Advice for Temnospondyli fossil hunting in Pennsylvania :)

[corporateidentity 3]

Hello everyone.

 

I am an incredibly novice fossil hunter from Pennsylvania.  From where I live, it is heavy Carboniferous territory.  One of the items on my bucket list is to eventually find something from a temnospondyl, even if it is nothing more than a trackway or even better - a bone fragment!  Would anyone be willing to share with me advice on what to look for / or what has helped them in finding anything from a Temnospondyl or Lepospondyl?

 

Do they appear more in certain rocks than others?  

 

I live in the Pittsburgh area, near where Fedexia was discovered ten years ago.  I'm hoping to eventually find something related to Fedexia or another temnospondyli. 

 

From what I'm realizing, these little guys are hard to come by.

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks everyone! 

[Fossildude19 10,404]

@corporateidentity

 

I would read any scientific papers you can get on Fedexia striegeli , and the Casselman Formation, and the Conemaugh Group. 

Search  Google with these words in quotation marks, and the word PDF after it.  

Look for outcrops of the formation nearby the discovery site. Streams, ravines, and roadcuts are your best bets. 

Good luck.   

[Paul1719 165]

So I have been working on a project at Red Hill looking for more tetrapod material. Last trip on a rainy day I spent with Doug Rowe, he showed me a topo map with many abandoned strip mines that are being reclaimed in the Bitumen area (where they get the "clean" coal, LOL). I would love to get in there and look around but my time is limited and there is a lot of rock to move at Red Hill. I have to believe the abandon strip mines must have vertebrate fossils. Is that true? I've never heard of any from St Clair which obviously has been worked extensively. 

[corporateidentity 3]

I don't think I've searched at Red Hill but that is certainly a good lead! Apparently there is a good spot in Ambridge PA (that supposedly has amphibian jaw fragments) that people search at and supposedly find some neat stuff but I haven't been there yet. 

[corporateidentity 3]

16 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

@corporateidentity

 

I would read any scientific papers you can get on Fedexia striegeli , and the Casselman Formation, and the Conemaugh Group. 

Search  Google with these words in quotation marks, and the word PDF after it.  

Look for outcrops of the formation nearby the discovery site. Streams, ravines, and roadcuts are your best bets. 

Good luck.   

Thank you Fossildude!

 

I've been obsessed with Fedexia and temnospondyl ever since I found out that they were around during the Carboniferous. I've searched in a lot of streams but so far no luck but it makes me happy you gave me that advice so I must be headed in the right direction

[Petalodus12 7]

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but amphibian material is incredibly rare around Pittsburgh. I’ve hunted there for 10 years and although I know of some nice vertebrate sites that yield disarticulated fish and shark remains, I haven’t seen any amphibian material. Yes, Fedexia was found here, but it was an anomaly and is a holotype. In the scientific paper the researchers state that they are not sure exactly what member it came from, as it was not found in situ.  Plus, the original site is not open anymore (I believe it has been riprapped). However, certain sites near Pittsburgh (like Linton) that are coal spoil piles have yielded articulated amphibian remains. Unfortunately, I believe that Linton is now on private property. So the moral of the story is that yes, you can find amphibian remains near Pittsburgh, but they are incredibly rare and often disarticulated. I do hope you find another Fedexia though. Happy Hunting!!

[Paul1719 165]

Just to clarify. Red Hill is an active research site, I am working there under the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Any tetrapod  (potential tetrapod) or scientifically significant material is being retained by the museum. A year ago we found a bone we thought might have been part of a jaw (tooth-like denticulated surface). That was sent to the museum and still sits on Ted Daeschlers desk as a mystery element (below). Last August, my son and I recovered a sizable operculum from a Hyneria which also went to the museum. I think it might have been the most complete one they've found. Of course, tetrapod material is rare and incredibly important from this period. It does no one any good sitting on my shelf so my goal is to discover something that is significant enough to go into a publication. 

Mystery element.

 

Hyneria Operculum, for scale the paper towel it sits on is 11"

Edited November 24, 2018 by Paul1719
forgot scale

[Scylla 822]

I have been able to dig at Red Hill twice with the New York Paleo Society. We just have to show the researchers what we find and they reserve the right to keep scientifically important finds. I got to keep everything I found. You can join Here