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Hey Fossil Gang, I had a surprising find along Canon River in Northfield Minnesota (coordinates 44.461901, -93.158759). I was skatingboarding and noticed that the banks of the river were pretty rocky so I thought it would be worth investigating, sure enough I found what appeared to be some sort of bone attached to a piece of rock protruding about half way out of the sandy soil. To me it looks like some sort of mammal jaw although I'm not sure (new to fossil hunting). I'm not sure but it seems to be more modern. If any of y'all have any input it would be greatly appreciated!

The winner of the August 2020 VFOTM goes to... Syllomus aegyptiacus sea turtle - Miocene, Lower Calvert Formation (likely Bed 3b) - King and Queen County, Virginia Congratulations to @sharkdoctor !!!

Check the entries below carefully and cast your vote! PM me if you notice any errors with the entries. The poll ends September 9th. Be sure to vote in our other FOTM poll, HERE 1. Gyracanthus (?) fish spine - Upper Carboniferous, Coal Measures - County Durham, UK 2. Dipterus cf. nelsoni lungfish toothplate - Late Devonian, Famennian - Namur Area, Belgium 3. Cretodus sp. (crassidens?) shark tooth - Late Cretaceous, Eagle Ford (~90 Ma) - Post Oak Creek, Sherman, Texas 4. Ophthalmosauridae indet. ichthyosaur tooth - Late Jurassic, Tithonian, Epivirgatites Nikitini Ammonite Zone (~150 Ma) - Moscow, Russia 5. Ichthyosaurus sp. paddle - Lower Jurassic - Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK 6. Plateosaurus sp. rib and bone fragments. - Late Triassic - Frick, Switzerland 7. Mosasaur vertebra - Cretaceous, Ozan Formation - North Sulfur River, Texas 8. Lamniform shark vertebrae - Late Eocene / Oligocene, Pittsburg Bluff Creek Formation (33.9 - 55.8 Ma) - North Western Oregon 9. Syllomus aegyptiacus sea turtle - Miocene, Lower Calvert Formation (likely Bed 3b) - King and Queen County, Virginia 10. Phyllodus toliapicus (crushing tooth plate of a wrasse-like fish) - Early Eocene Nanjemoy Formation - Virginia 11. Procyon lotor (raccoon) molar - Miocene-Pleistocene (Hawthorn Group) - Peace River, Florida

Hello everyone I have a pretty small collection, so I thought why not share it since it would only take a few posts? First up, these are my only self collected fossils. From walking along the Humber river in Etobicoke, which puts them in the Georgian Bay formation I believe. I would love some more information! Sweet little orthocone is why I took this one home. The back of the rock which shows an imprint of somebody's shell. There may be some other stuff going on in the matrix here but I've got absolutely no idea. Another orthocone with siphuncle pic if it helps with identification.

The winner of the July 2020 VFOTM goes to... Archaeotherium mortoni entelodont jaw - White River Formation. Eocene/Oligocene - Wyoming Congratulations to @FossilsandScience !!!

Check the entries below carefully and cast your vote! PM me if you notice any errors with the entries. The poll ends August 9th. Be sure to vote in our other FOTM poll, HERE 1. Carcharhinus sp. associated shark vertebrae - Chandler Bridge Formation, Late Oligocene - Summerville, South Carolina 2. Heslerodus sp. associated shark teeth - Bond Formation, LaSalle Limestone Member, Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian - Oglesby, Illinois 3. Archaeotherium mortoni entelodont jaw - White River Formation. Eocene/Oligocene - Wyoming 4. Megacephalosaurus eulerti (?) pliosaur tooth - Eagle Ford Formation, Late Cretaceous - North Texas 5. Xiphactinus audax associated fish vertebrae - Eagle Ford Formation, Late Cretaceous - North Texas 6. Deltodus sp. fish tooth - Burlington Formation, Mississippian - Henry County, Missouri 7. Plesiosaur tooth with partial root - Late Cretaceous - Monmouth County, New Jersey

I found this distal end of a mammalian humerus several weeks ago on the Brazos River southwest of Houston. After hours of searching, it doesn't seem to exactly match any of the common suspects: deer, camel, horse, or bison. Deer or camel is more likely than horse or bison, as the bone is relatively slender and the end of it isn't as bulky as either of those animals. It is possible that I have incorrectly ruled out deer and camels as the trochlea and capitulum on the end are very worn down. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm more than willing to hear them. Thanks!

Both of these astragali were found on the Brazos River southwest of Houston. The larger of the two clearly belongs to Equus, but the smaller one continues to stump me. I know by the shape that it definitely some sort of perissodactyl, and although it resembles the shape of the Equus astragalus it is much, much smaller. The taller of the two ridges (I'm not sure what their name actually is) on the proximal end of the bone has been worn down by water or time so that it seems almost level with the other. If it were still present, these two astragalus would probably be identical. It occurred to me last week while looking at it again that it might be from a three-toed horse since they were a lot smaller than the more modern species of horses that prevailed in the late Pleistocene. Is there any way to tell? Or is it just from a younger Equus individual? Thanks for the help!

I was lucky enough to receive some Micromatrix from @Gizmo and @sharkdoctor, and today I was looking through some of the teeth when I saw one I hadn’t noticed before. I’m sure I’ve seen something like it onlin but I can’t for the life of me remember where or what it is. Any one got any ideas? Matrix is from VA, Old Church FM (oligocene) and Calvert FM (Miocene) contact layer. Measure is in centimeters

Hello, East Venice, FL vertebrate mystery fossil. Unique indentation in V shape. Found in Pleistocene material. Cracked by tractor. Recent material identified in same location as: Sloth, Equus, Meg teeth. I realize it is not the best specimen but the V shape on one side is unique. Thanks in advance for your suggestions/identification. I didn't see an example in the gallery or textbook. Height is 5cm

The winner of the June 2020 VFOTM goes to... Placoderm fish (Cowralepis mclachlani) - ~385 Ma (Middle Devonian); Merriganowry Shale Member of the Dulladerry Volcanics - Central West NSW, Australia Congratulations to @Paleoworld-101 !!!

Found on the Brazos River just southwest of Houston. When I first saw it I almost left it behind as it looked modern at a glance. The jawbone is definitely mineralized, however, but unfortunately its missing the teeth it used to contain as it's only one side of the whole bone. My best guess is that its a fragment of an alligator jaw based on the round tooth cavities and the way they're spaced apart, but if anyone more knowledgable then me could give a suggestion, that would be great.

I found this tooth at my normal overburden site, at work, it is the best shark tooth i have even found. Looking at Shark tooth I.D guides my guess is that this is a Auriculatus tooth. What do you all think?

Found this nice slate blue piece in my recent trip to Western New York. What do you guys think? The piece isn’t very big, maybe half an inch - but it looks relatively thick, maybe a centimeter and a half?

Check the entries below carefully and cast your vote! PM me if you notice any errors with the entries. The poll ends July 9th. Be sure to vote in our other FOTM poll, HERE 1. Placoderm fish (Cowralepis mclachlani) - ~385 Ma (Middle Devonian); Merriganowry Shale Member of the Dulladerry Volcanics - Central West NSW, Australia 2. Conodont assemblage (possibly articulated) - Excello Shale Member, Carbondale Formation (~310 Ma, Middle Pennsylvanian) - LaSalle County, Illinois 3. Conodont S segment (Gondolella sp?) - Pennsylvanian, Stark Shale Member - Kansas City, Missouri 4. Columbian Mammoth neonatal (possible prenatal) tooth - Pleistocene, Bone Valley - Florida 5. Ptychodus cf. decurrens hybodont shark tooth - Cretaceous, Cenomanian - Cap-Blanc-Nez, France 6. Eugeneodontida (possibly Caseodus sp.) shark teeth (associated teeth with cartilage/skin impressions) - Upper Pennsylvanian, Stark Shale Member - Jackson County, Missouri 7. Bos primigenius (bison) skull - Pleistocene - Góra Kalwaria, Poland

One of the only fossils I managed to find at the Texas City dike this weekend, which is well-known as a site for Pleistocene fossils from the Beaumont Clay formation that are pulled to the surface during dredging operations in the nearby shipping channel. I know this tooth isn't Equus, so maybe bison? Any help would be appreciated!

I was searching the gravel bars in the Brazos River just southeast of Houston almost every day last week before the storm hit this weekend. Now the water's too high to look, but I found a pretty good assortment of fossilized Pleistocene aged bones during my trips. Most of what I've found have been fragments that are totally unidentifiable, but a handful still have some significant features that could lead to an ID. These two are both rib bones, but that's about all I know. The first one I initially thought was from a modern cow due to how clean it was, but after picking it up it was clear that it's definitely a fossil - it's mineralized all the way through and has a decent weight to it. The only animals of that size that could produce such a large rib that I can think of off the top of my head would be either bison or hoses. The second bone also looks like a rib, but a lot smaller than the first. It has two deep grooves on either side that seem to match up with pictures I've seen of the origin point in deer and horse ribs where the bone begins to branch away from the vertebral column. As always, any help would be appreciated!

Below are some online PDF files of the now defunct, but still famous, the Leisey Shell Pit in southwest florida. Leisey Shell Pit 1A, University of Florida Vertebrate Fossil Locality HI007 https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/sites/leisey-shell-pit-1a/ https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100years/leisey-shell-pit-fossils/ Hulbert, Jr., R.C., Morgan, G.S. and Webb S.D., eds., 1995. Paleontology and Geology of the Leisey Shell Pits, Early Pleistocene of Florida. Bulletin Florida Museum of Natural History, 37 (Part I). https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/bulletin/publications/ https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00095791/00001 https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00095791/00002/allvolumes Hulbert, Jr., R.C., Morgan, G.S. and Webb S.D., eds., 1995. Paleontology and Geology of the Leisey Shell Pits, Early Pleistocene of Florida. Bulletin Florida Museum of Natural History, 37 (Part II). https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/bulletin/publications/ https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00095791/00002 https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00095791/00002/allvolumes Hulbert, R.C. and Morgan, G., 1989. Stratigraphy, paleoecology, and vertebrate fauna of the Leisey Shell Pit Local Fauna, early Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) of southwestern Florida. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313657536_Stratigraphy_paleoecology_and_vertebrate_fauna_of_the_Leisey_Shell_Pit_Local_Fauna_early_Pleistocene_Irvingtonian_of_southwestern_Florida http://floridapaleosociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Papers-in-Florida-Paleontology-2-July-1989.pdf Portell, R.W. and Kittle, B., 2010. Mollusca: Bermont Formation (middle Pleistocene). Florida Fossil Invertebrates, 13, pp.1-40. http://floridapaleosociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FFI-13.pdf Kittle, B., and Portell, R.W., 2010. Mollusca: Fort Thompson Formation (middle Pleistocene). Florida Fossil Invertebrates, 13, pp.1-40. http://floridapaleosociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/FFI-12.pdf Morgan, G.S. and Hulbert Jr, R.C., 1995. Overview of the geology and vertebrate biochronology of the Leisey Shell Pit local fauna, Hillsborough County, Florida. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History, 37(1), pp.1-92. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/files/7114/7180/9327/Vol-37-Part_1-No-1.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257620521_Overview_of_the_geology_and_vertebrate_biochronology_of_the_Leisey_Shell_Pit_Local_Fauna_Hillsborough_County_Florida https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Hulbert Taphonomy of the terrestrial mammals of Leisey Shell Pit 1A, Hillsborough County, Florida https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306429620_Taphonomy_of_the_terrestrial_mammals_of_Leisey_Shell_Pit_1A_Hillsborough_County_Florida https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard_Hulbert As lagniappe, there is also an online PDF of a guidebook to Cretaceous-Cenozoic Floras and Landscapes of Southeastern Australia. It is: First International Palaeontological Congress: Pre-Congress Fieldtrip 1: Cretaceous-Cenozoic Floras and Landscapes of Southeastern Australia https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233747871_Cretaceous-Cenozoic_Floras_and_Landscapes_of_Southeastern_Australia https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Mcloughlin/2 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Mcloughlin/ Yours, Paul H.

Bony core present. Much of keratin sheath preserved as creamy green. Bottom has distinct flattened profile and the keratin is heavily fractured (see picture - toe2 left edge, toe3 right edge) Top profile exhibits clockwise curve. Jurassic, Morrison, Four Corners.

This is a post hurricane beach find. I picked up a number of mammal teeth, bone, scute, and stone artifacts on the trip. Assumed this was a tooth when I picked it up but unlike any I have ever seen before.

The winner of the May 2020 VFOTM goes to... Triceratops prorsus right dentary - Upper Hell Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous - Powder River County, Montana Congratulations to @Troodon !!!

Found in an outcrop of the Dino Park Formation in Alberta. 1. First 4 pics - not sure what this is? It's thick and dense though 2. Next 3 pics - maybe an atlas or axial vertebrae of something? 3. Next 1 pic - scute or turtle shell plate? 4. Next 3 pics - Ceratopsian brow horn?

Hello all- I live in NC, the far Western part, but spend a lot of time in TN, at a man-made lake that was constructed as part of the TVA project, beginning in the 30s. The rocks and scenery around there have been stirred up and relocated with the construction of the lake, so it’s kind of difficult to say what ought to be where. That said, they consist mostly of rather uninteresting dolomite and quartzite in the forested areas, and then huge beach expanses of orange-tan to red to purple and even bluish clay-type slate or shale material that has hardened in spots to near-rock consistency. There are beautiful agates to be found in some banks of red clay, however, and there are also enormous, opaque, gray mudstones with intriguing shapes. I thought at first that the mudstones were some of the most boring-looking things I’d ever seen, with the utter lack of variation in their color, as if painted in dull, chalky gray, but that has changed. After attending several summers of lake recreation, I noticed that the rocks were becoming much more interesting, and paid more attention to them. It seemed that the mudstone was sloughing off of itself at a considerable rate, and that the materials that formed the center of the nodules were becoming exposed! The mudstone is gritty and slips off with repeated exposure to bioturbation, (I believe this is the correct term for tumbling by elements, no?), and as time passes, more and more fascinating things are turning up. Not all of the nodules contain a center item, but many do. Following a bit of research, I located this article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0031018281900572 ...and some others that also describe fossils being found in the middle of such mudstone formations. What really surprised me was how identical to my setting the soils and rocks sounded in the article... Here are some photos of things that have come from the mudstones... Anyone have any thoughts on what these could be?

Check the entries below carefully and cast your vote! PM me if you notice any errors with the entries. The poll ends June 9th. Be sure to vote in our other FOTM poll, HERE 1. Triceratops prorsus right dentary - Upper Hell Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous - Powder River County, Montana 2. Pseudotertrasauropus footprint - Late Triassic, Redonda Formation - Quay County, New Mexico 3. cf. Nemacanthus hybodont shark spine - Rhaetian, Triassic, Westbury Formation - Somerset, UK 4. Gondolella sp. conodont replacement toothlets (pokal cell cones) - Stark Shale Member, Pennsylvanian - Kansas City, Missouri 5. Cretodus sp. shark tooth - Eagle Ford Group/Atco Formation, Late Cretaceous (86-92 Ma) - North Texas

The winner of the April 2020 VFOTM goes to... Platecarpus mosasaur - Cretaceous, Taylor Group, Ozan Formation - North Sulphur River, Texas Congratulations to @Searcher !!!