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This tooth was found in Montgomery County, Alabama, and is about 70 million years old. Looking for an ID on the species. I'm pretty sure its a lateral from a goblin shark but I'm not certain.

I got another box of sediment will be going through it over the next week or so. If @Troodon or @jpc could help would be appreciated

Hello Everyone, I picked up some Cretaceous fossil matrix (fossiliferous rocks) from an auction that our WIPS (Western Interior Paleontological Society) group held last year. I picked them up knowing I wanted to give them a nice Vinegar bath and pull out the teeth/fossils trapped in the matrix. So far it looks like it was a very vigorus marine environment. The teeth and fossils are fairly worn and broken. Lots of fishy bits and pieces. A few shark teeth, fish teeth etc... I'm going to share the finds as they drop out of the matrix. I pull the fossils out of the solution every day or so, and refresh the vinegar once or twice a week. I manipulate and move the fossils using a small paintbrush. With what I have so far being able to sit quite comfortably in a pencil eraser's footprint. 1) My question is, what are these round things ? They have bands of light/dark and they are water polished. They don't 'look' geological. But I'm not familiar with fossils/structures such as these. Average size is less than a mm. Maybe 0.5mm if I had to guess. I'm not familar with Ostracods .. but I thought they were more assymetrical in shape. See image below. These survived the Vinegar bath and I've probably noted 2 dozen of about the same size and shape. 2) The formation I am assuming is from Colorado? The member these fossil rocks belonged to was a long-time member here in Colorado. The fossils feel like they are lying in that Cretaceous timeframe and look familar to what I have seen before. Does anyone recognize this rock type/formation ? A selection of the finds so far: The Ptychodus is about 2mm Thanks, Brett

I will be traveling through the Birmingham Alabama area Thursday afternoon/Friday morning - 6/8-9. Looking online there seems to be a decent opportunity to look for road cut exposures and such in the area. I would be most interested in plant material if anyone has any suggestions though anything would work for a mini hunt. Any assistance would be most welcome.

Another for me difficult fossils from the Vaalser groenzand (The Formation of Vaals or Vaalser Groenzand is a geological formation from the last Late Cretaceous). Fossils from the Vaals green sand are sparsely distributed, and yet it is extraordinarily rich in fossils. Unfortunately, very little is documented about it. What do you think this is? I was thinking about sea lilies myself. But not sure.... A few more pictures, doesn't this look like sharing a stem? These pieces are relatively lightweight. Certainly in comparison with the Limestone itself. I can't identify the ribbed structure.

Yesterday I was up early to look for fossils in the Vaalser Greensand (The Formation of Vaals or Vaalser Groenzand is a geological formation from the last Late Cretaceous). Fossils from the Vaals green sand are sparsely distributed, and yet it is extraordinarily rich in fossils. I had read some time ago that you can go to Boundary 7 for these kinds of fossils. Mineral and fossil collectors prefer to speak of the 'Cucullaea bank' of post 7. The post is located exactly at the source of the "Kothauzerbach". In total, in this jungle-like area (I'm really covered in scratches), there are three springs. The cause is obvious; Precipitation water seeps through the overlying sand of the hills, but is forced to surface on the border of the water-retaining Vaals green sand. Here I found several pieces from which the following fossils remained. Now my question, is this fossil wood? I didn't even have to dig myself. The badgers in this area had neatly laid out the fossils outside their burrows through their graves. What do you think this is? It is very difficult to feel the boundary between the Limestone and the harder layer. I tried to expose it as much as possible with a toothbrush. I would love your opinion! En wanneer ik het verder schoonmaak zien we dit. Echter zeer moeilijk, het fossiel lost snel op met het kalkgesteente: And abother big piece:

I found this specimen recently and have been perplexed by it for a while. To me it appears to be a tooth, though if it were I don't know from what. I looked at it from under my loop and it does have some small dimples in it, and is made of shiny black material, which is what drew me to that possibility in the first place. It looks similar to teeth I've seen posted on the forum before, especially in the Pennsylvanian shark tooth topics. I did some searching and oddly enough ended up finding images from a ptychotrygon. I don't know what it is exactly, but form the images it has a resemblance to that shape. I tried taking the best pictures I could, but the object is pretty small. So I guess my questions are if it's actually a tooth and, if it is, what kind is it? It comes from the early Cretaceous Potomac Group, Patuxent (?) Formation (possibly Arundel however) from near Washington DC. Thanks for any help!

Picture heavy and pretty darn wordy heavy as well. You have been warned. The photos are by both caterpillar and me. In 2013 my wife and I went to France for a fossiling holiday. There, we met some great folks (allo coco, herve, capt nemo), one of whom came to visit us for some fossiling in 2016. Known here on TFF as ‘caterpillar’, Dominique was here again at the end of Sept into Oct for a two week Wyoming fossiling extravaganza. I took some vacation from work and did some organizing and called a few folks… and off we went. (Ok, it took a little more organizing than that, but you get the idea). Twas a whirlwind non-stop fossil-finding (or not) extravaganza. Dominique arrived in Casper at 11PM on Day zero and I was there to meet him at the airport. (Compare to the 2016 adventure, where I expected him 24 hours later than he actually got here). Day 1: Our first day our was a two-stops day starting at a Cenomanian/Turonian ammonite site north of Casper in the Frontier Fm. Last time Dominique was here he found an unusual ammonite, Calycoceras, at this site, and this time it was my turn. The one I found on this trip is still unprepared and not much to look at, so here is one I found here earlier this summer. Then off to an Eocene mammal site nearby. Jaws can be found here but primarily isolated teeth. Somewhere down in the valleys behind my Toyota is an area full of little fossils. There are also reworked shark teeth from the late Cretaceous which we found a few of, as well as less common Cretaceous reworked baculite and dinosaur pieces, which we did not find. I found a beat up little jaw fragment and this beauty… a multituberculate "blade". This is the lower 4th premolar and is just simply a cool tooth. No modern mammal has teeth like these, although there are some Australian marsupials that come close. This is my second multi tooth from this site...among hundreds of teeth, and my first Eocene mutlituberculate blade, although it could be reworked Paleocene or Cretaceous. To be determined later. I had warned caterpillar that we may get snowed on and delayed in late Sept slash early Oct, but this afternoon we both took a nap on the shady side of the hill. The sun was intense at about 85 degrees. Little chance of snow today. Day 2: We packed for a multi-day camping trip and drove about 3 ½ hours away to southwestern Wyoming into other early Eocene deposits. There is an old oil well pad here where I have collected many small bones and teeth from limestone blocks. And there are many limestone blocks waiting to be busted with ye ole Estwing. The goal was mammal jaws. I was here earlier this year and found a nice piece with two large upper molars (still unpepped), but in a half dozen outings to this site, that is the only mammal material I have found. Turtle shell pieces are very common. Crocodile and lizards less common. Mammals... rare. Dominique pulled this one out of thin air (or a block of limestone) within our first hour. Not sure what it is but look at those beautiful teeth. This mammal jaw is maybe an inch (2.5 cm) long. The yellow thing near the end of the jaw is a snail. Lots of freshwater snails (Physa, mostly) in this limestone. Was I jealous?… not a bit, (he says lying through his teeth). This little beauty was enough to keep us going at this site for the rest of the day. Other sites planned in the area could wait until tomorrow. Dominique eventually found a very small insectivore or marsupial jaw as well. I found a series of three upper molars in the rock, whose maxilla had eroded away and a nice little lizard jaw, both of which I have since prepped (note my thumbnail for scale; these things are small). Then we set up camp and had dinner and hit the sack, with visions of sugarplums, or mammal fossils, in our heads. Day 3: Earlier this summer I found a site in the same area where I managed to dig up a few mammal teeth and a rodent jaw within a few minutes of exploring. This was the next site on the agenda with high hopes for more mammal material. We dug for a while and got roundly skunked. You can almost see Dominique in the shady quarry there to the left of my backpack. Bones, we did find, yes, but very few mammals. I did find this nice baby croc dentary… which I have since prepped. There is also a fish vert (near my thumb) and a snail in this block. We did some exploring on the same ridge and I stumbled upon a pile of blue crocodile bones and this beauty. Years ago, I found my first Eocene bird bone in this area, and here is the second one… a broken distal tibiotarsus… preserved in blue! This may be the best fossil I found in our two-week adventure. A beautiful blue bird bone. I will be sleeping all winter with dreams of pursuing the blue crocodile bones I found here. At this point rain was threatening. We had one more day planned out here, but the rain came and the pocket computer said more for tomorrow. So we ran away. Six miles down a two track and 6 more miles down a gravel road is not where I like to be when a full day of rain is scheduled. Back to Casper we went. Day 4: Off to eastern WY. In 2016 Dominique found a fabulous double skull piece in the White River Fm (VFOTM June 2017) here and so we checked out that area. Nothing nearly as exciting. I found a small rodent/rabbit skull; that was about it. Then we explored some new areas on the ranch… more White River Fm. Nothing. Then off to the Pierre Shale where there are ammonites to be found. Dominique found an amazing specimen… not an ammonite, but the biggest Pierre Shale Nautiloid I have ever seen. And it was too heavy to bring home, so he gifted it to me. Merci, Dominique. Oh, there were some ammonites as well but I did not take any pictures. Back home for a night’s rest. Day 5: Today was shark teeth day (and more Cretaceous ammonites). Off to the area around Medicine Bow, south of Casper. We gazed at the famous dinosaur graveyard known as Como Bluff and the cabin mode of dino bones nearby. Como Bluff is private property… no trespassing, no collecting. Our goal was a site that I found decades ago in the Cenomanian/Turonian Frontier Fm, and that I haven’t been to in 20 years. (I had north and south reversed in my field notes… darn it). We eventually found a lot of little Cretaceous shark teeth, including Scapanorhynchus, Squalicorax and Ptychodus. Here is one Dominique found. Not sure the genus. Then off to another ammonite site, this time Campanian in the Mesa Verde Fm. This site has, in the past produced some nice ammonites with colorful nacre, and we were hoping for some. I had not done too well here the past few times I came. Dominique did well in 2016. This time, we both did quite well. Someone else had been here recently and did a lot of hard work with bigger tools than we had to break open huge concretions. And they had found goodies, based on the impressions we found. They must have run out of daylight or got caught in bad weather because the good layer still had ammonites to be found. D is seen here sitting on the concretion chipping away at it. We each found a nice colorful Placenticeras in this concretion. Dominique did some serious hard work to get this one out. It has a coil of a Didymoceras glommed to it. I decided not to prep that off. Day 6: Heading west from Casper we went to a ranch that has Eocene Wind River Fm badlands to explore. Earlier this summer I found a site in the area where I managed to dig up a nice mammal jaw (with bonus croc scute) within a few minutes of exploring. As with the site mentioned above, we were hoping for more mammal material. As with the hopeful mammal site above, we got skunked. Lots of turtle pieces, and a few crocodilian bits, but no mammals. Darn it. Two new sites this year where I found the only mammal to be found in the first hour. So, we explored. This area has a lot of turtle pieces strewn about the badlands. On previous visits, I had dug at a few to find the source, finding occasional accumulations of turtle plates and the aforementioned cool mammal jaw. In an hour or so of walking around, Dominique found a complete (or darn near) turtle shell! Great find. It was getting late in the day so we marked it and planned a return trip. In the first photo, see if you can spot the turtle. Dom has already exposed enough to say “Yup, looks pretty complete, By Gum!”. The turtle is outlined in the second photo and the third photo is D’s picture where the darn thing is more obvious, laying there on its back. Day 7: Begin a multi-day camping trip to Lusk in eastern Wyoming. It is a three-hour drive and then some to get to the first fossil area. Stop one: ammonite exploration. For a while I had wanted to explore the area for some of the irregular ammonites in the Exiteloceras jennyi zone in which one can find Exiteloceras, Oxybeloceras, Placenticeras and some scaphitids, and of course Baculites. We each found nice Placenticeras a few days ago so I was hoping to find this zone and find some Exiteloceras. In a perfect world, a complete one would be amazing. Some exploring and navigating using ye ole topo maps. It took a while but we managed to find the zone… really we found one huge concretion full of ammonite pieces including my first decent pieces of Exiteloceras. This one has a baculite in the mix. Success! That evening, we went to the ranch where we’d be hunting the next day to camp out in the hills there. We met the hunters that we would be avoiding who were staying on the same ranch. A couple of nice guys (father and son) from Wisconsin who have been hunting deer on this ranch for some 20 years. It was a beautiful evening when we hit the sack but at some point in the night we were hit by a helluva storm. Much sleep was lost. We both our worried our respective tents would not hold. Dominque’s tent got quite wet inside. We both woke up cold and tired and a little wetter then we like, but we had a busy day ahead. Here is camp the night before the storm. Day 8: Into the White River Fm today. Dominique wanted to find a turtle… or two. That was his goal. My goal was… anything but turtles and oreodonts. We started out wearing several layers of. clothes as it was a cool morning but it soon warmed up quite nicely. It was a rather slow day, but we did both score. One of us found this with a Paleolagus skull and jaws with a few extra bones. This thing is about 2 inches (5 cm) long Dominique found a few turtles including a big one seen below just before getting a wrap of aluminum foil. We spent an hour or more digging it up and hauling it up the hill. I found a smallish turtle which I later gave to D. (see day 12). I found my first ever saber-toothed cat skull and jaws. I am pretty sure it is a Dinictis. The jaw to the right of the awl (above) was the first thing I saw. The skull is to the left of the awl and is less obvious. The darker color is because I had just exposed it. You can see the zygomatic arch running more or less parallel to the awl, and a tooth or two to the left of that. And if you can’t make it out, here is a close up. Freshly vinaced. Unfortunately all four fangs had been eroded away as that end was exposed to the elements. I can’t help but wonder how it would have been if I had found it yesterday, before last night’s storm. Dominique later found a Daphoenus skull and he collected an almost complete oreodont skull I found. That afternoon, the rancher and the two hunters staying here came by to see how we were doing. I was able to show them my cat and some other stuff. They were impressed and I gave them a few tidbits as souvenirs. The rancher and deer hunters said they had not had the storm last night down at his house, a mere 5 miles away. We moved our camp into town, in Lusk. Day 9: It was hunting season in much of WY. The campground in Lusk was full of hunters. I wore my day-glo orange hat for most of our outings. While driving, I had it on the dashboard. Even though I am not a hunter, I felt like one of the cool kids with my orange hat… so many other folks driving around with orange hats on the dashboard. Today’s plan was another area of White River Fm closer to Douglas, WY. The area is known for small skulls and skeletons in nodules. So, that is what we hoped for. We met Kent Sundell of Douglas Fossils in the morning. Two other seasoned fossil hunter friends, also joined us. It turned into a blindingly sunny day, not ideal for finding stuff here… too much light makes it hard to see the bones. Dominique found a beat up rabbit skull and a Hesperocyon (small dog) maxilla within the first hour, but after that, it was a long hot, almost unfossiliferous day. Of the five of us, I was the only one who found anything that passed my test for a good fossil (from this area). I saw a small vertebra on the edge of a nodule and busted the nodule open to find a cross sectioned skull and some other bones. Not an articulated skeleton, but a good find nonetheless. Based on what little we could see of the teeth, we decided it was probably a Hesperocyon. I look forward to seeing this one in the CT scanner. We did all find turtle eggs. : ) We returned to Lusk for pizza. At the campground, one of the hunters (from Ohio) had gotten his deer. To give you folks an idea of the terrain and the challenge, here is a photo of the badlands in the Douglas area. The bones are almost always in nodules. This photo shows thousands of nodules to be examined. (That’s me in the upper center of the photo). In the photo below, my finger is pointing to one set of teeth and maxilla. About an inch to the right you can see the maxilla and a tooth form the other side of the skull. The top of the skull is barley visible as a thin sheet of bone above both of these maxillae. Just to the right of my finger is a leg bone cross sectioned. Despite this looking like not much, I guarantee this will be a nice piece. There us an almost orange-ish streak running vertically just to the right of the right tooth. That is my chisel mark from splitting the rock open. There is another one running diagonally up to the left from my finger. I missed the skull by fractions of an inch. Phew! Day 10: Cold morning in Lusk. Frost on our tents. We actually left Wyoming this morning to go check out an ammonite site I found many years ago in South Dakota. As we entered the Black Hills in SoDak, it got foggy. Fog here usually lifts pretty quickly, but not today. By the time we got to the site on the east side of the Black Hills, it was drizzly and still somewhat foggy. We had to bundle up for this one. And then we found very few fossils. Here I am failing to find fossils, but staying mostly warm and dry. This picture should make you feel cold. Two or three hours later, cold, wet, and skunked, we left for the sunnier skies of Wyoming. Indeed, the rain/sun line was still very close to the state line. I called a rancher who has ammonites on his place and he gave us permission to poke around this afternoon. Lots of ammonites. Dominique was looking for really good ones, having to limit his baggage weight, but I collected way too many. He did give me a small but beautiful nautilus, which I had never found in my half dozen visits to this site. Merci, Dominique. I may even be able to tell you what species these are, but I need to look it up. Day11: Along WY highway 270, there is an area of White River badlands I have wanted to explore for, oh, roughly 30 years. I finally had the chance to stop and visit with the landowner (whom I met when he was still in high school) and he allowed us to have a look. And, again, we got skunked. We did see a few poorly preserved turtles, but really nothing worth putting in our pockets or luggage. I won’t be going there for another 30 years. End of camping trip. Back to my house and my lovely wife for the night. Day 12: The goal for today was a return to D’s turtle he found in the Wind River Fm… (remember from Day 6, the area where I have never found a complete turtle, and he finds one on his first time out there). After so many days of full-on fossiling, we slept in this morning. Then off to the site. On Day 6 when we came here, a two track that would have gotten us much closer to the site was un-runnable. It crossed a creek that was a bit high. On this day we tried it again as it hadn’t rained all week. The creek was still there, but much lower, and full of muddy cow prints about 6 inches deep, and stinky of bovine urine. That was some quality mud in there. We pondered the best place to cross and put the old rig into 4WD low and off I went while D cheered me on. Front wheels in and out the other side, back wheels in and… not out the other side. Slipping in the slick mud and the rear bumper was hung up on the edge of the creek. We were stuck. It took us a short hour to dig ourselves out and off we went. This road did indeed bring us much closer so we did not have to walk far. We re-found Dominique’s turtle quickly enough. On the way up to it, D found a second potentially complete turtle. It took us a few hours to collect the target turtle and during a break we uncovered the second one and it was indeed complete but crushed. He offered me this second one for a trade for the smaller one I collected in the White River. Sounds good. We did not have time to collect the second one, so it got buried. Here I am exposing the squashed turtle. The outline is almost clearly visible between me and the hammer. (I did return after Dominique git home and collected this one. The crek was even drier and not a threat this time). I also found an area with an abundance of bird eggshell pieces. I dug a bit but only found one in situ piece. My first eggshells from the Wind River Fm. Cool. Meanwhile, Dominique found a little mammal lower molar. We returned home in time for me to participate in my family’s weekly zoom session. Two complete turtles in an area where I would have said it would be unlikely… good job, Dominique. Day 13: Our last day out… in search of Jurassic dinosaur bones... something new for Dominique. Nothing too big, of course, to bring back to France, so we went to a site north of Casper where I had found a very nice Nanosaurus jaw last year that some of you may recall seeing on this very forum. It was a bit of a hike. Note the smallness of my truck out there. The bone layer is only a foot or so thick and it is at the base of a ten-foot wall of sandstone. You can’t tunnel under the sandstone cuz the layer does not come loose, so you have to find areas where the layer is more exposed than just as a vertical outcrop. Here I am working an accessible area. And here is Dominique looking for more bones in a fallen chunk of sandstone showing a rib fragment. Dominique eventually found a small enough centrum from a sauropod. Small enough for a suitcase. Not to be outdone, I went and found a dinosaur skeleton in the same layer. In a slumped section of the cliff there were dozens of blocks of sandstone with weathered bones in and on them. I also found where they were coming from; there were several more bones going into the sandstone at the base of the cliff. These bones will probably never be excavated as they are at the bottom of a ten-foot cliff of hard sandstone and very tough to get to, and half of the animal is lying in bits in the talus pile. Many of the blocks of rock behind and in front of my back pack have dinosaur bones on their surfaces. Here are some visible as blackish things just above my glasses. The black ones are freshly exposed. The rock under my glasses and its neighbor to the left have bones that are more bleached… white-ish. Some were identifiable as vertebral pieces, but mostly they were just bone pieces. You can’t see it here, but the rock just behind the little grass in the center bottom has a leg bone cross-sectioned in it. I saw other bones going into the cliff behind the bigger grass clump. Note the sandstone layer here. Not a project I want to tackle. Not even for work. Too big for my suitcase. And thus ended Dominique's and mine's great adventure. Before Dominique left we looked into getting his big White River turtle back to France. It weighs more than the airlines will allow in checked luggage and all the shipping outfits we looked into wanted upwards of 1000 USD. With the help of some folks here on the forum, we found some less expensive shipping options. The turtle is still at my place, but over the winter I will build a little crate for it and send it to Dominque. All in all, a great fossil vacation for the both of us. And now I have to excuse myself; I have a ton of fossils in the garage awaiting my attention. Happy Fossilicious New Year, y’all. jpc

Following up on a recent trip report of mine from Big Brook with some unknown fossils. No experience in this area form me, help is greatly appreciated. Tried to approximate as well as I could 1. has these surface striations that do not appear to be patterns, rounded on one end. My hope is coprolite. 2. has one similar striation across the middle. Bottom of this specimen looks like it has been sharpened to a point Pretty unsure about all of these, but all of them have some surface marking/feature that show it is a fossil. 7. very weathered but appears to be a tooth 8 & 9. Appear to almost fit together, a feature like a straight line runs down the side of these pieces 10. smooth, but comes to a point on the ends, not sure if this is a fossil 12-14. Rock or bone fossil?

This will be my first attempt at identifying and photographing my collection of NSR finds. Please correct any of my mistakes. I can easily modify the photo captions. Sadly I haven't figured out how to italicize the font on my photo editing app yet. The only phosphatic mold of a bivalve that I have found. It's a dead ringer for the same specimen photographed in the NSR Fossil Hunter's Guidebook. Current consensus is that the Guidebook is wrong for labeling this A. argentaria.

Newbie here, to the forum and fossil hunting. I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and have a couple spots within an hours drive, however so far have only visited Big Brook on a few different occasions with my family over the past month. Definitely addicted! Thought I would share some of my finds. All are fairly common, but totally amazing to me. Not sure on the ID of a few of them, and some I'm not sure if they are even fossils. I find your mind tries to make something out of nothing, especially with rocks. In any case, thanks for looking, and appreciate in advance any feedback, good or bad! 1979 3 3/4" Boba Fett for scale

107-million-year-old fossil pterosaur bones found at Dinosaur Cove oldest ever discovered in Australia Anna Salleh, ABC Science, May 31, 2023 These magnificent 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones are the oldest ever found in Australia The Conversation, May 30, 2023 The open access paper is: Adele H. Pentland, Patricia Vickers-Rich, Thomas H. Rich, Samantha L. Rigby & Stephen F. Poropat (2023) Oldest pterosaur remains from Australia: evidence from the Lower Cretaceous (lower Albian) Eumeralla Formation of Victoria, Historical Biology, DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2023.2201827 https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2023.2201827 Yours, Paul h.

I got this fossil fish from Lebanon a few months ago and it came in 4 pieces. The fossil dealer told me it was Spaniodon. With what research I did I find out it is not Spaniodon. With more research I find that I can not find anything like this fish? Can I ask you folks if you know what species of fish this is? I'm working on the jaws of this fish which is turning out to be quite the challenge and have a ways to go till its finished but I'm turning this into a video and need this information if possible. Thank you in advance. RB

Hello, I found an oyster layer situated below a terrace overlooking the Colorado river in Travis county, Texas. I became curious about the ID after reading about the ostrea fossils found nearby. May be some more recent eastern oysters left over from others. There were plenty of these oysters embedded in reddish clay. Any help with this appreciated!

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to join in a Dallas Paleo Society sponsored trip to the Ash Grove quarry in Midlothian, Texas. As with other quarries in this area, they are mining the carbonates of the Austin Group and often expose the Atco Fm. (Upper Cretaceous / Coniacian aged) near the base of the operations. In this case, the fossiliferous rock was found in various piles that had been moved aside during their work and usually can be identified by its grey color, speckled with black bits (the black bits either being fossils or phosphatic "pebbles"). Thanks go out to DPS for organizing this and to the Ash Grove quarry for allowing us in. Due to recent rains inundating an area of the quarry containing previously quarried material, we went to a very new part of the operations, where the sought after rock had just been dug up in the last week or so. Unfortunately, fossil hunting in this case greatly benefits from the rock having had a chance to weather so fresh stuff was not necessarily ideal, but the weather was fantastic, so that was good. The Atco is a marine deposit, part of the large inland waterway that cut north/south-ish across North America during much of the Cretaceous. It is a lag deposit , although the exact details of its deposition are the source of much debate. For most of the collectors on this trip, sharks teeth are the primary target, but there are other fossils to be found in the rock. First off, a couple of pictures of the group (there were about 50 participants) getting organized, heading down into the quarry and out collecting. A picture of the rock we were primarily searching for: Here is what I found. The last quarry trip in this area I was on, I came away with well over 100 small, but nice, teeth. This time was quite different, I probably only have a half dozen complete teeth, but a couple of pretty nice ones, so I was OK with that. This one looked really nice when I found it in the rock. The color was fantastic, a nice brown (almost all the teeth here are black), a little over an inch long blade (most teeth here are quite small), and very sharp edges still present. I cleaned it up a bit when I returned home and put a scale on it (increments are CM's). Unfortunately the root on this Cretoxyrhina mantelli is a little punky I think due to pyrite or some other diagenetic change. During cleaning a nice little tooth showed up just underneath (see third picture below) that looks like a little C. mantelli or a small Scapanorhynchus raphiodon posterior The other nice find of the day for me was a Ptychodus atcoensis, my best and largest Ptychcodus by far (I don't see these a lot in my collecting) and a new species for me. I neglected to take a picture that showed the whole rock it was in, about a grapefruit sized chunk of limestone but here is a close up of what was peaking out. When I returned home, I put my air scribe to work to see if it was complete or not, luckily it was and is in great condition. I have opted to leave it in the matrix for now and have trimmed down the rock to a more reasonable size. Lastly here are a few of the other fossils I picked up. A couple of bivalves (probably Ostrea for the small one on the left and Lopha for the larger) and then a chunk of what would have been a large Inoceramus which are quite common in this material. The fourth picture is wood I am told (I'm not a plant guy) which also was quite common in the the rock. That is all for now, thanks for taking a look. Mike

Hi everyone! I recently acquired a flower like thing in burmite and I'm trying to figure out what this thing is. The closest match I can find is this thing called Electrophycus astroplethus which should be mystery solved except I'm having trouble understanding exactly what type of plant it is. https://www.palaeontologie-troppenz.de/amber-bernstein seems to classify it as an "algal flowering body" from the Chaetophoraceae family, a family of green algae. My question is, is my ID right and is that really what this thing is? An algae flower? Is that a thing that existed? The idea kinda reminds me of the "algal fruiting bodies" aka porocystis you find all over the Texas limestone which coincidentally are a very similar age (Mid Cretaceous). Was algae just a lot more creative back then? The plant inclusion measures 14 mm, though I've seen them bigger. Any insight is appreciated as always!

The unnamed giant Tylosaur of the Moroccan Phosphates is revealed at last. The great and mighty Hainosaurus is a previously unrecognized macropredator present in the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Morocco. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365437927_First_Record_of_a_Tylosaurine_Mosasaur_from_the_Latest_Cretaceous_Phosphates_of_Morocco Authors: @Praefectus @BrennanThePaleoDude @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Abstract: The latest Cretaceous Phosphates of Morocco preserve the highest biodiversity of mosasaurid squamates anywhere in the world. Intensive sampling over the past century has uncovered at least ten genera and thirteen species from the mosasaur subgroups Halisauromorpha, Plioplatecarpinae, and Mosasaurinae. Notably missing from the assemblage are members of the macropredatory Tylosaurinae. The Tylosaurinae were globally rare in the Maastrichtian and their apparent absence has been previously explained by either collecting bias, ecological preference for deeper waters, or habitat restriction to higher paleolatitudes. Here, we describe a new tylosaurine mosasaurid, Hainosaurus boubker sp. nov., based on several partial skulls and isolated teeth originating from the Couche III layer of the Sidi Chennane Phosphate quarry near Oued Zem, Morocco. It is unique amongst tylosaurine mosasaurids in possessing blade-like teeth that are laterally compressed, encircled by enamel facets, and differentiated along the dental margin. The discovery of this new taxon in the Maastrichtian of Morocco is remarkable as it represents both the youngest species of Tylosaurinae and the first occurrence in North Africa. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and I am so happy to finally see it come to a conclusion. Tremendous thank you to Boubker Chaibi (Instagram @foussilouedzem) for discovering and donating the type material. Additionally, thanks to Carlos Espinosa (Instagram @carlost_sapiens) for bringing Hainosaurus to life. Funding for this project was provided by the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences’ Charles H. Sternberg Scholarship for vertebrate fossil research. Thank you very much the members of the AAPS. Map and Stratigraphic column of the Moroccan Phosphates Premaxilla of Hainosaurus boubker Premaxilla of Hainosaurus boubker Maxillae of Hainosaurus boubker Dentaries of Hainosaurus boubker Hainosaurus boubker right maxilla and premaxilla Anterior teeth Hainosaurus boubker Mid-marginal and posterior teeth H. boubker Discoverer and namesake of H. boubker, Boubker Chaibi (Instagram @foussilouedzem) Hainosaurus boubker by Carlos Espinosa (Instagram @carlost_sapiens) Reconstructed skull of H. boubker at the Sternberg Museum as part of the Sahara Sea Monster's traveling exhibit. By @jnoun11. Hainosaurus boubker skull sketch by Instagram @yoshisrgr8 “The Warden of the Cretaceous Seas” by Instagram @primal_art_saurus Hainosaurus vs. Thalassotitan 2 versions. No ammonites, ammonites. Memento mori by Twitter @ttorroo Hainosaurus vs. Thalassotitan Hainosaurus boubker by Instagram @icthyovenator by Instagram @primal_art_saurus Thanks for reading.

My brother found this tooth years ago at big brook. It looks reptilian to me, and seems to have the root preserved as well.

Hi everyone! So, yeah is this what it looks like? And if it is can it be narrowed down beyond reptile to lizard, snake, or something else? The piece is burmite so about 99 million years old from Myanmar and measures 12.45 mm across. The inclusion is 8.65 mm long and the "eye" is 1.25 mm. Any insight is appreciated as always!

I was looking at some of my small theropod teeth, but I was not 100% sure what the best ID for these two teeth were. Any input or help would be appreciated. These were sold as Nanotyrannus, but very small chance of dromaeosaurid and Aguja dromaeosaurid respectively, but I think they might be Richardoestesia cf. gilmorei. The cross-section of the Hell Creek tooth I think rules out Dakotaraptor, or at the very least, does not match the known morphology. Edit: Oops, I used the really funky side of the ruler I'm using. I was going to use the millimeter side, but ending up using a side that measures 20mm per. The measurements are accurate though as I used calipers for that. Hell Creek Formation; Garfield County, Montana CBL: 6mm CBW: 2.4mm Mesial Density: 8-9/mm [Towards end of carinae] Distal Density: 11/2mm (5.5/mm) CH is a bit difficult since the tooth has heavy feeding wear, but it is 8.3mm tall, but could be significantly higher. The mesial carinae does not appear to extend to the base. Aguja Formation; Brewster County, Texas CH 6.4mm CBL 3.7mm CBW 1.4mm Mesial Density: Possibly worn down, or none Distal Density: 16/2mm (8/mm)

Hello all! I'm excited to join the group. I live in the Red River bottoms of Lamar County so not many fossils in the backyard but I am a short drive to Lake Texoma or the NSR. I took some wonderful geology classes at the University of North Texas in the mid 2000's taught by Dr. Reid Ferring. I started collecting the NSR in my teenage years and have had my "eyes to the ground" ever since. I am in awe of the knowledge and photos I have seen on this site and I feel humble and grateful to be here!

Dear TFF, I have been thinking of visitng Lebanon for quite a time and eventually this year I actually managed to. Contrary to the popular perception of being a war-zone country, Lebanon is safe and accessible. The first part of my journey was devoted mainly to sightseeing – as the country with millennia of history, there is practically no corner without the historic remains, whether of Phoenician, Roman or Byzantine origin. So, one can visit Medieval castles (Sydon) UNESCO sites (Tyre) (Bylos) (Baalbek) amazing nature – famous Lebanese cedar trees beautiful mountains with extraordinary geological formations – like the rocky bridge Jisr Al Hajar or the Jeita Grotto, with the world’s largest stalactite and stalagmite and the fascinating boat ride on the river inside the Grotto’s lower part. Of course there are also places related to a slightly more recent history – I think everyone remembers the ammonium nitrate explosion in the Port of Beirut – and there are a few locations that were kept as a memento of the tragedy: Fortunately Beirut is recovering from the blast and transforms with style – yet preserving the traditional character as well. A very nice and memorable part of the journey is undoubtedly fantastic and delicious Lebanese cuisine – it doesn’t matter if you go for the buffet or a set menu or you happen to have a sweet tooth (like myself) you will not be disappointed, guaranteed Everything is fresh and tasty – be careful with trying the starters that come in incredible numbers, if you want to leave the space for the main course (and dessert, of course). As a fossil-addict, while admiring all the attractions, I did keep a vigilant eye on the ground and I spotted a few interesting rocks These are the specimens I saw in the cedar trees reserve Also in Annaya, on the way from the monastery on the top of the hill to the church of St. Charbel, the road is “paved” with fossils: The whole church is built from the rocks surrounding the place Also during the visit to Faqra, where the ruins of Greek and Roman structures can be found – and they are picturesquely merged with the rock formations there were several rocks looking like this plus entire columns made from the same type of stone. But the true highlight of my trip were the last two days, which I could devote exclusively to fossil hunting. In order to be closer to the quarries of interest, I stayed in Byblos. And in order to look for fossils, I contacted one of TFF members - @roland nohra, whose family owns the quarries with truly exceptional fossils. Roland was so nice that he decided to be my guide on the first day, so I had a private tour first in the family’s fossil museum. Apart from being home to a fraction of the family’s collection, it serves also as an educational centre and a starting point for groups and individuals who wish to learn about Lebanese fossils and experience the thrill of fossil hunting. Here is Roland’s sister – Sarah, explaining to the group the fossilisation process and the notion of Lagerstaate. Here are some incredible specimens on display in the museum: The family of rays Squids with soft parts preserved A snake From the museum, it takes a short car ride and a hike in very scenic surroundings to get to the quarry. Like in some other parts of Lebanon, here as well one virtually walks on fossils On the way to the quarry, there is a place where tired fossil hunters returning from a successful hunt can count on fresh flatbread with various local stuffing – like labneh cheese or zatar (a mixture of spices), and for the very exhausted ones – even with Nutella Roland’s father, Rizkallah, and his aunt make sure everything is ready when happy fossil fans return from their hunt. Here is Roland, waiting patiently for me, a low-land person to climb up the hill As you can see, there are already lots of characteristic rocks on the way, but the true abundance is in the quarry. Practically every rock one splits contains either complete or parts of fossilised animals – Roland is a gentleman, so he was helping me “pre-splitting” the rocks As you can see on the pictures, this day the weather was not very favourable and eventually it started raining – we resisted for a while, but then decided to call it a day and we returned to the dining area, where I tried to stay as close to the oven as possible to dry out Here we are with Roland soaked, but nevertheless happy with the hunt The next day the weather was much better, so I ventured again with to the quarry – this time with Roland’s sister – Sarah. There are a few pictures of me (sorry, only me), happily splitting the rocks I took the opportunity of the nice weather and ventured with my phone on the rubble, to spot some of the fossils already exposed by nature: Here are some of my finds: and last, but not least – a partial ray I know it’s not complete, but I love it anyway – I asked @KING-X, Roy, Roland’s brother, who specialises in preparation, to work a bit on it: Just to show you the difference between my piece and the usual stuff Roy prepares He’s now working on a shark, which – if complete – would be almost 1,5 m long. Everyone hopes the tail is still waiting in the quarry to be uncovered. Both Roy and Roland (in the order of seniority ) followed the footsteps of their father, who started collecting fossils when he was 7. His skills in excavating the fossils in the quarry and their preparation are unparalleled – just an example from my experience: this is what he has managed to do with a huge slab I found when travelling around Lebanon (app. 10 kg). Before: After: Such a nice trip had to end with a little celebration – so we went for the Lebanese falafel and another tasty dish, which name I cannot remember (help me, guys - @roland nohra / @KING-X). Here we all are enjoying the food and the company. I’m really happy I had the chance to meet Roland and his family and spend some time in their quarry – it’s a really great experience and a must-see for all fossil fanatics. I’m sure I will be coming back!

This is probably a long shot but I figure I’d post it anyway because I’m really not sure what bone this chunk could be from… This is a large chunk of bone (over 15 cm in diameter) from the Hell Creek Formation with a unique shape. A personal find. It’s rounded on one end but tapers at the other, however at the tapering end it’s fairly obviously broken whereas the rounded end appears to simply be weathered. One side is convex like a dome whereas the other side is concave like a bowl. The entire piece is heavily weathered, although there is some intact cortical bone in the concave side. Convex side: Concave side: Thickness: I’ve only ever seen pictures of herbivore unguals, so I’m not sure how well this piece actually matches their shape. If it is an ungual my guess would be Edmontosaurus. Can anyone confirm or deny? And, if not an ungual, any guesses as to what bone or taxon this could be from, or should I leave it in the “chunk-o-saurus” bin? Much thanks.