May 2021 - Finds of the Month Entries

[digit]

REMINDER: PLEASE carefully read ALL of the rules below.

Make sure you include all the required information, IN THE REQUESTED FORMAT (below) when you submit your fossil! 

If you have a question about a possible entry, please send me a PM.

Please pay special attention to Rule #5: 

Before and After Preparation Photos must be submitted for prepped specimens NOT  found during the Month of the Contest.

In addition to keeping the contest fair, this new qualification will encourage better documentation of our spectacular past finds.

Entries will be taken until 11:59:00 PM EDT on MAY 31, 2021

Any fossil submitted after that time, even if the topic is still open, will be deemed ineligible! 

 

Only entries posted with CLEAR photos and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll. 

Photos of the winning specimens may be posted to TFF's Facebook page.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

 

Shortly after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month.

 

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the fossils. 

Tell us more about your fossil, and why you think it is worthy of the honor. 

To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.

 

Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!
Best of success to all, and good hunting!

 

***********************************

Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. Find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found personally by you are allowed. NO PURCHASED FOSSILS.
2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry. (Only two entries per member per contest category.)
3. Your fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or Significant Preparation * of your fossil must have been completed during the Month of the Contest.
4. You must include the Date of Discovery (when found in the contest month); or the Date of Preparation Completion and Date of Discovery (if not found in the contest month).
5. Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest. Please make sure you arrange for photos if someone else is preparing your fossil find and completes the prep requirements in the contest month.
6. You must include the Common and/or Scientific Name.
7. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the fossil was found.
8. You must include the State, Province, or region where the fossil was found.
9. You must include CLEAR, cropped, well-lit images (maximum 4 images). If you are proud enough of your fossil to submit it for FOTM, spend some time to take good photos to show off your fossil.
10. Play fair and honest. No bought fossils. No false claims.

 

* Significant Preparation = Substantial work to reveal and/or repair important diagnostic features, resulting in a dramatic change in the look of the fossil. The qualification of Significant Preparation is decided at the discretion of staff. Any doubts as to the eligibility of the entry will be discussed directly with the entrant.

 

******* Please use the following format for the required information: *******

• Date of Discovery   (month, day , year) 

• Scientific and/or Common Name

• Geologic Age or Geologic Formation

• State, Province, or Region Found

• Photos of Find

 

 

(Please limit to 4 clear, cropped, and well-lit images.)

(If prepped, before and after photos are required, please.)

[musicnfossils]

I’ll kick this one off since I had a pretty decent fossil hunt today. 

 

Found May 3, 2021 

Daspletosaurus sp. tooth 

Steveville area, Alberta, Canada 

Dinosaur Park FM 

 

[Shellseeker]

Love those serrations...  Nice find.  I had a good day also. See my recent post.  Jack

[Fossildude19]

 

Found - May 1, 2021

Echinocaris punctata,  phyllocarid - dual valves

Middle Devonian, Moscow Formation, Hamilton Group
Deep Springs Road Quarry, Lebanon, NY. USA. 

 

 

[FossilDAWG]

30 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

 

Found - May 1, 2021

Echinocaris punctata,  phyllocarid - dual valves

Middle Devonian, Moscow Formation, Hamilton Group
Deep Springs Road Quarry, Lebanon, NY. USA. 

 

 

 

Don

[ricardo]

May 1 , 2021

Mecaster lusitanicus (Loriol, 1888)

Tentúgal Fm, Cenomanian (C level)

Montemor-o-Velho, Coimbra, Portugal

 

 

[sharko69]

I will enter my number one “number 2” found May 2nd at the North Sulphur River. Perfect spiral on this large you know what.

 

Coprolite

Ozan Formation

Fannin County, TX

Edited May 18, 2021 by sharko69

[ColombianFossils]

Ammonite

Pedioceras sp

Paja Formation 

Villa de Leyva, Colombia

Found Sunday 16th of May, prepped 19th.

 

From what I initially thought was just a block of imprints, I had the feeling there was a little more than meets they eye. Fortunately I was right!

I've included the pre-prep photo and pics that show a nice little gastropod inside. There are also a number of bivalves, one of which is open, and many smaller shells have concreted themselves into its mouth. After prep I've kept it separable to highlight the small details that would otherwise be hidden away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by ColombianFossils
Further detail added

[digit]

Nice! Lovely colors on that one.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ColombianFossils]

40 minutes ago, digit said:

Nice! Lovely colors on that one.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Thanks Ken! I never would have thought all that was hiding in the grubby sandy rock

[digit]

Sometimes it's like opening a present.

 

11 more days to enter for this month--let's see what you've been finding, people.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Sacha]

Lets give it a try. Sloth claw core:

 

Found May 20, 2021

Pliocene/Pleistocene Peace River

Zolfo Springs. Florida, USA

 

 

 

[Bonehunter]

Well, I'll pitch this in cause I haven't seen any other fossil nematodes preserved so well. My best guess are ringed nematodes, some of which are in tubes, though I can agree with annelids too. First picture is the fish spine/Listracanthus sp with faint parallel impressions and a cluster of nematodes present (red ring)- the worms measure ~300-800microns in length and multiple impressions are present as well. Cheers. 

Bone

 

Found May 12 2021

Ringed nematodes in shale-whole worms and imprints adjacent to fish spine

Stark Shale member between Winterset and Bethany Falls limestone Pennsylvanian

Kansas City, Missouri USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[digit]

I think you may get the prize for the smallest fossils ever entered into the FOTM contest.

 

Thanks for a truly novel entry demonstrating the breadth of fossil types our diverse membership encounters. 

 

 

Just over a week left in this month--what else are you all finding out there?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[digit]

2 hours ago, PetrosTrilobite said:

Concavus concavus

Love the species name.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Huntlyfossils]

After a rough year it was good to finally get back out to our Richmond NW Queensland with my 11 year old son for 2 days of collecting, its fair to say we didn't do very well over the two days until the final few hours when we headed back out at night for one last push. My son helped chose the last spot after an hour about 8pm we came across a partial turtle skeleton. While turtle bones are not particular rare here this is by far the most complete one we have found and really made our trip and is our best find to date, the 8hour drive each way was worth it.( Sorry the pictures are not the greatest due to the being taking at night under a lamp.

 

 

Date found 25/5/21. 

Scientific and/or Common Name - Cryptodira protostegidae, Protostegid sea turtle (Numerous bones) 

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation -Albian Early Cretaceous, Toolebuc Formation

State, Province, or Region Found - NW, Queensland, Australia

 

 

 

[FranzBernhard]

This month seems to be somewhat centered around the Cretaceous : Dinos, sharks, ammos, copros, echinoids, turtles. But where is the rudist? Here it is:

 

Found: May 2021 (1st, 8th and 15th May). It was collected in four parts on three days).

Name: Rudist Vaccinites sp.

Formation and age: Lower Afling-Formation, Gosau-Group of Kainach, Eastern Alps (Upper Santonian - Lower Campanian)

Site: Roemaskogel-30, Kainach bei Voitsberg, Styria, Austria.

 

For background info please have a look at:

Rudist collecting at Roemaskogel (field trip report here on TFF)

 

Franz Bernhard

[digit]

19 hours ago, Sjfriend said:

My first entry and I'm not hopeful with all the great finds.

The point of this friendly "competition" is to show off special finds that you are happy with and proud of. Your entry is a welcome addition to this month's contest--we don't get a lot of insects and they are nice to see.

 

19 hours ago, Sjfriend said:

Though, It may end up in the "contributions" thread if one of my contacts looking into it shows interest

That might be the best "prize" of all--to have professionals recognize a find as a SIS (Scientifically Important Specimen) is worth a whole page of little digital award badges.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[fossilhunter21]

This is the most complete brachiopod that I have ever found.

 

Date of Discovery: 5/23/21

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Spiriferid brachiopod

• Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Mississipian 

• State, Province, or Region Found: Indiana, USA

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by fossilhunter21

[mamlambo]

A large Tumido crab I found and prepped. I did a few days in April prep wise so please remove if not allowed 
It started off at 23kg and ended weighing 7kg, not helped by the fact that I started on the wrong side first!
Carapace is 150mm wide (6") and the width including legs is 320mm (12.5")

EDIT: added the before photo, the before photo has another crab on top for scale. Thanks @JohnJ for reminding me of the before photo! here is time-lapse of the prep which shows the before state quite nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjdER2xAQRg

• Date of Discovery   (month, day , year): Found Aug 2019, prepped May 2021 (majority prep work done in May, also a few days in April 2021)

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Tumidocarcinus giganteus

• Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: mid-Miocene

• State, Province, or Region Found: Canterbury, New Zealand

Before prep.

 

 

 

 

[JohnJ]

On 4/30/2021 at 6:49 PM, digit said:

Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest.

@mamlambo

 

A real beauty...but, you'll need some before prep (or very early in prep) photos to qualify.

 

[mamlambo]

Thanks @JohnJ, I've added in a before photo 

[jpc]

2 hours ago, mamlambo said:

Thanks @JohnJ, I've added in a before photo 

Nice crab.  I am slightly confused... in the before prep photo, it looks like it was found sitting on top of a concretion instead of insife it.   Or did you find the thing released from its concretion?  

[mamlambo]

43 minutes ago, jpc said:

Nice crab.  I am slightly confused... in the before prep photo, it looks like it was found sitting on top of a concretion instead of insife it.   Or did you find the thing released from its concretion?  

It's the concretion below the crab, the crab was sitting on top to show someone the size of the concretion. Sorry, it was a bit confusing. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

4 hours ago, mamlambo said:

It's the concretion below the crab, the crab was sitting on top to show someone the size of the concretion. Sorry, it was a bit confusing. 

 

The photograph also goes to show the size of this new specimen, which is absolutely humongous! In addition,  there's actually a video showcasing the preparation of this specimen form its nodule, which I found very instructive. I guess the link could be posted here, if somebody would find it useful in this context?

 

Cheers,

Alexander.