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Showing results for tags 'turtle'.
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I have a rock or something that looks like no others in the place I found it Vancouver Washington.I dug up my yard to plant new lawn and found a bunch of different bones and teeth, I think from comparison to other dinosaurs bones and teeth that most are from turtles, I found a lot of turtle shells and Spurs,I need to get help on identification, I have small and large and I know you usely don't find a lot of the same shape rocks , but that's what I have been finding, how do I get help with my finds?
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I recently found this turtle shell fragment in a Plio-Pleistocene shell and limestone deposit in South Florida. It has more detail than many pieces that I find and although it might be a shot in the dark, maybe someone with more expertise than I, can identify from which type of turtle? Thanks Mike
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This has me stumped, Its fram Java Indonesia, it came in a lot with some small shark teeth, fish teeth and sting ray barb... i assume its fish related? looks like to small tusk like pertrusions, other guess was turtle related, would be great to hear from anyone thats seen anything like this before. Thanks
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Hi all! Went on another expedition to flag ponds in Calvert MD the other day, had probably one of my best hunts so far in the formation. in total I found 112 teeth, 51 shark, 59 ray, 2 bony fish. I yelled in excitement when I found this one in the shell bed, blending into the grays. There's only two things this tooth could belong to and one of them is a shark I have been hunting for years. I am leaning towards Meg in my ID, as the break line seems to go across the middle where the chevron would be, in addition to the profile of the tooth is girthier than the hastalis I have found. Just to make sure i am not falling for seeing what I want to see. I have shown it here. fragment measures about 1 inch on the diagonal. here is a Burrfish puffer fossil i found in the sifter. for the bones I have a couple more that I am unsure of the ID. this one might be a turtle shell or a reptile bone of some sort? it cant be a cookie I dont think because the ridges are not as pronounced. this bone is odd, because it look slike it has a flat surface on both sides. which makes me wonder what part of the cetacean this migh tbelong to. also, there is a scratch on the sidethat might be a possible predation mark? this one is a carcharhinus tooth I found that seems to have a pathology. the tip is bent outward and up. possibly some other species? this looks to me to be the process of a fish vertebra. I am not sure what this is, but my gut tells me its a fish fossil, these bones both have a similar look/ profile which tells me its a common type of fragment. any ideas? bird bone? it doesnt look to be bog iron, and its shape rules out fish or mammal fish vertebra? anyway, your expertise as always is appreciated! let me know if theres any details about these I missed.
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I was out again with a good friend. He has a huge garden and gifts me vegetables from time to time. Yesterday he gave a one of his earliest perfectly ripe Cantaloupes. We had some for breakfast... sweet and delicious. Once again, I saw @PODIGGER at the launch point. to discuss finds, but I left early. It was a day of few finds. Some broken Megs, a few Hemis, but I like tigers, and I did get a contortus. Some turtle, which I do not normally keep, in the center a chunk of a Capybara m3, an earbone which was my find of the day (I will separate to another fossil ID thread). A medial phalanx. Not a lot of finds but more than enough to keep me happy. Before I go to the fossil finds, what is this ? It feels like crumply rock,, but what is the source of the maze like pattern? Up close photo of the Capybara molar.. I believe that this is one end of a turtle humerus: Let's get an ID on this medial phalanx: It is L 35 x H 16 x W 15 mm. Almost seems to have the concave/convex end of a gator Vert, but I have never seen any vert that looks like this. Once again thinking sea turtle.. Thanks for the help.
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I’ve been out of the prep lab for a week with an illness that knocked me on my rear. Yesterday, I got back in the lab and got to work on the initial prep on a large turtle from the Green River Formation. This beast is about 5’ long and came from the Mini Fish Layer. The matrix is a bit sticky but the bone quality is exceptional. It was found with a skidsteer while clearing loose rock at the start of last season, so it’s in multiple pieces. That makes it a more manageable prep but it would have been cool in one piece! This little guy is going to take me several months to complete. This section contains the head, part of the carapace and the left foreleg.
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I recently acquired a bunch of matrix from the Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana. And came across a few scutes. I’m not fully sure if they are turtle, crocodile, or maybe both, which is why I thought I’d share them here.
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Following the brief rains from earlier in the week, I decided to make a return to my new favorite Ozan outcrop where I had previously found so many mosasaur vertebrae. Though I did not get to add any new verts to my collection, I did manage to come across plenty of unique fossils and artifacts that have taken up my attention for the past couple of days. One interesting thing I have noticed from this outcrop is its abundance of pyritic bony material among other pyritic fossils (including "rusty" exogyra shells + bivalves). Most of them are unidentifiable chunks, but a few have enough distinctive features that I feel hopeful they can be identified. Some give off the flaky appearance of fish bones while others are more spongy and reptilian to my eye. I wonder if any others have come across similar fossils as I haven't seen much online that resemble these. Does anyone know what these strange little balls of bronze rust are? I assume it's pyrite degrading, but I'm not 100% confident. They seem to enjoy popping up on bony bits that come from this Ozan outcrop. Anyways, I have compiled the most interesting bony oddities from my two trips to this spot. I know there's a lot to take in, so I only included closeups of the most distinctive pieces in order to have the majority of the focus fixed onto them. If you would like additional closeups of anything here, feel free to let me know! Here is an overview of the finds: Closeups and Descriptions: A: Here is a 360 view of my favorite one of the bunch. A key feature is on the sixth image, where you can see a hole that runs through the bone (the white speck towards the top end). This give off a flaky look, so I think it may be fish. Then again, I could see this being the end of some sort of long bone. There is a symmetry to the bone as well as the little rusty protrusions that are characteristic of the things I have been finding. The grooving seen towards the bottom on picture 5 is very pronounced. I feel this might be to something really cool. Curious to hear what y'all think! B: This is an interesting piece that is unfortunately almost entirely covered in pyrite chicken pox. It's difficult to tell what exactly the bone's texture is, but I would flaky as well. One side (pic 4) is mostly flat. The opposing side (pic 2) has a groove running down the middle that converges at one end. Pic 6 shows this convergence pretty well. C: The spongy texture in pic 5 leads me to think this is reptilian. I get a vague sense that this may be turtle, but who knows. At first glance, the notch in it seems like a random natural fracture. However, the grooved patterns on two of its faces radiate out of that notch, so I think it must have always been like that. D: A flat piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish E: A flat piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish F: A 3D piece of flaky bone I think is from a fish G: A spongy bone that resembles turtle in my opinion H: This is a pyritized disk that I included in a previous post. I decided to throw it in here since it is similar in nature, though not collected from the exact same location. I think it may be a shark vertebra, but its protruding center throws me off. Someone has suggested it to be an intravertebral disk. It is fairly degraded. I tried to look around the outcrop itself for bones, but didn't come across any. However, I spotted and managed to pry out a pretty little cretolamna tooth so I will make sure to always check it out in the future. Thanks for reading!
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Found a piece of a small bone from the Severn Formation, Late Cretaceous, Maryland. This is an area where I have found abundant turtle shell, shark teeth, enchodus, and occasional mosasaur fossils. Not sure if this piece can be identified. I was thinking turtle but it seems kind of gracile at the broken end. All help will be very welcome.
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When I hunt the river I always try to do a walk around of the area where I plan on working for the day. I have found numerous nice fossils this way that are just sitting on the riverbed waiting to be picked up. About 4 weeks ago, as I did a morning walk around I spotted some very white looking bone material in very shallow water. Upon picking it up I believed I had two nice size pieces of modern turtle plastron. I didn't see anything else in the immediate area and went about my search for fossils. I decided to take the bone material home and later came to the conclusion they were turtle plastron. On my next visit to the same location another walk around turned up numerous additional turtle pieces that looked to make up most of a carapace. Photo of the carapace and some additional pieces in the sifter - These pieces, along with the suspected plastron were fresh enough that they were too new to even bring in the garage. I decided to bury the bones and let nature take its course in ridding them of their odor and any material that would cause problems. This morning I retrieved the pieces from the backyard flower bed, rinsed them off and assembled them as best I could. I've got most of the carapace, the lower mandible a few bones yet to ID and what I believe are pieces of the plastron. I believe the plastron parts are the two large pieces above the carapace and the two smaller pieces at the bottom of the photo. While I have found a number of photos and diagrams that indicate the carapace is from a fresh water turtle I have not been able to find any photos pf a similar plastron. Anyone with an idea on a turtle plastron that would match? Here are the plastron pieces with a ruler in inches and MM - The walk around is a regular part of my routine on the river and has turned up everything from full Meg teeth to mammoth teeth. I highly recommend it!
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Protostega gigas Carapace Fragment (Pleural Bone)
GPayton posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: North Sulphur River
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Today we went to a great spot we don't go often. The first 50 minutes were great, then it started raining,I can't imagine what I would have found if I got to stay a good 3 hours. We got two gator osteoderms, including the smallest one I've ever seen (below the large one) some gator teeth. Multiple mammal teeth (follow link below message to get to the ID message) horse frags, gar scales, turtle shell, and other weird fossils. Again, please go to the ID chat just to check if you can help.
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Hi Everyone. Found this pretty thick piece today in the surf - southern NC beach. Most of the soft shell turtle pieces I’ve found are much thinner - this is at least 1.2cm or .5” thick in the middle and then tapering to the sides…. Do you believe this is a soft shell turtle fragment?
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Today we took a trip down to a dredge and had probably our second best trip, we came out with quite a few fossils that we could not identify, I was wondering if anyone could help? Ones a vert from a large fish, probably a drum, but I was wondering if someone could clarify that. Another is a bone that looks nearly complete, probably from a whale, but I am not certain and it looks distinct, and I was hoping someone would know the specifics. Also we got a price of what I am pretty sure is turtle plastron and a gator vert. And the best find was some sort of canine. I'm not sure what it is, I do not believe its whale but the tooth looks to short to be canine or feline, but I could be wrong.
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I've had some free time this weekend, so I decided to mix things up and try hunting the Brazos instead of the usual cretaceous formations around Austin and DFW. The Pleistocene period is something I've always been fascinated by (probably due to the Ice Age movies), so the long drive wasn't enough to dissuade me. The weather was just right which made a day by the river all the better. This being my first time at the Brazos, I was a bit unfamiliar with the geography/prime hunting locations. I settled on parking by a bridge and decided to spend my day checking out both sides of the river. Navigating my way to the water was more treacherous than I was expecting and I wound up having a close encounter with a black snake that may have been a cottonmouth. The sandbars were unfortunately mostly sand. However, dotted about here and there were patches of gravel. Most of my day I saw footprints all around me so I knew I was definitely not the first person to have hit up the spot. The first 4/5 of the day was a bit slow. I found the occasional piece of bone or turtle, but nothing too exciting. Only until the final hour of daylight did I reach a distant area of the sandbar (about a mile from my car) that began yielding some cool specimens. I didn't get a chance to study them closely until I was home because things got dark very quickly! Being alone at the dark river gave off spooky vibes so I ran a good portion of the distance back (with my fossils in pocket which was a bad idea). Thankfully, I made it back without any major disasters and I've since had some time to rest and take a closer look at my finds. Below are pictures of my most interesting finds that I would like to learn more about. All in all, I'd say the trip was a unique experience and worth the time! Overview of my favorite finds: ' Each item and some closeups: A: Definitely a horse tooth. Parts of it are missing. It may just be wishful thinking, but I think it could be from a three-toed horse? There are Miocene and Pliocene deposits upriver so I suppose it's a possibility. B: A couple of my favorite turtle shell fragments from the many I picked up. Unfortunately that small crack on the flat piece caused it to break in half right after I snapped my pics. Guess that happened because I ran with it in my pocket... oops. C: Looks like an old bison tooth to me. D: Not sure what this is. Could it be mammoth enamel? E: I think it's a scute possibly from an alligator. F: Looks to be a part of a tooth. Bovid would be my guess. I: This one is the strangest of the bunch in my opinion. Looks like tooth material, but it's hard to say. In the first closeup, I notice that there are bands run across the piece in a consistent pattern. Let me know if they are any closeups you would like for me to upload! Thanks for reading.
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Got back out to the Peace River, FL yesterday. I usually try and get there by 0800 AM but with the cold overnight temperatures this week I delayed my start time until closer to 0900 AM to let the sun rise and warm things up a bit. I was glad I did so as I found the sun high enough to be warming up the spot I had targeted for the day. The morning was mostly a lot of the usual small miscellaneous shark teeth. I did find one small, and I mean small, alligator tooth. A partial small shark vert also turned up. Rounding out the morning were several nice Hemis, upper and lower, a nice size partial meg and a few extinct tiger shark. A few small pieces of deer antler were found mid-morning. After taking a lunch break and warming up in the sun I moved up river a short way and got on some larger gravel. A lot of Dugong pieces were coming up and I found several bones mixed in that I will need to research for a proper ID. This spot also turned up a partial tapir tooth crown, several pieces of turtle shell, an unknown limb bone and what I believe is a scapula. At least two the bones appear they could be toe bones. Throughout the afternoon various shark teeth continued to be found with each sift. A few pieces of mammoth tooth plates turned up as the day wore on. Some photos of the days finds to this point - Left side - Mammoth tooth fragment, three pieces of deer antler, unidentified limb bone (?), unidentified scapula. Right side - Extinct Tiger, partial Meg, Tiger, Hemis, Lemon shark, small vert, tiny alligator tooth, partial Tapir tooth crown, cup of miscellaneous shark teeth Close up of the vert, Meg, Tiger, Tapir and Alligator - Two pictures of the bones yet to be identified - possible turtle shell, couple of toe bones(?), possible partial ear bone, etc. Just when I was thinking it was about time to call it a day up came the below nice sized Cetacaen(?) Vert! The blue ruler is showing MM and the pink inches. Vert measures 3.25"L X 3" W X 2.5H. or 85mm L X 80mm W X 65mm H This vert made my day, one of the better ones I have found in the Peace River. Looking forward to my next visit!
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A few months ago Ken @digit, had a post looking for Florida turtle specimens for a Flmnh project. A week later I went to the Peace and found this Apalone softshell. I hoping Ken post requests for a carnivore project next. After the Tampa Club fossil show this guy's new home will be at FLMNH. I also have quite a few vertebrae to prep as soon as I find some time.
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Any help identifying this rock fossil found at construction site near Dallas texas by a friend would be appreciated. My husband gave his friend $50 for it. I am a novice rock collector . Thank you for your assistance !
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Found in Eastern USA. Dime for size reference
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Maybe this is turtle shell, but the marking on it made me wonder if it’s some thing else. ideas? found Myrtle Beach, 2022 thanks! Paula
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Decided to go for a hunt yesterday after my Saturday plans were canceled due to two flat tires. The weather report had it as a cold day to start with an expected warm up y midday. When I got to the river at a little before 8:00 am the temperature was 40* F with a light breeze. Got the kayak set to go then donned my wetsuit with a jacket style life preserver over it to block the wind. Even then I also put on a hooded sweatshirt and gloves for the paddle to my hunting site. As I approached the area I planned to search for the day I stopped to take a few photos of the sun rising over the river. The gravel bed I was targeting has been producing some nice fossils. The negative, it stays in the shade most of the day due to overhanging trees along the banks. The river is not really wide at the spot. I shed the sweatshirt as I entered the water and decided I would need to try and keep my upper body as dry as possible due to the water/air temp and the breezy conditions. I think this was a big part of why there were no outstanding finds for the day - couldn't dig as deep as I would have liked. Usually the deeper I go the better the results. Finds for the first few hours were limited to a variety of shark teeth. Some were quite nice but most were small and regular finds. I was also finding a lot of turtle shell. The first interesting thing that came up was a piece of a turtle plastron followed by a ray barb and a small puffer fish mouth plate. Then a partial meg appeared in the screen and I was managing to forget the cold and my numbing fingers. It was getting to be about 12:00 pm and I had been digging for 3 1/2 hours when I really started to feel the cold and decided to take a break to warm up. I had to climb out onto the bank and walk downstream to find a spot where the sun was breaking through the trees. I took off my life jacket, dive boots and socks and hung out in the sun for about 20 minutes to try and warm up. I felt I had warmed up enough to get back to work and with the next screen I came up with what I believe is a cetacean vert - second one found at this spot. As I wasn't coming up with any other great finds I decided the cold and the river had worn me out for the day. After pulling up an armadillo osteoderm I packed it in at about 1:30 pm. I usually stay until at least 3 pm. I think the cold had gotten to me as when I left I neglected to remove my knife from my hip and later found that I had inadvertently pierced the inflatable seat in the kayak - thankfully I didn't jab the kayak! Below are some pictures of the days finds. First some turtle pieces and the vert - Next photo Left side - Cup of misc. shark teeth, Armadillo Osteoderm, Ray barb, Puffer fish mouth plate, Tiger Shark, Extinct tiger shark and lemon shark. Right side - Turtle Plastron, Sand shark, partial Megalodon & Hemis. An overall average day on the river with a bit of a chill in the air! Today I need to patch the seat, lol.
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At first I thought this was a neural bone from a turtle but now I'm wondering if it might be a mammalian osteoderm (3cm long x 1cm thick). From a north Florida river. - Zach
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@Nanotyrannus35 just sent me a handful of Lance Formation bone fragments to prep. They were mostly turtle shell and we’re pretty fragile in the loosely consolidated Lance Sandstone. A bit of time under the microscope with the micro jack and some low pressure abrasive worked wonders on the bones. They got a healthy dose of Paraloid B72 stabilizer and are headed back to their home today. Some before and after pics are below.
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