A day in the Sunshine

[Shellseeker]

I went fossil hunting yesterday.  It is an activity that brings a smile and renews my soul. Sometimes I like the solitude of hunting alone ( my 1st 18 months I only hunted alone),  but this day I was blessed with good friends and I could tell stories,  share their cut up fruit and trail mix, and marvel on what we were finding.

These are mostly my treasures.. None of us found large quantities, I had less than 50 fossils in my collection bag... but  what we did find was unique and/or had some quality aspects...

A tiger ,  32 mm across the root.

 

A Dusky or Bull,  never sure which

A fishjaw and a Tree root....

 

and below, a rare find for me ... note it tried to break,.  it will not get the chance again

 

A dolphin tooth found late... not one that I could name.

Friends also found a Dolphin tooth earlier,  Slightly larger. 

 

 

When this rolled into my sieve,  I knew it was familiar, I rolled it over and over, but I was not expecting it , could not ID.  My friends did.  Menippe was a Genus of Stone crabs back in the Florida Pliocene.  I wonder if this was a late arrival.

 

I liked the quality of the fossils... look at the details of this crab claw...

 

I was picking up a bunch of (broken) bones that I only slightly recognize with the intention of posting some of them but maybe in future posts. I do have a femur that I am curious about...

 

I always search TFF for helpful threads:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/102805-peace-river-femur/

It has this comparison photo....

For comparisons, I possess a SaberCat femur at 13 inches if complete.

Here's the key: 

1-Horse femur, 2-Sabertooth Cat femur, 3-Human Adult Female Femur, 4-Komodo Femur, 5-Harpy Eagle Femur, 6-Kiwi Femur, 7-Platypus Femur, 8-Spider Monkey Femur, 9-Rhesus Macaque Femur, 10-Vervet femur, 11-Goliath Frog Femur, 12-Flying Lemur Femur.

 

The bone seems not sufficiently robust for tapir, horse, llama, cow,, so maybe deer, coyote, bobcat....

Here is a mule deer for comparison.  I think total length of Mule deer femur would be 11-12 inches.

 

Any suggestions will be followed... Thanks for reading...

[Meganeura]

What are the growths on the tiger shark tooth?

[Shellseeker]

29 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

What are the growths on the tiger shark tooth?

A couple of pebbles,  I think.  Not sure of the process, but there was a little "gunk"  that caused a couple of pebbles going downstream to "stick around" for a couple of MYAs  

[Meganeura]

7 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

A couple of pebbles,  I think.  Not sure of the process, but there was a little "gunk"  that caused a couple of pebbles going downstream to "stick around" for a couple of MYAs  

Honestly that makes it even cooler of a tooth to me! Similar to an in-matrix tooth which are just so rare in the Peace!

[Shellseeker]

I spent some time this morning looking at fossil femurs: tapir, bobcat, wolf, deer.....the Tapir was too robust,  I learned about the "lesser trochanter" and started to analyze how the ball connected to the rest of the femur. For wolf and bobcat, there is a "u" shape....which my find does not have... On the other hard,  that anterior view of  mule deer femur is flat moving away from the top of the ball. So,  what we have here is an artiodactyl.

[Parker Brown]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:56 PM, Shellseeker said:

across the root.

 

This is a super nice Tiger tooth. I love when I get to find a tooth with some matrix still on it!

 

On 3/12/2023 at 7:56 PM, Shellseeker said:

 

 

 

Is this a modern Mako tooth? 

[Shellseeker]

Shortfin Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus).  You can find both shortfin and longfin mako sharks off the coast of Florida today.

However,  this tooth I found is fossilized and was probably dropped 2-3 mya in the late Pliocene.  They are extremely rare as fossils in my South West Florida , Bone Valley hunting areas. I have found less than ten in 15 years.

[Parker Brown]

8 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Shortfin Mako (Isurus oxyrinchus).  You can find both shortfin and longfin mako sharks off the coast of Florida today.

However,  this tooth I found is fossilized and was probably dropped 2-3 mya in the late Pliocene.  They are extremely rare as fossils in my South West Florida , Bone Valley hunting areas. I have found less than ten in 15 years.

That's a sweet find. I found a Shortfin Mako blade in Venice while diving but I have yet to find a whole tooth. I'm hoping to go north sometime this year and search for a better one.

 

Is this one of your nicer "Modern" Mako teeth or have you found some higher quality ones also?

[Shellseeker]

42 minutes ago, Parker Brown said:

That's a sweet find. I found a Shortfin Mako blade in Venice while diving but I have yet to find a whole tooth. I'm hoping to go north sometime this year and search for a better one.

 

Is this one of your nicer "Modern" Mako teeth or have you found some higher quality ones also?

Quote

Teeth of the extinct shark Carcharodon hastalis have been found in most Miocene and Pliocene marine deposits in Florida that produce shark teeth.

....Fossil teeth of Isurus oxyrinchus, the shortfin mako shark, are common in Florida only on the northeast Atlantic coast (Duval and Nassau counties). Like Carcharodon hastalis teeth, they do not have serrated cutting edges, but differ in their much narrower, more curved crowns and longer root lobes (Kent, 1994).

 

Makos of any species are uncommon finds for me.  Most Makos I find are less than 30 mm. There are a few great exceptions. I tried to get my best down to 5,  but had trouble eliminating the 6th.  Not sure there is an I. desori,  but I think I found one.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

This morning I was going thru my best finds for the Month of March last year to add to my Gallery.

As I was preparing the photo which I labeled "Isurus Oxyrinchus",  I realized that I had labeled a different Mako (in this Thread!!!) as Isurus Desori.  I also realize that I do not have a clue on how to differentiate the two sharks.. OR what age... Eocene,  Pliocene,  Miocene finding their teeth implies.

It is why I came searching for this thread..

It is likely that some members do know these sharks... @MarcoSr @sixgill pete @Al Dente @shark57

[MarcoSr]

2 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

 "Isurus Oxyrinchus",  Isurus Desori.  I also realize that I do not have a clue on how to differentiate the two sharks.... @MarcoSr

 

Neither do most researchers.  That is why more researchers now just use Isurus Oxyrinchus.

 

Marco Sr.

[shark57]

They are so similar that most shark researchers (e.g., Purdy et al., 2001, describing the Lee Creek sharks) consider them synonymous.

Edited January 25 by shark57
Adding an example