HoppeHunting Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Hey everyone, After I collect a bunch of fossils from a trip, I sort them by species or genus. What I'm wondering is how you guys do this (if you do sort them). I've been using fossilguy.com so far, as well as this forum for when I can't find a match. Sometimes I'll look up a suspected species in a simple search, but my go-to right now is fossil guy. Although his site is really great overall, he really only covers the more common teeth found at the sites. So I have found his site to be very useful with identification, but I'd love a source that might go into more detail and cover more species. I want to hear what you all use to ID your finds (other than the forum). Keep in mind, the source would need to cover fossils from the exposures where I hunt. These include the Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, the Paleocene exposures near Purse State Park in Nanjemoy, and the Horsehead Cliffs in Montross, Virginia. As great as it is to have you guys identify finds of mine, I obviously can't do that for hundreds and hundreds of fossils, so I'd like another online source. It would be ideal if the source includes pictures and descriptions of how to distinguish finds from each other. Thanks in advance! The Hunt for the Hemipristine continues! ~Hoppe hunting!~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Try www.elasmo.com 1 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Phatfossils is great, but most of the time I use this site if I have a head scratcher, lot of people here know much better than anyone one site or book about MD/VA. Once you find ID one you know what it is if you find another. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunterthurmond Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 I found a copy of Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States for 6 bucks, that has served well for devonian shells so far. For yorktown formation shells I also searched through what I could find on google ebooks. Basically I find that the fossils I'm personally interested in are best found in books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 Oh, forgot to add, I’ve heard Fossils of the Chesapeake Bay Region by Breton Kent is an amazing asset, unfortunately it’s a bit (okay way) out of my price range. 1 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SailingAlongToo Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 5 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: Oh, forgot to add, I’ve heard Fossils of the Chesapeake Bay Region by Breton Kent is an amazing asset, unfortunately it’s a bit (okay way) out of my price range. Keep an eye out at Thrift Store and yard sale book sections. I know a couple of people who got theirs this way. 1 Don't know much about history Don't know much biology Don't know much about science books......... Sam Cooke - (What A) Wonderful World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoppeHunting Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 7 hours ago, WhodamanHD said: Oh, forgot to add, I’ve heard Fossils of the Chesapeake Bay Region by Breton Kent is an amazing asset, unfortunately it’s a bit (okay way) out of my price range. I heard about this book. Oh how I'd love to get my hands on a copy. For now I'll settle for using various online sources (fossilguy, phatfossils, elasmo, and TFF) to ID my finds. It should be fine, the real trouble I run into is when two species have very similar teeth. Makes it a real pain to sort. What I'm really looking for is a guide of how to tell lookalikes apart. Some of the listed sources do just that, but not in a whole lot of detail. How do you ID your finds, other than on TFF? The Hunt for the Hemipristine continues! ~Hoppe hunting!~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 12 minutes ago, HoppeFossilHunting said: How do you ID your finds, other than on TFF? A ton of guesswork (most probably not right) and pouring over online images as well as a few papers (searching google scholar for certain species will yield papers describing in-depth differences, some of which even the scientists aren’t sure of). Other than that just time and practice. Surround yourself with people who know this stuff cold, in the summer there is a man who peddles fossils on a little spot off the highway (route 4) if you ever see a sign advertising Miocene fossils. His name is Jim (AKA the shark tooth guy), he has been hunting the cliffs since he was a small child and can tell you which zone of which formation a tooth came from by looking at it, sometimes exactly where. He is a talker, but you are sure to learn a lot if you ever stop by. Also sells some cool stuff at a low price. Some people like this on the forum, strike up a conversation and next thing you know you can tell threshers apart by their nutritient grooves! This being said I’m still learning too. Good luck to you! 1 “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miocene_Mason Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 2 hours ago, SailingAlongToo said: Keep an eye out at Thrift Store and yard sale book sections. I know a couple of people who got theirs this way. I’ll keep an eye out for sure, knowledge comes in humble wrappings. “...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin Happy hunting, Mason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMP Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 On 2/5/2018 at 8:17 PM, HoppeHunting said: I heard about this book. Oh how I'd love to get my hands on a copy. For now I'll settle for using various online sources (fossilguy, phatfossils, elasmo, and TFF) to ID my finds. It should be fine, the real trouble I run into is when two species have very similar teeth. Makes it a real pain to sort. What I'm really looking for is a guide of how to tell lookalikes apart. Some of the listed sources do just that, but not in a whole lot of detail. How do you ID your finds, other than on TFF? If you have any questions about Paleozoic aged stuff from the area, I'd be willing to help ID some of them through PM. Afraid I can't help much with Mesozoic or Cenozoic aged material, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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