Rio Puerco fossil finds

[Opuntia]

Went out to Windmill Site in the Rio Puerco Valley today(11/27). It was very cold but very worth it. Found some ammonite pieces, a few oyster shells, and a lot of teeth. We are unsure who the teeth belonged to. Can anyone help us identify these finds? Thank you in advance. Beautiful day in New Mexico.

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

11 minutes ago, NMFOSSILS99 said:

We are unsure who the teeth belonged to.

Hi There,

 

Welcome to the forum .. I can't tell you the exact species (someone will pop by that can probably identify further) but those crushing teeth are from a Ptychodus sp. most likely from the Cretaceous. @PFOOLEY haunts those locations btw .. so beware. 

 

If you search for his posts on the forum your brain may grow larger .. a good tip.

 

An associated set of  Ptychodus teeth in-situ

 

Cheers,

Brett

 

PS. Totally jealous .. great finds !

[Opuntia]

Some other finds. Any help identifying is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Opuntia]

7 hours ago, Brett Breakin' Rocks said:

Hi There,

 

Welcome to the forum .. I can't tell you the exact species (someone will pop by that can probably identify further) but those crushing teeth are from a Ptychodus sp. most likely from the Cretaceous. @PFOOLEY haunts those locations btw .. so beware. 

 

If you search for his posts on the forum your brain may grow larger .. a good tip.

 

An associated set of  Ptychodus teeth in-situ

 

Cheers,

Brett

 

PS. Totally jealous .. great finds !

Right on, thank you for the info! Is this your find?!

[PFOOLEY]

Nice fossils @NMFOSSILS99...it is nice to see some success at the good ol' windmill.

 

The ammonites you found are Prionocyclus macombi and the shark teeth are from Ptychodus whippeli. The little "bottle cap" oysters are Lopha lugubris while the other bivalve is Inoceramus...they look to me like I. dimidius though there are two inoceramid biozones in that formation. The mineral is calcite...very common in concretions. All of your wonderful finds are from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Juana Lopez Member of the Mancos Shale.

 

I'm happy to see a fellow NM fossil hunter find some neat things...perhaps our paths will cross one day on those shaley slopes. Good luck out there.

[Opuntia]

10 hours ago, PFOOLEY said:

Nice fossils @NMFOSSILS99...it is nice to see some success at the good ol' windmill.

 

The ammonites you found are Prionocyclus macombi and the shark teeth are from Ptychodus whippeli. The little "bottle cap" oysters are Lopha lugubris while the other bivalve is Inoceramus...they look to me like I. dimidius though there are two inoceramid biozones in that formation. The mineral is calcite...very common in concretions. All of your wonderful finds are from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Juana Lopez Member of the Mancos Shale.

 

I'm happy to see a fellow NM fossil hunter find some neat things...perhaps our paths will cross one day on those shaley slopes. Good luck out there.

@PFOOLEY thank you for the knowledge and wisdom of the Rio Puerco! Any books you would recommend for us to study these fossils? 

[PFOOLEY]

9 minutes ago, NMFOSSILS99 said:

@PFOOLEY thank you for the knowledge and wisdom of the Rio Puerco! Any books you would recommend for us to study these fossils? 

You are very welcome. If you go to my profile and scroll through my status updates you will find a bunch of papers I posted there (so I could always find them  )....there should be some useful material.

 

Note: some of your finds will glow under a blacklight.