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I collected this piece of placoderm bone a while ago from the Cedar Valley Formation (Middle Devonian) in Iowa. Most bits I've found are just "indeterminate bone bits", but this piece has enough structure that I am hopeful it can be identified to a specific part of the anatomy. It superficially reminds me of a cranial element posted by @Peat Burns a while ago from the Silica Shale in Ohio. However I am too unfamiliar with placoderms to say exactly where this piece of bone might have come from, and I was hoping a forum member might have some input. Thanks for any thoughts. @jdp

Never seen this texture on a brachiopod or bryozoan before. Found in Wisconsin gravel.

Took the long trip to Red Hill for the second time today, my first attempt was fun but I found absolutely nothing and was totally confounded by the site in terms of where to look and what even to look for. This time I returned after a lot of reading and watching and did much better and (I think) found my very first Paleozoic vertebrate fossils! Curious if anyone experienced with the site could tell me about these and if anyone has any collecting (or preparation!) tips for the site. Also if anyone is planning any trips this season I'd love to tag along! First find was broken sadly, but includes a rather large scale (?) and a piece of plate laying on top of it, found in some of the loose boulders at the bottom of the hill that are basically conglomerates of pebbles and loose material, mostly greenish in color with the fossils coming in as bright red (not coming through nearly as nice in the pictures) Next find is a mystery and could be noting, but it's that same reddish material with a clear pattern on it, also includes a plate fragment on the back for a nice bonus. Found in the same material.

At the “Dig with the Experts” earlier this month at Penn Dixie, I found this interesting surface fossil on a block that the on location experts seemed to agree was a placoderm fossil. Approximately 5 inches (12.5cm), it is thin, pigmented and has intermittent perforations or pustules. In an adjacent pile, another more extensive and remarkable set of fossil strips like this presumptive placoderm were found by another rock buster. Anecdotally, it was remarked by staff that these two putative placoderm blocks were excavated from the “same region” of the pit as the apparent Dunkleosteus jaw discovery. Perhaps just a coincidence, but nonetheless an interesting mystery.

We recently moved to a new house, so It has been quite a busy few weeks since we last made a field trip. So I hadn’t much time to post the recent finds. On our last fieldtrip to the Belgian Late Devonian I made an exceptional find that I still wanted to share: I found a large piece of bone sticking out of a nodule. After the preparation and a some research I ‘suspected that the piece was a ADL (anterior dorsal lateral) armor plate from a Dunkleosteus. I’ve sent the pictures to a friend Palaeontologist specialised in Palaeozoic fish who confirmed the ID. Dunkleosteus sp. (ADL) Frasnian Chimay Belgium

Hi everyone! Last weekend I took a couple of days off work for my birthday and I decided to visit a fossil spot in the ardennes which was recently recommended to me because there was a chance to find fossils of primitive plants as well as devonian fish (which is one of my main interests within the hobby). The site is relatively close by as well which was a huge plus as it only took an hour to drive. The fossils in this location date back to the late Devonian, Famennian to be exact (372.2 million years ago to 358.9 million years ago) After searching for a 45 minutes we finally found the top spot with the right layer rich in plant material, here are some in situ pictures of the larger examples (which we didn't extract). If I am correct I believe these are the remains of Rhacophyton condrusorum which is a primitive species of fern if I remember reading once. We were also lucky to find some fossils of devonian fish, which was the main reason for our visit. A lovely small Lungfish (Dipnoi indet) tooth An imprint of a fish scale of bone While it was quite a cold day, it was sunny and we had a quiet afternoon at the spot where we could search in peace.

I went to Penndixie to kill a couple hours and to my surprise laying on the ground was what is been confirmed by a few people as the left inferognathal of a placoderm. Most likely some sort of dunkleostus spc. Honestly my best find to date from that site as well as my first piece of fish from Penndixie.

Hey guys! I have found this great looking Placoderm head fossil and would love to hear what you think. Is it real? Thanks!

I believe this is fish but just wanted to double check

Hi Guys, I recently purchased the placoderm below, it originates from Jebel El Mrakib, Maeder Region, of Morocco, and is dated to the early Famennian of the upper Devonian. The species is Titanichthys termeri. I was trying to do a bit more research on Moroccan placoderms but couldn’t find too much online, I was just wondering how common Placoderm fossils are to the region, any interesting facts about the species and maybe some geological context to the formation (and hopefully the fossil looks authentic – I didn’t notice anything questionable myself but please let me know if you think otherwise!). If anyone has any input that would be much appreciated!

I managed to actually take a vacation last weekend and meet up with our very own Tim and Paul to collect Late Devonian verts from PA. I first met up with Paul at Red Hill. When I first arrived at the site I didnt know the person there was him. So I parked and walked into the ditch at the base of the road-cut and immediately spotted a strange form in a piece fallen from above. As it turned out it was a Gyracanthus spine! Gyracanthus sp. Turns out the mystery collector was Paul, who was kind enough to give me a rundown on the site, its geology, and show me the awesome finds he had been collecting. After being there for twenty minutes I was impressed by Paul's fortitude - it was hot, very hot! Red Hill is a difficult place to collect, with the best stuff coming from only one small band of sediments. One must spend hours removing overburden and working the layers back to find the sparse good finds. Paul is exceptionally well versed in the Upper Devonian Catskill material and is a great guy to collect with, even inspiring me to climb up and join him on the side of the cut. Unfortunately the heat was too much for me and I came down after only a short time. A friend of his stopped by, who had several decades of collecting there. His name was Doug and he took me to the small museum in the nearby town to see the Red Hill material that he had collected there. As soon as I figure out how to upload the photos from my phone I'll share pics of the place..it was neat; there has been some incredible things from that site. Afterwards I returned and met up with Tim there (who is also knowledgeable and fun to collect and hang out with. ) My overall impression of Red Hill: Very interesting site, best visited in the fall or early spring, requires dedication, perseverance and patience though to find the good stuff. The next day I rode with Paul to meet up with Tim, Dave Broussard a Professor at Lycoming College, and another teacher named Chris (I didnt get a chance to speak to Chris much unfortunately.) We met at a quarry near Canton which exposed more of the Catskill. Unlike Red Hill, there were fossils every where! And they were all vertebrate fossils too! My first good find is this plate with numerous juvenile (fingerling) Bothriolepis median dorsal plates and head plates. Bothriolepis sp. I learned later when working on this plate that a partial pectoral is also present (but I havent taken a pic yet.) I also found this tooth (impression) of an unknown lobe fin fish I also found a large section of skull plate most likely from Hyneria Scales are the most common fossil at this site. This is a large example (though I cant remember the genus.) By far my best find is a section of jaw from a ischnacanthid acanthodian. When I found this there was only one other from this site, so I donated it to Dave for his research into these fish. Shortly afterwards one was also found by Paul. The teeth were not separate from the jaw bone in the ischnacanthids, though, they were made of dentin. It is doubtful if they could replace a broken tooth. I'll be adding more finds from the quarry as I finish photographing them and cleaning them. We stayed at the quarry til noon, after which Paul had to leave. Dave was kind enough to show Tim, Chris and myself the location of a productive road cut where many scales and placoderm plates could be found. Though he and Chris left after showing us the site, Tim and I collected for a bit. I did pretty good there (as did Tim.) Pieces of the placoderm Turrisaspis were very common. This is the dorsal median plate of one (the dorsal fin if you will) and close-up part of another one This one has the spiny "leading edge" of the pectoral "fins" as well as a partial plate of the rarer placaderm Phyllolepis With the exception of the Phyllolepis bit, all are Turrisaspis sp. Heres an awesome model of Turrisaspis by C. Fredrick Mullison As I work on trimming the blocks I keep making accidental finds, Like these partial Hyneria teeth The top tooth is 1.5cm and the bottom is 13mm. Hyneria sp. And these unidentified fish teeth are fairly common as well . They are considerably smaller and more round for piercing unlike the hyneria teeth which have a sharp edge on the blade. Its not uncommon for the tips to break Thats it for now, Ill keep posting pics as I clean them.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of hunting with my rock club in central Iowa. I found what I think is placoderm, though there was multiple opinions given to me. Nothing earth shattering, but exciting for me! Can you help clarify the ID of the specimens? The last piece broke revealing more "placoderm" inside.

I recently discovered this in the Devonian Onondaga Formation of Ontario and am thinking it’s either a Placoderm or a Onychodontid based off the armour like texture which does not match any coral in the formation, their is also the presence of odd spine like structures. Any idea if it is one of these species?

Hello. I was wondering if I could get some opinions on the authenticity of this Dunkleosteus jaw. The jaw is coming from the Devonian of Morocco. It measures 12" long by 4" tall. The seller indicates that only the tip of the jaw was restored, but I suspect that the restoration may extend further. Thank you for your help. @Mioplosus_Lover24 Care to weigh in? Thanks.