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Back in October of last year I donated some Cookiecutter Shark (Isistius sp.) teeth to the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) after learning that this taxon was absent from their collection. I soon learned that this genus of shark had not been previously (scientifically) known from Florida. Amateur collectors and members of this forum have known (for some time) that Isistius teeth could be found with regularity at the locality we refer to as "Cookiecutter Creek" on TFF. The initial donation sparked the interest of a PhD student at UF who is interested in writing a paper about the Florida locality for this shark genus. In an effort to provide additional specimens beyond those I originally donated back in October I recently returned to the creek to collect at different locations and kept track of the specimens I found in 1000g samples of the micro-matrix to get a quantitative idea of the density at different gravel patches at this locality. Last week my wife Tammy and I managed to find some free time in our busy schedules to join the FLMNH and volunteer at the Montbrook dig site (trip report coming soon). I was able to hand deliver to Dr. Richard Hulbert another 137 specimens of Isistius from my recent micro-matrix sorting (many complete but also all of the fragmented specimens). All of the other associated micro fossils found while sorting over 72 kg of micro-matrix were donated as well to provide an understanding of the associated faunal assemblage. When I have some time I hope to return to the creek to collect some of the finer sediment in an effort to locate an upper Isistius tooth. These are even smaller than the tiny lowers and being only 0.5 x 1.0 mm in size are at the same scale as the sand in the creek. It will definitely be a needle in the haystack type of a search with long odds and a near zero chance of success but I'm always up for a challenge. ;)

 

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I had also contacted Dr. Roger Portell (Collection Director, Division of Invertebrate Paleontology, FLMNH) to inquire if any of the Lovenia woodsi echinoids I was fortunate enough to collect and export (legally) near Melbourne, Australia would be of interest as comparative specimens for the collection. Roger said he would appreciate some of these upper Miocene echinoids so I picked out 10 nice specimens and was able to add something to the invert collection at FLMNH as well. I kept a few specimens for myself so I'll always be able to remember a fun fossil-collecting side trip during our trip to Australia. It is nice to know that someone studying Miocene echinoids in the future may benefit from our collecting efforts. Here's a link to our Beaumaris trip report for those who have not seen it:

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/70070-quick-trip-to-beaumaris-cliffs-australia/

 

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Cheers.

 

-Ken

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Tusoteuthis longa
Pierre Shale, Maastrichtian 
South of the Black Hills
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Museum of Geology
 

Found on some ranchland of a friend of the school, we excavated it for the rancher to donate

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Multi-species echinoderm slab.

 

Tropidaster pectinatus Forbes - a velatid starfish, the only member of Family Tropidasteridae 

Procidaris edwardsii (Wright) - cidarid

Isocrinus robustus (Wright) - crinoid (three individuals)

 

Lower Jurassic, Upper Pliensbachian, Staithes Sandstone Formation.

North Yorkshire Coast, England.

 

Donated to the Natural History Museum, London, in 2016.

 

It was a hard one to let go but they particularly wanted the little Tropidaster as it was a first for the Yorkshire coast (a few more have been identified since). It had previously only been known from the original type occurrence in Gloucestershire, described in 1850. 

The Procidaris is also very rare so they were happy to have that too, and the association is obviously a bit special.

I am told that the specimen, or parts of it, will be included in the upcoming Palaeontological Association guide to the Yorkshire Lias.

 

Reassembled and part-prepped (it was collected in fragile pieces). 25cm across. Tropidaster at bottom right.

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Tropidaster pectinatus, one good arm, the body folded over which is typical.

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Procidaris edwardsii and Isocrinus robustus.

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Tarquin

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With the exception of the large Phareodus, this pile of 43 fish on 39 plates was donated to the Morrison Museum of Natural History.

 

Containing a mix of Knightias and Diplomystus in unprepped form.

 

The museum will use these to practice prep and study.

 

Found June 3-4, 2017

Green River Formation

Eocene (55myo)

Kemmerer, WY

Private Quarry

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More donations made to the RBCM last month.

I will not post every little thing I donated (a car full), these are the more interesting items..

 

Fish (?Enchodus sp.) jaw

Haslam Fm, Santonian
Mt Tzuhalem, Vancouver Island
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Fish vertebral column in concretion

Haslam Fm, Santonian

Mt Tzuhalem, Vancouver Island

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3 of the 4 specimens I donated of Glyptostrobus sp. with cone(?)

Haslam Fm, Santonian

Mt Tzuhalem, Vancouver Island

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Heteromorph ammonite ?Pseudoxybeloceras sp. with possibility of exposing sutures

Haslam Fm, Santonian

Mt Tzuhalem, Vancouver Island

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More scaphopods..

(formation and location as above)

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clusters of unidentified bivalve (my 'Type 2') with scaphopod - part and counterpart

(formation/location as above)

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?Glyptostrobus sp. frond

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Large coprolite with fish scales

Haslam Fm, Santonian

Chemainus, Vancouver Island

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One more.

 

Sponge cf. Hormathospongia dictyota

Haslam Fm, Santonian

Mt Tzuhalem, Vancouver Island

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Some of you have been following my unique fossil finds for some time now, and others have provided amazing help in trying to identify what I have found. It appears that my collection is both unique and important to science in the study of Carboniferous fossils, so rather than keep them under a tarp in my yard, I decided to find them a permanent home. The Smithsonian came and packed up (5) 4'x4' crates and they have now been transported and officially donated to them. I also look forward to seeing the paper that is being written on them published, and thank you Paul for all your work! What an amazing journey, and hope that it is not over yet..This is just one of the many fossils donated.

 

Multiple plant specimens donated to Smithsonian.

 

Danaeites Alethopteris macrophyllus (2).JPG

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Sherry

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Enakomusium whymanae

Aspidophiura seren

Middle Callovian - Middle Jurassic

Cotswolds England

Natural History Museum, London, England

Specimens donated 2009 soon after being discovered, determined to be two new species, paper published May of 2017. Photos taken by museum x50 of Enakomusium whymanae.

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Enakomusium whymanae - back.jpg

Enakomusium whymanae -arm fragment.jpg

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Never ask a starfish for directions

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left fourth metatarsal of a large Anoplotherium

Oligocene

Bouldnor Cliff, Isle of Wight

Donated as requested by Natural History Museum, London, England

They were missing this particular toe bone of a nearly complete specimen in their collection, it turns out this was from a different larger animal.

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Never ask a starfish for directions

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Artiodactyl bone

Oligocene

Hamstead, Isle of Wight

Donated as requested when taken there for identification, they asked for it as it the shape could not be matched to anything they had so not sure what it was from.

artiodactyl bone 1a.jpg

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Never ask a starfish for directions

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brachyuran crab

Middle Callovian - Middle Jurassic

Cotswolds - Oxford Clay

Donated to Natural History Museum, London, England as they had not seen one preserved like this before.

CLQU-002D Crab.jpg

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Never ask a starfish for directions

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Hi guys! 

 

Some of you may have been following the Caryosyntrips I sent to Oxford which let to a worldwide search of specimens that were misidentified. And they were found in Spain, US and Canada! This led to 2 new species and the specimen I sent off greatly increased the knowledge of this Cambrian apex predator that was related to, but way meaner than Anomalocaris! My Utah specimen was the first known from outside of the half dozen specimens found at Burgess in Canada.

 

  All the details are in the post on this section of the forum. After the study I donated the specimen to Kansas University on the advice of the professor who did the study. They have an awesome Cambrian collection and this makes the fossil easily accessible to any future research. They sent me a nice certificate. And besides, it's the only known specimen of C. serratus in the US so I figured it was "born in the USA" and should reside there. B)

-Caryosyntrips serratus (Large Anomalocaridid apex predator)

-Wheeler Shale, Utah

-Cambrian, 500myo

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"That belongs in a museum!"

- Indiana Jones

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(Forgot to add the find on here when I donated it earlier this year)

 

Partial upper molar of Ronzotherium cf. romani 

Early Oligocene, Rupelian, Bouldnor Formation

Hamstead, Isle Of Wight 

Dinosaur Isle Museum 

 

Donated as requested by Dinosaur Isle, the Isle Of Wight's local palaeontology museum. Ronzotherium is a genus of hornless rhinoceros that arrived in Europe from Asia during the 'Grande Coupure' of the early Oligocene. It was lightly built and adapted for running and was most likely a browser. Britain is believed to have been the northern limit of it's range. This is the seventh specimen found in the UK, all from the Bouldnor Formation at Hamstead and Bouldnor. Now on display in the Solent Group exhibit. 

 

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I know it's not nice to gloat about one's good deeds, but since TFF assigned a special place for that :D, it would be silly not to use the opportunity to share with others.

Today I delivered to the Geological Museum in Warsaw a part of my collection that I decided to donate to them - I didn't know that I should take a picture of the specimens donated, so in the attachment a picture from another event showing a part of fossils that went to the Museum and a thank you letter from them. The collection comprised both Polish, as well as foreign specimens. I hope to see them one day on display :fingerscrossed:

collection.JPG

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- Giant placoderm ( probably unkown species )

- Late devonian

- Belgium

- donated to the " Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Sciences " on 09/12/2017

 

 

 

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growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional.

 

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Giant Beaver (Castoroides .sp) 4th metatarsal

--Geologic Formation or Geologic Age. Hawthorn Group, Peace River Formation, Early Pleistocene

--Region the fossil was found: Peace River, Arcadia, Florida, USA. 92.7 millimeter Foot bone was found on February 4th, 2018 below 2 feet of medium gravel, sand, mud mixture 5 feet off east bank.

Donated to Research Laboratory, University of Florida Museum of Natural History for use in comparative fossil Identification.

Donation Requested:

Quote

I have looked at the fossil you sent in for identification.  Based on size and anatomy of the distal end its best match is a metatarsal of the giant beaver. I also compared it to a modern beaver and some images of fossil beaver metatarsals.  It is the fourth metatarsal. We do not have any examples of this particular bone of Castoroides in our collection.  Because of this I would like you to consider donating it to the museum’s collection. But if you prefer not to, let me know and I will return it to you soon.

Cheers, Richard

Dr. Richard C. Hulbert Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager
Florida Museum of Natural History
Dickinson Hall, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800 USA

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Discussion thread: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/81968-donating-a-fossil/

 

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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MPF-2018-001

 

A small site in the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Carlile Shale of Sandoval County (NM) yielded an interesting ratio of ammonite species, as well as other marine fauna, from one horizon.

 

Specimens donated to the NMMNH on February 27th, 2018.

 

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"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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