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Show Us Your Croc, Gator, and Turtle Material!


Jesuslover340

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I noticed the fossils of more 'modern' reptiles are not commonly shown/displayed (partly because I think they are fairly common in the U.S. and not viewed as too spectacular), so I thought we might do so here. I'd love to see your croc/alligator and turtle material, especially from various locations! 

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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"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."

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Think I'm working out this uploader..

 

last pic has some scutes and a couple partial vertebra. It's all Pallimnarchus sp.

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"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."

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1 hour ago, Ash said:

Think I'm working out this uploader..

 

last pic has some scutes and a couple partial vertebra. It's all Pallimnarchus sp.

 

That's a snarge cool fella. I've never even heard of this before today.

Looking forward to meeting my fellow Singaporean collectors! Do PM me if you are a Singaporean, or an overseas fossil-collector coming here for a holiday!

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That's a huge croc scute! Never realized it was that big @Ash!

 

@-Andy-, I believe there is an article stating that P. pollens MAY have reached similar lengths as that of Sarcosuchus...

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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Whilst hunting for the Wiley Coyote in Jackson County, South Dakota, we ran across a turtle bone bed that had 48 of these blown up Stylemys Nabrascansis. The one on the left measured a full 22 inches. Note the fine example of a Distal phalanx on the extreme top left of the photo.:rofl:  

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Frango Ut Patefaciam...I Break in Order to Reveal :hammer01:

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Nice, steelhead. How big is the first?

"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."

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48!? Wow! Wonder why so many turtles? 

And super nice croc material, Steelhead9! How did you even get those?

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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Come on Skye, put yours up! :popcorn::D

"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."

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38 minutes ago, Jesuslover340 said:

 

48!? Wow! Wonder why so many turtles? 

 

My understanding is that these mass death layers are not uncommon in the White River Formation. It was interesting that I found no other vert evidence in the area.

 

I'll see your Romans 14:19 and raise you Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

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Frango Ut Patefaciam...I Break in Order to Reveal :hammer01:

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@Ash: Nevah! :P

 

@Minnesota Nice 

Is there any idea as to how these mass death assemblages came to be? I wonder why just turtles...

 

And love that one! Took me awhile to realize that verse is in my signature...it doesn't show up on mobile devices O.o

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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The boundary layer between the Peanut Peak member of the Chadron and the Scenic member of the Brule is often called the "Oreodont-turtle layer". Many different local conditions could have lead to these deaths. In this case they are weathering out of one large mud flat. 

Frango Ut Patefaciam...I Break in Order to Reveal :hammer01:

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8 minutes ago, Jesuslover340 said:

. . .

Is there any idea as to how these mass death assemblages came to be? I wonder why just turtles...

. . .

 

I believe these are tortoises, not turtles.  During a drought, a damp place -- a place which might not have enough water for other animals -- may attract tortoises.  I have seen box turtles (Terrapene sp.) burrowed into mud to escape the summer heat in the Midwest.  A half-buried tortoise may perish from dessication, cemented in place. 

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Tortoises-my bad. That's what I meant but not what I said :P

Valid point, but one must be amazed at the statistical improbabilities of so many tortoises actually fossilizing in the same place over time...or if they all died at once, the chance of there being so many and so many actually fossilizing, given the predominantly unfavourable conditions for fossilization (drought and the statistical probablity of there being an 'oasis' in the middle of it that would be favourable to rapidly burying the tortoises). Astounding!

 

However, I'd be keen to see more croc/gator and turtle/tortoise specimens!

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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Are there any limb or other tortoise bones around them? You'd think there would be.

"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."

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Here's a partial croc scute (Pallimnarchus sp.) from Australia to tempt more people to sharing theirs :P

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"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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20 hours ago, Ash said:

Think I'm working out this uploader..

 

last pic has some scutes and a couple partial vertebra. It's all Pallimnarchus sp.

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@Ash do you know how old this material is? 

Funny - I was talking to a friend of mine who wondered if the range of crocodiles was larger in earlier times in Australia, in previous interglacials that were warmer than today and in the earlier Pleistocene when the interior of Australia was wetter.

 

Amazing fossils, thanks for sharing.

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Not exactly sure as the dating for the area is..well, it varies from bone to bone as pretty much nothing is associated etc. Dates of various sites, even in situ, is rarely done (pretty much has to be a heap of associated bone or a diprotodon skull etc for them to want to do a date).

 

It'a just plio-Pleistocene. The light colour jaw is Pliocene the rest is Pleistocene.

 

page 291 below :)

 

http://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.1997.004?code=rzsw-site

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"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."

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2 hours ago, Ash said:

Not exactly sure as the dating for the area is..well, it varies from bone to bone as pretty much nothing is associated etc. Dates of various sites, even in situ, is rarely done (pretty much has to be a heap of associated bone or a diprotodon skull etc for them to want to do a date).

 

It'a just plio-Pleistocene. The light colour jaw is Pliocene the rest is Pleistocene.

 

page 291 below :)

 

http://publications.rzsnsw.org.au/doi/pdf/10.7882/AZ.1997.004?code=rzsw-site

Thanks for the publication,

 

Ill pass it on to my friend who was curious about past crocodilian distributions in Australia.

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Wow!  Those are some biggie cocs.

 

I've always been puzzled by the small size of croc remains that we find in our Late Cretaceous badlands.  We have fairly abundant teeth and scutes in various deposits spanning from about 78 to 65 million years ago.  There are various genera over that long span but nothing 'big'.  Crocodilia seem to have found some stable niche.

 

 

These are a few found  a couple weeks ago in Campanian deposits. They dont really look any different from specimens I found in Later Maastrichtian deposits ( 10 million years younger) a few weeks before that.

 

These Teeth are about 2.5 cm long.  I've found thousands over the decades but they are never bigger than 3.5 cm or so.  The average tooth is more like 1.5 cm.

 

 We have crocs and gators but I'm not sure 'who is who'.  Genera include Albertachampsa, Brachychampsa and Leidyosuchus and a half dozen others.

 

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At least you find teeth! I'm yet to get one.

 

"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."

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@Canadawest, I imagine it is because we had more mammalian predators...Australia's fossil record/history is particularly intriguing in that reptiles fill the niche of predominant predator.

That being said, feel free to send a few of those teeth and scutes our way :P You don't need them, do you? :P

 

Here's an undescribed croc jaw from Aus:

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"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."
-Romans 14:19

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