Fun ecosystems to collect?

[gigantoraptor]

Hello all

 

For the last years, my main focus of collecting was the Kem Kem beds, where I tried to get every species represented in my collection. Something that's been going quite well, but is getting harder and harder to do. Some of my main bucket list items from there are extremely hard to get. Last year I started collecting stuff from the Elrhaz formation as well, which is also been going quite well. 

 

Now I want to start collecting a third ecosystem. The main focus will still be Kem Kem, but I want to start getting a bit more diversity in my collection. The goal is to eventually get every animal/plant/other organism/trace known from that ecosystem. I asked some friends and they gave me a couple ideas. Each of them have a couple of pro's and con's. I was wondering if anyone got any other ideas on ecosystems I could collect.

 

- The Hell Creek formation:

Pro: Quite a lot available on the market, including plants, inverts, dinosaurs, reptiles, mammals...

Con: Due to the taxes on stuff outside the EU, this will end up costing a whole lot. I also have to basically start from zero since I only have 3 species from here.

 

- Wessex formation:

Pro: Closer to home, possibility to go hunt there myself. Also some of my favourite animals lived there.

Con: Quite a few described animals from there I've never seen in any private collection. I think it's going to be hard to even get half the species of what could be found there. Also have to start from Zero

 

- Triassic formations from the USA (eg. Chinle formation)

Pro: Totally unknown to me, so could be an cool and interesting challenge. 

Con: Same problem as the HCF, this will cost a lot in taxes. 

 

 

Would love to hear your opinions on this. 

 

Kind regards and thanks in advance

Thijs

[FranzBernhard]

I am very biased, but this would be the only valid argument for me:

22 minutes ago, gigantoraptor said:

possibility to go hunt there myself.

Good luck and have fun, whatever you will choose!
Franz Bernhard

[ziggycardon]

I was indeed about to suggest Hell Creek, but you are right regarding the taxes ofcourse which is a thing that often vexes me too when ordering abroad.

Locations I might suggest of which I try to make display as well are:

- Solnhofen

- White River Formation

- Phosphates of Khouribga 

[Runner64]

Have you considered the bissekty formation? I always thought this would be a fun challenge.

 

Morrison too.

[gigantoraptor]

21 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

I am very biased, but this would be the only valid argument for me

Hunting myself is fun, but hard to do, since it's still quite a distance away. Still planning to do it one day

 

20 hours ago, ziggycardon said:

I was indeed about to suggest Hell Creek, but you are right regarding the taxes ofcourse which is a thing that often vexes me too when ordering abroad.

Locations I might suggest of which I try to make display as well are:

- Solnhofen

- White River Formation

- Phosphates of Khouribga 

I didn't think of Solnhofen, might be fun with a bit more fishes. The fossil fish from Lebanon might be a good idea also. Thanks for the suggestion.

The Phosphates of Khouribga is also an excellent suggestion, weird I didn't think of that one. I got a decent start for that already so might do this one.

 

The White River Formation is something that has a lot of interesting stuff, but falls a bit out of my main interest.

 

 

19 hours ago, Runner64 said:

Have you considered the bissekty formation? I always thought this would be a fun challenge.

Morrison too.

I have considered Bissekty, but I was a bit hesitant about it, since there isn't much coming from there, and what is coming out of it, seems to be mainly the same few species.

Morrisson was a project I would undertake, but is too expensive for me now.

 

[jdp]

As someone who works professionally in the Chinle and who follows some of the sales of Chinle material with curiosity, I will say that there just isn't a lot of material out there. This is in large part because Chinle deposits are on public lands, either BLM or National Parks, which means commercial collection of vertebrate fossils is prohibited. Further, Chinle is pretty difficult to collect and prepare due to the relatively consolidated nature of the sediments and heavy paleo-groundwater activity (hence the redbeds). So, you're just not going to have a good time trying to get your hands on a substantial collection of that material.

[Wrangellian]

Interesting idea to collect everything you can from one particular formation, but I would think it's very difficult/expensive if you're doing it long-distance by paying for them, especially if you're aiming for vertebrates. If you're OK with inverts (or fish) then you have more options. I'm more of a generalist so I like to have a little bit of everything from all over, from various periods/formations. The only formation that I have anything close to the full range of known fauna/flora is my local site I've been collecting for the last 12-13 years, and even still, I don't have an example of everything that has been found in it. But it's an interesting goal to set, to understand the full range of things from one spot and see how many of them you can get.

[gigantoraptor]

13 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Interesting idea to collect everything you can from one particular formation, but I would think it's very difficult/expensive if you're doing it long-distance by paying for them, especially if you're aiming for vertebrates. If you're OK with inverts (or fish) then you have more options. I'm more of a generalist so I like to have a little bit of everything from all over, from various periods/formations. The only formation that I have anything close to the full range of known fauna/flora is my local site I've been collecting for the last 12-13 years, and even still, I don't have an example of everything that has been found in it. But it's an interesting goal to set, to understand the full range of things from one spot and see how many of them you can get.

Everything is the goal, but I do know that will be quite hard.

 

From Kem Kem for example, I'm missing several shark species, several undescribed theropod teeth, and a plesiosaur tooth (among others). Most of these are extremely rare and nearly impossible to get. For some reason I still don't have an Abelisaur tooth from there, while those are quite common.

From Elrhaz I'll have to wait quite a while before I'll be able to afford some of the missing dinosaurs, like Kryptops and Eocarcharia.

 

So I'm willing to take on any challenge where it's at least somewhat realistic to get 60-70% of what's described. Undescribed stuff is even more fun to get. Paying for them isn't an issue for me, I live quite a bit from the closest fossil spot, so I'm kinda out of options on that.

 

 

On 8/23/2021 at 11:16 PM, jdp said:

As someone who works professionally in the Chinle and who follows some of the sales of Chinle material with curiosity, I will say that there just isn't a lot of material out there. This is in large part because Chinle deposits are on public lands, either BLM or National Parks, which means commercial collection of vertebrate fossils is prohibited. Further, Chinle is pretty difficult to collect and prepare due to the relatively consolidated nature of the sediments and heavy paleo-groundwater activity (hence the redbeds). So, you're just not going to have a good time trying to get your hands on a substantial collection of that material.

I did not know this. Thanks for the warning. Do you know of other Triassic locations where it might be easier to get material from?

[ParkerPaleo]

I'm quite partial to the White River myself.  There are easily more than 70 genera of mammals and reptiles.  I've collected for a lifetime (~50 years) and some things I only have a stray tooth or nothing at all.