A few more Riker mount displays with macro specimens from the Round Mountain Silt Formation of California, the Chadron/Brule Formations of Nebraska, and the Miocene of Virginia.

[MarcoSr]

Below are some more of my macro fossils that I’ve recently put in 8”X12” Riker mount displays.  To see a previous post with Riker mount displays with specimens from the Aquia Formation of Maryland and the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia check out the below link:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/101415-a-few-riker-mounts-with-specimens-from-the-aquia-formation-of-maryland-and-the-nanjemoy-formation-of-virginia/

 

 

Considering I’ve only made three trips to the Ernst Ranch in Bakersfield California, I’m pretty happy with the macro specimens that I’ve found in those trips.  The below display contains some of my nicer macro specimens from the Miocene Round Mountain Silt Formation.  The top of the display has a cetacean flipper bone, cetacean vertebra, a bird bone, and a leatherback turtle carapace bone.  Then there is a row of Isurus planus shark teeth.  Then a group of Carcharodon hastalis teeth (for size reference the largest tooth is 3.13”) with an Otodus megalodon to the right.  The bottom of the display has two upper Hexanchus teeth and both cetacean and sea lion/seal teeth.

 

 

 

 

Below is a picture of a display with macro specimens from my sons’ M&M Ranch in Sioux County Nebraska.  These macro specimens came from the Eocene Chadron Formation (maybe but not likely) and the Oligocene Brule Formation (Most likely as the vast amount of the ranch flats areas where they were collected is almost all Oligocene). The top has a row of coprolites.  I only have a few coprolites left as I have donated several hundred to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.  The next row has a few pieces of turtle/tortoise shell.  Then there is a mammal tooth and rows of small mammal partial jaws.  The bottom of the display contains mammal bones.  Some of these specimens were given to me by my older son, Marco Jr., because I don’t do a lot of surface collecting at the ranch.  I spend the vast majority of my time at the ranch searching for anthills and collecting anthill matrix which contains micro vertebrate specimens which are my main interest.

 

 

 

 

Below is a picture of a display with Carcharodon hastalis shark teeth from the Miocene of Virginia.  The top of the display contains teeth from the upper jaw and the bottom of the display from the lower jaw.  For size reference the largest teeth are 2 5/8”.  I have collected several thousand Carcharodon hastalis teeth from Virginia but this will probably be my only Riker mount display of them.

 

 

 

 

I used all six of the Riker mount displays that I just recently bought so I won’t be able to post anything more until I get my next batch of them delivered.

 

Marco Sr.

[Darktooth]

Thanks for sharing these displays, they are very nice. All three contain some Beauties!

[MarcoSr]

3 hours ago, Darktooth said:

Thanks for sharing these displays, they are very nice. All three contain some Beauties!

 

My favorite display in this post is the one from the Ernst Ranch.  That one has several specimens that I really like including the largest C. hastalis that I've ever found.  I have some larger/deeper Riker mount displays (16"X12"X2") coming to me next Thursday.  I'll be able to mount/display some of my larger macro Miocene specimens, including some real favorites of mine, that I have collected from Virginia.

 

Marco Sr.

[Darktooth]

3 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

 

My favorite display in this post is the one from the Ernst Ranch.  That one has several specimens that I really like including the largest C. hastalis that I've ever found.  I have some larger/deeper Riker mount displays (16"X12"X2") coming to me next Thursday.  I'll be able to mount/display some of my larger macro Miocene specimens, including some real favorites of mine, that I have collected from Virginia.

 

Marco Sr.

I am looking forward to seeing those!

[siteseer]

Hi Marco Sr.,

 

You found a 3-inch hastalis and a complete megalodon in three trips?  You thought you were lucky with Otodus.  Based on Bob Ernst's collecting, I figured out a person digging for four hours every day for a 30 day month could expect to find one essentially complete megalodon in that time so you really beat the odds there.

 

Jess

 

 

[MarcoSr]

13 minutes ago, siteseer said:

Hi Marco Sr.,

 

You found a 3-inch hastalis and a complete megalodon in three trips?  You thought you were lucky with Otodus.  Based on Bob Ernst's collecting, I figured out a person digging for four hours every day for a 30 day month could expect to find one essentially complete megalodon in that time so you really beat the odds there.

 

Jess

 

 

 

Jess

 

Yes, in three trips total from Virginia to California (but each trip was 2 or 3 days digging at the Ernst Ranch).  I found the megalodon at slow curve on my third trip.  I found the hastalis at either the East or West Pit on my second trip.  I also found a nice bramble shark tooth on my first trip just walking around the area by slow curve surface collecting for teeth in what had been recently bulldozed.  That tooth is in one of my gem jar displays from the Ernst Ranch.  I wish I was as lucky at a few other sites.

 

Marco Sr. 

[siteseer]

On 1/14/2020 at 12:47 PM, MarcoSr said:

 

Jess

 

Yes, in three trips total from Virginia to California (but each trip was 2 or 3 days digging at the Ernst Ranch).  I found the megalodon at slow curve on my third trip.  I found the hastalis at either the East or West Pit on my second trip.  I also found a nice bramble shark tooth on my first trip just walking around the area by slow curve surface collecting for teeth in what had been recently bulldozed.  That tooth is in one of my gem jar displays from the Ernst Ranch.  I wish I was as lucky at a few other sites.

 

Marco Sr. 

 

Marco Sr.,

 

The first time I collected Slow Curve was in 1993.  I went there with a paleontologist who was a mutual friend of Bob and I.  I helped him collect and screen I don't know how many pounds of matrix and then he gave me some of the concentrate of which I still have a lot to search.  The different thing about Slow Curve is that many of the micro teeth have been preserved with a translucent quality.  They can be almost clear to yellow to orangish-red.

 

I think your big hastalis is from the west quarry.  Most of the darker teeth tend to come from there - enough that I would bet on it but they popped up elsewhere on the old property too, of course.

 

Jess

 

[MarcoSr]

8 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

Marco Sr.,

 

The first time I collected Slow Curve was in 1993.  I went there with a paleontologist who was a mutual friend of Bob and I.  I helped him collect and screen I don't know how many pounds of matrix and then he gave me some of the concentrate of which I still have a lot to search.  The different thing about Slow Curve is that many of the micro teeth have been preserved with a translucent quality.  They can be almost clear to yellow to orangish-red.

 

I think your big hastalis is from the west quarry.  Most of the darker teeth tend to come from there - enough that I would bet on it but they popped up elsewhere on the old property too, of course.

 

Jess

 

 

Jess

 

Thank you for the correct quarry for the hastalis.

 

I have a decent number of translucent micro teeth from Slow Curve.  Below is a Heterodontus anterior translucent tooth (2 mm) from Slow Curve.

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[siteseer]

Marco Sr.,

 

That's a cool specimen.  I think I have a translucent Rhinobatos or two and a couple of Dasyatis so far.

 

Jess

[MarcoSr]

Below is a picture of an 8”X12” display with Carcharodon hastalis (top), Anotodus retroflexus (middle), and Isurus desori (bottom) shark teeth from the Miocene of Virginia that I just put together. 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Some of these teeth are quite, quite beautiful. 

[MarcoSr]

7 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Some of these teeth are quite, quite beautiful. 

 

Thank you.  I think it was worth the time and money to move a lot of my fossils to the Riker displays which really showcase the specimens.

 

Marco Sr.