April 2013 Finds Of The Month

[Cris]

Entries will be taken through April 30th. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.
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Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. You find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found by you.

2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry.

3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or the significant Preparation of your Fossil must have been completed during the Month of the Contest.

4. You must include the Date of your Discovery or the Date of Preparation Completion.

5. You must include the common or scientific name.

6. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the Fossil was found.

7. Play fair. No bought fossils.

Shortly
after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the
Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month. The maximum
entries allowed by the Polling software will be selected for each
contest by the staff.

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the fossils. So, only entries posted with a CLEAR photo and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll.

Within a few days, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month! Now, go
find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

[TMNH]

I would like to submit my 17.5 cm (7") long Isotelus maximus from the Georgian Bay Formation (Late Ordovician) of Toronto.

The specimen was collected in late march, but it has taken me several weeks to assemble it from over 50 pieces (it was very fragile and broke apart as I extracted it from the riverbed it was lodged in). It is my largest complete trilobite by far, and is probably one of my best finds! Most of the large Isotelus from the formation came from the Brickworks Quarry, which has been closed for some time. Finding a well preserved one this size is a real rarity. The specimen is complete (except for a few small chips) and even its hypostome is visible, still articulated. I also recovered part of the negative impression (last picture).I have the negative and partial positive of the tip of the right genal spine, but I have not attempted to prepare it more in fear of ruining it.

What looks like matrix on the carapace are actually bryozoans (red arrow in 5th picture). Due to the completeness of the specimen and the apparently turbulent waters of the environment it lived in, I would think that it would be unlikely for the bryozoans to have had time to grow on the trilobite post mortem, so it is possible that the grew on it while it was alive.

Thanks for taking a look!

Edited April 19, 2013 by TMNH

[Fossildude19]

Awesome Find Joe!

Congratulations!

You must have been stoked to find it.

Excellent job on assembling the puzzle as well!

Regards,

Edited April 19, 2013 by Fossildude19

[TMNH]

Awesome Find Joe!

Congratulations!

You must have been stoked to find it.

Excellent job on assembling the puzzle as well!

Regards,

Thanks! I had a lot of fun working on it.

[piranha]

Hi Joe,

You must be thrilled with such a spectacular find and your skillful prep is also worthy of a big round of applause. In my book this is one of the finest trilobites I have seen in a long time and I know you will treasure this magnificent prize for many years to come. In any event, I called in a special favor and I'm now duly authorized to present you the Golden Trilobite Award for 2013.

Congrats again on an absolutely Incredible Isotelus!

[DLB]

Holy trilobite !!!!!!!

[TMNH]

Thank you Scott, that is truly an honour! I will put that award next to the trilobite in my cabinet.

[Missourian]

That poor bug's been through a lot, but still awesome.

[mikeymig]

Congrats!

I usually shy away from this but, do you think it might "help" the specimen if it were applied to a sturdy piece of matrix? With the cephalon hanging off the edge of course to view the hypostome. I had this done to a large 7" Trimerus I found that popped out of the matrix whole. I was glad I did and on the reverse side of the matrix was the impression.

Mikey

[Northern Sharks]

WOW! I saw D.Rudkin's (ROM curator) post on facebook about a huge Isotelus being found, but didn't realize it was you who found it. Congrats

[Welsh Wizard]

Hi everyone and nice trilobite by the way.

I'd like to submit this fossil:

It was found by me, in a nodule on the Yorkshire Coast, England on the 10th April 2013. I also prepared it myself on the 14th April 2013.

It is a Hildoceras Bifrons from Upper Lias (Lower Jurassic), Bifrons Zone, Alum Shales of Ravenscar

thanks for looking

Nick

[TMNH]

Thank you for the comments, and also very nice specimens Nick and Darren!

Congrats!

I usually shy away from this but, do you think it might "help" the specimen if it were applied to a sturdy piece of matrix? With the cephalon hanging off the edge of course to view the hypostome. I had this done to a large 7" Trimerus I found that popped out of the matrix whole. I was glad I did and on the reverse side of the matrix was the impression.

Mikey

Interesting thought. I am not too worried about it breaking as I have it fairly well stuck together, but a natural matrix plate for it to rest on could be a nice display idea.

WOW! I saw D.Rudkin's (ROM curator) post on facebook about a huge Isotelus being found, but didn't realize it was you who found it. Congrats

Oddly enough, I was just talking to Dave and it seems that another large Isotelus was also found within the last month or two! I believe the owners are donating it to the ROM, so this is probably the one he is talking about. What are the chances of 2 being found within that short of time, seeing as though I did not think many complete specimens of this scale had turned up in Toronto since the closing of the Brickworks in the 80's.

[Evgeny Kotelevsky]

Name: Pachycothon giganteum

Phylum: Porifera

Class: Demospongia

Age: K₂st (Upper Cretaceous, Santonian)

Location: Saratov, Russian Federation

Size: 30 cm high

Discovery date: 12 April 2013

Preparation finished: 15 April 2013

Short description: P. giganteum can be found in Santonian of Russia and in Campanian of Germany, but mostly upper parts - they look like bowls. Complete skeletons, with stem and roots, are very rare - there are only several of them in the world. One of them is in my collection.

[masonboro37]

I have finally gotten up the nerve to enter a specimen. I want to thank everyone whom helped me with the proper identification. I hope it is ok that I have entered a specimen which other's helped to identify. I found the beaver incisor on April 6, 2013.

Giant Beaver tooth, incisor.

Species: Castoroides ohionensis

Location: Green Mill Run, North Carolina

Almost 3 inches in length.

The incisor is of the Pliocene/Pleistocene epoch. From a juvenile Casteroid due to the smaller size. The Casteroid's became extinct in North Carolina around 10,000 years ago. Interesting enough, their main diet were plants. The average weight of a mature Casteroid was a range of 132-200 pounds. The adult's could grow body length to 8 feet and incisor's could be 5.9 inches in length. Their fur was longer and thicker than the average beaver of today.

Libby

Edited April 20, 2013 by masonboro37

[JohnJ]

Libby, there is absolutely no problem with your entry. It's a wonderful find.

[masonboro37]

Libby, there is absolutely no problem with your entry. It's a wonderful find.

Ok, thank you John.

[Mike from North Queensland]

Here is my entry for this month.

Found 15-4-13

Bird Humorous

Toolebuc Formation

Cretaceous

Richmond Queensland Australia

Quite rare in Australia as only a handfull of cretaceous bird fossil bones have been found and I have been chasing a diagnostic bone for over a year from my spot.

For scale the longest dimention is 19 mm.

Mike

Edited April 21, 2013 by Mike from North Queensland

[claire01]

Please consider my 3 dimensional fish fossil found April 14, 2013 in the Cretaceous Eagle Ford formation, Denton County Texas:

And thanks EVERONE for all your help and encouragement! It is sincerely appreciated!

[Boneman007]

Love the tooth Libby!

Bird bones are always something that would make me do a happy dance at a funeral! Awesome find!

TNMH: That trilobyte is FANTASTIC! Even incredible! Congrats X 100!

Evgeny: Congrats on a excellent sponge. Getting one that complete is incredible.

Wizard: Killer ammonite. I just love those incredible finds from across the pond!

And Lastly, Claire: You know how I feel about your fossils. Its always fantastic to see your stuff! Its very cool that the specimen appears to be a fish. Congrats! Will you be bringing it to the next DPS meeting on the 8th?

Now the only problem will be to know who to vote for!

[whowat13]

Up for your consideration...

One Dugong molar. (Dioplotherium)

Found in the Peace River, in Wauchula.

Age on this tooth is Miocene.

It was removed from the Peace today (4/26/2013), and has had no work done on it at all.

-Bill H.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Cris

[bruce]

Here is a 30 million yr old fossil crab, a Pulalius vulgaris from the Lincoln Creek Fm. in Washington State finished on 4/17/13. When I started to prepare it, I could see that it had great preservation, so I careful looked for the knobs at the base of the carapace to locate the side legs and then followed them out. All four legs on the left side were complete down to the tips of the dactylus. The bottom picture on the left was taken thru the scope and you can see the microjack #3 stylus is bigger than the dactylus tips.

[crabfossilsteve]

Oh Bruce

Wow what a beauty and so close to complete/complete down to the tippies. Lovely prep job on that guy/gal. No nicks, no pits, no errors.

Congrats

[uncoat]

Amazing prep Bruce! How long did that take?

[Boneman007]

Here is a 30 million yr old fossil crab, a Pulalius vulgaris from the Lincoln Creek Fm. in Washington State finished on 4/17/13. When I started to prepare it, I could see that it had great preservation, so I careful looked for the knobs at the base of the carapace to locate the side legs and then followed them out. All four legs on the left side were complete down to the tips of the dactylus. The bottom picture on the left was taken thru the scope and you can see the microjack #3 stylus is bigger than the dactylus tips.

Wow! You NEVER get the tips of the legs on ANY fossil crabs! Very nice! Congrats!

[PFOOLEY]

Invertebrate

Turrilites sp.

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Dakota SS

Discovered: April 14th, 2013