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  1. Conley

    New member

    Hi guys my names Conley. My kids and I live in SE Colorado and have been digging and finding sharks teeth and various other fossils. Since we started looking 4 years ago we have found 300 teeth in a 1 acre spot. Some of the other fossils we have found we are not real sure what they have came from.
  2. Jared C

    Ptychodus occidentalis

    From the album: Texas Cenomanian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus occidentalis Uppermost middle Cenomanian Texas My most spectacular Ptychodus tooth, which I almost didn't find. I was finishing the day, and then decided to remove one last slab of sandstone before moving on. It is a decently sized tooth for the species, at 22 mm (0.87 inches) tall and 19 mm (0.75 inches) wide.
  3. Jared C

    Ptychodus whipplei

    From the album: Texas Coniacian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus whipplei Coniacian Texas
  4. Well, it's taken me a lot longer than I thought it would to write the second part of this trip report, mostly because I've been busy with school and several trips to other places across Texas collecting fossils, but also because I must have made about nine trips to the particular Eagle Ford formation creek site I wrote about in the first post. I've got a lot I could say, but I'll narrow it down to just the most exciting finds - I've still got another trip report covering two trips I took to Jacksboro/Mineral Wells and Post Oak Creek to write as soon as I'm done with this one! I'll link that first trip report here for anyone that wants to read it: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/126948-texas-shark-tooth-extravaganza/&tab=comments#comment-1377551 As I had located the specific lense in the shale with the most shark teeth on the very same day that I discovered the site, the next couple trips were spent breaking it up further and seeing what else I could find in the exposed sections. Although I came away with a respectable haul of nicely-preserved teeth I didn't find anything I hadn't already found before. Getting bored of finding the same Ptychodus and Squalicorax teeth I decided to climb up the small and now-dry waterfall that stemmed from a creekbed sitting almost on top of the shark teeth lense in the shale. I figured that it would be easier to look down and break up the rock layers than to look up at them above my head and hope they didn't land on me when ever I pulled out another chunk. Here's a picture of the site with the waterfall to the left. You can follow the bentonite seam from the right to the left with your eyes to see where the lense crops up in the creekbed (it's the sort of dark crevice just above the waterfall ledge). Very quickly I was rewarded for my exploration as I pulled out the largest Ptychodus tooth I had ever seen (at the time - a little hint as to what I'll be talking about in my Post Oak Creek trip report ). I'm generally pretty clueless when it comes to identifying most Ptychodus down to the species level, so if anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it! Here's an in-situ picture: And another picture taken after I had broken it out of its rocky prison: With my enthusiasm rekindled I kept digging through the shale and was rewarded by another Ptychodus tooth, even larger than the last, that actually popped out directly into my hand before I had even seen it. I didn't get a picture at the time but it is in this photo I took after I got home. It has some really interesting surface wear that I reasoned was probably accrued during the shark's lifetime. Directly behind where I found the two Ptychodus teeth was the find of the day and maybe even the find of the year, although I didn't know it at the time. This is a picture of it still in-situ if anyone wants to take a guess as to what it was: It was a mosasaur vertebra! And the largest piece of bone I had found at the site so far, many times larger than the coniasaur vert from the previous trip. This is what it looked like out of the shale back home when viewed from the bottom: One of the transverse processes can be seen on the right as well as the two attachment points for the haemal arch, which is sort of like the spine that's on top of each vertabra but located on the bottom in the vertebrae that make up the tail. Now at the time I didn't think this individual vertebra was anything special. I had found mosasaur vertebrae before at the North Sulphur River, many of which were much larger than this one and in much better condition. I was pleasantly surprised that I had found one at this site but didn't think much of it and so it was pocketed to be looked at later. It wasn't until I got home and had a conversation with @Jared C who is much more informed when it comes to the Eagle Ford than myself that I realized this one bone might be much more important. That's because I had initially assumed that I was looking at the contact between the Eagle Ford and the Austin Chalk, making this particular shark tooth lense I had discovered the famous Atco contact. Mosasaurs are rare in Turonian age rocks but certainly not unheard of (Jared himself even found one two years ago!). But after reading several different university publications on this particular site I realized that this spot wasn't the contact between the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk, but actually entirely Eagle Ford rock - specifically a subunit that placed it in the lower half of the formation. This meant that this one bone had come from the Cenomanian, not the Turonian, making it slightly older than the oldest known basal mosasaurines, both of which are also from Texas - Russellosaurus and Dallasaurus. Still not believing that I could have possibly been this lucky, I emailed Dr. Polcyn at SMU to get his opinion. He was the one to actually first describe both Russellosaurus and Dallasaurus and so I figured if anyone could tell me whether or not what I had found was significant it would be him. Jared has a pretty good relationship with Dr. Polcyn from his own mosasaur discovery so he was able to tell him to be on the lookout for my email. After a short exchange in which Dr. Polcyn expressed his interest in seeing the vertebra in person we arranged for me to meet him north of Dallas at a plesiosaur dig both he and Jared would be involved in. Meeting Dr. Polcyn was incredible. I've known of him for a long time since mosasaurs have always been my favorite prehistoric animal and he's definitely one of the leading researchers as far as they're concerned. I even remember seeing him interviewed for the news in 2005 when the Dallasaurus discovery was first made public and begging my grandparents to take me to the Dallas Museum to see their mosasaur skeletons. Dr. Polcyn was very interested in the vertebra when he saw it in person and asked me if I would be willing to donate it to SMU alongside the two Ptychodus teeth I had found next to it as they might be useful for dating purposes. I of course said yes as donating a fossil I had found to science has probably been my dream since I could first talk. We made plans for me to go back to the site and collect a large sample of the bentonite from the seam located beneath where I found the vertebra so it can be dated by SMU and the age of the bone confirmed. The bentonite being present at the site is extremely fortunate as it is one of the most conducive materials to dating sedimentary strata. Rounding out my finds for the day that I found the mosasaur vertebra was a pycnodont fish mouthplate: And also another nice coniasaur vertebra (I actually found several more but this was the best and the only one I got a good picture of): Not all of the animals I saw at the site were dead and many millions of years old though. In the same vicinity as the mosasaur vertebra was a toad that I had clearly disturbed in my search for associated bones. I apologized for my intrusion and replaced the front door to his little hole that I had inadvertently dug up. A much less welcome sight than the toad was an absolutely massive wolf spider that I spotted on a clump of shale I had been just about to pick up. On my way back to my car I finally spotted the pack of hogs that been so kind as to create a trail through the woods for me to follow on my first trip. I gave them a wide berth and continued on my way. This site has become one of my favorites, not only because of what I've found there but because I discovered it on my own after a lot of geologic map studying and old paper reading. I can finally say I understand Jared's Eagle Ford obsession! Until next time, - Graham
  5. MegaceropsAreCool

    Fossil Sponge and Shark

    From the album: Custom Fossil Displays

  6. Jared C

    Ptychodus marginalis

    From the album: Texas Turonian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus marginalis Likely Turonian Texas A massive P. marginalis tooth found in float. This is my largest Ptychodus tooth find to date. Though badly worn and found in float, odds are overwhelmingly in favor of Turonian (as opposed to cenomanian) age for this specimen.
  7. Jared C

    Ptychodus mortoni

    From the album: Texas Coniacian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus mortoni tooth Coniacian Texas
  8. Jared C

    Ptychodus whipplei

    From the album: Texas Coniacian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus whipplei Coniacian Texas Found in float, but definitely originating in the Atco member of the the Austin Chalk
  9. Jared C

    Ptychodus cf. latissimus

    From the album: Texas Coniacian (Cretaceous)

    Ptychodus cf. latissimus Coniacian Texas
  10. Jared C

    Texas Creek (Early October, 2021)

    I went on this hunt about two weeks ago, but only am getting around to posting it now. It was a great day at a new spot close to my usual stomping grounds. I was hunting under a bridge the week before when someone walking the path next to it asked if I had any luck - his name was Leo, and we actually recognized each other as both of us have posted about some of our finds on reddit before. (PS - pardon the picture quality, most of these are screenshots from video) He invited me to hunt with him at a spot of his on the same creek close by sometime. I was of course quite curious about where that could be, as I thought I've already done some pretty boisterous trekking along this creek before in pursuit of fossils. Since he immigrated a couple years ago, he passed time walking his dog along this creek, and discovered there were fossils around that way. After training his eye a bit more than a year and half (about twice as long as me!) he's practically mastered this stretch of creek, and he's yielded a few fantastic spots. We shared some spots in common, but those that I didn't know about far exceeded my expectations for this creek. We chose a cool weekend, a week after a strong storm. I didn't film or take any pictures until about an hour in, but there were a couple small cretaceous teeth, and a nice quality bison tooth. All his finds. After an hour or so, I was finally getting into the rhythm of things. It usually takes an hour or so for me to break into a new spot, and to start spotting things. My first real find set the tone for the rest of the day: Here it is insitu: And once I pulled it out: This was my second Mosasaur tooth (likely Tylosaur) from the Ozan around here. My other one is larger, and better preserved, but this nonetheless had both of us blowing our tops off with excitement. About 5 seconds after picking this up, Leo picked up another tooth, this time Scapanorynchus, sitting 10 inches away. It's an epic memory On the same gravel bed, Leo then found our target for the day. He showed me some of the Ptychodus specimens he's found at this spot - all large, perfectly preserved, and from several different species. I was really crossing my fingers for one of equal stature this day. Leo, maybe about 10 minutes after our mosasaur meltdown, then pulls this beauty out of the gravel: It's a little more worn than his others, and this one is much darker, but still great quality and HUGE in my eyes. I know Ptychodus mortoni can sometimes get substantially larger, but this is by far still the best tooth I've ever laid eyes on. It's also in better condition than this screenshot implies. The air was electric now - the energy for at least two hours afterwards was full throttle, as we both were expecting to turn our head any minute and make the next great find. Here are some highlights (chunkasaur piece from me, the great Mosy vert from Leo) (Piece of what would've been a great Ptychodus from me) (Great Bison tooth from Leo - I have NEVER managed to find a completely black bison tooth from this area. I've found maybe 10 or 11, all at various stages of preservation, but never a fully fossilized (black or orange) tooth. Quite jealous! These seem to be casual finds for Leo!) (Squalicorax hiding in the gravel from me) (Some chunks like this are strangely reminiscent of wood, rather than bone... could this be petrified driftwood?) (Enchodus palatine from me) (Scapanorynchus - ol' faithful) (Particularly wrinkly mammal enamel - not so sure of my initial ID of bison I had in mind ) (Cretolamna (I think) sitting in the gravel, from me - I'll gladly be corrected if I'm wrong) Then, Leo made the next great find. If we were fired up before, NOW we were in another dimension... two big mosasaur teeth in 40 minutes!?? This was nuts! We moved maybe 20 more meters up again - this was all still on the same bend of the creek. Leo was hoping for arrowheads this whole time - me not as much - before this day they didn't really interest me... but all it took was one good find. Here was my first point of the day, and my second point ever - first insitu and then in hand. It was ID'd as a "Darl", and would've tipped an Atlatl dart. The age is between 1,000-3,000 years. A few meters away, Leo found this rib with strong signs of preservation, but not fossilized yet - It was quite late in the afternoon, and Leo still wanted to get me to a big exposure he thought I'd like. On the way there, we chatted, with me learning a bit about points while he learned a bit about fossils. We finally made it to a grandiose exposure - the tallest one of it's nature I've ever seen. Dark clays and shales filled the bottom half, and I'm sure this was where many of the fossils we found were washing down from. Ironically enough, it was not Cretaceous stuff that stood out here . I found my third point- this one broken in half. It's a "Perdenales", and is between 2,000-3,000 years old Close by, there was a large bone half buried in the gravel - I think it's the lower leg bone of a bison, that would be below the knee: And last but not least, some other finds we made heading back before the sun went down. One of the bison teeth I found, with phosphate starting to leech in the cracks of enamel to begin the fossilization process, the top of a point that Leo found, and a completely bizarre deep red piece of mammal enamel (I assume Bison). The picture doesn't do it justice - it's deeply blood red. It was a great day, and I'm grateful to Leo for showing me around his hunting grounds. Can't wait to see what last nights storm will do for this place!
  11. Hello, my friends. This tooth was found in Ternopil region of Ukraine. Cenomanian stage
  12. TSCannon

    Ptychodus IDs? Central Texas

    Hi all - found a small outcrop in an area mapped as “Eagle Ford Group and Buda Limestone undivided.” I filled a plastic bag with crumbly matrix and have so far found 2 Ptychodus teeth amongst other shark and fish teeth and fragments. Can anyone help narrow down an ID on these two? I’ve also included a photo of some of the matrix I gathered. Curious if anyone can tell the age or more details based on its appearance and the IDs of these teeth. Thanks!
  13. I took off yesterday morning and drove to a Grayson County creek, one of my previous hunted and favorite spots. It was my first fossil hunting trip since early in the year. I haven't posted here since October of last year, and had made only a couple of trips where I didn't find much since then. And, truth be told, when I'm not hunting, I'm not browsing the forum either, hence my long absence. The multiple meniscus tears in my left knee finally became too much to allow for hiking creeks, so I stopped hunting. I finally had knee surgery May 2nd, but have not been able to kneel on that knee again until very recently. The past few weeks, I have felt like that, with a bit of extra padding, I could use my knee pads again, but with daily temperatures from 105 to 110 degrees, I have just not been willing to fossil hunt. Finally, yesterday was cooler, so off I went. Here are some in situ photos. That first photo has two teeth.
  14. Even after having a night to sleep on the fact, I'm still in shock. I was tempted to not even go on this trip since part of me wanted my plesiosaur tooth from last week's Woodbine adventure to be my final impression on North TX. The other part of me wanted one last crack at the Kamp Ranch and a new potential site. It's fine to return to already known locations, but I was thirsting for one more journey into unknown territory where the risk of failure is greater, but the taste of victory is sweeter. After swimming/wading a ways, I found the first small outcrop of Kamp Ranch. I've had some previous experience with this layer in the past, and the knowledge I picked up from then proved useful. While most of the outcrop was relatively devoid of vertebrate material, there was a thin pasty layer cemented to the underside of the thickest limestone that proved to be rich in teeth. I pried out the odd Ptychodus tooth here and there, but pretty soon I was out of real estate. The thick limestone slab looked precarious and the rest of the pasty matrix I was after was nestled deep in the crumbly wall. Noticing the slick shale beneath my feet, I decided jumping away from an avalanche was out of the question and it was time to move on. Ptychodus from the outcrop. All P. anonymous except the top right which may be a P. marginalis(?) lateral. On the walk over to the next outcrop, I made sure to scan the loose pieces of Kamp Ranch matrix scattered about. Most of them were only comprised of oyster bits and Collignoniceras woollgari impressions, but once in awhile there would be some shark. I went for a rock with a shiny black Ptychodus anonymous that had caught my eye. As I dug it out to have a closer look, I saw there was a tiny tan mosasaur situated next to it! Unfortunately it's cracked and in super hard material. If I try to bust it out, it will probably explode! Ptychodus anonymous and mosasaur tooth (Russelosaurine?) Just a few feet further I found an absolute heartbreaker. I could see black striations coming from the edge of a slab and my hopes shot up. As I turned the rock, I realized it was a shattered piece of a pliosaur tooth . Don't even think it's worth keeping... Pliosaur tooth, likely Brachauchenius lucasi I picked up my pack and headed to the last outcrop of Kamp Ranch. I was relieved to see the thick limestone was much more secure. As I examined underneath, I had my mind set on small Ptychodus teeth when I almost fell on my back from surprise. Cemented to the slab was a truly astonishing sight: Pliosaur Tooth! If that wasn't crazy enough, just centimeters below was a limb bone jutting out. I got out my excavating gear and carefully went to work. I don't carry b72 in the field, so each tooth fragment was extracted separately. Afterwards, the bone slid out pretty cleanly. I didn't find other similar material, so I'm not sure if the two are associated or it's just coincidence. Maybe someone familiar with reptile anatomy can say if the bone came from a pliosaur. The tooth came in 6 pieces Once I was home, I got straight to cleaning and gluing. The fragments had held up alright along the journey thankfully and the prep went smoothly. By the end, I was holding up the newest and greatest tooth in my collection! It is most likely Brachauchenius lucasi although Megacephalosaurus eulerti is also a rarer possibility (I don't have access to the paper distinguishing their dentition). Both of these pliosaurs represent the youngest pliosaurids in the fossil record which adds some extra coolness factor. That Woodbine plesiosaur tooth (possible basal Polycotylid) I found last week is interestingly tied evolutionarily with the demise of pliosaurs such as B. lucasi. Polycotylids had traditionally been placed in Pliosauridae until more recent findings moved them to Plesiosauroidea instead. This confusion is likely due to convergent evolution. As pliosaurs disappeared in the aftermath of the Cenomanian-Turonian Anoxic Event, it seems some Polycotylids evolved to fill a similar niche, moving away from gracile dentition (like my Woodbine specimen) and into a more robust form similar to B. lucasi. At least that is how I understand it. Brachauchenius lucasi most likely The second half of the neat discoveries is this reptile bone I found several centimeters below the tooth. I'm not sure it's associated. The high energy nature of the Kamp Ranch makes me wonder if it was just coincidence. Anyways, it seems to be a limb bone. If you look closely, you can see toothy scrapes that are probably from scavenging sharks. I tried to look for signs of serrated teeth, but I didn't see anything obvious. Some of the attached matrix is vertebrate rich with tons of little fish verts and other goodies. Anyone know if this is pliosaur in origin? @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Reptile Limb Bone So glad I decided to have one last exploration before my move. I guess it's not like I will never hunt in North TX again, it's just that it will be much, much more rare. I've added so many new, fun, and interesting sites to my list this past half year, I'm a bit sad to leave them all behind. At the same time, I'm itching with excitement to make new discovers in the southern half of our big state. It won't be easy though! Look forward to more trip reports in the not-so-distant future . Thanks for reading
  15. These past few days, I've been running around North Texas to a handful of sites, some old some new. The reason for occasion was the arrival of a couple of our own forum members to the DFW metroplex, my current stomping grounds. I was excited to show off a few of my favorite sites and have the opportunity to explore something new in a short span of time. One of my first forum friends ( @Jackito ) had some work to do in Dallas along with a couple afternoons to kill for fossil hunting. I decided to take him to a couple of spots that had fossils unlike anything found down in Austin. Our first stop was at my new Woodbine outcrop one sunny evening. The pocket did not disappoint this time around and Carter found himself a nice Cretodus, Cretoxyrhina, and several croc teeth! I didn't have the most luck, but I've got a baggie of the rubble that is promising for micros or so I hope. We finished the final hour of sunlight at my ole Pawpaw site. I was hoping we could score a bunch of crab carapaces, but we got a bit skunked in that department. Plenty of complete Engonoceras ammonites and crab claws were had at least. I sent Carter off to a Kamp Ranch site for the following day. I haven't seen his finds from there just yet, but I heard it was a good hunt. Another forum member friend, @LSCHNELLE coincidentally visited DFW this weekend. Anyone familiar with him knows that he is the craziest ptychodus fanatic on the forum. He and I had been planning a Paraptychodus expedition for awhile and Saturday was set to be the day. Before that though, we made a visit to my Atco site in hopes of scoring some Early Coniacian Ptychodus. Sadly, we got completely skunked and almost had serious trouble when a giant tree limb fell just feet away from us. A Long Story Short Lee had some secret intel on a possible site where we could find the elusive Paraptychodus washitaensis, the oldest species of Ptychodontiformes. When we met up, I told him I had a good feeling about our chances to which he agreed. We spent the morning walking around the place looking for any indication that we were in the right area, but nothing seemed to match. After finding a whole lot of nothing three hours in, I could sense that we were both beginning to feel defeated. Instead of calling it quits there, however, we decided to change our focus and take a long shot at another spot. As we walked along the new outcrop, I searched the exposure while Lee poked through the talus. Things were going smoothly as we began to find the usual Duck Creek stuff including a pretty little shark tooth. The atmosphere was very serene, but that took a quick turn when I heard Lee excitedly shout, "PARAPTYCHODUS!". I almost couldn't believe it at first, but then I saw the unmistakable transverse ridges of the oldest Ptychodontiformes known to science. We were filled with a renewed energy and got straight back to hunting. Pretty soon I came across my own smaller Paraptychodus specimen and an extra half of a tooth on top. After a handful of smaller shark tooth discoveries we were nearing the end of Lee's visit as he had a long way to go back to Austin. We turned around and started making our way back the route we came. The majority of the fossils had been in the talus, but I took an ambitious path looking at the exposure. I focused on a darker spot of interest in the wall that I had initially written off as just another oyster. As I looked closer, I saw its wrinkled surface and hollered for Lee to come over. In my hands was a pristine and quite large Paraptychodus tooth! It was more than anything I could've hoped for! My best Paraptychodus washitaensis (mesial tooth) My first Paraptychodus washitaensis. Note the preserved root Posterior Paraptychodus washitaensis A vert I think is sea turtle? A strange fish jaw. Any ideas?
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