Taterageous Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 I collected this fossil many years ago as a kid, from a very rocky creek bed in Gorman, Texas. North Central Texas. No idea as to the geological age of the area. The "scales" have a slightly curved face that rises from the center to the sides, but not front and back. They also seem to be leaned on top of another similar to how normal scales are, all pointing the same direction. Almost looks as though the back side of the specimen has bone fragments visible? To my untrained eye, this what I assumed. From my own research, so far I assume it could be from a fish, similar to Lepidote? I'm an amature, so I'm really not sure. Any help identifying would be very appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas.Dodson Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 These are ganoid type scales from a Lepisosteid (gar) fish. I also believe you're correct about the bone. You have yourself a nice chunk of gar. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilshale Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 Could also come from a Lepidotus. That would be Jurassic or Cretaceous. Gar would point to Tertiary. 1 Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas.Dodson Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 3 hours ago, oilshale said: Could also come from a Lepidotus. That would be Jurassic or Cretaceous. Gar would point to Tertiary. Why just Tertiary? Lepisosteus is common in the upper Cretaceous series of North America as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilshale Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 3 hours ago, Thomas.Dodson said: Why just Tertiary? Lepisosteus is common in the upper Cretaceous series of North America as well. True, there are some partially dubious described Lepisosteus species from the Upper Cretaceous of the USA, but what I have seen so far has always been very fragmentary - single scales and bones. From the Cretaceous of North America I have never seen such large contiguous areas of scales as here. Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes (Confucius, 551 BC - 479 BC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piranha Posted July 10, 2021 Share Posted July 10, 2021 According to Grande 2010 all the fossil gars from Texas are Pleistocene: Grande, L. 2010 An Empirical Synthetic Pattern Study of Gars (Lepisosteiformes) and Closely Related Species, Based Mostly on Skeletal Anatomy. The Resurrection of Holostei. Copeia, Special Publication 6, 10(2A):1-871 Macrepistius arenatus also has similar morphology and is reported from the Glen Rose Fm of nearby Somervell County. Schaeffer, B. 1960 The Cretaceous Holostean Fish Macrepistius. American Museum Novitates, 2011:1-18 PDF LINK 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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