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I found this a few yrs ago and still can't figure out what kind of fossil this is. I'm trying to figure out if this is plant or a different type. It's 2inches wide. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hi everyone, I am pretty new to fossil hunting, and have just started going for plants. Recently, I visited a site in Ambrige, PA, and found abundant plates containing neuropteris and calamites. I split some leftover shale when I got home and found what looked like dried leaf veins tightly sandwiched between the shale. There are several of these structures that consist of a central vein with smaller veins that branch off. These are not fossilized, and are not a part of the rock, as they can be easily brushed off. I just find it hard to believe that an entire modern leaf could get wedged in there. Are these fossils in the making? Has anyone else encountered this? Thanks in advance!

Took my first Cambrian hunt. While I did not find much I did get a positive and a negative of two different trilobite cephalons. I am away for the weekend so unfortunately do not have measurements on these.

Hello to everyone, I have a few fossils that I am trying to identify, when I came upon this forum. I signed up specifically because of this thread lol. Only the old head locals know the name Vanport! I still fish there regularly, usually find a shell fossil or crionid laying around.

I pulled this out of the Mahantango Formation of Pennsylvania a couple weeks ago. It's middle Devonain. TI though as I pulled it out of the scree that it was more of the myriad corals, but looking at it more closely it is most certainly not (although there are a couple Rugosa tucked in there), the structure is all wrong. I was told by one sponge enthusiast that it is definitely sponge. some kind of sponge. I'm a taxonomist at heart, and it drives me nuts if I can't at least narrow something down to a family. The literature on porifera is woefully scant, especially on this coast. Looking at the steinkerns in the holes, it looks like a network of narrow tubes rather than the pores of one big sponge wall. Could this be Amphiporidae? Anyone have any good references?

I was given this fossil from a friend who said it was located from Pennsylvania

I visited a well-studied outcrop of the Silurian Keyser Formation in Altoona PA (USA). This is the historic quarry of the Altoona Furnace, right in the town of Altoona PA. Its a big reach for me (a relative noobie) to go through the tech reports and guides and understand it all. But its fun to try. Anyway, on a recent picture only trip, I stopped by one part of the wall with loads of stromatoporoids. I ran into another forum member and her husband a few days earlier up there. And they pointed out some structures on the top of this wall. I may ask a photographer friend to get better pics, but this was the best I could do with my phone from a safe spot. Besides some bioherm or stromatoporoid, what else might these be? The reef write up includes crinoids, bryazoa, various brachiopods etc

Found this along a long abandoned RR outside Altoona PA (USA). A rather plain side was showing and I whacked it with my hammer expecting to shatter a large piece of glass slag. I was rewarded with a metallic ring and tingling hand. Its very dense, magnetic, and has three obvious planes (cleavage? Crystal growth?) Some of the flat surfaces shine black-iridescent, others gold-iridescent. It's too hard to scratch with my finger nail (I haven't done further Mohs testing yet). Its not hematite because the streak is dark grey to black. I'm pretty sure the rock fell off a rail car, but this track hasn't been used since probably 1900. The USGS Atlas 86 (1989) lists iron lead and zinc as historically worked ores in the area; but the descriptions don't sound like this. But then its along the RR so could be from far away. Is there a site like this but for minerals?

Hello all, I have some excess ferns from St. Clair that I am looking to trade for other fossils. I am happy to do individual trades or group trades (will update this to reflect what is and is not available) I am interested in anything and everything fossil related. Some things that interest me (but not limited to): Dinosaur material (Moroccan specimens are welcome) Reptile material Trilobites Display cases / stands Other offers are welcome PACollection.pdf See attached PDF for ferns currently available I am happy to coat the ferns in a clear coat or leave in the raw state at traders request. Below picture is an example of raw state (top) and clear coated (bottom)

My family and I found this along with a few other fragments in Cambria county Pennsylvania. It was on a gravel bar in the river. Paleozoic I believe. Any ideas?

Took another trip to the Mahantango (Devonian) over the weekend. Went with @Dean Ruocco While my haul was not too terrific, I did manage to grab some stuff to use as trade pieces / donor pieces. Dean did manage to get some nice trilobites but I will let him post those Brachiopod plate: Normally I would leave this as they are a dime a dozen at my locality but figured I would grab this to give to a friend who is trying to get some material to use in a display cabinet at the college he teaches at. Trilobites: Again not the best stuff but always fun to get more bugs. All these I believe to be Eldregeops rana

Hey all, I am really interested in finding some of the southeastern PA track fossils. I realize it is a huge stretch to ask for a locality but figure it is worth a shot to see if anyone wants to share information over PMs regarding locations or other useful information on this area. Thanks in advance!

The State Museum of Pennsylvania has a great fossil hall with some immersive dioramas. Most of it pertains to fossils found within the state of Pennsylvania and is arranged so that visitors can walk through the history of life in chronological order. Despite it not being too far from me, I only first visited a few years ago on spring break. This mastodon is in a side room off the lobby. According to the signage, it was originally in the upstairs gallery but moved to make room for the mastodon skeleton when it was re-mounted. This dunkleosteus cast is accompanied by a real fossil fragment. There was an immersive, walk-through replica of a Carboniferous coal forest, complete with sound effects. This is the original koskinonodon skull that the one at the North Museum is cast from: Interestingly, it's next to a cast of the North Museum's sphodrosaurus skeleton: Next, two large triassic dioramas, with a Redondasaurus skeleton. A diorama of excavation at the famous Ghost Ranch in New Mexico: And a familiar face, CM 11338: The centerpiece of the SMP's collection is the Marshall Creek Mastodon: The mastodon was collected in 1968 but it was re-mounted more recently. It's the most complete mastodon from Pennsylvania at 90%.

I apologize for not providing better photos and size reference (yellow thing beside it is a kayak paddle if that helps) it was much to large and heavy for us to carry out along with the full 5 gallon bucket haha. The last two photos were found in the same place. Again sorry for not having size reference. I promise I'll do better in the future. Any ideas what these could be? Crossing my fingers for petrified bones :-)

As most of y'all know, I enjoy photographing my fossils almost as much as I like finding them! So here are my Best Finds of 2021! No measurements because of "artistic preference" but they are arranged from smallest to largest in each category. I'd love to see your Favorite Finds of 2021 too! Texas Cretaceous: Cretaceous Cont, and Pennsylvanian And Texas Permian, Pleistocene, Eocene and Not Texas

The North Museum in Lancaster, PA, is a relatively small museum near me that's mostly aimed at kids but I enjoy still enjoy visiting. The exhibits are nice and I've seen a good variety over the years, though the limited space means that some exhibits don't always last too long. The whole museum was remodeled in 2014/2015 so there will be a discrepancy between some of the photos. I much prefer the older version I grew up with, since now the exhibits are a lot more generic-looking and less interesting in my opinion. A fossil Psaronius stump sits outside: Upon entering, visitors were greeted by some arctic animals: These were removed during the remodeling, leaving a rotating display case in its place, though more recently the wolves have been put back on exhibit on their own. Fortunately, the pteranodon above the lobby is still there, having gotten a repaint during the remodeling: There's also a case now with pteranodon fossils on the upper gallery overlooking the entryway: Now, for the old dinosaur hall: The T. rex skull was actually a new exhibit back in 2010 when it replaced a phacops trilobite cast and sculpture to join Tony McVey's T. rex. This moa is real. Pachyornis elephantopus, though billed as Dinornis. Several ostrich vertebrae were added to the neck before the correct number of vertebrae was known. This case was redone in 2011 from a dinosaur nest display to dinosaur skulls: There was also a hologram set up of a T. rex skull. I don't know why it's gone or where it went but it was rather unique. Unfortunately, the triceratops skull isn't on display anymore. I don't know its whereabouts but I'm assuming and hoping its still in the museum collections. This section of diplodocus vertebrae was donated to the North Museum by The Carnegie: The door in the upper photo once led into a blacklit room with all kinds of fluorescent minerals and other objects. It was really cool; I'm not sure why the museum did away with it. The wall was taken down and that corner is basically empty now. More recently, a fluorescent booth was added with some rocks inside, but it still doesn't compare to what they had. I took this photo before the skulls went out on exhibit. By chance I was in the downstairs gallery, saw the open door, and was invited into the prep room to see them: Now the dinosaur hall is on the other side of the building and looks like this: Interestingly, the tibia and fibula on the Camarasaurus leg are upside down. The signage even explains the mistake though I don't think there are plans to fix it anytime soon. The North Museum is home to the holotype of Sphodrosaurus pennsylvanicus. This megaloceros was on loan from the ANSP for a couple years. It was re-mounted for the Academy's 200th anniversary exhibit: There are also some cases with fossils which have migrated from the cabinet museum downstairs. Notice the lack of locality information on the signs; I'm not sure why they went without it but it would be more interesting for those unfamiliar to know where they came from. Skolithos linearis, probably from Chiques Rock in Columbia, PA. The room adjacent to the original dinosaur hall was mostly a Native American exhibit, though since it was more open this is also where the museum hosted traveling exhibits. The native American exhibit started with the origins of man, and traced the history of the local Susquehannock Indians through the different time periods. The North Museum has an impressive collection of local artifacts, but unfortunately the exhibit was taken down and the room was left mostly empty with some remnants of the exhibits that once passed through. This is one of the very few photos I've taken of the exhibit. The live animal room was once the first area you could visit from the entrance. It was since moved to the back of the museum. From the old live animal room: And the new one: On one of my visits, an upstairs room was open for quantum levitation demonstrations, and in one of the cases there were these old wood models: After the renovation some were in a case at the beginning of the exhibits but were removed so the space could be used to promote museum events. I think they may have been carved by H. Justin Roddy. He had a portrait painted in which he was holding the mastodon. This nautilus is in a case bordering the discovery room, mostly aimed at young kids with toys and some specimens they can handle. There are some other miscellaneous creatures in that case as well: The downstairs cabinet museum was left almost untouched by the renovation. Half the room has cases with birds and the other half is where most of the rock and mineral displays are. This case of exotic birds has been down in the stairwell for as long as I can remember. There are two of most species as well as a chipmunk. The birds were collected in Honduras and Guiana in 1892. This cabinet has some exotic birds but since it's in the corner the light isn't that great for photos. There's a wolverine down here as well: The North Museum's collections are old enough that a few extinct species are present. The mineral display begins with Pennsylvania minerals. The case starts with minerals found in Lancaster County on the left and moves on to those from farther away. \ Other minerals are organized by classification. There was also a fossil display, but much of it was moved upstairs into the cases in the new dinosaur hall. The fossils which remained downstairs disappeared recently in favor of a gemstone display. Acidaspis cincinattiensis from Swatara Gap, Lebanon County, PA Cryptolithus bellulus, also from Swatara Gap. Wanneria walcottana from Getz's Woods, Lancaster. I've visited the North Museum from time to time since I first went on a class trip there in second grade. It's nice to see the older style displays, especially in the cabinet museum downstairs. While it isn't as great as it used to be, it's certainly worth visiting if you're in the area. I'll try to update this post periodically since there's much more that I have photos of from my visits.