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Dear Forum members, A few years ago I bought this piece from a fellow collector. The description mentioned that it is probably a Platecarpus sp. atlas and axis vertebrae, Niobrara Fm. Gove Co. Kansas. I think that this is acutally the supraoccipital, epioccipital, basisphenoid and several other skull parts. I do not know if this is indeed from a Platecarpus species? if so, which species could this be? I'd like to know whether this piece is Coniacian, Santonian or Campanian in age. Perhaps the preservation already can point in a direction. the fossils are all very flattened and embedded in a blue-grayish matrix. I think it certainly is the Smoky Hill Chalk, but perhaps this preservation hints to a certain member, layer or unit of that chalk? In any case, thank you in advance for your answers, Kind regards, Sander

I usually don't post the trip to POC anymore but this time there were some oddities i wanted to confirm and or see if anyone knows what they are. I found the usual few ptychodus teeth as well as tons of broken shark teeth but also some more rare items. There is one small shark vertebrae, a piece of a fish vert, two broken ends of sawfish rostral teeth, a weird piece that looks like coral to me but also looks like it has teeth poking out of it, a large piece of mammoth enamel, and what I believe is a small mosasaur tooth. Pictures 2, 3, and 4 are the mosasaur tooth. I have it in my hand for scale and it is small but it looks exactly like ones i have seen posted from the North Sulphur River just smaller than most. Pictures 5 and 6 are of the coral looking thing. I could have sworn i saw something like this on the forum before but i have looked and can't find the post. Any ideas of what this is? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Here’s a vertebra fragment I found in Cretaceous Black Creek group sediments of North Carolina. It’s not turtle, and it doesn’t look like any crocodile vertebra I’ve ever seen. That would leave mosasaur, plesiosaur, or dinosaur. Personally I think it’s mosasaur, but I could be wrong and it may not even possible to ID further. Any thoughts?

Hello, Wondering about this specimen, listed as Eremiasaurus heterodontus 100 Million Years Old from Morocco. Jaw size is 3 inches long. Is it the right species and authentic? Thank you.

Hi im new here! Are these Moroccan globidens rooted teeth and jaw fragment real? They are from The Khouribga Phosphates in Morocco Upper Cretaceous.

Hey all, this Mosasaur tooth has popped up on my local auction site (I assume its Moroccan, the matrix certainly looks like it).... I don't really have any concerns about the tooth - it's got a missing tip, there may be a small repair at the bottom of the crown but all that is quite normal for these, the matrix is a concern though - is it real matrix or is it fabricated? To the right side of the tooth I can see some separation between the tooth and the matrix, the abrupt colour change in matrix on the right side gets my attention too. It's a fairly cheap tooth if the matrix is real.... The only information I have is this little gem - "Large fossil tooth." I asked for clear, detailed pics of the crown - showing size, tip and base of the crown and got the last 3 you see posted here

I've been quite busy lately but I managed to get out on October 30 and drove up to check out the W.M. Browning Cretaceous Fossil Park in northern Mississippi. Despite the high water levels I did pretty well and also found this small mosasaur tooth. I'm aware of the difficulty of identifying isolated mosasaur teeth but figured I'd post it anyway in case anyone experienced with mosasaurs or this area can narrow it down even to subfamily. Plioplatecarpinae? This comes from the Demopolis Formation which is late Campanian. CM scale

So I found this bone in the Cretaceous Bladen formation of eastern North Carolina. It’s 2cm in length. After looking at pictures of the skeletons of various organism, I think it is either the carpal or metacarpal of a turtle or a mosasaur. Does this look accurate for this bone? Thanks!

Hi everyone! I'm a newer member to the fossil hunting community. I first started as a little kid, but have only really gotten into it over the pandemic as a hobby. I've done some hunting up around Dallas where I'm originally from, visiting famous spots like NSR and POC. For college, I'm currently living in Austin and have checked out a few nearby spots. These past few months I've been frequenting a local creek that runs through the Ozan layer and have been finding some cool fossils/artifacts. The items I am showing you today are collected from two places. The first assortment (lots 1 and 2) are from the NSR and contain Cretaceous/Pleistocene fossils. The second group (lots 3 and 4) was collected in Austin and contains Cretaceous fossils as well as some artifacts. For some objects, I am fairly certain of their identity, but for others I have no clue. Some fossils/artifacts have additional closeup shots for greater detail. Any comments or tidbits of wisdom concerning their identities or fossils in general would be greatly appreciated! Lot 1: NSR fossils I am fairly certain of 1A: Vertebra I believe to come from a mosasaur. 1B: My favorite piece from the NSR: A mosasaur tooth with a sizeable chunk of seems to be bone/root(?). It's a bit weathered, but there's still enough to get the imagination running! 1D: A nice little red bivalve from the red layer. 1E: A fragment of Pleistocene tooth I would love to know more about! From looking at the folds on it and doing some researching, I feel that it could be from a horse. 1G: The nicest piece of baculite I found that day. 1H: I'm not sure if this is a piece of coprolite or just a random cluster of two fossils. There is an identifiable baculite fragment and gastropod. Moving on to the second lot from the NSR, these are the things that I have very little notion concerning the identity of: 2A: Could just be an oddly shaped piece of sandstone (as it has that texture), but it does make me think of a scute. I would love to hear what y'all think! 2B: I truly have no idea what I am looking at. It feels like a fossilized "something", but that is all could really say. Here are some closer pics: 2C: Petrified wood? 2D: Very strange texture. My initial thoughts were some type of bone or petrified wood. 2E: Rock with fossilized bits of something that is difficult to identify. Maybe fish parts? 2F: A piece of cylindrical bone I believe. 2G: Piece of turtle? 2H: No clue. 2I: Petrified wood? Lot 3: Fossils from Austin Creek that cuts through Ozan layer 3A: Fairly certain this is an ammonite valve. Found quite a few in this creek for some reason. They never want to be whole. 3B: Good size vertebra likely from a mosasaur 3C: Really don't know what this is. My best guess is some really weathered down ammonite. It has symmetry and an overall spiral shape. It kind of reminds me of a curled up shrimp. Would love to know more about it! Here are some closeups: 3D: Nice little heart urchin. 3E: Nice urchin. I had only ever found heart urchins until this one, so it was an exciting find. 3F: Gastropod. 3G: Have yet to find a complete shark tooth from this spot, but here is a fragment. Might not be enough to secure an ID, but it's worth a try. 3H: Strange little fossil. Seems like some bryozoans grew on it at one point. When I look at it I get thoughts of echinoids and crinoids. Would be interested in hearing y'alls thoughts. Lot 4: Artifacts from the Austin creek (I know this isn't an arrowhead forum, but I figure there's a lot of overlap in hobbyists so there could be some insights): 4A: I believe this is a part of a larger tool like 4B. Not sure if these are knives, scrapers, or something else. 4B: Knife, scraper, or something else? 4C: My favorite artifact. Super pretty and thin. My guess is an atlatl dart point? 4E: another point, though not as visually appealing as 4D. The base looks a lot different too. Could this be an atlatl point? 4H: The base of some point. Would love to know more about the names or dates of any of these! If anyone would like more closeups of a specific item, feel free to let me know!

So, I found these 5 bones, and firstly, I need to know if they are cetacean or not. If not cetacean, then they are likely crocodilian, mosasaur, or I guess possibly turtle. They come from North Carolina, either from marine Cretaceous Black Creek group deposits, or there is a chance they could be marine Pliocene (hence why I would like to either confirm or rule out cetacean if possible). The area they come from is mostly Cretaceous, but I have found a few Pliocene shark teeth there, and stratigraphic maps show nearby Pliocene stratum, so I’m not totally sure (the area is in Cretaceous stratum on the map, but Pliocene is close by). These bones have distinct shapes so I think they may be IDable...but on my own I’m lost. Thank you for any help you can provide!!!!! Bone 1 (pretty sure it’s a rib): Bone 2: Bone 3: Bone 4 (I think this one is a rib too): Bone 5:

I found this tooth earlier today in the Cretaceous Black Creek group of eastern North Carolina. It’s extremely worn, but it’s definitely a tooth (update: okay maybe not ), either mosasaur or Deinosuchus rugosus (due to its size). I’m leaning towards mosasaur due to the elliptical shape of its base. Does anyone know which it is? And if it’s mosasaur, what possible genus or species it might belong to? I’m curious to see what the tooth looked like before it got so beat up. Thanks!

All were found NSR today. I am really guessing on both. I am going turtle pleural bone just from the pictures I have seen. Other than a really small mosasaur I am clueless on the verts.

Hello everyone! In the last month, I found two interesting Mosasaur teeth in two very different locations so I figured I'd share! For the first, I was digging in the basal Navasink in Southern New Jersey (primarily an invertebrate location). In the matrix, I happened to see a tiny bit of this tooth sticking out. As this is my only Mosasaur tooth in matrix, I prepped it so you can see the tooth better but left it in. The second is from my usual location - Big Brook. Nothing unusual there however; it does happen to be both my longest and widest Mosasaur tooth! Its under two inches but has some serious weight! The last picture is of my Mosasaur collection with my new editions in it

There have been a couple of small rises lately so i went out hoping to stumble upon something nice. Unfortunately the water did not rise enough to really tumble the gravel but it was still nice weather at least. Here are some pictures of my hunt a couple of weeks ago. As for my hunt a couple of days ago I don't have any pictures because i was skunked for the first time ever. No fossil or artifacts at all. I tried some of the large creeks, the ones that are basically as large as the river itself, and all i could see was dried up mud. I'm not sure if the creeks just have less material in them or if everything is just covered in mud. 1. 2. Mosasaur tail vert im assuming? 3. Not sure if coprolite or not but cool fish bones. 4. Rib of something 5. Fish jaw? 6. Turtle 7. Some cool little bone but have no idea what part or even animal 8.

Here is another Mosasaur piece. Please comment, as to its qualities. What jaw positions are represented?

I had a scare last week that has made decide to stay away from the North Sulphur River feeder creeks for good. It all started when I decided to check out google maps to find a more remote access point since the river has become so picked over. I found a feeder creek that had a bridge that emptied into the NSR and decided to try it out. Well it took an hour just to get halfway all the while I was clomping though thick mud. I then turned a corner and came face to face with a 200 plus pound wild boar. I must have rustled it up from sleeping because it shot up once it saw me and started snorting. By this point I was stuck in the mud again, in the middle of the creek, but luckily it did not charge me. I franticly unstuck myself and backed away slowly and somehow climbed an almost vertical cliff wall. It is amazing what you can do if you have to. I observed the boar trying to climb out of the creek and luckily for me it was to the other side of the creek. I was amazed by how fast and how good at climbing it was even for its massive size. I walked the rest of the way to the river above the creek, looking back about every five seconds to make sure nothing was behind me. Once I made it to the river I made a decision to stay out of those feeder creeks for good. It wouldn't matter what I found in it because it wouldn't be worth going though that again so from now on ill just walk my way from one of the NSR access points. Not to mention all I found the entire two hours was a small broken shark tooth. However once I made it to the river I actually did find a couple of nice finds. I was excited to find my first ever mosasaur tooth in pictures 3 and 4. However it is a strange tan color and I really would have liked the nice shiny black that I see so much on here. I also found a piece of mosasaur jaw fragment in pictures 9 and 10 that might have actually housed the tooth I found earlier haha. In picture 5 I found a fully intact sawfish rostral tooth. And lastly in picture 22 I found a piece of Baculite that had some really nice preservation on it. The rest are items I'm not too sure about so please let me know if you see something in these pictures I wasn't able to identify. See below: Is picture 2 a shark or fish vert? Any idea what pictures 6, 7, and 8 are of? Picture 11 looks like it might be fish bones in coprolite or maybe matrix? Picture 12 is turtle maybe? Pictures 13 and 14 appear to be bone so maybe a part of mosasaur paddle? Pictures 15 and 16 are very similar to 13 and 14 however the fossilization is much newer so I am thinking Pliocene mammal? Picture 17 maybe fish jaw? Picture 18 and 19 also fish jaw? Picture 20 is not a fossil but maybe pyrite? And picture 21 is just a strange piece of mosasaur bone that has about 4 rounded cavities on it. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

I was wondering if anyone could help with some NSR IDs? I also have one item that looks like a tooth from POC. It is Item 1. All other items are from the North Sulphur River. Item 1. Possible tooth? Item 2. Calcium nondual? Item 3. Pleistocene turtle? It is extremely thick and hard. Item 4. Some have speculated it as turtle plastron bone or Plesiosaurus paddle bone. Item 5. Some type of Geological crystal nondual? Item 6. Coprolite or just rock? Item 7.

So I've just realized the "alligator skull" fossil my parents got me for Christmas last year is for sure a fake. I'm embarassed I didn't notice until trying to ID the species, the real mosasaur teeth threw me off. My parents really went all out spending a couple hundred dollars on this thing, it's the most expensive gift I've ever recieved. So I'm pretty upset they got scammed out of that much money. I imagine it's been too long to demand a refund, but is there anything I can do about this? Was this even legal? The place that sold it to us is an actual shop, not some shady pop-up vendor. I apologize if this isn't the correct place to ask my question, let me know if it's not appropriate.

Here’s a mosasaur being offered. Any red flags or areas of concern? Thanks!

Here is a link to the story run by Utah State University: "Jaws of Death" LINK to original post about this discovery. Here is my story: My name is Gary Thompson, when I was a young boy our class was learning about fossils including some of the terrain and ground indicators for finding fossils. We took a field trip into the Escalante Canyon between Delta and Grand Junction Colorado. During this trip we were told that people have found dinosaur bones and petrified dinosaur dung in the canyon. During that trip I found a few interesting pieces. It was that experience that intrigued me and began my fascination for interesting rocks and fossils and started me hunting for them every chance I got. The year mom and I were about to move from Colorado to New Mexico I wanted to fossil hunt one more time before we left. I had been fishing in the Surface Creek many times in the past and was familiar with the terrain in that part of town. I asked my mom to drop me off out near the rodeo grounds where I thought I could do some good rock and fossil hunting. There was a road that goes up the side of the mesa were you could see layering exposed on the hills beside the road. Down at the bottom of the mesa where she dropped me off at Main and Cedar Mesa/Surface Creek rd there is an area that had loose dirt where I began to scan the area for anything that looked interesting. I noticed a darker dirt layer edging the top of the cliff like hill side. I climbed up towards the darker top edge and noticed some rust staining in the lighter soil layer right below the darker layering, which I had learned about in science class could be an indication of good fossil possibilities. In that lighter layer facing, I could see roundish oblong fossils with a segmented fern like fracturing pattern with a kind of caramel coloring. Some side views and some end views. I began investigating and digging out that area finding more shell fossils and the other fossils I later learned where called Baculites. After I got tired of that area I started walking up the road along the side of the mesa, scanning the edges for anything interesting. About half way up, I noticed an area a little bit back from the road with some mounding dirt that looked interesting. I walked back into that area and began inspected the ground for rocks and fossils. I was looking through the dirt and I happened to notice some scattered rock fragments on the ground that stood out to me. I have always had a knack for seeing differences and things that seem out of place. I began picking them up and inspecting them. After examining them more closely I noticed that they had a certain look, color and texture that indicated to me that it might be petrified wood or bone fossil. I continued to pick up and inspect these pieces when I found a little piece about 1 ½” wide and kind of oblong that had a more defined shape to it that looked like the end of a bone, looking at it as if it were sectioned, and you could see the circular bone outline of a marrow middle . I gathered up those pieces and then with my hands and a rock I started scraping the surface of the area to try to find more like those. As I scrapped and dug around I began to find what looked like long oval bones about an inch across and maybe 8-12 inches long, that kind of resembled rib bones. At that point I was certain it was bone fossil. I followed along that bone line clearing the dirt around the edges with my hands and a little stone. That section ran into what I could identify as large vertebrae about 6in across. It was then that I realized it was not a rib bone I had started out following but a part of a very large vertebrae. I excitedly began digging and clearing the dirt off the vertebrae section. In my child’s mind I was excitedly thinking I might have found a dinosaur. As I removed more dirt I exposed more vertebrae and it began to curve back into the mound of dirt a bit. I dug about 4 and a half feet of it out , leaving it in the ground but clearing the edges, revealing more of the vertebrae with the extending bones. At that point I realized that it was a very significant find I had made and that I needed to stop digging and report it. Because my mom and I were getting ready to move to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico that week, I did not want to leave it exposed and unprotected without telling someone about it. I felt that my science teacher Mr. Jones could help me contact the correct people so it could be protected, excavated and taken care of properly. I did gather up a few small samples, and I found some plastic garbage along the side of the road that I used to cover the bones that I had exposed. I then put dirt on top on the plastic to protect and hide my find. I walked home with my little bag of fossils and shared the exciting discovery with my mom Helen Louise Moore and showed her the samples I had collected. The next morning I brought the samples to Mr. Jones seeking his advise and help with the proper course of action. Mr. Jones was extremely curious about the samples I had found and what I describe to him. He kept the sample pieces and he asked me to take him to the site. I believe it was the same afternoon after school that Mr. Jones and I went back to the site in Mr. Jones’ vehicle. We parked near where I had found the shell fossils and walked all the way up to the large bone fossil I had begun to excavate and reburied previously. When we reached the site I began to carefully re-expose the bones I previously found. Mr. Jones could see there was something significant that I had discovered and excitedly began helping me pull the dirt back out from where I had previously dug and replaced it. When we had re-exposed the 4 1/2 feet of the fossil vertebrae that I had discovered and cleared previously, he confirm to me that it was a very important discovery. At that time we covered it back up with the plastic and dirt and Mr. Jones took me home. The next day I returned to school and I remember Mr. Jones was telling the class how I had found the bone fossils and he was talking about them to the class. My mom and I moved a few days after I discovered the bones and showed Mr. Jones my discovery. Before we left Cedaredge we had visited my grandparents to say goodbye and I told my grandmother about my exciting discovery. I left Cedaredge knowing that Mr. Jones verified my discovery and believing he would do the right things with my discovered bones and that they would not be destroyed. I was a kid at the time so I did not know how to follow up with the teacher or the project. Sometime later I received an envelope from my grandmother, Helen Moore that contained a Delta County Independence newspaper that had an article written by Muriel Marshall. She had written the story about the activity at the site and that I had discovered the fossil. It was very satisfying to see my name in the article and to know Mr. Jones had spoken with her verifying my find. In this article I also learned that my discovery was a really significant and exciting find and Dr. Jim Jensen (dinosaur Jim) from BYU was excavating the site and that he had not yet been able to identify it but thought it could be a new species of some kind. I was happy to learn that my discovery was so significant and relieved that my discovery had been properly reported by Mr. Jones to Paleontologist ‘Dinosaur Jim’ of BYU and that it was being properly cared for. But, I was also sad that I could not be there to be a part of it. The article also told of the school kids taking a field trip to the dig. It had talked about the young Scheetz brothers who had been helping Dinosaur Jim at a previous dig site, and had come to help him and Mr. Jones at the Cedaredge site as well. Upon detailed research of the mosasaur’s skeleton and a phylogenetic analysis, Joshua Lively PhD determined the BYU specimen is not closely related to other species of the genus Prognathodon and needed to be renamed. He reclassified the mosasaur as Gnathomortis stadtmani, meaning "Jaws of Death", and reports his findings in the most recent issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

I know mosasaur jaws are faked but what about the teeth. This one from Morocco have distinctive edges that are causing a red flag in my head

Hi all My kids and I found this tooth a while ago from the North Sulphur River in Texas. We can't figure out its ID and would appreciate any help. There is no carina; however, there are deep groves at the base. It appears cylindrical. After looking at various images, I can't tell if this is from a fish or a marine reptile like at plesiosaur. Images are below; the scale is 1 mm between the smaller hashmarks. Again, thanks for any help! Bret

This is a rooted Liodon anceps mosasaur tooth from morocco and a bird bone from morocco. The mosasaur tooth is from a trusted seller that I have bought from before. But the bird is from a different seller. So is the mosasaur tooth real and is the bird bone also real?

Hello friends! I found this piece of Prognathodon anceps jaw for sale. Do you think is real? I appreciate your comments! Thanks