digit Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 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 NOVEMBER 30, 2019 Any fossil submitted after that time, even if the topic 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 Find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found personally by you are allowed. NO PURCHASED FOSSILS. 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.) 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. 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). 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. You must include the Common and/or Scientific Name. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the fossil was found. You must include the State, Province, or region where the fossil was found. 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. 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.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg.Wood Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Date of Discovery: November 2, 2019 Scientific and/or Common Name: Devonoblastus whiteavesi Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Widder fm, Hungry Hollow Member (Middle Devonian) State, Province, or Region Found: Arkona, Ontario Measures 20 mm x 15 mm 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Beautiful. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Very nice, indeed! A real eye-candy! Thanks for submitting! Btw, would you like to share some background info with the rest of the world, @Greg.Wood ? How it was found, how common or rare it is, something about the state of preservation (it seems exceptionally well preserved!), what kind of prep done, if any, etc... Thanks so much! Franz Bernhard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 That's a beauty. Something tells me they are not a common find there.. (or we would see more of them?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 I have a particular passion for blastoids--though I've never found any (yet). If they were as common as rugose corals and brachiopods at Arkona, I surely would have focused my efforts on gathering some in a paleo version of an Easter Egg hunt. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-fossils Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 That's a cute little beauty!!! Max Derème "I feel an echo of the lightning each time I find a fossil. [...] That is why I am a hunter: to feel that bolt of lightning every day." - Mary Anning >< Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier Instagram: @world_of_fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg.Wood Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 @FranzBernhard It was found while surface collecting in some newly slumped over material that washed out during the rain last week. Luckily it didn't roll very far (despite being so round!) so I have a good idea where it came from and I'll be back to excavate the area. I have found maybe ~7 blastoids at this location, all from the genus Heteroschisma (not quite as aesthetically pleasing in my opinion). Fossils from this formation are generally preserved quite well, although compression or disarticulation are common. The matrix crumbles quickly and turns soft when wet so all I had to do was pluck it out of the mud. No prep was done aside from some gentle scrubbing with a toothbrush. Looking at other ones found in the area, it is a very large and well preserved example. I would say it is an exceptional specimen of a common to uncommon species. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 Thanks for the background on this. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 @Greg.Wood, Thank you very much for all the infos! Highly appreciated. So that´s another fantastic nature-prepped fossil! Sometimes nature does a perfect prep job, and sometimes - not so good... Thanks again! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 It has exquisite details, thanks for showing it to us. "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 "Fossil golf ball?" The specimen is nearly spherical and has roughly the same diameter as a golf ball, but it has no dimples. So it is not a golf ball, of course . Instead, the surface is covered in very small "cells" (ca. 0.15 mm diameter) all around. These cells are cross sections of tubes. Together with the info given here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/94175-fossil-ball-campanian-st-bartholomä-formation-gosau-group-eastern-alps/ the specimen is interpreted to be a chaetetid sponge. Its my second find of this kind in the St. Bartholomä-formation. These sponges are about 10 times rarer as the already rare corals. During my hunting in this formations, I am now watching also especially for very round and smooth "rocks" and take all of them with me. Most of them are duds (just micritic limestone with very few fossil bits), but some of them are indeed fossils! And I don´t know, how many I have missed... Some of you may notice the collecting date in combination with this formation. Because I have "promised", that I would not visit this formation in the near future again: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/98781-rudist-hunting-6-in-st-bartholomä-styria-austria/ However, this promise lasted only for about 4 weeks. Since October, 22, I have visited the site in the link above five times for a total of about 14 hours. I have begun to dig and examine the scree (where I have found the "last", nice rudist) below the "Knödelbrekzie" systematically. Total "reserve" of fossiliferous limestone clasts at this particular site seems to be about 2-3 m3. Up to now, I have examined about 0.5 m3 of the scree and have found about 80 fossils, the fast majority rudists. Some of them quite nice, others quite large (some both!), but none as nice as the one from September, 24. But you never know what appears next.... Found: 11/03/2019 Name: Chaetetid sponge Formation/Age: St. Bartholomä-formation, Gosau-group, Eastern Alps (Campanian) Locality: St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (East of Kalchberg, Point 25-North) Franz Bernhard 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 2 hours ago, FranzBernhard said: "Fossil golf ball?" No. No dimples. Probably just a petrified egg. Nice find. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Tahan Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I’m going to give my Rhinocaris columbina a go in IFOTM. I found this on November 2nd 2019. Phyllocarids are not too common and usually you find a piece or part. This is lucky because of the beautiful association of both carapaces and the telson! Disarticulated but associated....very exciting find for me. Date of discovery: 11/02/19 Name: Rhinocaris columbina Geologic Formation: Windom shale member, Moscow formation, Hamilton group. Middle Devonian (givetian) Location: Madison county, New York 4 photos...this was tough to photograph for some reason. It just doesn’t pop well. Had to play with the lighting in my house. photos with the scale And photos to show the details! Thanks, Al 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 Background story to @Al Tahan´s superb specimen: Franz Bernhard 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 Here is a tooth I recently found and just finished prepping the tooth is 60 mm along the longest side Found 29-10-19 finished prep 17-11-19 Description - Chimaeroid tooth Ptyktoptychion sp - Right vomerine tooth Age - Cretaceous - Toolebuc formation Found - Central Queensland Australia 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Tahan Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 Thanks for that! @FranzBernhard I was thinking of doing exactly that but you beat me to it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haravex Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I've never entered before but figured I might this month as the entries are slowish Date of Discovery 26th October 2019 Prep Date 03rd November 2019 Scientific and/or Common Name Abelisauridae indet tooth and partial Onchopristis numbais rostral barb Geologic Age or Geologic Formation Aoufous formation, Kem Kem beds, Cenomanian Cretaceous State, Province, or Region Found 5km radius of Goulmima city centre, Morocco 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 6 hours ago, Haravex said: Aoufous formation, Kem Kem beds, Cenomanian Cretaceous Nice matrix specimen, thanks for entering! Would you like to provide some background info, e.g. about your collecting trip to this area? And whats the size of the specimen/fossils? Thank you! And the same here: 22 hours ago, Mike from North Queensland said: Toolebuc formation Very nice specimen! But I have never heard of this formation (but this is just me ). Would you also like to provide some background info? Thanks so much! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pemphix Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 8 hours ago, FranzBernhard said: Very nice specimen! But I have never heard of this formation (but this is just me ). Would you also like to provide some background info? Thanks so much! Franz Bernhard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toolebuc_Formation 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 23 hours ago, FranzBernhard said: Very nice specimen! But I have never heard of this formation (but this is just me ). Would you also like to provide some background info? Thanks so much! Franz Bernhard Franz Not much to tell past the link Pemphix supplied. The formation was a deposit formed from a large inland sea so most material is marine with the only dinosaur being Mimi that was a bloat and float and the bird material that is now assumed to be a sea bird and some flying reptile material. The rest of the material is roughly 100 million year cretaceous marine material, typical of the era except there is no moasaur or crocodile material that has been found. Mike 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haravex Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 On 11/18/2019 at 1:04 AM, FranzBernhard said: Nice matrix specimen, thanks for entering! Would you like to provide some background info, e.g. about your collecting trip to this area? And whats the size of the specimen/fossils? Thank you! Sure thing abelisauirdae tooth is 1.3cm partial barb is 3cm. Background: a couple of years ago went over to Morocco to see if it was possible to dig knowing nobody found out it was, seen a lot of the fakes decided to open my own business selling fossils that I could be sure where genuine so people wouldn't get ripped off so I dig them myself and have a select few miners I can trust and buy from. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Invertebrate Prionocyclus hyatti Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Carlile Shale New Mexico, USA Discovered: November 9th Field photos: 14 "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 The inner whorls on that little ammonite look swell. Congratulations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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