Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'wyoming'.
-
Given the success I had in the White River fm. the week before, my third and final outing of the summer was just icing on the cake to an already phenomenal fossil hunting session. But what I would come to find is that this figurative cake would be getting a massive dose of that sugary goodness, and man it felt sweet. This time around I would be joined by my best friend Michael (@Mickeyb06)who would be taking on his first ever fossil hunting adventure in Wyoming's Lance fm. While it wasn't my intention for this to be his first experience in the field, we made the most of it and it was great to have him there (we had wanted to take a preliminary trip down to Jersey to get some hunting under his belt before graduating to dinosaurs & arid badlands, but work & life got in the way). I've had great success on this ranch before, so I was hoping for the best & that the fossil gods would smile upon me once again. Day 1 began at a hillside microsite which I had visited in years past. Ceratopsid/hadrosaur spit tooth A view of the site The view from the site of the gorgeous rolling plains. Michael & I moved down the slope away from the main layer to an anthill I wanted to check out. Among other small fossils. my best find was a Richardoestesia tooth. Not far away I found this strange bone which someone thought could have been a turtle vertebra, but thanks to some guidance on the ID section of the forum, I've been able to determine is likely a crocodilian metacarpal/tarsal. Ceratopsid spitter. Two crocodilian teeth. A small piece of ceratopsid frill & a worked piece of stone.
-
From the album: Lance fm. Microsite Finds
I found this tooth while looking through matrix from a productive conglomerate site while at home. At first I had no clue what it could be, but the consensus on its ID thread was that likely belonged to Avisaurus. While its hard to conceptualize birds with teeth from our modern perspective, that was the norm for many genera in the Cretaceous. Glad to have found this one and recognize it as a tooth. -
From the album: Lance fm. Microsite Finds
Another shot of the Pectinodon tooth featured earlier in this album, this specimen was found by my dad and is one of two Troodontid teeth in my collection.-
- 1
-
- pectinodon
- troodon
- (and 4 more)
-
From the album: Lance fm. Microsite Finds
While far less famous than its horned and frilled relatives, Leptoceratops were interesting small herbivores in their own right, likely utilizing their deep set jaws as a deterrent for predators. So far this is the only tooth from this genus I've found so far.-
- leptoceratops
- dinosaurs
-
(and 3 more)
Tagged with:
-
From the album: Lance fm. Microsite Finds
Most people think of dinosaurs when they hear Lance formation, but I've found that in many of its channel deposits, freshwater mollusks are incredibly common, like this bivalve. -
From the album: Lance fm. Microsite Finds
My first definitive coprolite from Wyoming, could belong to any assortment of animals so I won't slap a label on it to avoid being inaccurate. -
Earlier this month @JD3B and I went a incredible fossil hunting road trip. The title may be a bit misleading, as only one day was actually spent in the badlands. There were however, plenty of good times. We were lucky to have the opportunity to visit a few storied formations, and even luckier to have a couple tff legends to guide us. The first morning was an early one with a 3:00 am wake up. I was at Jacob's (JD3B) by 4:00 and on the road before 5:00. First stop, the Helena, Montana area to visit the world renowned @RJB museum of natural history. We arrived late in the afternoon and honestly, this place alone would have been well worth the long drive from western Washington. One of my few regrets from this trip was not getting any pictures of Ron's amazing collection. If you know where to look however, pictures can be found elsewhere on the forum. Ron, you could charge admission! After touring his prep lab and drooling over display case after display case, it was time for a couple frosty beverages. Over the course of a couple cold ones and a lot of laughs, we went from online acquaintances to friends. He was a gracious host who not only let us park our RV in his yard for the night, but gifted us with some beautiful fossil to remember our stay. The next morning we bid Ron a short lived farewell. We were to meet up again in few days to do a little "fishin". But in the mean time, we set our sights to SE Idaho to try our luck hunting trilobites. Here are my first fossils of the trip, acquired from the "gift shop" at the RJBMNH. Thanks again Ron, you're all right. I don't care what Jacob says about you.I didn't get specific IDs for these, but first one is bird tracks, second is sand dollars, then pectin and cockles.
- 25 replies
-
- 7
-
- wyoming
- white river formation
-
(and 2 more)
Tagged with:
-
Hi everyone! Recently I bought this piece of blue petrified wood. In the process of cleaning, I have soak the whole piece in muriatic acid for about a day and half, and in water with baking soda for about 2 days to neutralize the acid. To my surprise the whole skin turn white and the dark blue part has turned much pale in color. I have attached a few photos below for your reference, please noted that when the whole piece is dry the white part is complete white and opaque, but when I added water, the white part became translucent. I am not sure if I have somehow damage it, or if I need to do more to remove this 'white skin'. I would appreciate anyone's advice on what is this white stuff, why adding water would change the opacity and what I should do next. Thank you. These are the photos when I first bought the petrified wood, note only the top part was cut and polished, no treatment done as yet This is after soaking in the muriatic acid for about a day and half, and in water with baking soda for 2 more days, the whole piece turned white, even the polished side change from dark blue to pale white brown color. This is after adding water, you can see the polish part has turn darker brow and the white part became translucent.
- 14 replies
-
- 1
-
- petrified wood
- wyoming
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
Hi everyone, I'm hoping to be able to find out the identity of this tooth I found in the White River formation last summer. It has an odd triangular cross section and doesn't seem to match anything I've seen so far. I was wondering if it might be from the ancient peccary Perchoerus as I saw some similarities online when I was exploring that option. I would be interested in reading all of your opinions. The tooth is approx. 4 cm in length and 1 cm at its widest point. Photo from the field
- 8 replies
-
- white river fm
- mammal
- (and 4 more)
-
Hi everyone, So, I’m going back to Kemmerer, Wyoming for the third time on August 12, 2021. My entire family will be going as well as two friends from Japan. I’m going, courtesy of fishdig.com. I know the two from Japan will have a great time. I’m sure I’ll have a good time also. I wonder what I’ll find this time. Last time, I found an awesome Mioplosus labracoides. Picture attached. Jared
- 3 replies
-
- 5
-
- green river
- wyoming
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
Hi everyone! I came across this little piece as I was sorting through some of the anthill matrix I brought back from Wyoming's Lance formation. When I first found it, I must not have recognized it as a partial claw as it ended up alongside other odds and ends (fragments of bone, gar scales & other misc. fossils) at the bottom of a pill bottle where I had deposited all of my pickings. This week, however, I emptied that pill bottle to see what was inside in order to organize all the micros I found from this locality (which will get its own post eventually). It's evident to me that this is a claw given it's pair of blood grooves, but it's far and away the smallest in my collection thus far at only 3 mm in length and 2 mm wide. I'm sure it may be a long shot for a definitive ID, but I wanted to see what opinions you all had. And for what it's worth, the flat base and lack of curvature makes it look similar to my ornithomimid claw from the Judith River. These next two focused more on the forceps than the claw unfortunately, will retake these soon.
-
With a week of collecting under my belt I felt ready and excited to take on the next, this time exclusively on the White River formation. All factors being considered, the White River is probably the most difficult formation to hunt among those I've been lucky enough to explore thus far. For one, the terrain is often very rough, with all sorts of ridges, rises, washes and gullies to hike through. Another issue to account for is the reflection of light off of the white sediments, meaning that ample sunscreen is a necessity if you don't want to burn to a crisp. That harsh sunlight can lead to temperatures regularly topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with the highest I endured this week being 115. To say the least, the word exposure out here lives up to both of its connotations. Despite the challenges, the fossils can make it all worth it. While the expansive white moonscape may be poorly suited to growing grass and raising cattle today, the former inhabitants of these lands show that it was once a more hospitable place, supporting a diverse ecosystem teeming with prey and predators, with lineages represented that would be familiar to us today. With that little preface out of the way let's jump into the action! Week 2, Day 1: We started the day with the 80 mile trip south towards the town of Lusk, Wyoming, which eventually led us onto the back roads of this massive ranch & finally to our destination. Our first designated hunting area was a large series of exposures, accessible through descending from the grass line into this depression. My first couple finds were the typical jaw sections, mostly small artiodactyl. But as the sun climbed higher in the sky, I crossed over a wash and saw what would be my find of the morning: A complete oreodont jaw with both sides preserved, plus the articulating ends. Following the jaw, I came across a spill of titanothere tooth fragments, so I collected everything I could find in hopes I could reassemble most of it at home. About a half hour passed with me not finding much until I spotted some bones eroding from the surface. Unfortunately it appeared that the elements had gotten to it before I did, so I kept some of the more interesting pieces and moved along.
- 28 replies
-
- 14
-
- wyoming
- white river fm
- (and 5 more)
-
I thought I'd try my hand with this Kemmerer Cockerellites liops this time around. This took me a looooong time because of the fine differences in shading, but I'm pretty happy with it. As you can see when compare to the original photo, I cheated a bit on it by filling in the missing parts of the fins.
- 9 replies
-
- 14
-
- cockerellites
- wyoming
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
This has always bugged me. This is a dinosaur rib (presumably triceratops) from the Lance Creek formation of Wyoming. The surface is encrusted with irregular nodules and crepe paper texture. I'm wondering if it could be fossilized desiccated connective tissue. Has anyone encountered something similar?
- 5 replies
-
- triceratops
- wyoming
-
(and 2 more)
Tagged with:
-
- 8 replies
-
- gavialosuchus americanus
- vertebra
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
Hi Everyone! My family and I are going on a trip to North Colorado this August and I really want to collect and keep some dinosaur fossils while I'm there. Does anyone know of a program, charter, or guide who can help me? It doesn't have to be in Colorado, I'm close enough to Wyoming that that is also an option. I tried looking for something on my own and all I can find is either parks where collecting is forbidden or what is basically "pay us two grand to be our field slave for a week".
-
From the album: Pisces
37cm. long. Eocene (Ypresian/Lutetian). Green River Formation. 18" layer. Found at Stone Fossils Quarry, Lincoln County, Wyoming. Acquired from Kris (Ptychodus04).- 1 comment
-
- mioplosus
- green river
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
I found this in some matrix from the Lance Formation in Wyoming and wondered if it is an ankylosaur tooth. The hash marks are 1mm. Thanks for any help.
- 17 replies
-
- 2
-
- ankylosaur
- lance fm
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
Asineops (Greek for "donkey-faced") squamifrons was first described by Cope as having an affinity to the pirat perch family. Later, with more detailed study, this species was found to lack the diagnostic characters of that family. Thus it is not yet clearly assignable to order. Although this species is much rarer in the Fossil Lake sediments than in Lake Gosiute deposits, the specimens from Fossil Lake are much larger than those from Lake Gosiute. Line drawing from Grande 1984: Identified by oilshale using Grande 1984. References: Cope, Edward D. (1870). Observations on the Fishes of the Tertiary Shales of Green Nov. River, Wyoming Territory. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. Vol. 21 XI, pp. 380-384. Grande, L, (1984). Paleontology of the Green River Formation, with a Review of the Fish Fauna. Bulletin 63, the Geological Survey of Wyoming.
- 1 comment
-
- 1
-
- tff-oilshale-ch2514
- asineops
-
(and 5 more)
Tagged with:
-
This partial mandible was found on private land in the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin. It is likely a right M1 and partial M2. I've been able to identifying it down to Perissodactyla indet. but cannot go further. I'm leaning towards something like Cardiolophus but I'm not sure. Would appreciate any help.
-
I'll be honest, I've put off writing this trip report for far too long. Between work, school and general procrastination I have delayed this post for over 7 months. Perhaps there's a silver lining to me writing this in the middle of winter, it could act as a nice break from the grey & cold conditions many of us are facing this season. Hopefully you all enjoy a dose of warmth from a trip which I enjoyed greatly. Ok ready? Let's go. My morning started around 4:30, ungodly hours for me generally, but I woke up excited for what lay ahead. Less than a half hour later we were on our way headed south to Boston. While we always leave much earlier than I would like. there's something peaceful about being able to drive through the streets of the greater Boston area without having to deal with its notoriously bad drivers. We made it to Logan and I gave my parents a goodbye hug after we pulled my bags from the car. The flight was smooth and with only 1 layover, I had made it to Rapid City by early afternoon. Soon after I landed in SD, I caught a ride to Newcastle with PaleoProspectors Founder and Director, Dr. Steve Nicklas. When we reached our destination across the border in Wyoming, I quickly began to acclimate to the motel room which would be my home for the next three weeks. This week I would meet and befriend several new people including Quincy @Opabinia Blues, another paleo enthusiast my age, and several of Steve's archaeology students who came to help him dig on a titanothere bonebed. This week would be spent mostly on the Lance formation, with one day spent on the White River. Week 1, Day 1: We started the morning at some hillside exposures overlooking a plain along the Little Cheyenne River. This is one of my favorite areas on the ranch. I started the day off hot with a nice sized turtle claw, unfortunately missing the tip. Brachychampsa alligatoroid tooth. A view of the slope I was hunting. A nice ceratopsid spit tooth. A tiny crocodilian tooth. Myledaphus (guitarfish) tooth. As the morning turned into afternoon, I made my way to the base of the exposures.
- 44 replies
-
- 9
-
I found this odd vertebra in Wyoming's Lance fm. over the summer. I was told by a guide that it may be a turtle cervical vertebra, but I wanted to see what other forum members thought. It's about 1.5 cm long and around 1.3 cm in width.
- 5 replies
-
- lance fm
- cretaceous
-
(and 3 more)
Tagged with:
-
This past summer's trip to Wyoming provided no shortage of interesting and bizarre finds. This tooth was found at a channel deposit in the Lance fm. and is about 5 mm in length and 2 mm in width. It appears to be a theropod tooth based on the overall morphology, but lacks serrations unlike the all the non avian theropods in the formation. I'm not sure if the serrations were worn off or were never there in the first place. Or perhaps based on the small size it belonged to a young individual with developing teeth. The theropod it most closely resembles in my opinion is Richardoestesia, as it's only slightly curved and the base is similar to examples of that genus in my collection. I'd appreciate any input you may have.