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August 2017 - Finds of the Month


Fossildude19

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Another month gone in 2017, another new month arrives, and a new Fossil of the Month needs finding. :D 

 

 

Please post your best Find of the Month  for August here - Win or Lose, ... everyone who posts here has something to be proud of. ;) 

PS - No one actually loses with the kinds of finds we have posted here. :) 

 

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Remember...carefully read the rules below, make sure you include all the required information, and submit your fossil!  If you have a question about a possible entry, please send me a PM. 

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 success to all, and good hunting!

Entries will be taken until midnight on August 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.
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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. NO PURCHASED FOSSILS.

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 most of 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 (when found in the contest month); or the Date of Preparation Completion and Discovery date (if not found in the contest month).

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. Photos of the winning specimens may be posted to TFF's Facebook page.

In a few days, after the votes are tallied, and the Polls for both categories are closed, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month for August - 2017 !  Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Date of Discovery: 5 August 2017

Common Name: Mosasaur

Scientific Name: Mosasaurus maximus 

Geological Age: Late Cretaceous 

Geological Formation: Wenonah 

Location: Monmouth County, New Jersey 

 

image3-2.JPG.eaa73488b1508efe30258a5111bafe76.JPG

 

image2-5.JPG.e13b9e4ef6b19a475f56707e8accea29.JPG

 

image1-5.JPG.3e847e00d587879fc0d18dc2a65a7ce0.JPG

 

 

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: )

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What a great start already.

Lucky we have a month to recover from the excitement of last months amazing contest.

Good luck everyone - this could be your month!

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I'll throw my hat in and see if it spins.

Found August 5, 2017

 

Megathura crenulata ( common name: Great Keyhole Limpet)

Pliocene

Santa Margarita Formation

San Luis Obispo County

California

( fossils in this deposit seem to retain much of their original coloration).

Sorry, I didn't have my camera that day to take insitu. shots?  I left matrix within to retain stability.

 

This is the largest of these I have ever found. Shown next to the average size that I find. Note the still brilliant pink color on the small one!

IMG_0210.JPG

IMG_0211.JPG

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Dorensigbadges.JPG       

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After yesterday's successful trip, I figured I'd through my hat in the ring for the month's competition. 

My first entry - 

Associated alligator material

Chandler Bridge Fm.

Summerville SC

found on 8/10/17

DSC_0158.JPG.e25cea4e43fdc1c488d7d5688712c916.JPG

 

 

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second entry - 

Carcharocles angustidens - 2.2"

Chandler Bridge Fm. 

Summerville SC

found on 8/10/17

DSC_0152.thumb.JPG.2dd6ee5bc6ca475507df6acd4fea831c.JPG

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@caldigger that's a decent size limpet!

@Sharks of SC I really like the angi, and it also seems that there is some pathology on it! But how do you know that the alligator material is associated?

@Trevor killer tooth!!!

Max Derème

 

"I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day."

   - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier

 

Instagram: @world_of_fossils

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Date of Discovery: 15 August 2017

Common Name: Unidentified insect

Scientific Name: Unknown

Geological Age: Miocene

Geological Formation: Popovac

Location: Paraćin,Serbia

WP_20170815_14_13_08_Pro.jpg

WP_20170815_21_16_36_Pro.jpg

WP_20170815_21_17_05_Pro.jpg

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Found August 3 +/-, 2017

 

Glossus sp ( common name: Tongue Shells)

Miocene

Choptank Formation, Drum Cliff Member

Calvert County,

Maryland

 

I would have loved to show a before and after, but being a noob, I never expected something like this, even after finding some equally cool pieces in the same matrix last month. Nor did I expect people would be as impressed with it as I was, until they suddenly were, so here is my first-eve entry to this arena. The exterior of the block was just pitted, packed sand encrusted with a few modern barnacles. The matrix was broken off a shelf in the Chesapeake Bay leftover from a landslide the occurred more then 7 years ago. The shells inside were mostly broken bits and the intact ones were cracked and crumbled when breathed on too hard. It has been an education for me just learning how to keep the matrix from crumbling to the floor when it dried out. The water in the matrix was providing most of the cohesion. This one was not allowed to dry out for fear of falling apart, but instead was treated with Paleobond while damp.

Untitled1.jpg

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I refuse to give up my childish wonder at the world.

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VFOTM

Tylosaurus proriger jaw section

North Sulphur River Texas

Ozan Formation Cretaceous

Found Aug 14

 

20770109_10208351966077245_5613093559567962305_n.jpg

20799415_10208351971917391_9058608932788622086_n.thumb.jpg.5e975557498c5e8ac3d9284c2daccf30.jpg

20767892_10208351971437379_842038745784162180_n.thumb.jpg.bada3fb5e561758517125a1c6029f4f4.jpg

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20799799_10208351970597358_1935754581754235134_n.jpg.2dff9b2981d9b98e7668721fe63b9e9b.jpg

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I generally do not post anything in IFOTM as I was fortunate to have been selected a number of years ago for an exceptional eurypterid. Over the years I have been spoiled by the ability to collect some incredible fossils up here in Southern Ontario and northern New York. Well after some careful consideration I have decided that I will post my find from this past weekend (August 19). I do not get excited about my finds all that often but for this one I will make an exception. If nothing else it will expose this perhaps significant fossil to more members here on the forum and it will convince a few more of you to make the trek up here someday and come out for a fossil hunt with me. I suspect that very few of you will actually have seen one before (never mind two).

 

My submission is a pair of Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves along with an associated crinoid Paleocrinus pulchellus Billings or Carabocrinus radiatus Billings, I will update once I have determined which it is. They are very similar so I will not hazard a guess at this point but it is most likely the Carabocrinus as they are the most common of the two at this locality. Please jump in if you can tell from the picture.

 

 

Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves

Echinoderm

Edrioblastoid

BobCageon formation 5 feet below the bottom contact with the Verulam

Brechin, Ontario, Canada

Found Saturday, August 19, 2017

Prep about 3 hours so far 40 micron dolomite, COMCO abrasion unit, 30 PSI .015 nozzle, no scribe work

 

Slab Dimensions         151 mm x 201 mm

Crinoid                         35.5 mm (h) x 26.7 mm (w) 50.4 mm (h) with stem fragment

Smaller astrocystite     23.4 mm (h) x 24.7 mm (w)

Larger astrocystite       36.6 mm (h) x 29.7 mm (w) 40.18 mm with stem fragment

 

I have never seen more than a tiny fragment of astrocystites before this find. This pair compare extremely favorably to the specimen posted on crinus.info http://www.crinus.info/echinoderm/data/astro.htm . I am aware of a few that were found at the old Carden quarry before it was closed to collecting but did not personally see them.

 

This pair are relatively complete and very 3 dimensional. Between the two of them they are quite revealing of the morphology of these rare Edrioblastoids. The few images that I have been able to find of this species are generally fragmentary and quite flattened. Leigh W. Mintz in his 1970 paper   THE EDRIOBLASTOIDEA: RE-EVALUATION BASED ON A NEW SPECIMEN OF ASTROCYSTITES FROM THE MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN OF ONTARIO indicated that only 3 specimens had been found and that 2 of them had been lost. His paper discussed a 4rth well preserved specimen in detail. I am sure quite a number of specimens have been found since then but the pair being submitted for your consideration are found in a known location and horizon and are very inflated and in a decent state of preservation. The pair are both laying on their side. This pair was found about 20 miles from the one described in the Leigh paper. I will try to post further pictures in the coming days as I very carefully remove a bit more matrix.

 

Cropped_rotated_overview.thumb.jpg.907794ba3da477f1a04c73fdb6f4c7d3.jpg

 

Here is the fossil wet bringing out a bit more detail

 

Cropped_Wet_astrocystite_overview.thumb.jpg.a9e4bd2fc25070a5f1401efa0e77ace8.jpg 

 

Here is a close up of the smaller astrocystite

 

599c37486f602_CroppedSmallerastrocystite.thumb.jpg.13cf86ce572196410ea722f9e624f6e9.jpg

 

a close up of the larger astrocystite

 

Cropped_larger_astrocystites_view_1.thumb.jpg.d5b83468e30ec2f102a7bb833a17a46e.jpg

 

 

a closeup of the associated crinoid

Cropped_Associated_Crinoid.thumb.jpg.11cb46664e63c1c7b957e87454dab632.jpg

 

 

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1 hour ago, Malcolmt said:

I generally do not post anything in IFOTM as I was fortunate to have been selected a number of years ago for an exceptional eurypterid. Over the years I have been spoiled by the ability to collect some incredible fossils up here in Southern Ontario and northern New York. Well after some careful consideration I have decided that I will post my find from this past weekend (August 19). I do not get excited about my finds all that often but for this one I will make an exception. If nothing else it will expose this perhaps significant fossil to more members here on the forum and it will convince a few more of you to make the trek up here someday and come out for a fossil hunt with me. I suspect that very few of you will actually have seen one before (never mind two).

 

My submission is a pair of Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves along with an associated crinoid Paleocrinus pulchellus Billings or Carabocrinus radiatus Billings, I will update once I have determined which it is. They are very similar so I will not hazard a guess at this point but it is most likely the Carabocrinus as they are the most common of the two at this locality. Please jump in if you can tell from the picture.

 

 

Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves

Echinoderm

Edrioblastoid

BobCageon formation 5 feet below the bottom contact with the Verulam

Brechin, Ontario, Canada

Found Saturday, August 19, 2017

Prep about 3 hours so far 40 micron dolomite, COMCO abrasion unit, 30 PSI .015 nozzle, no scribe work

 

Slab Dimensions         151 mm x 201 mm

Crinoid                         35.5 mm (h) x 26.7 mm (w) 50.4 mm (h) with stem fragment

Smaller astrocystite     23.4 mm (h) x 24.7 mm (w)

Larger astrocystite       36.6 mm (h) x 29.7 mm (w) 40.18 mm with stem fragment

 

 

Malcolm, this is the find of the year!

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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On 8/22/2017 at 9:50 AM, Malcolmt said:

I generally do not post anything in IFOTM as I was fortunate to have been selected a number of years ago for an exceptional eurypterid. Over the years I have been spoiled by the ability to collect some incredible fossils up here in Southern Ontario and northern New York. Well after some careful consideration I have decided that I will post my find from this past weekend (August 19). I do not get excited about my finds all that often but for this one I will make an exception. If nothing else it will expose this perhaps significant fossil to more members here on the forum and it will convince a few more of you to make the trek up here someday and come out for a fossil hunt with me. I suspect that very few of you will actually have seen one before (never mind two).

 

My submission is a pair of Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves along with an associated crinoid Paleocrinus pulchellus Billings or Carabocrinus radiatus Billings, I will update once I have determined which it is. They are very similar so I will not hazard a guess at this point but it is most likely the Carabocrinus as they are the most common of the two at this locality. Please jump in if you can tell from the picture.

 

 

Astrocystites ottawaensis Whiteaves

Echinoderm

Edrioblastoid

BobCageon formation 5 feet below the bottom contact with the Verulam

Brechin, Ontario, Canada

Found Saturday, August 19, 2017

Prep about 3 hours so far 40 micron dolomite, COMCO abrasion unit, 30 PSI .015 nozzle, no scribe work

 

Slab Dimensions         151 mm x 201 mm

Crinoid                         35.5 mm (h) x 26.7 mm (w) 50.4 mm (h) with stem fragment

Smaller astrocystite     23.4 mm (h) x 24.7 mm (w)

Larger astrocystite       36.6 mm (h) x 29.7 mm (w) 40.18 mm with stem fragment

 

I have never seen more than a tiny fragment of astrocystites before this find. This pair compare extremely favorably to the specimen posted on crinus.info http://www.crinus.info/echinoderm/data/astro.htm . I am aware of a few that were found at the old Carden quarry before it was closed to collecting but did not personally see them.

 

This pair are relatively complete and very 3 dimensional. Between the two of them they are quite revealing of the morphology of these rare Edrioblastoids. The few images that I have been able to find of this species are generally fragmentary and quite flattened. Leigh W. Mintz in his 1970 paper   THE EDRIOBLASTOIDEA: RE-EVALUATION BASED ON A NEW SPECIMEN OF ASTROCYSTITES FROM THE MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN OF ONTARIO indicated that only 3 specimens had been found and that 2 of them had been lost. His paper discussed a 4rth well preserved specimen in detail. I am sure quite a number of specimens have been found since then but the pair being submitted for your consideration are found in a known location and horizon and are very inflated and in a decent state of preservation. The pair are both laying on their side. This pair was found about 20 miles from the one described in the Leigh paper. I will try to post further pictures in the coming days as I very carefully remove a bit more matrix.

 

You have my vote. 

On 8/7/2017 at 9:05 PM, Trevor said:

Date of Discovery: 5 August 2017

Common Name: Mosasaur

Scientific Name: Mosasaurus maximus 

Geological Age: Late Cretaceous 

Geological Formation: Wenonah 

Location: Monmouth County, New Jersey 

 

 

Nice find

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I also want to participate this month !
The fossil was found by me last year in Holzmaden and was prepped two weeks ago by Roger Furze (ludwigia). So its a team work :D

On the piece you can see associated Ichthyosaur vertebrae, Ichthyosaur ribs and  Ichthyosaur paddle bones. Isolated bones are in Holzmaden not that rare but such pieces are very rare !

The associated vertebrae are around 13 cm long. At the maximum the piece is 20 cm long.

 

Found: 29 May 2016

Finished prep: 15 August 2017 (the prep work took about 10 hours)

Ichthyosaur ribs, vertebrae and paddle bones (it could be either a young one or a Stenopterygius)

Location: Quarry Kromer, Holzmaden (Germany)

Age: Lower Jurassic ("Posidionschiefer")

 

Unprepped:
 

DSCN4325.thumb.JPG.51467368ef85bd9aa10cd54057ec7ae4.JPG

 

Prepped:

 

20170821_151011(0).thumb.JPG.c36570c497d12a3d670570d4d63a0c3c.JPG

 

The paddle bones:

 

20170821_151129.thumb.JPG.9a42c8bccdc0b803dcc0abd41c3820b8.JPG

 

The ribs:

 

20170821_151028.thumb.JPG.a1b033ecde2b5ae423995af9f6a34c39.JPG

 

The vertebrae:

 

20170823_114647.thumb.jpg.a81dd0080a785944a0410940e624f678.jpg

 

Some more detailed pictures:

 

20170821_151057.thumb.JPG.431578a137d992ccba386b92c6a4d80b.JPG

 

20170821_151113.thumb.JPG.5acc3317c767518eb0db09274166e4d1.JPG

 

  • I found this Informative 2

Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils :)

Regards Sebastian

Belo.gif

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Outstanding  Ichthyosaur plate ... great prep work by Roger as he usually does...

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Thanks guys ! :D

 

Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils :)

Regards Sebastian

Belo.gif

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I'd like to enter the following specimen:

 

Date: 20 August 2017

Common name: Neuropterid pteridosperm frond

Age: Late Carboniferous (Asturian)

Provenance: Piesberg quarry, Germany

Size: Matrix approx. 70 x 40 cm

 

P1060785b.thumb.jpg.1403bcf8565b88bd1318847ebd70d0fb.jpg59a082edd5dad_T18RecoNeuropteris.jpg.b133c7a185f60ce181cd86e5c1560344.jpg.

 

Last weekend I found this partial frond of a neuropterid pteridosperm in the Late Carboniferous of the Piesberg quarry near Osnabruck, Germany. It's a large piece and the first I've found that shows the basal dichotomy and the large scale architecture of the frond (the frond here is bipartite, while the schematic shows a tripartite frond, but the basic architecture is similar). 

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Searching for green in the dark grey.

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North Sulphur River, Texas, Upper Cretaceous Ozan Formation 

Mosasaur rostrum (premaxilla), discovered: August 19, 2017

 

I almost walked right on top of this one.  Had to take a break when I found this.  My husband was with me and we just sat down for awhile to observe and dig it out. 

   IMG_9784-3.jpg.1ac5e1095b53e049f5d5fa1b645e7e3d.jpgIMG_9786-5.jpg.b2f70366ba825710c697f1ddb2ed8d22.jpg

 

 

When I dug it out and I turned it over, we both said "oh cool" at the same time, because of the "hump" on the snout. 

IMG_9787-13.jpg.ac4b42300043d2e48e69453df8039d99.jpg

 

Had to reattach a small piece on the side, but here it is. 

 

IMG_0268-9.jpg.b7f2f41e29c86c1ed3dfb123816710bd.jpgIMG_0269-10.jpg.3dad513ab99a2068e13caa0236c64ea9.jpgIMG_0270-11.jpg.80030903f1099991cbd3140f521f2ee0.jpgIMG_0271-12.jpg.a7daf8b0f4ffe6d9e87ca418d11abd03.jpgIMG_0272-13.jpg.1729348ff2d742a411579b73fe9f31db.jpg

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Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside!

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Wow that is what I call a real fossil sure wish we had some of that stuff up here!!!!!!!!

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Tough competition; why not?

 

Protemnodon sp. (extinct roo) jaw WITH the shearing premolar just coming in. Pleistocene of Queensland, Australia; found August 26th :)

Screenshot_20170826-232728.jpg

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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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Nice fossils everyone, looks like everyone is having a good month!

 

I'll enter my New Jersey Cretaceous Lung Fish tooth plate (genus to be determined). One of the few examples known east of the Mississippi.

Date of Discovery: August 28 2017

Common Name: Lung fish

Geological: Cretaceous

Location: Marlboro, New Jersey, USA

 

 

 

 

lf1.jpg

lf2.jpg

lf3.jpg

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