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https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-03/lm-pda030119.php

https://www.geek.com/news/scientists-discover-tiny-fossils-of-oldest-known-frog-relative-in-north-america-1776396/?source=science

On to the Dinos. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found some helpful information here about the Triassic fossil material from Bull Canyon before we started collecting the fossils so I knew going in that some of the dinosaur stuff may not be dinosaur at all or at least it may not be the dinosaur that they are sold as. The fossils are educational so we will present them as we purchased them while noting the uncertainty in documenting our collection. We want to do what we do with the sharks and start our programs as far back in the evolutionary line as we can get. Bull Canyon gives us possible dinosaur fossils that represent very early dinosaurs. The kids will likely not know much about early dinosaurs so these fossils are important in giving us that bridge. We bought three very small, and inexpensive, "Coelophysis" teeth. One of them looks that it could be a dinosaur tooth while the other two are probably not. I found a great piece by Troodon here that outlined what to look for in Bull Canyon teeth and using his profile of what to look for from a dinosaur tooth from Bull Canyon, I contacted the dealer I bought them from. He is going to find us one that fits that profile so I feel good that we will have one or two Triassic Theropod teeth. If they are actually Coelophysis or not is not a concern. That is the species we are presenting to the kids because they are such a well known early dinosaur. The kids can learn more about them on their own and they may get really interested in early dinosaurs if we can connect them to one. It gives a an opportunity to touch on basic theropod biology and get into evolution. We also got a small and inexpensive "Prosauropod" tooth. I did know before buying it that no diagnostic prosauropod fossils had been found in Bull Canyon. I can accept that this one is unlikely to be prosauropod but we are still going to present it as one because the kids will really enjoy hearing about the forerunners of the very well known Long necks. I do not have all the science info set for this part of the presentation. I am still learning about early dinosaurs. I do not think we will be able to add much to this part of the dinosaur program. There does not seem to be a lot of fossil material available so i think this will have to be enough. Pic 1 our tiny collection of tiny Triassic "dinosaur" teeth.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-02-08/triassic-pappochelys-rosinae-turtle-bone-cancer-palaeontology/10788712 https://www.livescience.com/64711-ancient-turtle-bone-cancer.html https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2723578?guestAccessKey=36a3caee-1474-4c66-88e0-e38dc4e8304d

After the Hybodontids, our program starts to transition toward the modern sharks. We introduce lamniform sharks and the cow sharks. We will not be able to spend much time at all on the Cow and Crow Sharks. They only get a brief introduction and a look at the teeth. Squalicorax is an important species for us even though we do not spend a lot of time on it. The students in first few classes we do presentations for will be going home with Squalicorax teeth from Morocco. We would like to spend more time on the Cow sharks eventually but we only have one tooth to show them and we will have to edit content to free up space for them but I will work on that down the road. The primary focus in this section is Scapanorhynchus. The first shark art Carter did was a Goblin and we do give them a lot of time in the presentaton. They look cool and have been around for a long time. We present the kids with a nice assortment of teeth and some cool science. The teeth were important adaptations for catching fish and the snout had the ampullae of Lorenzini for sensing changes in the electro magnetic fields around them. We compare this to the modern hammerhead which we do not cover in the program but gives the kids a sense of how the adaptations of hammerheads work. We also talk about fin structure and being able to tell they were slow swimmers. The extend-o-matic jaw is another adaptation we cover with this species. I am happy with the fossil representations for now though I really want to add more Cow Shark fossils at some point and Anomotodon would also be a good addition. The fossils for the presentation.. Pic 1 Hexanchus andersoni from STH. I know H. andersoni should chronologically fit later but Cow Sharks fit here and this is the only one we have for now. Pic 2- Squalicorax pristodontus from Morocco. This is our largest Squalicorax tooth. The kids will get these teeth to take home so while we do not spend a lot of time on them, the teeth are very important to the program. Pic 3- Scapnorhynchus texanus and Scapanorhynchus puercoensis. Our nice little Goblin Shark display with some of our best teeth. Two of the texanus teeth are over 1.5 inches and the puercoenisis teeth are uncommon I believe and pretty super cool.

Our last post left off just before the Permian so this is where the students will learn about the series extinction events known as The Great Dying. One of the really interesting points in shark evolution is the survival of sharks during this period. They survived by adapting to a vastly different climate and a much different aquatic world. This is when the Hydobonts really emerge and the age of the modern shark starts. The first species we cover are the xenacanthids. We originally placed the Eel Sharks in the Golden Age of Sharks section but I wanted to illustrate that some that while a few xenacanthid sharks survived the Permian extinction, they died off shortly after. They were apex predators in freshwater ecosystems until 266 mya. The adaptations we hit on are the forked teeth and eel like body. Despite being an apex predator and some initially surviving the Permian, they were unable to survive long term either due to being unable to adapt to long term changes in the aquatic environments they formally dominated or were out competed by animals better adapted or both. The Hybodonts first start appearing in the fossil record in the Carboniferous era and much of the diversity of the family was lost during Permian but Hybodonts would became the dominant shark of the Triassic and lasted until the Miocene. They were varied in form, size, and habitat. Hybodont sharks lived in freshwater environments and marine environments. They are known from fossil formations that are shallow and deep. They evolved to fill a variety of ecological niches. They had different kinds of teeth for different kinds of prey. We specifically touch on Hybodus obtusus, Lissodes minimus, and the tiny, fairly recently described Reticulodus synergus as those are the species we have. My son's early sketch of Reticulodus is super cool. Given that this is smallest shark we are discussing, the art work is the hook more than the micro fossil. This is the one spot in the shark program that is a little visually underwhelming from a fossil standpoint. We have only a few small items so it lacks the visual appeal of the weirdness of earlier sharks and the WOW effect of the giant sharks that follow. This is a very fixable issue for us. I found a source for Orthacanthus teeth and we are planning on picking up a nice dentition set to go with our partial spine. Carter drew his Orthacanthus in a position that will match the dentition and spine when we have the teeth. A weakness now will be a visual strength in a month or two. I would really love to pick up an Anstercanthus tooth and spine too. They seem to be out there on the market from time to time. We plan on grabbing a few more Lissodes teeth and Reticulodus teeth too. A number of small teeth can make a nice display. Here are the fossils we currently have for the presentation Pic 1 Orthacanthus texanus tooth and partial spine of an unidentified Orthacanthus. Both are from Oklahoma I believe. Pic 2 Hybodus obtusus tooth. A small tooth and one that needs some additional material. Pic 3 A picture of all the fossils for the presentation including Lissodes minimus and Reticulodus synergus. Yup the dots are cool shark teeth lol I actually love the tiny sharks and this will be one of my favorite spots in the presentation because we deliver these right before we get into the giant animals that follow.

Back in November of last year, my son and I decided to start our own education non-profit. We wanted to combine his artwork, my teaching skills, and real fossils to create a museum on wheels that takes fun field trips to the classrooms. We had shark teeth and marine mammal fossils so we started building education programs around those. I am very satisfied where those two programs are at though I would love to expand the number of shark species we can present but that is a story for a different day. We knew we would need to get a dinosaur program going at some point but I know nothing about dinosaur fossils so I did not want to start collecting yet. My plan was to wait until late spring or early summer to start building our collection. A friend gave us two hadrosaur teeth and a Hypselosaurus egg shell piece in December so our program got started earlier than planned. As we do with every decision, my son and I talked about picking up a few bargain dinosaur fossils while we tightened up the other programs which are debuting in March. One of the first things I did was join TFF. I was very intimidated by dinosaur fossils and I hoped this place would help me educate myself. I have been a quiet observer so far and have not engaged very much with the dinosaur experts here. I have read a lot of posts and this has been so incredibly helpful. Utilizing the expertise of the members here has also saved me money and stopped me from making one unwise purchase. I have only picked up a few dinosaur items up to this point but without being on this site, I doubt I would have made any attempt at starting this particular collection so soon. I am very grateful for the forum and its members because a lot of people really want to help. I quickly learned that our presentation will be centered on the Hell Creek fauna and we can augment it with some African dinosaurs. After a bit of window shopping, it became apparent right away that Jurassic period dinosaurs were simply too expensive for us. There is no way we will be able to purchase any and trades are unlikely as we just do not have much material that would have much trade value. I can live with this though. If we focus on the T-rex/Ceratopsian fauna of Hell Creek we are giving kids species they know plus introducing them to new species which I am totally cool with. We also decided we could talk Triassic dinosaurs with kids using Bull Canyon fossils. Now I am an avid reader here so I am aware that there is some debate about the species that are found in Bull Canyon and how things are labeled by dealers but I did pick some up because we want to teach kids about the evolution of dinosaurs and to give them a few species that have never heard of. I can not be sure if the teeth I have are Coelophysis teeth but we are still going to present them as such to the students because it is an opportunity to get to early dinosaurs. Same goes for a "prosauropod" tooth we purchased. We are not going to sell the fossils so the correct ID is less important to us than being able to at least have a representation of early dinosaurs for the kiddos. Our early efforts were given a huge boost when a member here helped broker a transaction between another member which resulted in us having a very nice partial T-rex and a Nano. This was huge for us. We got the centerpiece species and it was super affordable. I am still in a bit of shock to be honest and incredibly grateful. We also picked up some inexpensive Hell Creek Triceratops teeth. I found a nice Saurornitholestes from Judith River which gives us a "raptor" fossil for the kids. I got an inexpensive Moroccan sauropod tooth which gives us a "long neck" that we can use. It is really not a bad start in my eyes. We picked some species that we really wanted to include. We also have begun to find some teeth that kids can handle in the form of partial or shed Ceratopsian teeth and inexpensive Spinosaurus teeth from Morocco. I only made one questionable decision. I did not use TFF and ended up misidentifying a tooth. This led us to having two Richardoesstesia gilmorei teeth. We really did not need two fossils from this species but it was a learning experience. I learned that I need keep studying, learning and using the forum. Had I put it here first, instead of testing my own skills, I would not have picked it up . I would have filled another need in the program. Lesson learned and the upside is that I do have a dinosaur fossil I can possibly trade. It is not much for trade I am sure, but maybe I can use it to get a fossil that fills a hole in the program. The most important thing I have learned so far is that I really enjoy collecting dinosaur fossils. I am hooked. I was never a dinosaur kid myself. I preferred sharks and whales but I am really captivated by dinosaurs now. I have been cramming my brain with scientific information about dinosaurs and my son is really enjoying getting a start on his dino artwork. We have a long way to go before we are ready to unleash our budding dino education program. I have a long way to go with my own knowledge too. I do know it will be a lot of fun to learn and I am looking forward to getting more interactive with the dinosaur collectors here. We have settled on the next round of dinosaurs to add (Acheroraptor, Ankylosaur, Pachycephalosaurus, a Troodontid, plus more Ceratopsian material) and they seem attainable so I am excited to get to work on those in the near future. I also learned there are species from the Hell Creek formation that are awesome but we will never have due to price or rarity lol Dakotaraptor is #1 on that list but the avian dinosaurs are not far behind. All things considered, I am super happy with our tiny dinosaur collection and I am really enjoying the hunt for more !!

Need help identifying the following fragment. Took it out of the limestone in the locality Theokafta of the Argolis Peninsula, near the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (Greece, eastern Peloponnesus). The limestone contains condensed ammonoid beds of the Hallstatt facies (Triassic: Anisian–Ladinian). Since I've never seen an ammonite with a cigar shaped ending and the belemnite fossils I've see so far are bullet shaped, I would really appreciate your opinion on the matter! The size is 5cm and diameter 1,5 to 2cm.

Here are a few pics from our hunt for Triassic fossils in the central NC area.

Need help identifying the following ammonites. Found these fragments in limestone, in the locality Theokafta of the Argolis Peninsula, near the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus (Greece, eastern Peloponnesus). The limestone contains condensed ammonoid beds of the Hallstatt facies (Triassic: Anisian–Ladinian). The size of A is about 8 cm and B is about 6cm (which woyld probably make it about 10-12cm if complete). Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Hi there. Found this rock a few months back, assuming for the moment that it's a monotis sp which are pretty common to Triassic marine sediments here in NZ. Any other opinions would be appreciated.