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It'd been awhile since I last joined the Austin Paleo group for one of their field trips, so I was excited to finally catch back up with them at some sites about 3 hrs up north. The plan for the day was to hit up Brady and Santa Anna, but the weather forecast had put things into question. Originally, I had some rather ambitious sites lined up in the Llano Uplift afterwards. The rainy conditions, however, meant the river would be a little too high for walking. After a peaceful morning drive under the guiding light of the full moon, I pulled up to the first location where I was relieved to see things weren't canceled, and Melvin plus the gang were already crawling along the slick exposure of Strawn Group shales (Desmoinesian Series). Upon stepping out of the car, I was suddenly met with a confusing mix of cold drizzly rain and warm gusts of humid wind. It wasn't unbearable though, and I was more so focused on catching up with some familiar faces anyways. The hunting proved a bit treacherous. The ground shimmered with newly formed mud mounds that loved to stick under your shoes. Although it wasn't nearly as bad as wet Grayson/Del Rio matrix (Waco Pit), it was still a strenuous activity, having to climb the hillside in my new platform shoes. Things started off a bit slow. The weather dampened the mood, but with enough effort, people started making some decent finds. I was hopeful to prove my crinoid crown from last year was no fluke, so I went straight to business, closely inspecting every rock for anything out of place. It was a challenge to look for details through the mud. Nevertheless, it was a rich site and everyone kinda knew the spectacular finds would roll out one way or another. After an hour and a half of looking at hash plates and broken brachiopods, I found the first keeper. Especially since it was covered in mud, this guy was tough one to notice. I think 9 times out of 10 I would have walked over it. A small, smashed crinoid crown and arms Nearby I also picked up a small crinoid cup which are always fun to find. As we were wrapping up, I took a gamble wiggling out a mucky mass of what looking like a crinoid arm erupting just from underneath a bigger rock. It didn't take long to figure out it was most definitely a large crinoid crown. The species is hard for me to say, so I am open for suggestion. A large crinoid that took a bit of cleaning. The other side shows some arms, but there is a lot more matrix covering it. With all the rain, Melvin and Ed decided it was wise to skip what would have been a messy parking situation at Santa Anna in favor of an impromptu trip to the beloved Wilson Clay Pit of the Harpersville Fm (Virgilian Series). After about an hour of caravaning northbound, everyone gingerly parked their cars along the gravel margin. It took a bit of teamwork to set up some big rocks for a makeshift bridge across the mote separating us from the gate, but we pulled through. Others gave up a bit too early and decided wet feet for the rest of the day would not dissuade them from taking the shortest route across the puddle . Wilson was a good call as things were surprisingly easy to traverse once inside the quarry. All the rock fragments made for good footing. I had made a couple new friends who happened to be fossil forum lurkers. One of them was named Will, and I decided to help him out with finding some Pennsylvanian shark teeth. Once we located the right rocks, I tried to show him what to keep an eye out for. He was a fast learner and pretty soon we were both consistently spotting little pieces of Petalodus among other cartilaginous vertebrates. Sadly, I didn't find most of my cooler stuff until he was sick of all the hammering and ventured elsewhere to find inverts! The first keeper for me was a mess of associated Archaeocidaris plates and spines. Not nearly as pretty as those of the Brownwood Spillway, but still neat nonetheless. Archaeocidarid plates and spines Not long after, I made a rather unexpected discovery. I guess in the past I wasn't looking at each rock close enough. I had heard of Cladodont sharks being found in Wilson before, but never saw one myself. Over the course of the day, however, I found like 6 of them in varying condition. They are surprisingly common, but go unnoticed because they are usually so tiny. I have seen the species Symmorium reniforeme referenced in Wilson, but I am under the impression that these teeth are now classified as Glikmanius occidentalis. My favorite is the middle one below. Its white coloration makes it almost look like a modern shark tooth on the beach. Cladodont (Glikmanius occidentalis?) shark teeth. Surprisingly common in smaller sizes. "Deltodus" was the second most common shark of the day and I managed to snag one in near perfect condition. "Deltodus" Throughout the day I was really hoping to find a Petalodus as good as the one from last year, but alas it was not meant to be. Still, there were some decent ones that showed themselves now and again. One tooth has some really cool dendritic mineralization on the enamel. Best Petalodus ohioensis of the day. As I was writing the above excerpt on the dendritic Petalodus, I took a second look at it and just noticed a trilobutt on the back of the broken root! First Wilson trilo for me and it's on a Petalodus tooth go figure. I guess there's no other way I'd find one given my vertebrate fixations Trilobutt on Petalodus! It was about sunset when I left. Of course I was one of the last ones there along with Ed and Melvin. I need to work on my controlling my fossil hunting urges for sure. Anyways, it was a nice day for a hunt and definitely something I needed. The 3 hour drive back felt like nothing as all I could think about was what awaited me the next trip out. Thanks for reading!

I found this on a Beach on the west side of Narragansett Bay. I have found numerous plant fossils less than 2 miles away from here and I think that it has some potential to be a footprint. The impression goes deeper where there would be claws and it appears to have 3 toes. I would love to hear what others have to say. It looks very similar to others that I have seen from the Rhode Island Formation (middle to late Pennsylvanian). I will provide more pictures if necessary.

Cross section of a nautiloid maybe? Its odd that there were no more sections though When polishing out

This one is a bit confusing

Some really great finds today, hope you guys can help, cant wait to prep them out

Hello, I found this rock in an ephemeral stream bed with what I think is an ammonite and crinoid head in the same rock. I'm somewhat familiar with the local geology and fossils but not 100% sure. It was found in Columbia MO in what should be part of the Osagean series of the Mississippian. Most common rocks in the area are limestone, chert, and dolostone; crinoids are extremely common. I'm a lot less confident on what I think is a mold of a crinoid head (second fossil pictured). I just hope it's not a chert nodule. Anyways I would love to hear other opinions to confirm this. Thanks!!!!

Another diffrent looking thing but is it another nautiloid?

What do you think guys?

What do you think it is guys

Hi guys from flooded ireland, any idea what type of coral this is if it is coral

When it comes to fossils, I am a generalist by nature. I haven't met a fossil that I didn't like! However, in an attempt to narrow my focus a bit, I have decided to take a cue from Adam ( @Tidgy's Dad ) and start this thread. I hope to showcase some of my collection, but more importantly have a central place to post IDed specimens, information I have found regarding them, and/or ask for help with IDs. Hopefully other's will get enjoyment from seeing the specimens and potentially learn a thing or two. So come along on my journey through the Carboniferous! If you haven't had the pleasure of getting lost in the Cambrian, Ordovician, or Silurian with Adam, you are doing yourself a disservice! I highly recommend his below threads. Adam's Ordovician Adam's Silurian Adam's Cambrian Now, let's go! Kentucky is known far and wide by fossil collectors for being within the Cincinnati Arch, and having wonderful Ordovician fossils, but what many fail to realize is that the Ordovician makes up a small percent of Kentucky's exposed strata. By far the most represented time period is the Carboniferous. With Central to Western Kentucky being mostly Mississippian in age, and Eastern Kentucky (and part of Western) being predominantly Pennsylvanian. There is a reason that coal is big business here! A simplified version of Kentucky's geological survey map, but it gives you a good idea of the distribution of what can be found. Image borrowed from: Bryson, Lindsey & Gomez-Gutierrez, I.C. & Hopkins, T.C.. (2012). Development of a new durability index for compacted shale. Engineering Geology. s 139–140. 66–75. 10.1016/j.enggeo.2012.04.011. An adaptation of the KGS map found here https://www.uky.edu/KGS/geoky/index.htm I'm lucky enough to be within an hours drive from most represented time periods. Excluding the Tertiary/Cretaceous and Quaternary, but I live in the Mississippian area and find myself hunting that time period more often than not. The Mississippian here is mostly marine in nature with brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, and the like, being the norm. While the Pennsylvanian is a mixed bag of marine and terrestrial life. More information regarding the geology of Kentucky can be found at the Kentucky Geological Survey website here. I would also recommend the open access papers below regarding the Carboniferous and it's invertebrate fauna. I have not studied terrestrial and vertebrate life much yet, but will showcase those finds and related research material as they come. Mississippian Fauna of Kentucky Pennsylvanian Invertebrate Fauna of Kentucky The fossils will come next, and I plan to post a new one regularly (Daily? Weekly? Monthly?) as time permits. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the adventure. Carboniferous here we come!

We seem to find the young of many baby animals cute, even animals far separated from us on the evolutionary tree, like birds. Clearly there is a limit since we don't find baby spiders or flies cute. But why should we, as mammals, find baby birds cute? We have no evolutionary imperative to protect the young of birds.

Another shell for the experts,

Hi guys, just wondering is this a gonatite

Hello to all. Photos from several trips of the past years. Probably, the age of these finds is the Kasimovian stage of the Carboniferous period (307 Ma). Despite the fact that many fragments of the crinoids lie on a large area, whole lilies were found only in a small "lens" about 7 * 7 meters in size. Finds from this lens are in the second part of the publication.

I’ve been told these blastoids appear to be Mississippian in age. That surprises me because the rocks in Dane county Wisconsin are late Cambrian - early Ordovician and the nearest Carboniferous rocks are a long ways away. I’ve done some research into the history of the buildings on the UW Madison campus where I find these fossils and they were supposedly quarried only a few miles from where they now lie. I was also told that blastoids didn’t appear until the Carboniferous. From a quick google search I got the impression that, while they massively diversified in the Carboniferous, they first appeared during the Ordovician. I’m just confused and curious as to how old these rocks are. They’re packed full of fossils and I often find tiny fossils that have eroded out of them and fallen to the ground to collect. attatched are the 2 or 3 blastoids and some of the other fossils I’ve found in these rocks. Any help as to what the age could be would be wonderful! also any IDs on some of the other fossils more specific than “gastropod” or “cephalopod” or “crinoid” are also appreciated. Thank you so much! Y’all are great.