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Showing results for tags 'ichthyosaur'.
Found 191 results
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Marine Reptile Bone Collection from Lyme Regis and Charmouth (England)
Paleoworld-101 posted a topic in Member Collections
I've spent a fair amount of time now combing the beaches around Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England, and thought i would put together a topic that presents all of my marine reptile bone finds (so far) in one place. The fossils here are Early Jurassic in age, approx. 195-190 million years old and come predominantly from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. I first visited this area in 2013 with the simple goal of finding at least one ichthyosaur vertebra, and now after three subsequent trips in 2014, 2017 and 2019, i've put together a far better assortment of finds than i could have possibly hoped for! I think i have been quite lucky along this coastline, although it has taken many hours to amass this collection. Across all four of my England trips i have spent a total of 18 days looking for bones in the Lyme Regis area, most often on the stretch of beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth but sometimes at Monmouth Beach as well. This coastline also produces a large quantity and diversity of ammonites, belemnites, crinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, and even rare insects. However i've always been most interested in fossil vertebrates, and so the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that are found here have been my primary target for collecting. There are also some impressive articulated fish to be found, but as yet i have had no luck in finding any! Ichthyosaur bones are the most common type of vertebrate fossil in the area, particularly their bi-concave vertebrae. Less commonly you can also find pieces of the jaw, sometimes with teeth. If you are extra lucky though you may also find plesiosaur bones, which for whatever reason are much rarer than those of ichthyosaurs. The best way to find any type of marine reptile bone around Lyme Regis is to closely examine the shingle on the beach, and i've spent seemingly countless hours bent over and slowly walking along the shore looking for them. If you have a bad back it's even more difficult! I've learnt that bones can be found pretty much anywhere on the beach: in the slumping clays, at the top of the beach in the 'high and dry' shingle, along the middle of the beach, at the low tide line, and also underwater amongst the rocky pools and ledges. And just when i start to think that the beach has already been heavily searched and there isn't much left to find, there always seems to be another bone that turns up, often lying in plain sight. The truth is that most people who visit here to collect are not experts and will probably walk past a lot of these bones, as the texture is the most important thing that gives them away and learning to recognise it takes a bit of time. For the sorts of articulated skeletons that sometimes make news headlines and are beautifully intact, searching the shingle is not the way to go, but for a short term visitor like me i think it is the best way of maximising the chances of finding any sort of reptile bone in the shortest amount of time (and something i can take back with me on the plane too!). Without further ado, here are the pics (spread across multiple posts due to file size limits). I've also included as-found pictures for some of these finds to provide a sense of what they look like and how they are found when they are on the beach. The collection so far. Starting first with my favourite Lyme Regis fossil, this is a very nice plesiosaur vertebra that is in great condition! A very rare find! I have been very fortunate to find two plesiosaur vertebrae at Lyme Regis so far, although this one is smaller and more beach-worn than the previous example. Continued below.- 23 replies
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Hey guy & gals, I am having a problem seeing the "loads of tiny teeth" in the crumpled/chewed up Ichthyosaur rostrum mandible section. Can someone point them out to me? This specimen is from a very reliable dealer. It's from the Lyme Regis, Dorset, England and is Jurassic. I know they're there somewhere but can't seem to find/see them. My age may be effecting my eyesight LOL. By the way, I took these photos with my new Veho VMS-004 microscope recommended by Christian about a month ago. Still trying to get used to it but I think my closeup photos will be better.
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- ichthyosaur
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Hi Here’s another fossil I found over Christmas. These bones are pretty rare and are the articulated ischium and pubis from an ichthyosaur. No prep involved apart from cutting the block to size and applying a thin coat of varnish to increase the contrast between the bone and matrix. The fossil is from the Hettangian of Penarth. The block before:
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Hi I found this over Christmas. It’s an ichthyosaur coracoid in shelly limestone from the lower Jurassic of Penarth.
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Ok first off this "65 million year old" fossil that comes from the "Jurassic" period just shows how ignorant the author is. I had trouble reading any more, but I had no trouble enjoying the pictures of the fossil icthyosaur. https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEIJqm_wITm06zKsQ0oo0ZOUqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowzuOICzCZ4ocDMPX1qQY?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
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I recently found this large vertebra lying in the silt at the edge of a recently excavated lake near Cambridge, UK. I thought it might be from an ichthyosaur, but am unsure because I am very new to this, and it seems far larger than others I have seen at 11cm/4.5inch diameter. Could anyone tell me for sure what this is? Many thanks P.S. the images are too large so I will upload in different posts
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Hi just putting this in as a placeholder. Found today at Penarth, South Wales, UK. An ichthyosaur jaw with some other bones. It’s in a shelly limestone which is hard to prep but fingers crossed.
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Ichthyosaur Tail Fossil
Mousehead posted a topic in Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
Hello! This one looks suspect to me. The smoothness of the bones and the lack of closeup photos to see any air bubbles/casting artifacts makes it hard to discern here. I'm also going to call out the little crevice surrounding the fossil that separates it from the matrix, which to me suggests it was planted into the surrounding rock. Info: Ichthyosaur communis Llavernock beach, South Whales, UK -
Hey! I just bought a “ ichthyosaur tooth” from online. The teeth sold out really fast so i had to make a quick decision. It’s suppose to be from the Belgorod region. So my question you is, is this a ichthyosaur tooth?
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From the album Holzmaden
A 3.7 cm long Ichthyosaur vertebra from the Posidonia shale from the quarry Kromer near Holzmaden. Here two more pictures: And a bad picture of the unprepped vertebra: The stone was extremely hard so the prep work was very difficult. -
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From the album Holzmaden
These are four Ichthyosaur paddle bones from the lower Jurassic from the quarry Kromer near Holzmaden. The prep was very difficult because the stone was kinda hard. I gave it up several times but now its finally finished. I hitted the bones a few times so its not the nicest piece. Maybe I will try to prep it from the other side one day. Some more pictures: -
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Ichthyosaur vertebra and Psiloceras planorbis ammonite
JohnBrewer posted a fossil in Amphibians & Reptiles
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From the album Holzmaden
A small Ichthyosaur rib part from the lower Jurassic of the quarry Kromer near Holzmaden. -
Hi! I’m currently in Lyme Regis, UK and will be here for a few more (I’ll hopefully be adding to this thread as it goes on!) My parents and I arrived into town yesterday, but before we even could do that, we missed the bus due to a slightly delayed train ride. So we decided to take a short stop in the cafe at the station and was met by this massive beauty. It was great to be greeted by Mary Anning before we even made it to Lyme Regis! Our bus finally came (after a great lunch!) and we were on our merry way! Once we got into town, it was lovely weather - sunny and windy - even though it’s been quite stormy here the past week or so apparently! Makes for good fossil hunting! Unfortunately it was high tide when we arrived so we couldn’t go hunting, but we walked along the Marine Parade along the people beach and ate the best scallops I’ve ever had. In the background, you can see the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast, where Mary Anning found the first Ichthyosaur. The whole town is peppered with fossil shops and paraphernalia, even the light posts are ammonites!
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From the album Holzmaden
Here is a 1.5 cm long Ichthyosaur tooth with a nice structure from the lower Jurassic from the quarry Kromer near Holzmaden (Germany). Another picture:
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