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Recently completed a lengthy set of walkabouts in the lower Pennsylvanian. I have a lot that I can pseudo-identify and am comfortable leaving them alone for now. OTH, I am hopeful someone with the skills will provide some helpful nudges in assigning more accurate names to the following: I believe this is a coral. This is about 4" tall and 3.5" wide Zoom in I'm calling it a snail but I know that is not correct. Max length is 1.5" And then these mystery spine-like objects on a sort of mash plate. It is hard to tell but the long intermittent one, swooping from lower left to upper right, maybe indeed be a single long strand 3" long

Often on The Fossil Forum you strike up an online friendship based on common interest, then build on it over time through field experiences enjoyed vicariously online, but it is a rare treat to finally cement that friendship in person through a collaborative field problem. After a couple years of threatening to do so, I finally saw a break in the clouds that afforded me the opportunity to burn rubber westward and follow in the footsteps of the Pied Piper of the Puerco, the Chancellor of the Cretaceous, our own PFooley. As a generalist filled with wanderlust, it is hard for me to find a venue these days I haven’t yet sampled, so if you’ll forgive my verboseness and loquaciousness, I think this adventure warrants the long cut of yarn I’m about to spin, complemented by a montage of photos to capture the spirit of our high desert excursion. I had set aside 4 days for this adventure; 2 for driving and 2 for collecting. ‘Twas a long haul from San Antonio to Albuquerque, probably 14 hours with stops, but satellite radio helps knock the edge off the monotony of the yellow line, as did a quick stop at the Lubbock Lake Paleoindian site to stretch my legs. If you are interested in evidence of interaction between the ancients and late Pleistocene beasts, as most of us are, this was a worthwhile side track when in the area. While flat as a tortilla in places, the West Texas experience brings with it its own brand of sensory overload. High winds blew a huge red dust storm and innumerable tumbleweeds in my path, while driving gritty dust into my teeth. The building adventure was palpable. New Mexico terrain along my route also begged to be clipped off at 100 MPH, so in places, I indulged. Then dust storms gave way to sleet squalls just as I got to I-40 near dusk. With higher elevation I began to see lingering snow on the north facing slopes, and feelings of trepidation ensued with regard to what the previous night’s rain and snow had set up for us at the hunting grounds both in terms of road access and perhaps snow covering the exposure. I calmed my nerves by realizing that conditions in Texas weren’t particularly favorable for the same weekend, so I had made a good decision to hedge on New Mexico for the new experience. At long last, on Friday night I arrived at Casa Fooley. And quite a fun bee hive of activity it was. After some handshakes and back slapping with Mike, I met his lovely wife and beautiful daughter. But the fun didn’t stop there. Los Fooley are animal lovers, so I was greeted by quite a procession of curious pets. Rabbits, dogs, a cat, chickens, a tortoise and a turkey all took turns checking out the new guy. All lived in happy community, for the most part. While one Chihuahua quickly took up residence across my legs, another troublemaker puppy started a fight with my new little friend, and they nipped and yapped at each other on the battleground of my lap as the other critters looked on in nonchalance. Shifting alliances rose and fell between animals, a 3 year old ran through the big middle at will, and I found all of this activity to be rather entertaining. But perhaps the most enduring encounter was with the huge pet turkey following me around in the front yard, stomping its feet and strumming its feathers. Finally I turned around and it let me pet its head, which reminded me of a melted red and blue candle. I was a changed man, having pet a turkey for the first time. Having raised it from a chick, Mike showed me that he could pick up and hold his full grown, feathered friend. To boot, it roosted on a fence by the window where I slept that night, literally 3 feet away from the bed I slept in, silhouetted and standing sentinel.

Hello, I wanted to know the ID of this tooth which I was told was Postosuchus. It is from New Mexico Bull canyon and is quite a good sized tooth. Is nicely serrated as well. Regards, indominus rex

All the beauty you see against the blue sky is a story of time from the book of rocks, uplifting, cleaving, and eroding in wonderful ways. I searched and got this Socorro County geologic map. A rather immense amount of study involved in this document. Best at 175% zoom. If I lived there all the time I might come to understand it. https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/openfile/downloads/200-299/238/ofr_238.pdf

I've been curious about a hillside we came across during my trip to New Mexico, the surface of which was strewn with these ball shaped rocks. What I could find out is listed in 'tags'. This is the hillside. Next hill over did not have these.

Hello! I’m hoping to identify this fossil I found while wandering a mesa just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was laying neatly in the sand just waiting to be found. The pits on the end look very much like bone marrow. I chose to leave it at the ranch where I found it, so I only have one pic. I could get more if needed! Thanks!

My father found this in the mid 70s in Eastern NM off the side of a road after a rain storm. He thinks it washed out from the ground. It is larger than a fist and very dense. The white is paint my dad accidentally got on it. Looks like a rope tied around it and cross crossed; 2 areas look knotted. I wondered if it is a petrified drinking apparatus. Any ideas?

Hello, thank you in advance for any help. I have recently moved near the southern part of the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico and have been finding some fossils. This one, I think might be part of a coral, but I can't identify it. It does not appear to be a complete specimen if you look at the end view. Found in Deadman Canyon off of Alamo Canyon just east of Alamogordo, NM. It was found as float in a debris field and I've been unable to identify the rock formation it came from in the surrounding exposed strata at this time. Apologies for the lower quality pics due to cell camera limitations. Around here the primary fossil appears to be crinoids....the black colored object with white striations, is in what appears to be a red sandstone with no other identifying fossils such as crinoids to help date the formation. Side view End view

I posted in the wrong forum. I found this vertebrate? fossil while hiking in the Bisti Wilderness and I would like to know which animal it came from.

I have seen this type of trace many times before...each time I wonder. Do you have any ideas? The knife is 3" in length...thank you for your thoughts.

Hey y’all! Hubby and I have to go to NM this weekend to pick up our son, we’re looking to do a little hounding again. I’ll be researching on places to go in the Alamogordo area. I’m not looking for yalls special sites or anything, just maybe a little advice or idea of an area to look into going. I guess I should read up on the collecting laws there too huh

Hi guys! I don't post here often, but I'm a PhD student in geology, currently working on tropical Paleogene palynology. I'm taking an unrelated class on the Permian Basin and I am working on identifying some of the fossils our class saw in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I'm not a sponge expert, and I was hoping someone on the forum might be able to confirm or correct my identifications. I might make a follow-up post on the non-sponge fossils we saw on the trip. A bit of background, these pictures were taken in the field with a metric scale, the scale has been cropped out of the pictures and a 5 mm scale bar is added. No fossil collecting was allowed on this trip so I won't be able to provide additional images. The fossils are from the Capitan Formation, which is Permian Period, Guadalupian Epoch, Capitanian Stage. The global stage name is actually named after the nearby El Capitan peak. Amblysiphonella? Archaeolithoporella?

found in western NM, is it a dino tooth? any help is appreciated.

Howdy from the frontier country of New Mexico! I'm Tammy. I stumbled upon this forum while trying to categorize a very large collection of interesting fossil specimens collected in the mid to southwest of New Mexico, by our daughter Carol (an avid fossil collector). During her last visit we separated some of the largest specimens, revering some more than others, discussing the cosmos and the earliest life forms on planet Earth. We recalled that Carol collected rocks as souvenirs from vacations. On a vacation to Minnesota, Carol collected a '(flat) rock'; it was a decade later when she realized it was actually a prehistoric tool! I'm positive that's what started it all! I hope you can forgive our lack of 'technical' terms and a few run-on sentences now and then, as we attempt to analyze and understand this collection. I'm off to read and learn! Sincerest gratitude, Tammy

Hi, I found this tooth and possibly the upper mandible in an arroyo in New Mexico in a place called Copper Canyon. It is about 5.5 miles from Ghost Ranch. The layer is most likely late triassic chinle formation but it's on a major fault. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am a newbie- found this interesting rock on the side of a hill outside Albuquerque. It measures about 12 inches across the top, with interesting knobs on the top, and striations inside. Could anyone identify this?

Hey everyone There's this new bit of research from PeerJ, describing the partial remains of a new tyrannosaurid, Dynamoterror dynastes (pretty cool name, huh? ). The remains were from the Menefee Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of New Mexico, and are a valuable addition to our knowledge of North American tyrannosaurids. Partial cranial material of D. dynastes. McDonald et al. (2018). A new tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Menefee Formation of New Mexico. Abstract: The giant tyrannosaurids were the apex predators of western North America and Asia during the close of the Cretaceous Period. Although many tyrannosaurid species are known from numerous skeletons representing multiple growth stages, the early evolution of Tyrannosauridae remains poorly known, with the well-known species temporally restricted to the middle Campanian-latest Maastrichtian (∼77–66 Ma). The recent discovery of a new tyrannosaurid, Lythronax argestes, from the Wahweap Formation of Utah provided new data on early Campanian (∼80 Ma) tyrannosaurids. Nevertheless, the early evolution of Tyrannosauridae is still largely unsampled. We report a new tyrannosaurid represented by an associated skeleton from the lower Campanian Allison Member of the Menefee Formation of New Mexico. Despite fragmentation of much of the axial and appendicular skeleton prior to discovery, the frontals, a metacarpal, and two pedal phalanges are well-preserved. The frontals exhibit an unambiguous autapomorphy and a second potential autapomorphy that distinguish this specimen from all other tyrannosaurids. Therefore, the specimen is made the holotype of the new genus and species Dynamoterror dynastes. A phylogenetic analysis places Dynamoterror dynastes in the tyrannosaurid subclade Tyrannosaurinae. Laser-scanning the frontals and creation of a composite 3-D digital model allows the frontal region of the skull roof of Dynamoterror to be reconstructed. You can download (for free!) the paper from this link: McDonald et al. 2018 Dynamoterror dynastes Hope you like this! -Christian

This is a piece that I picked up on a geology field trip years ago in eastern New Mexico. I apologize that I have unfortunately lost the field notebook that contains more specific location information, but I am hoping to get in contact with the teacher that took us there for other reasons and might be able to provide additional information if I can ask him. The section was Cambrian to Ordovician in age: it started with abundant stromatolites, then progressed into thrombolites and finally siliciclastics disappeared during the Ordovician sea level high-stand. This piece was found from amidst microbialites, so should be Cambrian in age. My professor identified it as a "sponge" at the time. I am wondering if it is perhaps an archaeocyathid based on the age and the central hole. Either way, if anyone that is more familiar with that area has thoughts on any more specific identification, I would be thrilled! Please ask if you need photos from a different angle or anything like that. Thank you very much!

This is a piece that I picked up on a geology field trip years ago in eastern New Mexico. I apologize that I have unfortunately lost the field notebook that contains more specific location information, but I am hoping to get in contact with the teacher that took us there for other reasons and might be able to provide additional information if I can ask him. The section was Cambrian to Ordovician in age: it started with abundant stromatolites, then progressed into thrombolites and finally siliciclastics disappeared during the Ordovician sea level high-stand. If my memory serves, I believe these were found from relatively low in the section and so should be Cambrian, but it has been long enough (about 12 years) that I would not stake my life on that. Since it may be hard to tell from the photos, these are essentially organic material on the surface of the rock with no visible depth at all. I am honestly a little stumped on this ID and, without the field notebook, I simply can't remember what my professor said about them; I remember that I did not know the word he used at the time, but I was new enough to invertebrates that that could mean almost anything. My best guess is that they are gorgonians, but I am probably several phyla removed from the right ID. I am happy to take any additional photos if they will help. Thank you for your thoughts!

Two loose stones found near the Santa Fe Opera. Smaller pentagonal fossil about 3 to 4 mm. Larger more linear fossil 6 mm wide and 7 cm long.Now I’m looking forward to finding more. Any help on identification appreciated.

Hello all, my name is Chris. I am a recent graduate (May 2018) from the University of New Mexico with a degree in psychology. I have been interested in dinosaurs since I saw Jurassic Park when I was a little kid and this interest has since resurfaced in force with my recent free time and the release of the newest Jurassic Park movie. I have been reading a bunch of books on the subjects of dinosaurs and paleontology and have become quite taken with it! I am a somewhat outdoorsy person when the temperature is under triple digits, and I work both in a research lab and for a Siberian Husky rescue. Anyway, I discovered this forum while researching fossils and thought I'd give it a go. Look forward to chatting with you all!