caught my eye was this, lets call it a "claw". Like I said this was among a ton of shattered bone so it kind of stood out right away. I followed the bone fragments more up a very steep hill that turns into a cliff. This led me probably 50-75 feet from the initial sighting of bone to a place that was dangerously steep, but I could see more bone weathering out of the hill. It was in very bad shape and turned out to be a few vertebra. On my way up I also several pieces of what turned out to be a vertebral process. I collected what I could but a lot of it had turned to dust. I could tell there was more but there was almost no feasible way to safely dig. I began to look at what I was able to collect and I started seeing some interesting things. Some of the pieces of vertebra were very porous with large pores and I had found the "claw" at the base of the site. Could it be? Life got in the way, and I was not able to get back out until this year. To my surprise there is still bones weathering out. I found another vertebra in bad shape, and a shattered rib that I was able to reasonably piece together. This came out with minimal excavation and I saw there was more bone exposed at the same level around 6 feet away. It appeared to be another rib or flat bone, but it was in an even more difficult spot. Could these be Tyrannosaurus bones? I will include many more photos soon. Dawson county, MT.
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Hi, more fossils from my collection. The first two pictures are of a pyritized Ammonite from Buttenheim, Germany and is from the Jurassic. The next two are of a pyritized Ammonite from the Volga River, Russia and is Jurassic. The next picture is of Marston Marble. The second to last and the final is Beringiaphyllum cupanoides from the Fort Union Formation in Montana.
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- ammonite
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I recently acquired a bunch of matrix from the Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana. And came across a few scutes. I’m not fully sure if they are turtle, crocodile, or maybe both, which is why I thought I’d share them here.
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Hello everyone! My name is Weston and while I studied Geology at Whitman College, I never continued by degree. I am now getting a nursing degree and was stationed in Jordan, Montana for rural clinical. A contact of mine let me dig on land and I found all these fossils. Here is a link to my google drive photos. Please help me ID everything and anything you can. I am wondering if the things that look like eggs are actually eggs, as well as what the perfect sphere is. I am also wondering what dinosaur the bones most likely belonged to. I am confident there are coprolites right? I am emailing the Museum of the Rockies and Montana State University to get some help with ID, but I'm curious what you think! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ygoAl7xSULYAMcD-F4i4MzZC31YqL3J0?usp=sharing
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Hi everyone! Here's another little tooth that has me stumped. It has a pinch like a Nano, but the serration density is what I've come to expect from a raptor. At least I got some really nice shots of the serrations! CH: 8 mm CBL: 5.5 mm CBW: 2 mm mesial serration density: 6/mm distal serration density: 4.25/mm So what do you all think? Nano? Dakotaraptor? Tyrannosaur/Dromaeosaur indet.? Any insight is appreciated as always!
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Hi everyone! This came from Powder River County, Montana Hell Creek Formation. CH is 12 mm (I think, not sure where the root begins.) CBL is 5 mm CBW is 2 mm no serrations on the mesial side but there are some on the distal side but only in the middle and not near the tip. The density is 7/mm. I have a two others like this I'll try and post pics of later. one other has full serrations on the distal side (7/mm) and some very light serrations at the base of the mesial side (7/mm) and another that's fully serrated on both sides (7/mm on both sides) Other than that the teeth are nearly identical right down to a D shape cross section and overall shape which is supposed to mean Tyrannosaur but these don't look like Nano or rex. What are these?
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I have a few vertebrae I was hoping to get identified. These are 3 that I don't have any others that are alike. I tried to search online and the oval shaped one looks like possibly a Pachy but wasn't sure. These were all found on the Judith River Formation Montana, Hill County. first 4 is the one that I thought was Pachy, 2nd 4 I am not sure, 3rd 4 might be Hadrosaur?
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Hey guys, I obtained this tooth at tucson this year direct from the finder. It is from the Judith river formation, hill county, montana. 2.2cm long. got a characteristic V shaped flattened area on each side of the tooth, which i have seen in nanotryannus but it can't be that ? as nano doesnt occur in the judith river.... or it's has been mislabelled? My question is tyrannosaurid or dromeosaurid? if so what could it be? thanks for your time. @Troodon
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Is this real vertebra fossil?
heZZ posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
What can you say about this? Any repairs or restoration? Location: Hell Creek Formation | Dawson County, Montana
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Meet 'Horridus,' one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found By Mindy Weisberger, Live Science, Melbourne Museum The skeleton is over 85% intact and includes a near-complete skull and spine. Home of Horridus, the Melbourne Museum Triceratops Museums Victoria acquires the world’s most complete and most finely preserved Triceratops, Museums Victoria, Press Release, December 2, 2020. Yorus, Paul H.
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Hi everyone! I wanted to post one of my new favorite finds from this past week of collecting in the Hell Creek formation of Montana. I found this little partial claw at a microsite which proved to be quite productive, making for a great day. While the articulating surface is missing, I still feel that it could be identifiable and my first guess is bird. Avisaurus in particular as I remember seeing similar claws being labeled as such on other platforms. It’s about two centimeters long and the bottom is flat, giving it a somewhat triangular cross section. photos from the field. Pics I just took from the motel. Unguals from the paper describing Mirarce, a close relative of what’s present in Hell Creek. I’d love to read some opinions.
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My Jurassic Park - The Judith River Formation (Montana)
Troodon posted a topic in Member Collections
The Judith River Formation is a late Cretaceous geological formation that was primarily deposited in North Central Montana 80 to 75 million years ago about the same time as the Two Medicine Formation, See Map - Large meandering rivers flowing into the Intercontinental Cretaceous Seaway deposited the Formation. Much of the area was very flat, with swamps and bogs, much like today's southern Louisiana. Dinosaurs included Tyrannosaurs, the duck-bills hadrosaur Brachylophosaurus was the most common found, Ceratopsian included Avaceratops and smaller theropods like Troodon and Dromaeosaurs terrorized the land. I have not collected the formation extensively but have had some great finds and have also acquired some nice specimens. I have two very important specimens from this fauna a Troodon formosus maxilla and an undescribed Ceratopsian skull element. Troodon formosus: The maxilla was the first substantial skull element that has been found in North American of Troodon and I partnered with the Royal Ontario Museum to provide them the opportunity to study it. Posted a topic in July that described it in more detail. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/55970-partnering-with-the-royal-ontario-museum/ Edited 7/20/23 Judithian Ceratopsian: (Furcatoceratops elucidans) A fortuitous recent discovery that helped identify my specimen was a new undescribed species what they are calling a "Judithian Ceratopsian". A photo of that skull is attached as well as Scott Hartman rendition of the animal. Unlike other Ceratopsian it has a relatively small horns and is small in size. My skull element includes the horn and eye orbit. The ID most likely is the same but my horn points a bit sideways unlike the above specimen. Furcatoceratops elucidans
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MONTANA, Rosebud County find but within eyesight of Garfield County. This was not found in situ but recovered at the bottom of a wash along with dozens of other fragments. The smaller piece attached below is from the same section. Size of dental battery is 9"x4". Size of smaller tooth section is 3"x2".
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