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My guru of paleobotany instantly recognized the mysterious fan-shaped flora: "Yes indeed it is Eddya sullivanensis, a seedling of Archaeopteris, and on a much lower stratigraphic horizon. Nice specimen: belongs in a museum." "It is often difficult to recognize immature stages of sporophytes in the fossil record. One potential immature sporophyte is Eddya sullivanensis, a Late Devonian (Frasnian) plant interpreted as a juvenile form. Eddya has a maximum height of 30 cm (Beck, 1967) and consists of a slender axis that produced helically arranged, flabelliform leaves (6 cm long) with slightly undulating margins and dichotomous venation (FIG. 12.19). The underground root system of the plant is extensive with a robust primary root from which extend numerous lateral roots. The vascular system of the small stem consists of a eustele with mesarch primary xylem, surrounded by a small amount of secondary xylem that consists of tracheids with circular-bordered pits and narrow rays. It is hypothesized that E. sullivanensis represents an immature Archaeopteris plant, and the ontogenetic data on progymnosperms in general tends to supports this conclusion (Scheckler, 1978)." text and figure from: Taylor, E.L., Taylor, T.N., Krings, M. 2009 Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. 2nd Edition. Academic Press, 1230 pp. Beck, C.B. 1967 Eddya sullivanensis, gen. et sp. nov., A Plant of Gymnospermic Morphology from the Upper Devonian of New York. Palaeontographica Abteilung B, 121(1-3):1-22

Primate fossils are very rare. I would really like to see what primate fossils TFF members have in their collections or have collected and donated. Mine have been personally collected, and have been donated, and are posted below. Let me start this post with the nicest primate fossil that I’ve seen, to show what is possible to find. A Messel researcher from Germany, to whom I’ve sent thousands of squamate specimens for study, sent me the below Messel book gratis last year. This is a book full of incredibly preserved specimens from plants, to insects, to mammals, to birds, to reptiles, to amphibians, to fish. Some very well-preserved primate fossils are in this Messel book, including an incredible Darwinius masillae articulated specimen shown in the below picture. After showing that incredible Messel primate, my primate specimens, which follow, seem pretty meager, but nevertheless are of scientific value. First, three primate teeth that I found in anthill matrix, from anthills situated on exposures of the Big Cottonwood Creek Member of the Chadron Formation (Latest Eocene-early Oligocene), from my sons’ M&M Ranch in Nebraska are shown in the below picture within a figure, as well as the cover of the publication that they are described in. Because the researchers were not able to assign the teeth to a genus (see the text in the red box in the below picture) I intend to recollect anthill matrix in the same 3 areas where the teeth were found in hope of finding a more complete primate specimen (at least a partial jaw with a premolar, molars) so the species can be identified. Secondly, a partial omomyid primate jaw, which I found in the Eocene, Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia, shown below in a figure from the paper that the partial jaw is described in (see first page of the paper below). Also note the two excerpts below from the paper. Due to the extreme rarity of this specimen, it is extremely unlikely that I could find another specimen that might be positively identified. From the paper Title and Abstract: "First Fossil Primate from the Atlantic Coastal Plain" From the paper DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: "Considering its geographic separation from other known North American, as well as European, omomyids, it almost certainly represents a previously unknown species. However, in the absence of premolars (often the most diagnostic teeth in omomyids) or any other anterior teeth, or obvious derived molar traits, it would be premature to create a new taxon for this fragmentary specimen." I am really hoping for and looking forward to TFF member primate posts to this thread. Marco Sr.

Thanks a lot. It is a great artcicle for my learning. But I did not find much help for ID some of the plants in the pics.

We weren't able to access the intended unit, but I did get to see some very poorly preserved plants. I don't have much to report in terms of pictures worth sharing (not the usual 'can't share'), it was a pretty unsuccessful day in terms of collecting. Still a productive day for sed/strat work. It is always to great to be out with people who are more knowledgeable than yourself. We can learn so much by having an open mind and being willing to accept our own working hypotheses/interpretations may be wrong. With that said, here are some photos of what I did find and see yesterday... (be patient, I wrote this part on the computer and am coming back to finish the post from my phone while I upload photos). Portersville marine zone. These are in the limestone layer. Here is a snail, likely Strobeus, but @cngodles can check me on that. A Petalodus tooth, not found by me. This is an incredibly common fossil shark tooth in the Appalachian Basin. A brachiopod, I let someone take this so this is the best photo I have of it. Any ID that could be made would be great. Ichnofossils in the shale above the Portersville limestone. Any help with identifying these would be welcome.

If there's coal in Newcastle there had to be plants. If I had a free shot at taking a wild guess, I would make it the pith of a Cordiates trunk. It's not quite recognizable as Artesia though.

late carboniferous/early permian, north china, plants for ID.

@Aman Nice finds. I have definite plants to visit Abbey Wood, but have yet to get there.

Hi all, posting some of the photos of fossils I found at Turimetta Beach in NSW. Can anyone recognise any plants or animals in any of these? Would love to know some more about them! Thanks # 1 #2 # 3 # 4 # 5

Over the last month I've been staying with my partner in Queensland who lives close to some amazing fossil sites, namely the Redbank Plains Formation. This formation is well known for its Paleocene/Eocene plants, insects, fishes and turtles. It was extensively collected from during the 1900s when the area was mostly comprised of pastures and bushland. Most of the fossils were found in iron-rich mudstone nodules which weathered out of the soil and gullies, although many plants and insects were collected from a clay pit and found directly in white mudstone. Nowadays, much of the formation has been covered by housing development, making it difficult to collect from. One exposure was protected within a council reserve, but fossils in there were difficult to find as they had to naturally weather out of the formation. I didn't have high hopes for finding anything in the area but after scouring geology maps I noticed one exposure which looked promising. It was mapped as Redbank Plains Formation but easily could've just been part of the surrounding Triassic/Jurassic sandstones. After finally being able to visit, we found it to be a new exposure of the Redbank Plains Formation! It didn't yield many fossils but the geology was terrific. At the top, a sandstone horizon which I think still belongs to the Redbank Plains Formation overlies the fossil bearing black carbonaceous shale, with a white clay type horizon below. Some more interesting geology just to the right of where the previous photo was taken. Just above the white clay horizon is a thin layer of tuff, overlain by more carbonaceous shale, then overlain by a thin layer of basalt, with more carbonaceous shale above. A different part of the exposure which was very rich in nodules. Fossils in these nodules were very rare in comparison to other Redbank Plains Formation sites, with just occasional plant material or fish bits. After suffering in the 34˚ summer heat for a few hours, we left in search of a different site a few hours away which yielded nothing. But then, on our way home, we noticed another potential Redbank Plains Formation exposure. This one was much more successful in terms of fossils, and also previously unknown! A partial fish as found in situ. Note the characteristic black shale it has weathered out of. The cross section of fish bones can be seen in this weathered nodule. A leaf, perhaps a Banksia sp.? A mash of fish bone in a nodule we split. Our best find of the day, a beautiful articulated fish! In situ: After some preparation (will post photos of it finished when I complete it). Unfortunately the nodule this was in fractured in many places, a result of the drying mudstone matrix. A tiny fish before and after preparation (also not finished, waiting on a replacement tip for my airscribe). This species is Notogoneus parvus. That is all for now, will update with more photos as I prepare everything! The Queensland Museum has been made aware of this new and potentially significant site, so hopefully it can be protected.

L.S., Last fall I've collected a number of plates with sphenopterid foliage from the Piesberg (see photos below). While some of the specimens occur in high-quality rock (e.g., Specimens A-C), others show extensive yellow coloration due to water permeation and creation of "rust minerals" (mostly limonite-type minerals). In Specimens D and E, in particular, this mineralisation obscures the detailed morphology of the plant fossils. Does anyone have experience with removing yellow stains from shale-type rocks? I've been reading about rust removers for pavement and garden rocks but would like to inform myself as best as possible before starting a few experiments on leftover fragments. My goal would be to remove the stains to the point where I can more clearly see the plant imprints. These plants occur in quite competent shale. I think it can easily survive being wetted, but complete submersion for extended periods of time would probably be a bit much... Thanks for your help! Tim Specimen A - part and counterpart Specimens B and C Specimen D - part and counterpart Specimen E

Thanks so much to my secret Santa, who delivered down the chimney a fantastic mix of unique fossils! I received a fantastic assortment of items, all of which are either from localities I did not have yet or taxa I did not yet have in my collection, covering all three eras of the Phanerozoic. My Santa also provided a very thoughtful hand written note, which was very touching. I’m new to Secret Santa, so I hope my gift brought its recipient as much joy as this one brought me! Everything received: Carboniferous plants, including Alethopteris ferns from the Lewellyn Formation of Pennsylvania: Gerastos sp. Trilobite from the Devonian of Morocco: A mud shrimp claw (identified as Callianopsis clallamensis) in a concretion from the Oligocene or Miocene Olympic Peninsula in Washington state: A Triarthrus beckii trilobite cephalon and graptolite from the Utica Shale of New York: The body of a fish (Redfeldius gracilis) from the lower Jurassic Shuttle Meadow Formation of Connecticut: A Mucrospirifer mucronatus Brachiopod from the Moscow Formation of New York:

Hi and welcome. I'm sure we could help with the IDs but we'll need really good closeups well lit photos of each individual specimen. FYI- if these are all from Washington State it is highly unlikely that any are dinosaur fossils since dinosaur fossils are practically nonexistent there. Still, I'd love to see what you have. Washington is famous for its fossil crabs and plants.

Ok, now that I've had some time to recover, here are some more sections of the Dinosaur Gallery: Herbivores A pretty self explanatory section. Includes replicas and fossils from mostly ornithischian, but some sauropod, dinosaurs. Everything is real unless stated otherwise. Replica skeleton of Muttaburrasaurus langdoni, from Queensland, Australia. Usually the lights underneath the skeleton are turned on; you can see one of them as a 'hole' in the floor. The detail of the cast skeletons is impressive. Here is a photo from October 2023 (I took all the other photos in November 2023, unless I state otherwise) displaying the ridged edge of the beak. Also note the dim pink lighting. Usually, all of the skeletons in the herbivore section have lighting from beneath, which changes colours from pink to blue to green, as you'll see in the later images. When I visited in November, the Muttaburrasaurus was the only skeleton to not have this lighting. Near the Muttaburrasaurus skeleton, and hiding behind the Lightning Ridge display, is this puppet Muttaburrasaurus, named Winnie. On special events, a person will control the Winnie puppet from inside, giving the appearance of a living, moving dinosaur. I've heard she can often frighten the kids a bit! While we stay talking about fun activities, I might add that there is also a wooden 3D puzzle of a Stegosaurus skeleton, which is usually either in the main lobby or the herbivores section of the Dinosaur Gallery which I did not photograph as I did not think that the people on here would be interested. Anyways, the first skeleton cast of note following the Muttaburrasaurus is this Chasmosaurus belli, originally found somewhere in North America. It's often mistaken for Triceratops by many museum visitors. The Chasomosaurus cast is interesting, as it appears to display some sort of pathology or preparation mark. I cannot see this tiny hole next to the fenestrae on any other Chasmosaurus specimen or anatomical diagram. If anyone knows what it is, or the story behind the cast, I'd love to find out. Anyways, next to the Chasmosaurus is this cabinet. If you're wondering why it doesn't show up in later photographs, 6 is a preserved crocodile stomach. The gallery does include some modern animal specimens and replicas to compare to the dinosaurs, but I didn't include them as they are not palaeontological in origin. Also, 3 is the real fossil jaw of a Centrosaurus apertus. I didn't take a separate picture of it as it was so big. 1 is a cast of the jaw of Atlascopcosaurus loadsi, found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia, and 2 is the cast of an Iguanodon sp. tooth, found in England, UK. 4 are Titanosauriform teeth found at Lightning Ridge (similar to the ones in the Lightning Ridge section) and 5 are sauropod gastroliths discovered in the USA. On display nearby is a cast of the back dental battery of Edmontosaurus sp., found in Canada. There are also these two cast skulls. The large one is of Probactrosaurus gobiensis, from China, whereas the small one is of an unidentified juvenile hadrosaur found in Mongolia. There is also another cabinet displaying more Mesozoic plants. All of them represent genera which could also be seen in the Mesozoic plants section. 1 is a Cladophelbis australis from Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. 2 is Rissikia talbragarensis from Tralbragar, New South Wales, Australia. 3 is an unidentified angiosperm from Winton, Queensland, Australia. Nearby is a cast of the skull of Leaellynasaura amicagraphica, from Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia. It is not in a cabinet. This is the specimen I was referring to when I said that cabinets, though annoying to take photos of, are good for preservation. While it was repainted in a recent renovation a few years ago, the new coat has already mostly come off due to people constantly touching the cast, to the point where it is more helpful to look at the accompanying picture to understand what the dinosaur's skull looked like than to actually observe the cast itself. Hey look, it's my avatar! Cast of Psittacosaurus mongoliensis, originally found somewhere in Asia. Replica of a juvenile Centrosaurus apertus skull, from Canada. You might sometimes see these guys erroneously identified as 'Monoclonius' in some exhibits and books. Parasaurolophus walkeri skull cast, originall found somewhere in the USA. You'll notice a small pump near the hadrosaur's skull; I have honestly no idea what it's for. It certainly doesn't make the Parasaurolophus honk, as if you knock the cast like a door you'll soon realise it's completely hollow. Cast of Stegoceras validum skull, found in the USA. Next up is a small section accompanied by a full scale life model of Minmi paraverterbra. Left is a cast of Minmi sp. skin and right is a cast of an Iguanodon sp. thumb spike. Left are a cast of the ribs of Kunbarrasaurus sp.m found in Richmond, Queensland, Australia, and right are the cast of the ribs of an unidentified ankylosaur from Hugheden, Queensland, Australia. Cast of the skull of Tarchia gigantea, originally found in Mongolia. Cast of Hypsilophodon foxii skeleton, found in England, UK. This one seems to have permanent pink lighting. I remember once a couple of parents telling their child that dinosaurs weren't real (I have no idea why they took the to this museum, then) and in protest the child reached out and felt the Hypsilophodon's shin, claiming it felt like real bone. Ironically, both were wrong, as this Hypsilophodon was a replica. An interesting quirk of the Hypsilophodon is how one of its toes seems twisted. I have no idea why that is. Similarly, I have no idea why this Permian tree stump, which despite anecdotal evidence stating that it came from the South pole most likely was discovered in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia, is in the Herbivore section. Replica femur of Rhoetosaurus brownei, found in Queensland, Australia. Life reconstruction of Atlascopcosaurus loadsi. Finally for this section, we have a replica skull and neck and life reconstruction of Nigersaurus taqueti, originally discovered in Niger. That was a really big section, so I'm only going to do the carnivores section now before I take a break.

Great collection. And I love the square rocks with preserved plants in the background, too. The pineapple is my favourite, beautifully preserved.

@Psittacosaur9 Some interesting stuff there. I have a keen interest in Australian fossil plants, so nice to see

Did you eat the strange plants and fungi, or did the deer eat them?🤣

Hello everyone and hope you're all having a wonderful day. Recently, I had the brilliant opportunity to volunteer at the Australian Museum in Sydney. It has definitely been a highlight of this year for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! While I was there, I spent a lot of time exploring the museum, and eventually saw and took photographs of every palaeontological item on display I am aware of, and would like to show them all to you now as an early Christmas present. I do know @Notidanodon did get to share some photographs of the museum a while ago. If you're wondering why the opalised shells Notidanodon shared are not in this topic, they are no longer on display as far as I know. I did also get to see some fossil specimens behind-the-scenes, but I did not get to take pictures of them, so these are only the fossils and replicas on public display I do have a lot of photos of other things as well, particularly the Rameses travelling exhibition, as well as labels of the palaeontology items, so if you want anything in particular, please PM me. I also have a lot of similar photographs of the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst, and will probably post those next year. This will be a long topic, and I doubt I'll finish it all today, but here goes: Dinosaur Gallery Entrance Replica skeleton of Jobaria tiguidensis and Afrovenator abakensis, originally discovered by Paul Sereno. You'll see that a lot of Sereno's skeletons are on display in this gallery, as he was involved with its creation. The Jobaria mount from behind; note the upper floor of displays no longer accesible which the sauropod's head reaches up into. From talking with the other volunteers I'm pretty sure this upper floor used to be part of the 'More than Dinosaurs' gallery which the current Dinosaurs gallery replaced, but I cannot find any images of the older gallery to confirm this besides a close-up of a Stegosaurus (which is still in the museum). Mesozoic Plants Pretty nicely, there is a decent amount of space in the gallery dedicated to non-dinosaurs. While I would have preferred a simple 'Fossil Gallery' with a variety of extinct organisms on display, this is still a good compromise. Photograph showing how the plants section, labelled 'A Changing World', is presented. Each of the large windows is into a cabinet displaying the real fossil plants, and are accompanied by a reconstruction of terrestrial life at the time at a child's eyeline, so they can get a better idea of how life on land looked in each period. You can look into them through the small rectangles below the large windows. They all appear in '3D'. The orange circles cover up areas where children can smell what certain plants would have been like (the Triassic one is of a conifer, and the Cretaceous one is of a flowering plant). Australian Triassic plants. Top left is Rissikia media, bottom left is Dicroidium zuberi and right is Cladophelbis australis. Here is the reconstruction of the Triassic. Australian Jurassic Plants. Left is Agathis jurassica, right is Osmundacaulis sp. Here is the accompanying Jurassic reconstruction. Early Cretaceous Australian plants. Ginkgoites australis at left and Phullopteroides dentata at right. Fun fact; this is where I first learned that seed ferns survived into the Cretaceous, as most dinosaur books simply seem to forget about them after the Triassic period. I guess you can also see my hand here. That's one of the annoying things about all of these items being behind glass; it's difficult to take nice photos of them without getting yourself into them. Still, it's better than the alternative, as you'll see later... Here is the Early Cretaceous reconstruction. Weird how there is a stegosaur, when stegosaurs easily reached their peak diversity and abundance in the Jurassic. Only one plant is in the Late Cretaceous cabinet, and ironically it is unidentified. The final reconstruction, which is of the Late Cretaceous. Interesting how this is the only one to not have a Theropod or Sauropodomorph. Non-Dinosaur Mesozoic Animals Opposite to the plant display, there is a section dedicated to the animals the dinosaurs shared their world with. Interestingly, this section starts out with an Eoraptor lunensis cast, to highlight certain features unique to dinosaurs, such as their hollow hip sockets. You can see parts of the herbivores and carnivores sections in the background. Over my many trips, I often seem to gravitate to this specimen, as besides the Jobaria, Giganotosaurus and Archaeopteryx it is easily the one I have the most photos of on my phone (obviously more than two, don't want to clutter the page). Properly starting off our journey on non-dinosaurs is a display of terrestrial animals. All fossils are real except stated otherwise: Skull of an unidentified Dicynodont found in Zambia. Cast of Rhamphorynchus muensteri from Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany. Parotosaurus wadei skull from Brookvale, NSW, Australia. Clarotitan andersoni from Brookvale, NSW, Australia. There is another specimen in a different gallery which I took a better picture of. Cleitholepis granulata from Somersby, NSW, Australia. Cavernericthys talbragerensis from Tralbragar, NSW, Australia. It is overlaid on a leaf. You'll notice some other fossils from Tralbragar in the Jurassic plants cabinet, as well as in another gallery. Left is a nymph of Promimara cephalota, found in Koonwarra, Victoria, Australia, and right is an unidentified cockroach from Brookvale, NSW, Australia. Aeschnogomphus sp. from Solnhofen in Bavaria, Germany. This specimen was special, but very annoying to get a photograph of. Cast of lower jaw of Teinolophis trusleri, a monotreme mammal found in Inverloch, Victoria, Australia. According to the label it is the oldest known mammal in Australia, even older than Steropodon. I'm going to start a new post now so that I don't run out of space.

Always good advice to not eat strange plants and fungi in foreign lands.

Well, I have some rare specimens - rare for the formation and based on my limited collecting in that formations. But its all about gastropods, bivalves and some plants. But, hey, lets resurrect that one: What is it? I still don´t know, and its a one of a kind thing still today: Franz Bernhard

Unfortunately I see many, many searches in my future. I have to id hundreds of fossil plants in my collection for a project.

You would have to find the description of the plants listed. I see some Google searches in your future.

A couple of fossils from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia originally classified as plants have been reidentified as juvenile sea turtle fossils: Fossil plant or turtle? (palaeo-electronica.org) Turns out a 100-million-year-old plant fossil was really a baby turtle (cosmosmagazine.com) Fossil first identified as plant is actually a baby turtle | Popular Science (popsci.com) The initial assignment of Sphenophyllum colombianum to Sphenophyllum by Huertas (2003) was perplexing because Sphenophyllum is known only from the late Devonian to Permian, but the reclassification of S. colombianum as a marine turtle removes the sole chronologically extraneous record of Sphenophyllum. Huertas, G. 2003. Flora Fósil de Villa de Leyva y sus alrededores. Camargo Editores, Chía, Colombia.

According to Brown 1962 posted above: The Fort Union plants occur in the "clinkered shale".