JohnJ Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Show us your BEST holiday finds! But, while we wait, what fossil is on your wish list to find on your next hunt? Carefully read the rules below, make sure you include all the required information, and submit your fossil!Please pay special attention to Rule #5: Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for Prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest. In addition to keeping the contest fair, this new qualification will encourage better documentation of our spectacular past finds. Best of luck to all and good hunting!Entries will be taken through December 31st. 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.____________________________________________________________________________________Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests1. 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. (Only two entries per contest category.)3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or 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. Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for Prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest.6. You must include the common or scientific name.7. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the Fossil was found.8. You must include the State, Province, or region where the Fossil was found.9. Play fair and honest. No bought fossils. No false claims.Shortly after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month.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! The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Show us your BEST holiday finds! But, while we wait, what fossil is on your wish list to find on your next hunt? A 7 inch, pristine Meg is on my wish list. Should we post our best holiday gifts too? Not for the competition, just for fun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted December 6, 2015 Author Share Posted December 6, 2015 A 7 inch, pristine Meg is on my wish list. Should we post our best holiday gifts too? Not for the competition, just for fun? It would be so awesome to read about a member finding a 7 inch Meg.... Sure; we'd love to see your best gifts. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Outstanding! Plesiosaur vertebrae with intact processes are not at all common finds. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoWilliam Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 (edited) Wow! I found a large Muraenosaurus posterior dorsal vertebra today. Length of centrum in mid-ventral line is 4.5cm Width of posterior face of centrum is 6.5cm Height of posterior centrum is 5.5cm From the Oxford Clay Formation, Peterborough Member, Kosmoceras jason jason Zone,Middle Callovian,Jurassic (Middle). 12307945_1639479526339706_2442703774680656539_o.jpg12356875_1639479529673039_4673179527809176619_o.jpg 12339477_1639479523006373_2712607854763786935_o.jpg 12265774_1639479589673033_5045083814001669238_o.jpg Edited December 6, 2015 by PaleoWilliam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiggieCie Posted December 7, 2015 Share Posted December 7, 2015 Nice find Darren. I was out on my last hunt of the year today. Looking for the source of the Brittle Star I found earlier in the year, or some Sponges. I picked up a bag of acorns for the squirrels and no fossils today. It was a beautiful late fall day for northern Ohio and enjoyed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Isn't it funny, the southern states begin their season as the northern states end theirs. A perfect excuse for a vacation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Hi there! I'll be entering my latest prep job for the FOTM contest. It is a Cyphaspis trilobite I found in 2012 in the El Otfal formation near Jebel Ofaten, Ma'der basin, Morocco (Eifelian). We worked some layers there for several days. It is hard work and the heat is getting to you, even at that time of year. Let's take you there (I'm in the front): The routine is repetitive but often rewarding: extract a block from the right limestone layer, which is the hardest part. It often requires removing a lot of overburden. Alternatively, one can search the spoil heaps of previous digs, but that yields mostly small (although sometimes interesting) and fragmentary specimens. Next, splitting the stone, exposing potential trilobites. They often show as cross sections. Over time, one learns to interpret these cross sections pretty well. At one moment, I got lucky. This is what I saw: A textbook longitudinal cross section of Cyphaspis. You can see the typical inflated glabella at the left hand side, and the thorax is curved upwards. A difficult pose to prep, because this leaves little room for the enormous dorsal spine. I was very exited, because some Cyphaspis in this layer had the reputation of being rather interesting, in some cases exhibiting four odd cone-shaped spines to variable degrees on the glabella. This is similar to Cyphaspis ceratophthalmus of the German Eifel region, but not quite the same. Again, I was lucky, and you can read all about it here: Preparation report I think it's my best find from this layer to date. After many hours of painstakingly tickling this bug out of the rock, it saw the light for the first time in 390 million years. Date of discovery: November 15, 2012 Date of preparation: December 13, 2015 Scientific name: Cyphaspis cf. ceratophthalmus Common name: I would suggest 'Four-spined raspberry-nosed oddbug' 4 Paleo database, information and community Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilHunter99 Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Fred, that trilobite is incredible!! You have my vote! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Fred, that trilobite is incredible!! You have my vote! I think he has everyone's vote! Lol I was entertaining the idea of entering my Horseshoe crab, but I'm pretty confident Fred has the "Invert" category on lock down. It's a nice problem to have, just not for me and my mediocre crab..... ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) Nah... competition is always healthy and we're only halfway the month. Who knows what shows up! I'm very curious to see that horseshoe crab! Edited December 15, 2015 by Fred Paleo database, information and community Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 16, 2015 Share Posted December 16, 2015 (edited) Hey-hi Y'All, I took a trip to Sharktooth Hill December 12, 2015 and at the last minute of My visit (4:30) I found this tooth. It is the first complete Megalodon that I have found. Carcharocles megalodon posterior tooth. Found at the Ernst Quarries slow curve excavation. Round Mountain Silt (Sharktooth Hill) Middle Miocene- 12.5 million Bakersfield, Kern county, California Thank You for Your consideration! Tony Edited December 17, 2015 by ynot Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Raspberry nosed odd-bug. Gotta love that name! RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig It Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Hey-hi Y'All, I took a trip to Sharktooth Hill December 12, 2015 and at the last minute of My visit (4:30) I found this tooth. It is the first complete Megalodon that I have found. Carcharocles megalodon posterior tooth. Found at the Ernst Quarries slow curve excavation. Round Mountain Silt (Sharktooth Hill) Middle Miocene- 12.5 million Bakersfield, Kern county, California DSCF3918.JPG DSCF3921.JPG DSCF3920.JPG Thank You for Your consideration! Tony My wife and I were digging that day but only for a half day. If I recall you also scored some nice hastalis, but a Meg from there is indeed rare. Contratulations on your find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 My wife and I were digging that day but only for a half day. If I recall you also scored some nice hastalis, but a Meg from there is indeed rare. Contratulations on your find. Thank You, I wish I had known Y'All belonged to TFF. I have only had a face to face with one member so far and am sorry to have missed that opportunity to meet some other TFF members. You can see the field trip report that I posted at this link....http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/59867-my-fourth-try-at-shark-tooth-hill/ Good luck on the hunt. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanopus Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 (edited) Just to make the voting a bit tougher Mooreocrinus geminatus (Trautschold) Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Kasimovian stage Kreviakian substage Ryazan region, Russia Discovered December 19th, 2015 (December is quite warm this year) Scale bar = 1 cm Edited December 23, 2015 by Kanopus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) Wow, that almost looks Lovecarftian. Great prepwork! Edited December 23, 2015 by LordTrilobite Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Wow, that almost looks Lovecarftian. Actually, it makes Cthulhu look like Hello Kitty by comparison! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thair Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Just to make the voting a bit tougher Mooreocrinus geminatus (Trautschold) Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Kasimovian stage Kreviakian substage Ryazan region, Russia Discovered December 19th, 2015 (December is quite warm this year) Scale bar = 1 cm Image00001.jpg Image00002.jpg Image00003.jpg Image00004.jpg Image00005.jpg That is so cool. Love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanopus Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Wow, that almost looks Lovecarftian. Great prepwork! That is so cool. Love it Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Going to be a difficult choice this month with those two invertebrates both are super. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanopus Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Just new tooth to VFOTM Polyrhizodus concavus (Trautschold, 1874) Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Kasimovian stage Kreviakian substage Peski quarry, Moscow region, Russia Date of discovery: October, 2015 Date of preparation: December 26th, 2015 Scale bar = 1 cm Edited December 26, 2015 by Kanopus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I think he has everyone's vote! Lol I was entertaining the idea of entering my Horseshoe crab, but I'm pretty confident Fred has the "Invert" category on lock down. It's a nice problem to have, just not for me and my mediocre crab..... Enter it please! I'd love to see it. Jesuslover340 and I went looking for crab fossils today. We got 8. But they won't be prepped for ages so no entries for us yet! "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Avoid the year end rush to get your valid entries in... ...wait...it is the year end. 1 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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