Tunis Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 Just had some recent rain in San Antonio so I decided to go out to a tried and true location. North of San Antonio on 281, there are multiple road cuts where interesting things can be found! Since I joined the forum, I have been amazed at the photos that people take, while the fossils are still in the matrix. I am normally so excited, I forget the documentation. Not this time! I found a few Salenia texana (sea urchins) and a Heteraster texanus (heart urchin). Some before and after pictures have been added. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 Love the field photos. Nice finds, thanks for sharing. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 Nice finds! What are those little disc-shaped fossils around that first Salenia? I can't quite make them out. I think I'm seeing echinoids, but also foraminifera. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunis Posted November 30, 2020 Author Share Posted November 30, 2020 No exaggeration, but there are millions of those little “discs”. I do not know what they are. Maybe some help from the forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planko Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 Nice finds! I have hunted that stretch a few times and have not seen this hole. Congratz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 I think the discs are foraminiferans. Don 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historianmichael Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 I believe the discs are called Orbitolina texana 6 Follow me on Instagram (@fossil_mike) to check out my personal collection of fossils collected and acquired over more than 15 years of fossil hunting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 @Tunis Congratulations on your foray into the lower Glen Rose Formation! It is always thrilling to see the exquisite detail preserved on Leptosalenia texana. As @FossilDAWG and @historianmichael mentioned, the small discs are the foram, Orbitolina texana. 3 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjfriend Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 Don't collect echnoids (mostly because I've never hunted in a locality that holds them) but those are nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Great finds. Thanks for sharing them. I always enjoy seeing echinoids from other places. Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Some really choices beauties there. Congratulations on your finds and thanks for showing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Nice echies, the 1st one looks especially appealing My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 On 11/30/2020 at 4:07 PM, Tunis said: No exaggeration, but there are millions of those little “discs”. I do not know what they are. Maybe some help from the forum? Those forams as JohnJ identified are a marker/index fossil for the Glen Rose Formation. They are especially abundant in the Lower Glen Rose at the "Salenia" texana zone as we see here. They continue up into the Upper Glen Rose eventually disappearing. The upper layers may in fact have a different species O. minuta which are always smaller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 Congratulations on finding those exquisite echinoids, especially the intact Salenia texana specimens!!! I am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunis Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 Went out again to the location this past Saturday. First visit since the snow storm. Didn’t find much but my heart skipped a beat when I first saw how large the heart urchin was. Turned out that is was squished horizontally where as the other urchin was squished vertically. All in all, a fun trip with my son. Good to get out of the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunis Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 On 12/1/2020 at 4:28 PM, Sjfriend said: Don't collect echnoids (mostly because I've never hunted in a locality that holds them) but those are nice Are you telling him not to collect echies, or stating that you don't collect them? (Sorry, I had to read this twice to figure it out). : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 Cool fossils. I have visited those cuts a few times as well. FYI, The Heteraster is actually the species H. obliquatus. H. texanus shows up later in the Fredericksburg Group. There is one other heart urchin in those cuts. Pliotoxaster comanchei is similar but all five of the ambulacra are depressed. Once you find one it will be obvious and they are not uncommon. As you mentioned the trick is getting uncrushed specimens. There is also a Tetragramma species or two in there as well but much less common as well as the possibility of the Cidarid. The knurly spines of the Cidarid are fairly common and loose plates show up here in there. The big time bonus is a complete test. Keep your eyes open! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjfriend Posted March 1, 2021 Share Posted March 1, 2021 On 2/26/2021 at 7:06 AM, jpc said: Are you telling him not to collect echies, or stating that you don't collect them? (Sorry, I had to read this twice to figure it out). : ) Oh, I was telling him to not collect since I don't I mean really, if I can't no one can!!!! ok, not really... Yes, should have said "I don't collect them" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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