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TFF, Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to find (what I consider) a tremendous tooth specimen in Gove County, KS. Unfortunately, plant roots got to the tip of it before I could and because I was a space case and didn't bring superglue, the tip and about 10 other pieces connecting the body to the tip fell away when I excavated it. It's relatively long and straight over its length and it appeared to be separated from the rest of the remains. I tried navigating the Oceans of Kansas site for researching what it belonged to. My first guess is Tylosaurus but I could be completely wrong. Forgive me for not being more educated in Mosasaurs. Does anybody have suggestions for the ID? I just finished trying to reconstruct it myself but my star bond bottle decided it wouldn't seal and now my hands are covered in superglue. I've decided to come to the forum to see if there are any experts out there willing to do a clean and repair job on my tooth. No, it's probably not valuable, but it holds significant sentimental value since this is my first tooth find. I think i gathered all the major pieces to do the job but I feel under-equipped and do not feel like I have the experience to be able to put it back together. Before successfully gluing myself, I was able to put some much-needed glue down on the broken surfaces of the tooth and the tip of the tooth. Now, I think it's stable enough to be shipped if necessary. It'll come with 10 coin envelopes for the connecting pieces. Any help or or suggestions for who may be the best person to contact would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

TFF, After about 10 months, I am finally scheduling myself to make another trip to western Kansas next week - 8/27-8/30. I am conducting field work for my master's thesis which focuses on outcrop modeling and interpretation of Niobrara fracture systems using a drone. I feel fortunate that one of my field areas is famous for its abundance of preserved Cretaceous fauna. While I'm out there, I figured I would try to make an effort to visit some well-known fossil localities that have public access or find private landowners that are also enthusiastic about fossils. Previously, I was lucky enough to find a near-complete Cimolichthyes jaw and some other large fish vertebrae. I know I can re-visit that same site in an effort to find other fossils but I thought I would reach out to Kansas veterans to see if anyone else has suggestions of locations to visit. From reading some of the other threads, it sounds like Castle Rock is a fairly popular destination for public hunting, but I have a feeling after all these decades that there might be other spots that have been less picked-over. I'm looking to find anything and everything but would especially like to find a few teeth. I have relatively little diversity in my current fossil collection. Thanks in advance for your help and guidance!

Hello everyone, In anticipation for my trip to Kansas next week, I wanted to see how ya'll would recommend prepping specimens in a chalk matrix. I'm hoping to find some fish bones, vertebrae, and teeth if I'm lucky. I previously was able to scrape and scratch matrix off some stuff I found the last time I went with a carbide-tipped scratcher and I also used my water gun to blow matrix off of the fossils. I found some neat pyrite concretions too and was able to use dilute HCl to nicely dissolve the matrix away but wanted to avoid doing this on fossil specimens since I didn't know if the fossils would also be dissolved away. I was recommended using dental picks to remove material from the fossils since the matrix is so soft. Is there a better way to do this since I don't have pneumatic or electronic prep equipment? Thanks for your help!

Hello TFF, I recently was able to glue this specimen together after its discovery this past fall. I need help with identification. It was found in the Niobrara in Logan Co, Kansas. After asking a tooth expert, he hypothesized that it is a Hesperornis. I've done a little research myself and I am not convinced of his conclusion. Of the Hesperornis pictures I've seen online, it appears that the top jaw lacks teeth at this part of the jaw, whereas my specimen is full of teeth. Additionally, there are two rows of distinctly different teeth on both the lower and upper jaw. One set is larger, more spaced teeth approximately 3mm apart and up to 4mm wide at the base. The larger teeth have all broken slightly and look like little volcanoes protruding from the jaw. The second row of teeth in the same jaw contains much finer and closely spaced teeth - about 0.5mm apart, 1-1.5mm wide, and about 2-3mm long. The two rows of teeth are slightly angled from each other - about 20 degrees or so. Any suggestions? I got a second opinion: Cimolichthyes...? What do you all think? Thanks for your help!

Hi all, I found these recently along Colorado's front range in the Niobrara Fm, about 20 mins southwest of downtown Denver. I am familiar with inoceramus, but these pieces have ridges - something I didn't think inoceramus had. They also have a similar cross-sectional structure with aragonite as the inoceramus fossils I've found, which makes me think it's some other type of clam or bivalve, maybe platyceramus? The largest piece appears to have small attached bivalves. Thanks for your help!