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January 2019 Finds of the Month Entries


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REMINDER: PLEASE carefully read ALL of the rules below.

Make sure you include all the required information, IN THE REQUESTED FORMAT (below) when you 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.


Entries will be taken until 11:59:00 PM EDT on JANUARY 31, 2019

Any fossil submitted after that time, even if the thread is still open, will be deemed ineligible! 

 

Only entries posted with CLEAR photos 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.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

 

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. 

Tell us more about your fossil, and why you think it is worthy of the honor. 


To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.

 

Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!
Best of success to all, and good hunting!

 

***********************************


Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

  1. Find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found personally by you are allowed. 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 member per contest category.)
  3. Your fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or Significant Preparation * of your fossil must have been completed during the Month of the Contest.
  4. You must include the Date of Discovery (when found in the contest month); or the Date of Preparation Completion and Date of Discovery (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. Please make sure you arrange for photos if someone else is preparing your fossil find and completes the prep requirements in the contest month.
  6. You must include the Common and/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. You must include CLEAR, cropped, well-lit images (maximum 4 images). If you are proud enough of your fossil to submit it for FOTM, spend some time to take good photos to show off your fossil.
  10. Play fair and honest. No bought fossils. No false claims.

 

* Significant Preparation = Substantial work to reveal and/or repair important diagnostic features, resulting in a dramatic change in the look of the fossil. The qualification of Significant Preparation is decided at the discretion of staff. Any doubts as to the eligibility of the entry will be discussed directly with the entrant.


******* Please use the following format for the required information: *******

 

  • Date of Discovery
  • Scientific and/or Common Name
  • Geologic Age or Geologic Formation
  • State, Province, or Region Found
  • Photos of Find (Please limit to 4 clear, cropped, and well-lit images.)
    (If prepped, before and after photos are required, please.)

 

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Fresh from the prep bench, and kickstarting 2019:

 

Date of Discovery: August, 2017

Scientific and/or Common Name: Flexicalymene senaria association with gastropod steinkern Fusispira nobilis

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: M. Ordovician, Verulam Formation

State, Province, or Region Found: Brechin, Ontario, Canada

 

This one has been on my "to-prep" list for a while, but I either didn't have the tools or the confidence to take on such a wee trilobite. Spent four hours today on this one. Although the trilobite species is fairly common in this formation, associations such as these are very uncommon. Working on something this small is tricky, even under good magnification, as it is all too easy to make a tragic mistake.

IMG_5214.JPG

IMG_5215.JPG

IMG_5575.JPG

IMG_5572.jpg

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Nice! Off with a bang (or maybe that's just leftover fireworks I'm hearing). :P

 

I think Stuart McLean said it best when he wrote the motto for his The Vinyl Cafe radio show on CBC Radio: "We may not be big, but we're small." ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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36 minutes ago, Kane said:

Fresh from the prep bench, and kickstarting 2019:

 

Date of Discovery: August, 2017

Scientific and/or Common Name: Flexicalymene senaria association with gastropod steinkern Fusispira nobilis

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: M. Ordovician, Verulam Formation

State, Province, or Region Found: Brechin, Ontario, Canada

 

This one has been on my "to-prep" list for a while, but I either didn't have the tools or the confidence to take on such a wee trilobite. Spent four hours today on this one. Although the trilobite species is fairly common in this formation, associations such as these are very uncommon. Working on something this small is tricky, even under good magnification, as it is all too easy to make a tragic mistake.

4 hours?

Golly, that's amazing! :)

Beautiful bug. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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2 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

4 hours?

Golly, that's amazing! :)

Beautiful bug. 

Thanks, Adam :) 

There's even a bit of bryozoan "mat" on the lower left of the pygidium. That gastropod had a lot of hitchhikers! :D 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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my entry for this month :)

 

found in october 2018.

finnished prep 02/01/2019

4 Ichtyosaur vertebrea in association.

Wimereux ( France )

Age: Tithonian ( Portlandian )

 

As found:

IMG_20181027_170221.thumb.jpg.c61690f62e25e300431c90af727559ec.jpg

Start of the prepp:

received_2253565451552668.thumb.jpeg.ff5e0410e09cdb85884a23cb95ef68a7.jpeg

 

after most of the prep + start restauration on the 4th vertebrea:

IMG_20190102_180916.thumb.jpg.ba3390e19083c59bfd4678b9d1c4cbcf.jpg

 

the endresult:

IMG_20190102_202100.thumb.jpg.b82bee46373093d1ee2e8efddd64a9db.jpg

IMG_20190102_202109.thumb.jpg.26a300569b86fda9e6d792454e24a03f.jpg

IMG_20190102_202120.thumb.jpg.a52ed97216f4f17648fd974c0ed1e227.jpg

 

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@Natalie81 Nice specimen and prepwork!! :)

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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Another rudist-related entry from me... :headscratch:

 

Discovered: 01/01/2019

Name: Lithophaga sp. (steinkern) in upper valve of radiolitid rudist

Formation and age: St. Bartholomä-formation (Campanian)

Location: St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria

image.thumb.jpeg.0fa469993d8a24dc74c590af73b69776.jpeg

 

New Year´s Day 2019 was a lucky day. Sunny weather, relatively warm (about +5°C), no snow, no frozen ground. So I took the chance to do a little fossil hunting in St. Bartholomä, along a trail west of Kalchberg, where I have collected several times before. Fossil-luck was at first sight not with me, but this doesn´t matter, if I can be outside.

 

I took only two specimens with me, one piece with fragments of hippuritid rudists (I think, I will bring this one back), and a fragment of a large radiolitid rudist, with parts of both valves preserved. I have found a few of them already, but it´s always nice to find one of these fragments with both valves still together.

 

It was a quite dirty piece, found in soil and earth, and so it needed some cleaning with water and a soft brush (but nothing else) to recognize, that this is something special and I had fossil-luck, indeed: Besides being nearly free of matrix and having nicely preserved inner shell layers, the upper valve is bored by a Lithophaga sp. Its shell is not preserved, though, it´s only a steinkern.

Upper left: Inside view of lower and upper valve with the Lithophaga steinkern and the mostly sediment-filled bore hole.

Upper middle: Side view of specimen with lower and upper valve.

Upper right: Outside view of lower valve with well perserved ribs.

Lower left: Oblique side view with Lithophaga. It is clearly visible that the steinkern and the bore hole filling stand somewhat out of the shell. This means, that the inner space of the rudist was already filled with sediment, when the Lithophaga was boring. Later on, the rudist filling was removed, but not the Lithophaga steinkern and the filling of the bore hole. The cellular structure of the lower valve and the lamellar structure of the upper valve with its well preserved inner shell layer are also quite well visible in this pic.

Lower right: Detail of the area with Lithophaga. Not much else to say about it… ;). Except:

Thanks for looking, hope, you have enjoyed it!
Franz Bernhard

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1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Lithophaga sp. (steinkern) in upper valve of radiolitid rudist

This is a great paleoecology entry...

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1 hour ago, FranzBernhard said:

Another rudist-related entry from me..

And a very informative one, at that! ;)

-Christian

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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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3 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

Another rudist-related entry from me... :headscratch:

 

Discovered: 01/01/2019

Name: Lithophaga sp. (steinkern) in upper valve of radiolitid rudist

Formation and age: St. Bartholomä-formation (Campanian)

Location: St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria.

How wonderful! :)

A truly fascinating and most unusual fossil. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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The first vertebrate (jawless fish):

 

Discovered: 2019. 01. 03

Name: Tesseraspis armor element 

Formation and age: Ohesaare stage, Upper Pridoli, end of Silurian

Location: Dauksiai village, Joniskis district, Northern Lithuania (found in erratic boulder). 

 

tesseraspis 4.jpg

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The second vertebrate (placoderm)

 

Discovered: 2019. 01. 05

Name: Ptyctodontid tooth (gnathal plate)

Age: Late Frasnian (Upper Devonian).

Location: Nikanciai village, Siauliai district, Northern Lithuania (found in erratic boulder). 

ptyctodont tooth 2.jpg

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The first invertebrate (mollusc)

 

Discovered: 2019.01.04

Age: Middle Oxfordian (Late Jurassic)

Name: Eucycloscala sp. gastropod

Location: Juodikiai quarry, Klaipeda district, Northwestern Lithuania. 

eucycloscala (2).JPG

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The second invertebrate (also mollusk): 

 

Discovered: 2019.01.08

Age: Ludlow, Late Silurian. 

Name: Modiolopsis sp. bivalve mollusk

Location: Kursenai town, Siauliai district, Northern Lithuania. 

S7303186.JPG

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36 minutes ago, D.N.FossilmanLithuania said:

Discovered: 2019. 01. 05

Name: Ptyctodontid tooth (gnathal plate)

Age: Late Frasnian (Upper Devonian).

Location: Nikanciai village, Siauliai district, Northern Lithuania (found in erratic boulder). 

 

41 minutes ago, D.N.FossilmanLithuania said:

Discovered: 2019. 01. 03

Name: Tesseraspis armor element 

Formation and age: Ohesaare stage, Upper Pridoli, end of Silurian

Location: Dauksiai village, Joniskis district, Northern Lithuania (found in erratic boulder).

 

Well, you seem to be developing quite a collection of Devonian fish material! Nice entries, by the way :) 

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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Dear @The Amateur Paleontologist

Of course in my local Lithuanian area Late Silurian and Devonian erratic boulders with fishes are very common. 

The Jurassic, Cretaceous and Cenozoic marine rocks with vertebrate remains are more widespread in South and Western Lithuania. :)

Thank you for the comment. :D

 

Best Regards

Domas

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Taxon: Eldredgeops rana

Location: Paulding, OH, USA

Formation: Silica Shale

Age: Middle Devonian 

Date of Collection: Jan. 5, 2019

Date Prep Completed: Jan. 9, 2019 

 

Description:  A large, partially disarticulated E. rana with predation or scavenging marks. 

 

As found:

Resized_20190108_162315_802.thumb.jpeg.eb6acf94a5160c23b5e636e7f7f9c562.jpeg

 

After prep:

Resized_20190109_150832_4699.thumb.jpeg.daa858a7171ecd6035ce688712ff7336.jpeg

 

Anomalous marks:

Resized_20190112_190010_303.thumb.jpeg.61ffc2be9818f840ebb7dd9520f6329d.jpeg

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12 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

Taxon: Eldredgeops rana

Location: Paulding, OH, USA

Formation: Silica Shale

Age: Middle Devonian 

Date of Collection: Jan. 5, 2019

Date Prep Completed: Jan. 9, 2019 

 

Description:  A large, partially disarticulated E. rana with predation or scavenging marks. 

You already know that I think this is a splendid fossil. :)

And a great prep job, of course! 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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1 minute ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

You already know that I think this is a splendid fossil. :)

And a great prep job, of course! 

Thank you, Adam - most kind :)

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10 hours ago, Peat Burns said:

Description:  A large, partially disarticulated E. rana with predation or scavenging marks. 

 

Nice one!! Congrats on finding and prepping that one :)

-Christian

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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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ENTRY FOR VFOM

 

TaxonRedondasaurus (?) Phytosaur tooth

Location: Quay Co., NM, USA

Formation: Redonda Formation

Age: Late Triassic

Date of Collection: June 24, 2018

Date Prep Completed: Jan. 14, 2019

 

Description:  A large (6 cm (~2.5 inch)) phytosaur tooth (cf. Redondasaurus) and associated bone (large fish?)

 

"Pre-Prep"

5c3cd0e03e0dc_Phytosaurwithboneduringprep(resized).thumb.jpg.a2ccf6d18da4250dbaded101fa2b278c.jpg

 

After prep:

5c3cd1003bcb5_Phytosaurwithbone(resized).thumb.jpg.d49139f18bb075a0ffcfdfe437f8474a.jpg

 

5c3cd125620ca_Phytosaurwithboneclose-up(resized).jpg.13bc12567ffd70325c941434932c027c.jpg

 

Close-up of tooth showing serrations:

 

5c3cd144f37b1_Phytosaurtoothserrations(resized).jpg.4999eef69e8979d7feb1f48cbd697462.jpg

 

Close-up of associated bone:

 

5c3cd1624d72e_Phytosaurassocatedbone(resized).thumb.jpg.7ed4859e57b4ae79227a2c3bf9b55b73.jpg

 

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53 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

ENTRY FOR VFOM

 

TaxonRedondasaurus (?) Phytosaur tooth

Location: Quay Co., NM, USA

Formation: Redonda Formation

Age: Late Triassic

Date of Collection: June 24, 2018

Date Prep Completed: Jan. 14, 2019

 

Description:  A large (6 cm (~2.5 inch)) phytosaur tooth (cf. Redondasaurus) and associated bone 

 

Very nice tooth. :)

I love Triassic stuff, don't see enough of it here or in the UK. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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