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Latest Lake Waco Trip


RyanNREMTP

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So yesterday I hit the Waco Pit since it had been a couple of months since I last got out.  Previous two trips were great since all I found were shark teeth.  On one trip I found nine teeth in about 1 1/2 hours.  Yesterday was just a chance to get outside and away from people.  My other option was to go cycling on the river walk in town. 

 

Yesterday was pretty cool, temp was 47 degrees when I arrived.  There was a cold breeze coming from the south. Skies were very overcast as well. Typical Central Texas weather. I hit the trail head and decided to head east inside of my normal west route.  I have searched the east side a little before in the past.  It's not as abundant with fossils like the other direction is but I have had some good luck finding things unusual.  For instance my first summer there I found a nice rock with a Hemiaster Calvini in it.  Upon getting home and cleaning away the matrix I found not one echnoid but three. So this time I wasn't expecting much.  Pretty soon I found what looks like a piece of crab claw.  I put that away for later.  Then I find two shark teeth a few feet part.  Not squalicorax but I'll take it. Finally I reach the embankments that are fun to get to and usually have tons of shells there.  I find a couple of hash plates that look nice.  They would both look great on a desk if I had a desk.  One had a cute little echnoid spine in it.  Then...

 

I see a grey thing in the soil with spikes.  At first I thought it was leaf but no this was solid.  I took a few pictures of it in situ before prying it out of the ground.  It looked like a horseshoe crab but I have never heard of one being found here.  I looked it over several times, broke away some matrix and yes that is what it looks like.  I carefully put it away in a container so I get a better look at it at home.  I continue on searching for a bit.  I spent a couple of hours there before heading home.  At least it was a fun trip and there wasn't anyone there.  I can be really anti-social at times.

 

I get home and place the fossils in a bowl with water.  After awhile I start brushing them off.  What I thought was a cool looking horseshoe crab ended up being a piece of a very large Mariella piece.  I'm not an expert in determining how big something is from a smaller piece but I guesstimate it could be 24 inches circumference.

 

I'll include more pictures if it will let me.

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Hash plate that I took home.  There was a very large one with another shell on top but it was dented in.  I had to leave it since it was too big.

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Here is the large hash plate I left behind.  Well at least a close up of the dented shell on top.

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So all in all it was a good trip.  The weather will be lousy for the rest of the week so it might be a few weeks before I can get back out there again.  Good thing my permit is good till March.

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58 minutes ago, Fruitbat said:

Looks like you had a great outing!  Lake Waco can be a very productive place if you hit it at the right time!

 

-Joe

Pretty much.  If you can time it after a good rainfall than most of the fossils can be found sitting on little pedestals. Plus knowing the lay of the land helps as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The first specimen is a incomplete crab caparace. It looks like a Necrocarcinid or Cenomanocarcinid. With the corresponding bibliography species can be determined surely.

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Yup, looks like a partial crab carapace. 

Nice report and some great finds! :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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6 hours ago, Megaselachus13 said:

The first specimen is a incomplete crab caparace. It looks like a Necrocarcinid or Cenomanocarcinid. With the corresponding bibliography species can be determined surely.

 

 

Thanks. Never found a crab that huge before out there. 

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