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Tooth found yesterday (16 June 2023) at Big Brook Preserve, NJ. I am pretty sure it is a Mosasaur tooth.

With my limited time in North Texas before my move south, I decided to revisit my favorite sites as opposed to scouting new ones. The NSR is a classic locality, but I had never actually gotten to check out the famed red zone for myself. Yesterday, I made the drive to the fossil park. I was supposed to hunt with a couple others, but it unexpectedly turned into a solo hunt. I won't complain though. The vast river emanates a magical aura that is uniquely felt when you're exploring on your own. The primary goal of the day was to snag a decent specimen of the red zone ammonite, Trachyscaphites spiniger! In an attempt to beat out the stiff hunting competition and high afternoon temps, I arrived to the site in the early hours around seven. Unsurprisingly, I was far from being the first car in the lot. As luck would have it though, none of the people there before me had their sights set on the distant red zone exposures. It's a long and taxing trip that only so many people (the crazy ones) are willing to undertake. After crossing under the 2990 bridge, I took in the view and tried to visualize where the destination might be. It was quite daunting, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Red Zone Road It was gonna take a lot of walking to reach the mouths of the red zone creeks, so I tried to keep the gravel hunting minimal along the way. Nevertheless, my eyes were still scanning the ground around me and the vigilance steadily began to pay off. After a few Enchodus fangs and a Carcharias holmdelensis tooth, I came across the first prize of the day. Cemented together in red zone matrix was a mass of turtle shell that I had never before seen a similar specimen of. It has some good weight to it and cool three dimensional character. I don't know enough to identify it to a genus assuming that's even possible. I believe Archelon and Ctenochelys are known from the NSR as well as other genera I'm sure. Articulated turtle shell fragments in red zone matrix Some time later, I came across an interesting bone fragment that I don't have much of a clue about. The texture seems like fish. It has pronounced ridges running longitudinally and a U-shaped spongy cross section. I held onto it in case it might be something cool. Mystery bone Here and there I came across various red zone ammonite chunks to whet my appetite. None of them were keepers in part because I had high hopes for what lay ahead. Maintaining my steady pace brought me to the mouth of the first creek I had circled. Yesterday's 25 foot rise was still draining and the sound of rushing water filled the air with occasional thuds from falling shales. In the high cliffs I could see a distinct red band of matrix slicing through the grey shales. Tracing it with my eyes, I followed the line upstream until it was within reach. It was absolutely filled with phosphate chunks and nacre-covered Baculites. After a short time, I locked onto a Trachyschaphites that was just poking out. Excitedly, I threw out my tools and began excavating. My enthusiasm was quickly washed away as I realized the chunk sticking out was just a chunk. This sequence of events repeated itself along the entirety of the creek and before I knew it, I was exiting with a bag of assorted Trachyscaphites pieces. The only interesting things to show were a beat up red zone mosasaur vert and some snails. Red zone mosasaur vert Gastropods from the red zone Now the temps had crossed into the 90s and beads of sweat were covering my face. Wanting to take a break from the red zone, I began a thorough search through the massive gravel bar outside the creek. It took awhile to warm up my hunting goggles, but eventually I spotted the first keeper of the bar: A big ole worn mosasaur tooth. Sadly, it was sliced in half and had chunks busted out of it. Not too long after, though, I got it a smaller, much more complete friend. Likely Tylosaurus proriger After these mosasaur teeth, I scored what I like to call a "pseudo-mosasaur" or its other name, Pachyrhizodus. It was pretty easy to spot the difference since a little bit of bone was attached beneath the crown. Still a cool little fish tooth. Pachyrhizodus I'm not very good at spotting artifacts despite having spent many hours in the creeks of Austin. Now and again though, I manage to blindly stumble my way into a killer point or two. Wedged into the sand beneath the receding waters, was the unmistakable base of a Gary. Haven't found one of these before, so I was pretty happy to add this NSR classic to my collection. Gary in situ Gary point The last and most interesting find of the bar was a huge chunk of Xiphactinus jaw! It seems to match up exactly with the very distal end of the lower jaw. Within two matrix-filled tooth sockets are a couple of emerging teeth. Distal end of a Xiphactinus lower jaw with a couple of teeth. Finally, it was time to set my sights on the creek across the river. To my knowledge it doesn't have a name as it is quite small. The disappointment of my previous red zone expedition set my hopes low. Although the tree cover was nice, with it came swarms of mosquitos and some sort of biting fly. I spent most of my walk through it flailing my arms trying not to become a walking buffet. The red zone was much better exposed and I quickly spotted a couple of Squalicorax that sadly weren't keepers. There were many Trachyscaphites fragments to waste my time, but at long last I ran into exactly what I was looking for! With careful swings, I worked the heteromorph out of the shale and quickly stored it safely in its own private Ziploc bag. With the primary objective met, it was time to quickly evacuate the mosquito hellhole and return to the safety of the sweltering sun. Trachyscaphites spiniger heteromorph (my favorite ammonite). There is a significant crack that hasn't completely split. Hopefully the b72 will hold. It was about 4 pm and I was close to my limit. There was another spot further ahead known for arrowheads that I wanted to see, but I was saving that for the people I was intending to meet (no cell service so I didn't know plans had changed). It became apparent no one was coming, so I gathered my bucket and pack for the long trek home. The adrenaline of fossil hunting had definitely carried me through the day. The river now seemed endless and every step of foot sucking mud taxed me more and more. After retracing my route at home, it seems I river walked at least 5 miles! As I crawled into my blistering hot car, I told myself one red zone hunt was enough for the rest of my life. But after a good night's rest and cataloguing my finds, I'm ready to go again . I guess we'll see how I feel next summer. Thanks for reading!

These are a couple of mosasaur teeth I recently purchased and had delivered via the post. However, upon opening the package I remembered the labels to each specimen were kept separate in the package. Ordinarily, its easy to match the label to the specimen, but the similarities between the two teeth made this difficult. One is labelled as Eremiasaurus heterodontus, and the other Mosasaurus beaugei. Thanks in advance for any proposed IDs Othniel

Of late I have been organising my fossil collection, and in doing so I have realised quite how many I have which are not sufficiently identified, so I came to the fossil forum to make amends. Apologies for the irregular lighting and unfocused areas on some photos- I have a less than perfect phone camera. These two teeth are among the few for which I have any kind of trustworthy information- the left tooth is supposed to be a Mosasaurus beaugei, and the right one Eremiasaurus heterodontus- but I got them mixed up some time ago and can't remember which is which (a foolish blunder, I know). This is a fossil fish which has undergone some major reconstruction. Only the caudal fin, caudal vertebra and some of the cranium is intact. I possess no information regarding the whereabouts of this specimens discovery. I think its a Knightia, but I can't say for sure. This tooth is from a shark. The information sheet that came with it has been written in the most ambiguous way possible, but alludes to the fact that it could be from the Miocene and/or the USA- but as I say this not definitive. This tooth is from an animal almost certainly from the Merycoidodontoidea superfamily, described as "hog-like" on the accompanying information sheet. It is stated to have been excavated in South Dakota, USA, and is of the Oligocene strata. My thanks in advance for any proposed IDs, Othniel

Opinions on these images? Mosasaur skull seems too good to be true for a size this big from what I’m seeing but I don’t know how to judge. It looks relatively real to me but wanted you guys to weigh in. It’s like 3 feet long.

Hi everyone, I’m new to this but am curious as to whether these are legit or not. I’d imagine they’d be way more expensive but I wasn’t sure if this website is legit or not, and I really do not want to get scammed if I eventually buy something like this. Does this forum have a list of credible websites/vendors?

I am about 84.9% sure that this is a fragment of a mosasaur tooth. However I have been wrong when trying to id Mosasaur teeth before so I just wanted a few more opinions. It is from Big brook New Jersey and was found in May 2023.

Hello everyone, What are your thoughts on this Mosaurus Skull. Im considering buying it It should be a Tylosaurus, it was found in Kansas. Sized at 45 × 17 × 16 cm. There is also a photo showing the found bones.

Hi guys got a few teeth I’m not sure on here I would appreciate some help, thanks! 1. Carina only on one side so it’s one of those palatal teeth? And compression suggests eramiasaurus? But could be T. Atrox 2. slightly prismatic but compressed so Eramiasaurus? 3. Compressed so eramiasaurus again? thanks again guys @Praefectus @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

Hi, I'm new on this forum and I wanted to ask you IDs for these two teeth I have in my collection. The first one is a Mosasaur teeth I bought in a newspaper shop in Italy when I was a kid (I believe it may be from Morocco). The second one is a shark tooth I also bought in a kiosk, but I'm not sure it's a fossil and I believe it may be a Sand Tiger Shark tooth (or even a fake) The mosasaurus tooth is 2 cm, the shark one is 1.5 approximately.

I would like to know the approximate age of the fossilized Great White teeth pictured in my hand that I have found over the course of the last 9 months at Holden Beach North Carolina. (since August of 2022) These were found in addition to many other fossilized teeth that I have captured in additional pictures found below. Thank You

Can anyone help? I sent the pictures off and they are pretty sure it’s a femur bone from a mosasaur. Does that look right? Found on private land along the Missouri River in South Dakota. Appreciate the help.

Hello, welcome to my report of this last week fossil hunting in Morocco. I have been this last week in Morocco going to different localities looking for fossils. As I have never done fossil hunting before in morocco, I contacted with Mohand Ihmadi from Ihmadi Trilobites Centre, a local geologist that does fossil hunting tours. I talked to him about all the localities that I would like to visit and we planned a route together. If you ever want to do some fossil hunting in Morocco, I have to recommend getting in touch with Mohand, if you search for him or the center in google, the contact information will appear. I will try to divide this fossil hunting in the main 4 areas that we hunted: KEM KEM BEDS This location is near the dunes, and going there you will have beautiful views. Once you arrive there, you will start seeing the typical Kem Kem colors. First you can try to find microfossils filtering the sand. We also found some workers there, and they let us visit the caves they make to arrive to the layer where they find the fossils. Here is me and my dad in front of the cave entrance. And here more photos inside the cave: In Kem Kem it's very difficult to find the stuff you see online so the normal thing is to find some micro fossils or chunks. This is what we found in and hour or so: Probably if you search harder and during more time, you can find more stuff, but we were more casual about this. And obviously, you can also try to buy the stuff the workers have found. ORDOVICIAN LOCALITY FOR CALYMENE Another locality we visited, was a trilobite locality. A ordovician Locality. Here, with heavy machinery, they extract the first useless layer, and then you can start to manually search for the trilobites. Here, we found several as it's pretty easy. One of them is this next photo: DEVONIAN TRILOBITE LOCATION The other trilobite location was a devonian one. There you can find phacops sp. pretty easily and if you are lucky some other species. Here is the typical limestone where you have to break them, find the trilobite, glued back and prepared it. After this, we went to Mohand workshop and he teached me how to prepare them: We were lucky and found a Paralejurus spatuliformis that he is preparing for me and will send to me. OUED ZEM FORMATION The last stop was the Oued Zem formation. It's the formation where we found most fossils, and it's easy to work with the hammer and find it. It's near the phosphates exploitation ground. And here some of what we found: We visited some more places, but this were the main ones. In conclusion it was an amazing experience and Mohand was the best guide we could have asked for. If you are planning a similar trip to Morocco and have some doubts or questions don't hesitate to ask. And just as an extra. As we all know, all the Moroccan material has a reputation of being restored, composited and altered. And while that is sometimes true, after visiting this places and talking to the diggers there, I bought some pieces from them, without the intermediaries, and they were really honest about what reparations or things they did to the piece. So my conclusion is that a lot of times the international dealers are the ones buying pieces without caring about the state of this ones because a composited/restored piece will be cheaper and they think it will sell at the same price and will make more profit.

The unnamed giant Tylosaur of the Moroccan Phosphates is revealed at last. The great and mighty Hainosaurus is a previously unrecognized macropredator present in the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Morocco. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365437927_First_Record_of_a_Tylosaurine_Mosasaur_from_the_Latest_Cretaceous_Phosphates_of_Morocco Authors: @Praefectus @BrennanThePaleoDude @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Abstract: The latest Cretaceous Phosphates of Morocco preserve the highest biodiversity of mosasaurid squamates anywhere in the world. Intensive sampling over the past century has uncovered at least ten genera and thirteen species from the mosasaur subgroups Halisauromorpha, Plioplatecarpinae, and Mosasaurinae. Notably missing from the assemblage are members of the macropredatory Tylosaurinae. The Tylosaurinae were globally rare in the Maastrichtian and their apparent absence has been previously explained by either collecting bias, ecological preference for deeper waters, or habitat restriction to higher paleolatitudes. Here, we describe a new tylosaurine mosasaurid, Hainosaurus boubker sp. nov., based on several partial skulls and isolated teeth originating from the Couche III layer of the Sidi Chennane Phosphate quarry near Oued Zem, Morocco. It is unique amongst tylosaurine mosasaurids in possessing blade-like teeth that are laterally compressed, encircled by enamel facets, and differentiated along the dental margin. The discovery of this new taxon in the Maastrichtian of Morocco is remarkable as it represents both the youngest species of Tylosaurinae and the first occurrence in North Africa. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and I am so happy to finally see it come to a conclusion. Tremendous thank you to Boubker Chaibi (Instagram @foussilouedzem) for discovering and donating the type material. Additionally, thanks to Carlos Espinosa (Instagram @carlost_sapiens) for bringing Hainosaurus to life. Funding for this project was provided by the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences’ Charles H. Sternberg Scholarship for vertebrate fossil research. Thank you very much the members of the AAPS. Map and Stratigraphic column of the Moroccan Phosphates Premaxilla of Hainosaurus boubker Premaxilla of Hainosaurus boubker Maxillae of Hainosaurus boubker Dentaries of Hainosaurus boubker Hainosaurus boubker right maxilla and premaxilla Anterior teeth Hainosaurus boubker Mid-marginal and posterior teeth H. boubker Discoverer and namesake of H. boubker, Boubker Chaibi (Instagram @foussilouedzem) Hainosaurus boubker by Carlos Espinosa (Instagram @carlost_sapiens) Reconstructed skull of H. boubker at the Sternberg Museum as part of the Sahara Sea Monster's traveling exhibit. By @jnoun11. Hainosaurus boubker skull sketch by Instagram @yoshisrgr8 “The Warden of the Cretaceous Seas” by Instagram @primal_art_saurus Hainosaurus vs. Thalassotitan 2 versions. No ammonites, ammonites. Memento mori by Twitter @ttorroo Hainosaurus vs. Thalassotitan Hainosaurus boubker by Instagram @icthyovenator by Instagram @primal_art_saurus Thanks for reading.

Hello All, First time posting. Joined up due to a fellow fossil hunter's request that I do so. Went out to Big Brook Preserve this past Sunday (4-23-23) and came away with a good selection of the usual suspects but one stood out. A nice Mosasaur tooth seen at the top of the pics below and in my hand in the following pics. Thanks for looking and thank you Sam for the company, the friendly conversation and helping with the fossil id. Happy Hunting everyone!

Is this a bite mark or natural wear? It’s a cervical vertebra

Hi everyone! I recently acquired this very large Mosasaur tooth and was hoping to get some help with two questions. The first is help with a species ID since it seems a lot of these are being IDed as this new species (thalassotitan) that was only discovered like a year ago I think? The second is what is going on in that root? There seems to be another Mosasaur tooth AND a Cretolamna shark tooth imbedded within the root. There's still some matrix around the fossils within the root which seems to have a very large cavity that shouldn't be there, so my hypothesis is that the root was broken and while lying on the sea floor matrix and other teeth gathered in the cavity. Either that or someone threw one heck of a party there 70 million years ago and things just got nuts. As usual though with something this weird I'm hoping for a second opinion. Tooth is from the Oled Abdoun Basin Moroccan phosphates. The entire specimen measures about 14.5 cm tall. The crown is 5.142 cm tall and 3.465 cm by 2.788 cm at its base. distal carinae seems to be lightly serrated. So what do you all think? Any insight is appreciated as always!

Hi guys, do you reckon these are all Carinodens or are there a few globidens mixed in? Thanks @Praefectus @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The first mosasaur tooth I found in Pierre shale sd. 2in long poorly preserved. Was wondering if it was a shedded tooth or part of jaw? Also what species might it be? thanks!

Took a short visit today to my Basal Atco site for the third time. Seems like every visit yields something new and totally unexpected (first visit = Acrotemnus prearticular tooth, second visit = huge assoc. fish verts, and now these). I'm fairly confident both of these are reptilian, but unfortunately I don't know much about identifying tetrapods. The first specimen I found is now my only non-Campanian mosasaur tooth. It's quite small (1 cm tall) and broke into 3 pieces, but the b72 seems to have done the job in making it presentable. Not amazing quality as expected for the Basal Atco, where much of the material is reworked. I'm not completely familiar with the genera present in the earliest Coniacian. I have read about a chunk of Tylosaurinae maxilla being found near if not in the Basal Atco of Grayson county and the subfamily is thought to have started in the Lower Coniacian altogether. I want to say Russellosaurus made it to the Atco although I believe my tooth is a little large for this ID. I think Clidastes was also around in the Coniacian, although not sure how early. And there's a lot of genera I am not mentioning, so hopefully someone in the know can fill in. The tooth itself seems to have both a mesial and distal non-serrated carina. The enamel isn't faceted as far as I can tell. I know it's not much to go off of and a precise ID is unlikely, but my hope is to at least cross off some of the genera that don't fit the description with yall's help. Mosasaur tooth (1 cm tall) Going from a relatively old mosasaur, the second specimen is a surprisingly young Coniasaurus (or so I think). This might be surprising to some, but Conisaurus is found beyond the Cenomanian. It actually has been documented to extend through the Coniacian all the way into the Middle Santonian (though the documentation is few and far between I must admit)! In other words this is a rare sort of find, but not necessarily unheard of. I don't believe any species have been named extending past the Turonian, so this may be an undescribed species. My specimen has that classic bulbous shape as well as textured enamel. It sure pays to look closely at every chunk of matrix. Coniasaurus sp.? (3 mm tall) One thing I would like to note is that I have since found a paper that helped to clarify the geology of this site which was a point of confusion in my previous trip reports. I made the mistake of referring to this place as the "Fish Bed Conglomerate" when it turns out that title has been used for at least a couple different layers, namely the base of the Austin Chalk and a phosphatic pebble bed that exists a short ways below the base documented by Taff and Leverett way back in 1893. This mixup has caused some confusion it seems in old academia. Anyways the stratigraphic chart (Fig. 2) in the source below shows these two phosphatic layers and some info on them. I kinda had a mind blown moment as I have actually visited both of these layers while looking for the Basal Atco at a couple of locations. The site where these teeth were found along with all my other written Atco adventures did actually in fact occur in the Atco or earliest Coniacian. However, the "second location" noted in the report I've linked below was actually at this Arcadia Park phosphatic pebble bed. These two layers are quite distinct and my "Atco" site definitely better fits the base. The sea levels paper specifically notes the layer as being ripple bedded which I coincidentally took a picture of in my old report! So satisfying when everything clicks into place... Hancock, Jake M., and Ireneusz Walaszczyk. “Mid-Turonian to Coniacian Changes of Sea Level around Dallas, Texas.” Cretaceous Research 25.4 (2004): 459–471. Web. As a bonus for reading through this, here are a couple of nice sharks teeth I found from the same layer. They are my first larger complete Cretalamna from the location and a new species on top of that. They compare best with Cretalamna ewelli which Siversson notes as being present in the Late Coniacian. I have some less impressive Cretalamna from the location that I previously identified as C. gertericorum, but I may have to double check those since it would be weird for two species to show up on top of one another in my opinion. They are very similar-looking species so I wouldn't be surprised if I was mistaken before. Cretalamna ewelli with beautifully splayed cusplets Looking forward to hearing yall's opinions! Thanks

OK, I have read the posts about croc tooth versus mosasaur and croc versus alligator. Based on what I read, this could be a mosasaur tooth given the sort of “prismatic” ribbing and lack of any carinae or at least the lack of the two that are equidistant from each other. Anyway, I’m not an expert but would love some help from those more learned. Check out the pics. This is basically from the Calvert formation - but more specifically Horsehead Cliffs area from the water. Thanks for looking!

Do I have an M. hoffmanni tooth here? Any opions about this two teeth?

The only thing I know about this specimen is that's from Morocco and it's probably some mosasaur tooth. Is it possible to tell anything more about it?