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My Keokuk Limestone finds from this fall have now been cleaned and identified. I am struggling with a few and am reaching out for any suggestions to identification. Thanks!! 1. First up is a blastoid that can't be matched well with the three species to occur in the Keokuk. It is probably a weathered sample that makes identification tough for me. 2. A crinoid cup that I do not recognize. It is very round and smooth. Maybe it isn't a crinoid cup! 3. A second crinoid cup I can't identify. 4. A large gastropod that spirals backwards to most gastropods. Reminds me of Maclurites if this was Ordovician. Straparolus looks similar but spirals normally. 5. And finally a specimen I thought was a fenstrate bryozoan until I looked closely and saw it lacked the netted appearance. Maybe a dendroid graptolite?

First up is a large trilobite pygidium I am not accustom to. Next is what I am guessing is a cornulites. My hunting grounds are devoid of these. Or is it a tentaculites??? There were quite a few of these found as I went through the matrix. Finally a complete mystery to me. Sponge or some kind of echinoderm?????? Only one was found.

We are western New Yorkers but with family in Texas ~2 hours from the North Sulfur river we decided to go fossil hunting. We hired a guide for the first time and fit one more trip in before coming home. The guide was super nice and gave us a number of his finds and we ended up with mosasaur vertebrae, a camel toe bone, fossil wood, exogyra shells, etc. I have some questions. In the 1st and 3rd pics, #1 is an unknown to me. The brown area is shiny like the enamel of 2,3,4. Our guide gave us 2&3 explaining that 2 is mammoth and 3 is mastodon. I found 4 and it is similar to 3. Are there a great differences in how bits of enamel look? Is mastodon enamel always thicker and is 2 a random shape or not. 5,6,7, 10 are unknowns. Does someone know what type of bivalve 8 & 9 might be? In picture #4 do all of the pieces look like fossil wood? There is an end shot of the piece with the pink on top and I wondered if it could be palm wood and is it possible to know what other types of wood are found in this river? I am guessing that the teeth in the next pic are from cows not bison just because they look newer. Is that reasonable to assume and maybe not big enough? in the 2nd pic, the largest bone is mosasaur. It has layers that I wondered about and is that a common presentation? The smaller bones don’t look like the mosasaur bones we have. Can you say by looking at them that they are not? Thank you for taking the time to look at all of these. Patti

Went out with the Natural History Society of Maryland fossil club to stratford hall 7/17/22. Perfect weather to walk along the beach and in the water. Came back with the standard things and a couple I am much less sure about. The first is a piece of rather flat bone, I hope it is a scapula, but if so whose? Next is a piece-- maybe it is a ray dermal scute; but the underside does not look like bone but I am not sure what it should look like. The last is a really shiny 1 cm bit that I think should be a drum fish tooth. Help, information and opinions will be well appreciated.

After seeing all of the interesting things people had found in Big Brook NJ i looked through my unknowns and thought I would ask for help. If I had found the fossil in A and B in florida I would have called it worn dugong rib. However I dont recall dugong coming out of NJ therefore I dont really know what it is, ?wood? The next set are a couple of pieces that may be sandstone, or ironstone, or maybe fossil unknowns. they all have a mild c shape, oval shape with layered central depressions. they were similar enough for me to keep them but i dont even know if the all or any are fossils . c and d are off color beleminites to suggest that some fossils coming out of this area can have an odd color and surface texture. There are alot of people on the forum who hunt this area regularly, please take a look and help me understand what I have found. thanks Excel.lnk

Hi all, I made my first trip out to Ramanessin Brook (NJ cretaceous) today. I found several teeth, and a partial shark vert. I also found what is most likely a rock, but might have some impression in it, and a partial bone(?) with nubs and grooves. If anyone can help with either I appreciate it. I took an overall photo of each, and then close ups using a jeweler's loupe. If the closeup photos are not adequate enough I can try to take better photos. I have a decent mirror-less camera, but I don't have a macro lens for the closeups. The light piece is probably just a rock. But the dark piece appears to be something, fossil or not. Thanks! Steve

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Central (Devonian) and SE Iowa (Mississippian) for a little fossil hunt. It was very successful and I will complete a trip report soon. In the meantime, it would thrill me to understand a few unknowns from the trip. First of all, the Mississippian, Burlington Formation: 1. and 2. 2. is a brachiopod that I could not find in the lists of brachiopods from the Burlington Formation. 3. There were many of these present in a certain layer of rock. Very circular with longitudinal striations. All roughly an inch in length. 4. Probably my most confusing specimen. It looks just like the little sanddollars I find in Florida. Probably a crinoid piece, but worth the asking!!!! 5. These "trace fossils" were very evident in a certain layer of the Burlington. I am open for suggestions. Now a few Devonian specimens to get your thoughts on. 6. This was found in with many Platyrachella iowensis, a long winged spirifer. This spirifer has SHORT wings. A different species or broken wings?? 7. Finally, I can not find mention of this winged bivalve, Cedar Valley Formation. Thanks for any help you can provide me!!! Mike Sorry!! I forgot a few, all Mississippian. 8. What could the little green discs be that I often find inside the very white crinoidal limestone? 9. This reminds me a bit of a cephalopod but its hollowed out area is on a sharp slant, too much for cephalopod. It does not image well. My apologies. 10. Finally, research pinpoints the fenstrate bryozoan on the left as Hemitrypa. Is the one on the right Archimedes? I am so used to just finding the corkscrew. I promise I am done now!

I missed these few fossils when trying to ID some unknowns from the Peace River a few days ago. 1. This one really intrigues me. Hopefully not just coral . 2. Very pitted. 3. I am a little unsure of these teeth. They just had a different appearance from the other teeth I could ID with confidence. I will repost a few from an earlier try for identification. 4. Bone of some kind 5. Broken tooth? Of what? A ridge down the length of the tooth visible in the first picture. Break visible in the second pic.

On my way to Ohio to visit relatives, I was close enough to Paulding Ohio to take an hour or two to check out the Silica Shale piles so graciously put out by the La Farge Quarry. As always, it didn't disappoint! I do have a few fossils that I am a little unsure of. @Peat Burns Hopefully someone can help out. Mike First off, this one is HARD TO SEE. I photographed it 3 times and can't get it's subtle details to come through. I am 90% sure of bivalve. It comes to a point and the striations are along the growth lines, not the ribs. Second up is what I think is a piece of a rostroconch..... But is just a guess.

I took a short trip to visit my son in Florida. We were to meet up with @jcbshark to do a little fishing. Unfortunately, mother nature had other ideas for us. It poured for 4 straight days, the length of my stay. I believe rain tallies were officially over 14 inches while we visited. Sooooo, what was a person to do??????? GO FOSSIL HUNTING!!!!!! I did have the opportunity to surface hunt for a few hours in a housing development near my son. Yes I was soaked with rain, but it helped to shine up the shark teeth. A picture of my finds: A closer look at a few teeth: But I am here to ID a few things. 1. The first is a tooth that I think is equine in nature. I am confused in that every horse tooth that I have found in Florida is MUCH larger.

My wife and I took a four day trip to Colorado over Labor Day and we were on the move constantly, trying to take in as much scenery as possible. OF COARSE, I had to do a little collecting along the way. As I looked at various rock formations, it quickly became apparent that I was out of my comfort zone. This wasn't Minnesota Ordovician material. I do have a mix of unknowns, both mineral and fossil to present for ID but let me start with these 2 samples collected near the Ammonite Research Site in Kremmling, Co. The first item was a brownish "thing" that I threw into my backpack to check out later. It really didn't look like a collectors piece. But when I examined it at home a little cleaner and closer up, I was astounded to see these blue streaks. Any explanations???? If I didn't know better, I would have guessed heart vessels. And yes the blue is that blue in real life.

April's arrival and the start of spring break was more than enough for me to warrant a 5th trip to the hometown favourite: the Conasauga Formation. This time, I had a primary objective: Find the ever illusive Agnostid Trilo. I had a feeling today was special, rendering any boredom the hour and a half long car ride brought with it negligible. When we finally arrived, I saw that we weren't alone in our search. It was only when I got down the hill that I noticed just who was already here. It was the man, the myth, the legend, the Ditch Weasel! For those not in the know, this is the guy that runs the channel Blackriverfossils, and has a Meg hunting video with over 2 million (million!) views. He was also accompanied by his partner in all things fossil hunting, Fossil Diva, seen here working diligently to get to those GA bugs: DW recognized me when I told him my YouTube alias (which is also my username here), and we quickly talked up a storm about our adventures. All the while, I scoured the rocks looking for the irresistible Cambrian bugs that lay within. Once again, it was the first find of the day that had me gushing: my very first Agnostid find: The little gem lay on the very fringe of a hash plate I found sitting on the slope, seemingly forgotten. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Agnostid's negative, as it appears to have been elsewhere. That was not too much of a downer, though, as my primary objective had ALREADY been found, and I had the chance to meet the legendary Ditch Weasel. Speaking of whom, he actually recorded my ID'ing the trilos, as this was only his second trip here and he didn't know very much about the formation. Look for a new video out on his channel in the near future! Another interesting thing I found today was this: In all 4 of my previous trips to Chatsworth, not once have I gotten something that looks like this. I found a 2nd one that has the exact same structure half an hour later in another slab I split, so I don't think it's chance mineralization. More on this peculiar specimen later. When all was said and done, I had come home with another great Conasauga haul: Going into more detail, here is the unknown I found, as well as the second one: Cont.

I think some of you will get a laugh out of this. I certainly had a good laugh at myself. I hope I’m not the only one to occasionally pick up some mystery item only to realize it isn’t mysterious at all and have to laugh at myself. Saturday I went out fossil hunting to NSR. I drove out a mile or so down some unoccupied dirt, hayfield, farm road to get close to a particular spot on the river without having to hike there. I nearly got stuck in the mud a good hours hike to the nearest paved road, but thankfully my daddy taught me how to drive and get out of a few pinches. I backtracked about a mile and parked along a lessmuddy part of the dirt road about a mile from the paved road. When I got back to my car, after hunting it was after sunset. I was totally worn out from hiking. Anyway, I saw this rock on the ground near my car with bright yellow on it. There were a few scattered around. At first I thought it much be some strange lichen or moss. I saw one with yellow sandwiched between two layers of rock so I ruled out lichen and moss and thought it might be some weird sulphur. I had never seen sulphur quite that yellow though. But I was by the Sulphur River after all. I had smelled something I thought might be sulphur a couple times, but thought hog sewage was more likely. So today I found the rocks and it suddenly dawned on me what it was in full light. Doh! Asphalt with yellow reflective paint! No mystery there. Being dog tired, after sundown and a mile from the nearest asphalt or paved road it didn’t initially occur to me what it was. I can only laugh at myself. It isn’t the first time I’ve picked up something wondering what it was only to have a good laugh at myself later for having picked it up. This past summer I picked up some mysterious item in the Pennsylvanian, it was one of my first times ever collecting there. Many things were new to me. I picked up a mysterious cluster of something and brought it home only to realize it was some form of scat, mammal poop that was nearly fossilized, but not quite. LOL It looked a bit like decomposed bunny poo all flattened. I picked up other clusters that were remaines of crustacean burrows or the likes that had similarities to the bunny poo stuff. So what odd or mysterious things have you picked up and brought home only to realize what it was later and you had to laugh at yourself?

Hello! I've been trying to identify some fossils from Aurora, North Carolina. My sister sent them to me, now that I have started collecting fossils again (after a LONG hiatus of 45+ years). Some I think I have done correctly, but corrections most welcome. I'm not too familiar with the fossils of this area OR Era. (Pennsylvanian fossils of Pennsylvania is what I have hunted/found). I've made the clearest photos I could (I am a bit shaky with the camera sometimes). Here are my attempts (and requests for help!) A: Sea Urchin Spine B: Lemon Shark Negaprion sp C (1,2,& 3): Tiger Shark - Galeocerdo (contortus?) D through J: Sand TIger Shark Tooth K: A tooth? A claw? I have no idea! L: Do not know M: Do not know N: Rootless Sand Tiger Shark tooth? O: I have no idea! P: A coral? Stromatolite? Q: I have no idea! R: Sponge Thank you for your attention. As I learn and study, I hope to be able to help in the future! I've been gathering books to study, and enjoy this subject very much! David Ruckser I have combined the photos into one; I can certainly upload individuals if needed.

Can anyone shed some light on these two specimens. I was given these from my technician last week. They were the possessions of her grandfather, who passed away last month. I told her TFF might be able to provide some info. Thanks for looking. Mike

Here are some Devonian finds from Iowa that are likely Nothing but geologic. Before they go on my junk pile, I want to see if I possibly could be wrong: 1: I have hunted in this quarry many times and have never seen these little "lines". They were frequently present in a certain pile of broken rock. First and third picture shows rocks about 6 " in diameter. Any ideas? 2: These circular specimens have a distant appearance of a crinoid stem cross section. Again, having been to this quarry many times, this structure is new to me. Usually crinoids are well preserved. The face of the rock had 20? of these imbedded in it. As you can see, it goes through the sample and is visible on the back side.

Hopefully these pics are ok. All found by me in the peace river. Any help is great. Thanks.