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Took a trip last Friday to a quarry that has exposures of the Eocene Castle Hayne Formation and the Cretaceous PeeDee Formation. First let me say it was hot!!! Did I say it was hot? During the day many of us spent extra time in the cars/trucks with the a/c running and drinking extra fluids. The forecast temps were for the high 80's and low 90's, but down in the bowl of the quarry with no wind I believe it was in the high 90's low 100's. However the finds were very good. Almost everyone found at least one Hardouinia kellumi echinoid, several nice enchodus teeth were also found. I saw several crab carapaces along with abundant H. mortonis and Echinolampas appendiculatta echinoids. A massive C. auriculatus was found that in my opinion if the tip was there (feeding damage) would have been close to 4 3/8 inches. Lots of smaller Eocene teeth were found along with some Squalicorax. A multitude of brachiopods were found also, a few different species too. As far as myself I found plenty of brachiopods, Plictoria wilmingtonensis and 2 other species I am working on I.D.ing. Plenty of H. mortonis and E. appendiculatta. I also found one H. kellumi and a very uncommon high domed H. mortonis emmonsi echinoid. Also a beautiful, but small enchodus ferox tooth; a nice small Eocarpilius carolinensis crab carapace and a very nice Entemnotrochus nixus gastropod (slit shell). A few decent teeth and a smattering of other items. H. mortonis on a natural pedestal H. kellumi H. mortonis emmonsi in this last pic the emmonsi is on the left to show the difference in the dome Eocarpilius carolinensis Enchodus ferox tooth Entemnotrochus nixus gastropod and the best of the many H. mortonis

Hi all, A paper on a new genus and species from the Eocene Castle Hayne Fm. in North Carolina has been published. The holotype and paratypes were found by the Fossil Forum member Plax, who donated them to the Raleigh Museum. Plax is also coauthor of the article. http://www.ojs-igl.unam.mx/index.php/Paleontologia/index

I found this worn vertebrae at the Rocky Point quarry in North Carolina. It was recently identified by some experts as from an Eocene sea snake - Palaeophis. Does anyone know the specific species of Eocene sea snakes found in the Castle Hayne formation? How big a snake would be associated with a 1 inch vert?

I was lucky enough to be invited on a hunt to a southeastern North Carolina quarry for yesterday. This quarry contains exposures of the Eocene Castle Hayne formation and the Cretaceous PeeDee formation. The quarry had not been hunted at all since late April / early may, so with all of the rain we have had over the summer and from the recent Hurricane, I wa pumped to get in there. It was a small group of people, only 8 of us, but all experienced quarry hunters. After arriving and filling out all the necessary paperwork we headed to the first area around 8:30. This area was a small section in an old part of the quarry that contained a small but very good section of Eocene material. We decided to stay there until 11 and then move to another area. Well the finds here were awesome. Several very rare varieties of echinoids were found by several of us along with the usual common ones. Bivalves, gastropod molds and brachiopods were also found. There were also a few nice nautaloids found. But, no teeth. However with the amount and variety of other things that was fine with all of us. No one left to head to the second area unhappy. We arrives at the second area around 11:30 and headed straight to an exposure of PeeDee sand. For those of you who remember the posts a few years ago about the "Big Hole" by FossilFoilist, this is the exact same type of exposure. Echinoids and oysters galore. Many of us left from there and continued hunting Cretaceous piles, while others went in search of Eocene material. It was really a fantastic day. One of my best ever at this quarry, and I'm sure a few of the others also. Some of the items found ( sorry I dont have pictures of the others finds) were, Eocene echinoids ...... Echinolampas appendiculatta, Rhyncholampas carolinensis, rare Eupatagus wilsoni, rare Linthia hanoverensis, rare Agassizia inflata, very uncommon Maretia subrostrata, uncommon Linthia wilmingtonensis, Eurhodia rugosa ideali and depressa and a very nice Coelopleurus carolinensis. On the Cretaceous side I would guess there were over 100 Hardouinia mortonis found along with over 30 of the rare Hardouinia kellumi also. There were also a few Hardouinia mortonis emmonsi found, this is a subspecies of the H. mortonis with a higher dome, looks more conical. But the truly best finds of the day were 3 complete and one partial Phymotaxis tournoueri with attached spines. There was also an amazing Enchodus ferox tooth found, it was over 3" and an amazing and extra large Squalicorax pristodontus. lso C. auriculatus but none in great shape. All of my cleaned finds finds on my drying table.

This tooth came from the Castle Hayne quarry. Not sure if it's a Cretaceous or Eocene tooth. Can anyone identify? Ruler measuring centimeters/millimeters, so tooth measures 2.5 centimeters.

Participated in a short trip to an Eastern North Carolina Eocene Quarry on Friday. Eocene, Castle Hayne Formation. Found the usual echinoids, Echinolampas appendiculata, Rhyncholampas carolinensis, Eurhodia rugosa ideali along with my first Eupatagus wilsoni. I also found a couple of rather nice Periarchus lyelli's; they are normally in bad shape. But the prize of the day, I noticed after I got home. A common Echinolampas with a broken end and a Plicatoria wilmingtonensis inside of it. (a brachiopod) Fellow forum member was at a trip on Sunday morning with me and saw it and was as amazed as I was. Both of us wondering how in the heck did it get in there. Eupatagus wilsoni

I found this fossil a couple years ago and never figured out what species it is. It was found in a pit that is being mined for sand in Eastern NC. The main formation present is the Castle Hayne formation, which is Eocene in age. I looked at a few references but did not see a likely match. This specimen is rather dorsally flattened. Any help would be appreciated. Adoral view: