Fossil ID: Vertebrea, Belemnoidea, Ammonites, Dino egg, crustacean, petrified wood, partial jaw...

[lildragon]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm from Belgium and currently tasked with securing a secondary fossil collection owned by the grandfather of my husband.

We are emptying an attic, and securing quite a number of fossils. Many of them already have an ID, some of them however lack one.

 

Apologies in advance for the poor quality of pictures, there is little to no light/electricity inside the rooms we need to vacate, so picture quality will be appalling at first.

I am aiming for a basic ID here, if possible I might be able to provide more detailed pictures once the fossils have been properly packed and moved.

 

#1 : Could this be a dinosaur egg?

 

 

#2: vertebrae of different sizes + plate of petrified wood in the background. Looking for possible ID on these vertebrae.

 

 

#3: Petrified wood, which type?

 

 

 

#4 : Small crustacean?

 

 

#5: Fossilized shell from morocco?

 

 

 

#6: Partial fossilized jaw?

 

 

#7: Belemnoidea, the two in the front? (they seem to be very large).

 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

#1 looks like a dino egg, but would need better pics in order to be sure. Considering the rest of the stuff I expect it's real.

#2 Maybe plesiosaur verts, pictures of each one and the ends wold help the experts.

#3  Yes, wood, looks like the stuff from Madagascar to me.

#4 A Jurassic lobster, Eryon sp. Perhaps?

#5 The gastropod looks something like Cerithium gigas from France.

#6 Oligocene USA ? Maybe Merycoidodon Need to see the teeth clearly.

#7 The one leaning against the wall seems a belemnite, not sure about the other two, can we see the ends ? May be straight shelled ammonites.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

That looks like a wonderful collection. 

[Fossildude19]

Wow! 

This is an impressive collection!

I've contrasted your possible egg specimen - still a bit blurry, though.

Is there any indication of eggshell (bumpy) texture to the broken shell bits?

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with Adam - the small crustacean looks to be Eryon sp., from Solnhofen, Germany. 

 

Clearer pictures might aid with other ID's.

Regards, 

 

[lildragon]

Thank you for the swift replies! Once I know what to look for, I know what to photograph. I will try to provide details of the egg shell if possible, and try to get close ups from the vertebrae. Some things I am not allowed to touch, and others are secured away in glass cabinets untill the main display collection has been divided amongst family members.

[TqB]

The belemnites in no. 7 appear to be Megateuthis sp. (commonly from the Bajocian). How long are they? - there are other belemnites of similar form.

[TXV24]

Hi,

 

From what I can see of the vertebrae they look like they could be cetacean, although which species would depend on where they were from and the age of the deposits. 

 

Hope this helps,

 

Theo

[Rockwood]

Just judging by the fracture pattern on that first on I will be quite surprised if egg shell texture doesn't show up.

[Miocene_Mason]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

#1 looks like a dino egg, but would need better pics in order to be sure. Considering the rest of the stuff I expect it's real.

#2 Maybe plesiosaur verts, pictures of each one and the ends wold help the experts.

#3  Yes, wood, looks like the stuff from Madagascar to me.

#4 A Jurassic lobster, Eryon sp. Perhaps?

#5 The gastropod looks something like Cerithium gigas from France.

#6 Oligocene USA ? Maybe Merycoidodon Need to see the teeth clearly.

#7 The one leaning against the wall seems a belemnite, not sure about the other two, can we see the ends ? May be straight shelled ammonites.

 

Agree with all except 2 which I believe is a whale vertabra with a smaller cetacean vert on top (edit: and quite a few more around it!) likely from the east coast of the USA.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Just now, WhodamanHD said:

Agree with all except 2 which I believe is a whale vertabra with a smaller cetacean vert on top, likely from the east coast of the USA.

Oh,well, I was never going to get them all right! 

[Miocene_Mason]

1 minute ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Oh,well, I was never going to get them all right! 

Better than I would’ve done!

If possible, a closer picture of this one would be nice, I think it may be a pretty big shark or fish vert, the ends are pretty concave for a cetacean (though I know little about them)

[dsalles]

# 1 might be a composite egg made out of (real fossil) eggshell. The gaps are too large.

# 4 is a Cycleryon propinquus from the Upper Jurassic of Solnhofen. Cycleryon is much rarer than the somewhat similar looking Eryon cuvieri (arctiformis), also from Solnhofen. 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261099514

[JohnBrewer]

@HamptonsDoc @Andy @Troodon Egg?

[JohnBrewer]

On 2/4/2018 at 8:38 AM, lildragon said:

Hello everyone,

 

I'm from Belgium and currently tasked with securing a secondary fossil collection owned by the grandfather of my husband.

We are emptying an attic, and securing quite a number of fossils. Many of them already have an ID, some of them however lack one.

 

Apologies in advance for the poor quality of pictures, there is little to no light/electricity inside the rooms we need to vacate, so picture quality will be appalling at first.

I am aiming for a basic ID here, if possible I might be able to provide more detailed pictures once the fossils have been properly packed and moved.

 

#1 : Could this be a dinosaur egg?

#2: vertebrae of different sizes + plate of petrified wood in the background. Looking for possible ID on these vertebrae.

#3: Petrified wood, which type?

#4 : Small crustacean?

#5: Fossilized shell from morocco?

#6: Partial fossilized jaw?

#7: Belemnoidea, the two in the front? (they seem to be very large).

 

 

 

 

 

If you can take photographs outside the quality would be much better. Nice collection of things you’ve got there! And welcome to the forum  

[Troodon]

Without good closeups of that round egg looking object its impossible to say anything about it.   The shapes in it could be real dinosaur eggshells that were assembled to look like an egg but it does not appear to be an authentic dinosaur egg.

 

The  some of the vertebra appear to be cetacean but need pictures of the items

[Rockwood]

6 hours ago, Rockwood said:

Just judging by the fracture pattern on that first on I will be quite surprised if egg shell texture doesn't show up.

I hadn't considered the human factor, but it sort of works out the same.

[HamptonsDoc]

This could be an egg. Need more pictures- maybe a few angles and a close up or two of the shell? The cracking pattern looks natural but I really can't tell anything from the one picture. 

[LordTrilobite]

8 hours ago, lildragon said:

#5: Fossilized shell from morocco?

 

 

Looks like Campanile giganteum from France to me. To my knowledge this is the largest snail in that ever lived.

For reference, one from my collection.

 

[abyssunder]

The first specimen I think is a flat septarian concretion.
The large gastropod is Campanile giganteum.

[abyssunder]

8 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

#3  Yes, wood, looks like the stuff from Madagascar to me.
 

 

I agree.

[Ludwigia]

Agreed with Tarquin that the belemnites are Megateuthis gigantea. I'll also go along with what's developing here in the way of ids.

[TqB]

11 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Agreed with Tarquin that the belemnites are Megateuthis gigantea. I'll also go along with what's developing here in the way of ids.

 

Sadly, M. gigantea (Schlotheim 1820) is no longer considered valid - it's a junior synonym of M. suevica (Klein 1773) (suevica = from Swabia) now.

[paleoflor]

20 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

#3  Yes, wood, looks like the stuff from Madagascar to me.

These petrified wood specimens are quite generic in appearance and therefore I wouldn't be so sure about their provenance. 

 

The mineralisation/colouring and weathering-shape of the left specimen in the second photograph reminds me of material from the Cretaceous of the Käskorb sand pit, near Kelmis, Belgium (e.g. image below) and from the Aachen area, Germany (e.g. website H. Knoll).

 

 

[Manticocerasman]

1 hour ago, paleoflor said:

These petrified wood specimens are quite generic in appearance and therefore I wouldn't be so sure about their provenance. 

 

The mineralisation/colouring and weathering-shape of the left specimen in the second photograph reminds me of material from the Cretaceous of the Käskorb sand pit, near Kelmis, Belgium (e.g. image below) and from the Aachen area, Germany (e.g. website H. Knoll).

 

 

 

They might also be from the Eocene of Hoegaarden.

 

[Manticocerasman]

Also, the vertebrae are a mix of cetacean verts ( the large ones ) and shark vert. ( the smalst one )

I would guess they are from the Antwerp area where they are frequently found.