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Because it was the first time for me to see some teeth from the Hell Creek Form. in Montana here in Germany at our local fair (and I am quite at the beginning with my collection of dino teeth) I purchased the following teeth. According to the seller both are from the "Hell Creek Form., Badlands, Carter County, Montana". The first tooth is labeled as "Thescelosaurus garbanii". Is this correct and how can the teeth of T. garbanii and T. neglectus be distinguished?

Hi, This summer I collected a handful of microfossils from outcrops of the late cretaceous Frenchman formation in southern Saskatchewan. The Frenchman is stratigraphically equivalent to and geographically near the Hell Creek formation, and both represent a more or less equivalent terrestrial environment and time period - that is, a terminal cretaceous swampy river delta. Crocodilians were definitely the most abundant among my finds, as well as plant fossils and nondescript dinosaurian bone fragments, but I'd like to share a few oddballs, as well as a tooth, for identification. First is this thing - it's certainly a piece of a skull, but it's a little too small for me to determine if it's fossilized or not. It could very well be from a modern animal. It may be difficult to make out in the photo, but the side without the tiny holes in it actually has some skull suture lines on its surface, Secondly is this piece, which appears to be a scute of some kind. While I encountered many crocodilian scutes on this trip, this one stood out because of its small size and completeness. I don't have a photo, but the person I was collecting with found a similar one that had what looked like enamel on the smooth side, Finally is this tooth. It's the only tooth we found, and it seems to be from a crocodilian, but I'd like a confirmation and possibly more information if possible, Side view: Lingual view: Facial view: Root: Thanks for your attention. Here's some bonus photos from the trip of a metasequoia pinecone and the K-Pg boundary as seen in the field,

I was reading some posts about tooth ID last night on the forum. I read that dromeosaur teeth from the Hell Creek formation have different serrations on the front and the back. If I remember correctly, I think I saw a post that said the back side of the tooth have larger serrations. I saw this tooth from Carter county Montana this morning, listed as dromeosaur but to me it looked like both sets of serrations were pretty uniform. I was wondering if there’s a chance this is a tyrannosaur tooth, or if it is some type of dromeosaur tooth. It’s approx. 3/8 long, so maybe the size alone is enough to rule out tyrannosaur but I thought I might as well check. Unfortunately only 2 pictures were given.

I picked up a little Hell Creek lot that hat this fossilized bone in it. I think it might be a theropod toe bone from looking around on the web at Hell Creek bones. Anyone with more experience (most everyone) have any opinions?

I am trying to organize some of the fossils that I recently picked up at the Garage Sale that I visited the last few weeks. I have this piece that was among a lot of turtle shell and small random Dino bone pieces, nothing that would be identifiable that was collected in the Cretaceous of Buffalo, South Dakota. I am thinking that this piece might be crocodile, what do you think? @jpc

Hello everybody This will be a bit longer and I hope you stick with me. So I've planed on opening this topic for quite a while now and I think it's the time to go now. Maybe it's stupid, maybe not. Let's just see where this will go. With 31 and no kids (not yet) it's the best time to do this now. I won't get younger and you never now how long you can just leave for vacation as you like it. I was already three times in the US but never did anything with fossils (as in digging or visiting museums). So why not just go to the US, dig up some stuff and enjoy the most beautiful Dino fossils out there. We have some nice museums in Germany / Europe, but nothing compares to the museums in the US. Inspired by a lot of TFF Members and their great field reports I just want to dig for one time in my life at the Hell Creek Formation and visit some museums there. I'm aware that HC Formation spans mainly across MT, WY, ND and SD. I'm looking mostly for Dino teeth of any kind as they are small enough to actually bring them back to Germany. I have no interest in finding big bones or fossils like that, because 1. I don't know how to recover them correctly and 2. I can't take big and heavy fossils onto a plane back to Germany. I'm planing to do this trip at some point in 2020 and dig for several days and just enjoy the US. I have no problem with driving long distances by (rental) car. So to summarize it: a ) Visting museum with lots of Dino fossils. b ) Digging up Dino teeth at HC and return with them to Germany. So I'm trying to organize this topic with different questions 1. What's the best time? What time of the year has the best weather conditions for going out to dig? And is there a "tourist time" that I should avoid? As in a lot of people digging at the same spot. 2. Where am I allowed to dig? The most difficult and important question. Can I dig as a private person / foreigner on US soil and can I keep these fossils? Do I need specific permission? I'm aware it can depend on the state, the property and who allows it or doesn't allow it. Just seraching the internet is not very helpfull to find specific information at what specific strip of land I am allowed to dig. So the easiest way is that someone just shows it to me like "look, here you can dig and keep your stuff, here you can't do that" In the end I need someone to tell me at what very specific locations I am allowed to dig. 3. Just go with a guided tour? On the web there are several guided tours for digging in the HC Formation. This would sure be the easiest way, but most tours don't allowed you to just keep your fossils. You have to buy your own found fossils in order to keep them. With this I just can buy teeth on the web. Also the trip itself costs money. And the tours are only at specific times. I want more independence deciding the specific date and have just my own freedom (within the law). But maybe someone has a good tip for me. Maybe someone knows someone who does some tours or anyone from there who can help. All legal issus aside, I need to find the actuall HC Formation within the land. Pritty sure I won't find anything if I just get out of the car somewhere and start digging a hole in the ground This would be a rather expensive and big trip for me. With flying across the atlantic I need to know where to go and what to expect. I can't waste any day with searching around where to dig. I need to know this in advance. 4. Where to get proper equipment? I can't bring any big/heavy tools or stuff like this, as I'm traveling by plane. Any idea what to do? Just buy some cheep tools for this tour once I'm in the state? 5. Where in the HC area are the best museums? Simple question. I wonder what great museums are out there. 6. Can I board a plane back to Germany with fossils? All the great fossils don't help much if I'm not allowed to bring them to Germany. I don't know if I could get in trouble at the airport with US border patrol / TSA / Customs if I want to leave the US with fossils. Do I need a receipt? A confirmation of any kind, that I bought / dug up these fossils legally? Or do they just not care? Is it just like a souvenir? Some contries view fossils as a national heritage. How does the US handle this at airports? If you made your way through my sluggish english until this point: Thanks! I hope I didn't make myself a fool with this and the trip is not possible anyway because only scientific people are allowed to dig there, but I just hope this trip is possible in some way for me. Any help and tips are very welcome. I think I'll fly from Munich to Chicago and then start my trip from there to the west. But I'll have to see where I end up with. Maybe I fly somewhere else and head to HC.

Ive been looking for a true dromaeosaurus tooth for a while now. Ive only been able to grab acheroraptor. Does anyone know of a reputable site or seller selling any?

So, this is my first post here, and I have what I imagine might be an unusual case for this forum. I work for a travelling dinosaur exhibit, setting up a display of real fossils. Within the last year, our owners purchased a number of dinosaur fossils from a dealer (ie, an acquaintance of theirs) and shipped them to our CEO's home, who later sent them to our company's repair shop to have travel cases built, before shipping them to our show on the road. Somewhere in all of that, some of the fossils' original information was lost. I reached out to our executives who promised to look into it and get back to me, but naturally, they would forget, I would remind them, they would never get back to me, and I spent multiple months in that cycle. So, here's everything I know: I originally assumed it was a Triceratops scapula, because it had been offhandedly mentioned to me that was one of the purchases. However, I learned that the scapula was sent to our second show, and after comparing it to images of skeletons, I ruled that out. I changed my guess to Triceratops Ulna. A very well known paleontologist (whose name I won't reveal here) visited our show as part of a media promotion this summer, and when asked, took a look. He initially didn't disagree with my assessment, but a few days later emailed me, saying that after additional analysis of the pictures he took, he had changed his mind to Triceratops tibia, and later, after consulting a colleague who specializes in Ceratopsians, he asserted it was a Triceratops Fibula. Some time later, I finally talked to someone in accounting, who was able to get me the various invoices, which was somehow less helpful than you'd think it would be. But it did let me get in touch with our dealer, who is notoriously secretive and doesn't share much in terms of sourcing. She did reply to me, however, telling me it is an... Edmontosaurus humerus. Or at least that was the highlighted bone in the diagram she sent me, which is the closest piece of "official" documentation that I've seen since it was purchased. However, this looks different to the same bone on mounted skeletons of Edmontosaurus as well, at least to my eyes. tl;dr: I no longer trust anybody. Multiple conflicting identifications, I don't know where it came from, other than a mention in the dealer's email that it's from the Hell Creek formation. Company is restructuring, so getting responses from anyone is a miracle. I can upload better pictures of the fossil later if necessary. I no longer put this piece on display because I simply don't know what to call it. Help.

Hi guys this is from hell creek And is described as a tyrannasurid what do you think of it

Looking for a little help identifying some Hell Creek dinosaur vertebrae. When I purchased these they were described as Struthiomimus and Dromaeosaur, but I don't think those ID's are correct. I think I know what most of them are (the dinosaur anatomy 101 post by @troodon was very helpful), but I'm still unsure on a few. I also thought posting this might help others when it comes to identifying hell creek verts. So I think these 8 are Thescelosaurus caudal verts. They're all fairly chunky and most have a well defined ridge in the middle of the centrum.

I've just received this weird little tooth from the Hell Creek Formation. It was sold to me as a Dromaeosaur premax tooth but I have my doubts as it's quite robust. That said, the other candidate would be a Tyrannosaur and I've never seen a premax tooth with a twist like this. What's more, the carinae are strange - one has nice crisp serrations (I thought they looked a lot like Tyrannosaur serrations) while the other is smooth (it doesn't look like it ever had any serrations). Anyone have any idea what it might be?

Found these in Montana, cretaceous material. Found chunks of triceratops frill, turtle shell chunks, and a few raptor teeth. Looking to ID these: Maybe a turtle limb? (it was near a shell) And the larger one I want to think is a toe but it isn't quite right, so don't let me confuse you. The last two pics are the same bone as the first two pics.

First post, but frequent follower of the page. I just came across a toe bone from an estate sale. It looks Hell Creek by the bone material and by what else was in the collection. It is definitely theropod. Would any of you be able to ID this? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks! Sean

I was hoping some folks on the forum could confirm this ID for me. I found this interesting little piece in the hell creek formation of South Dakota back in July with Paleoprospectors. I was told by one of the guides that it could potentially be a piece of skull armor from a young ankylosaur. I want to know what everyone here thinks.

I have a fossil found in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota. Through studying I have not found a bone that matches mine in any known Hell Creek dinosaur. The bone is 8 1/4 inches tall, 5 inches long, and a width of 1 3/4 inches. The fossil weighs 2 lbs and 14.2 ounces. My belief is that it is from an ornithischian, possibly a ceratopsian or an ornithopod. It has a large hole in it for bone marrow, and at first glance looks like a human hip bone. Please help ID my fossil! Thanks!!!! -Carnoraptor

This is being sold as a dakotaraptor claw from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. How does it look and could someone please tell me where on the dinosaur this claw belonged? It measures 7 by 4 by 15mm. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I missed the updates for the last three days so here they are. I spent the last 3 days of the week fossil hunting the Hell Creek badlands of North Dakota- In those 3 days I found some of the best fossils in my collection so far. Wednesday was somewhat overcast which kept the exposures from being too hot. I spent the morning working a microsite with a few other people. My best finds here included a nice quality croc tooth, a likely bird bone and a bowfin jaw. Unfortunately the finds started to fizzle out after about an hour. The rest of the day was spent prospecting a wide open area which provided very little for fossil finds, the best being a croc vert. Here are the pics from Wednesday- Bowfin jaw section Croc tooth Likely a toe or limb bone A view of the microsite A croc vert A view of the area we prospected A rattlesnake in a burrow which I spotted at just the right time. I was moving closer to look at a large shed snake skin and saw this guy in a hole underneath the grass, he didn't rattle at me either which makes this a lucky encounter. (I didn't this close with my camera, I only zoomed in with it).

https://us.cnn.com/2019/07/24/us/triceratops-skull-discovery-trnd/index.html

I spent another great day in the Hell Creek formation of South Dakota (w/ Paleoprospectors) and found a lot of great fossils. It was a beautiful day, the temperature wasn't bad at all, helped by the occasional breeze and the bugs were tolerable for the most part. We started the day on a microsite which was eroding out of the side of a hill. The iron siderite pebbles were sharp to sit on and the slope was steep- being sure footed was certainly an asset along a good portion of this exposure. In spite of those factors, I still found some awesome fossils. A view of the microsite from the ground. My first good find of the day- A worn Richardoestesia tooth Most likely a Myledaphus vertebra A Champsosaur vertebra in situ An Amphibian vertebra- probably salamander. Probably my best find of the day- a claw whose identity is currently unknown. Two great anthill finds- Top: likely a marsupial tooth (Alphadon?)- Bottom: a multituberculate tooth (Cimolodon?) After these finds, I went to prospect with some other people but unfortunately came up empty handed. At least I got some pics of the cool looking exposures. After we returned from prospecting I decided to finish the day hunting the microsite where I started and spend some time at a channel deposit below which was also producing some solid finds (Another participant found a nice Acheroraptor tooth and a small theropod or bird claw there earlier) Center left: Myledaphus tooth A nice croc tooth. My last good find was a small section of theropod claw which I unfortunately did not get a pic of. Stay tuned because tomorrow we visit another Hell Creek ranch in North Dakota this time!

I spent the day hunting the badlands of the Hell Creek formation in northwest South Dakota. It was beautiful outside. The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing and the insects were mild. The group started the day working the amber microsite- a spot where a phenomenal amount of amber is produced from lignite rich exposures mixed in with a deposit of smaller fossils. I spent several hours picking up amber bits along with a variety of other fossils. Here are some photos from the first few hours of the day Views of some of the collecting area A shot of the gravel where many of the fossils lie. Some pics of the amber- a small fraction of what I picked up. Several Brachychampsa alligator teeth. Left: A small Edmontosaurus tooth Right: A small digit, potentially turtle or crocodile Left: Small vertebra- amphibian? squamate? Right: Crocodilian osteoderm Left: One of my best Brachychampsa teeth to date Right: Awesome crocodilian tooth I left the amber microsite around noon to go prospecting with some other people, here is a view from atop a butte we found some fossils on. I found this awesome turtle claw after finding some shell pieces eroding from near the top of the butte. Since I found it among many pieces of softshell turtle shell I would assume it's a trionychid. As we moved away from the butte, we explored a dried creek bed which created a small valley with some exposures on the side. We found a few fossils including a champsosaur vertebra another cool claw. It belongs to another species of turtle, although I'm not sure what variety. I returned to the microsite to wrap up the day and was not disappointed by my finds. I found this Paronychodon tooth below the main amber site . My last big find of the day was this cool section of crocodile jaw. I found a ton of great fossils today and I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow will be just as productive!

Went out to the Badlands last week for some fossil hunting. Little bits of turtle shell are a common sight and the folks with me were in turtle fragment city, but this find was a little unusual. Take a look at what is turning into a whole tortoise plastron!

I found this tooth in Hell Creek formation. Need help identifying.