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Since I have gone "down the rabbit hole" of Micro Matrix fossil hunting, I'm going to start a series of posts on the main time periods and locations I am collecting. I'll start off with the Best Of and then add in new finds. Of course, Texas Cretaceous is my primary interest, but will also have posts on Texas Pennsylvanian, Permian, Eocene and Pleistocene. Plus other posts on various locations around the country (and world!) SO if you like Micro fossils, keep an eye out for them! So Texas Cretaceous Best Micro Finds to start! Most of these are 1/8 inch (aprox 3mm) a few being up to 1/4 inch (aprox 6mm) 1. Ammonites -Del Rio and Eagle Ford Formations 2. Heteromorph Ammonites - Del Rio and Eagle Ford Formations 3. Bivalves - Del Rio, Glen Rose, and Ozan Formations 4. Corals - Del Rio and Ozan Formation 5. Crabs - Del Rio, Eagle Ford, Glen Rose, Corsicana and Walnut Formations 6. Crinoids - Glen Rose, Eagle Ford, and Del Rio Formations 7. Crocodilians - Aguja Formation 8. Dermal Denticles - Ozan, Aguja and Eagle Ford Formations 9. Dinosaurs -Aguja Formation 10. Echinoids - Del Rio and Glen Rose Formations Glen Rose Formation Glen Rose, Walnut, Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Formations 11. Fish Teeth - Ozan, Del Rio, Aguja, Eagle Ford and Glen Rose Formation 12. Foraminifera - Ozan, Glen Rose, and Del Rio Formations 13. Gastropods - Del Rio and Eagle Ford Formations 14. Mammals - Aguja Formation 15. Marine Reptiles - Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Formations 16. Rays - Del Rio, Wolfe City and Glen Rose Formations 17. Sawfish - Eagle Ford, Ozan and Austin Chalk Formations Aguja. Eagle Ford and Ozan Formations 18. Lamniforme Sharks- Ozan, Austin Chalk, Eagle Ford and Woodbine Formations: Ozan, Austin Chalk, Del Rio and Eagle Ford Formations: Del Rio, Eagle Ford, and Ozan Formations: 19. Non-Lamniforme Sharks - Ozan, Woodbine, Aguja and Eagle Ford Formations: 20. Ptychodontidae Sharks - Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford Formations: Austin Chalk Formation' 21. Starfish - Glen Rose, Walnut and Del Rio Formations 22. Vertebrae - Aguja, Del Rio, and Eagle Ford Formations 23. Worms -Del Rio, Corsicana. Ozan and Eagle Ford Formations

I am new to Mississippian strata and have been cleaning crinoids, I have my latest two that I have left that I can not ID, does anyone have any idea? So far I have found 3 pentaramicrinus bimagnaramus, 2 lanecrinus and what I think is a Ethelocrinus. These 5 are not pictured.

Pennsylvanian At long last, I finally made my way across the Red River and into our northerly neighbor, marking off a third state in the list of places I have hunted. While I had originally wanted to visit Oklahoma many times in the past with Austin Paleo, schedules seemed to never quite sync up. However, a timely road trip to Missouri for family brought a convenient moment to stretch my legs by the highway. This particular site in question is a regular of Dallas Paleo for some years. It seemed they weren't planning another visit in the near future, so I assumed a brief hunt of my own wouldn't be an issue. This spot is seated in the Savanna Formation of the Desmoinesian Series which makes it roughly the same age as the Mingus Fm and other Strawn Group strata of North and Central Texas. In contrast with what are usually marine dominated rocks in Texas, this site is specifically known for its abundant terrestrial plant material as it was deposited in a delta plain environment. Despite only a 20 minute visit (heat, chiggers, and my folks waiting in the car), I found a lot of neat stuff that made the trip well worth it. After wading through the tall grass and walking up a small slope, I was quickly greeted by countless fern impressions. They kinda look like Pecopteris or perhaps Neuropteris. I'm not sure how those genera are distinguished though. I was entertained by the visual similarities shared between these specimens and some Cretaceous Woodbine ferns I collected that also originated from an ancient delta plain (though they aren't tree ferns I believe). If you want to see those, they are in my Woodbine album. The first fern of the day The negative of a fern from a nodule The positive found a few minutes later Another fern beauty with great colors In addition to these, I found some pieces of Calamites chunks plus their corresponding leaf clusters, Annularia. On a chunk of grey rock, there were some shiny carbonaceous Neuropteris? leaves plus what appears to be a small seed(?) to the left of the leaf below. Annularia (Calamites leaf cluster), black Neuropteris?, and seed? It was a fun side trip and helped to whet my appetite for more adventures in Oklahoma to come. Once in Missouri, I didn't do any hunting as we were pressed for time. However, I did briefly look at a huge boulder in the James River during a canoe trip. It was greenish-white limey shale and had many tiny brachiopods on one surface. I reckon there was probably something neat I could have found, but seeing as I had no hammer on me, I didn't give it much time. I guess I'll save the serious hunting in Missouri another day. Permian Since that roadcut visit, I began planning out a trip through a handful of sites not too far from the TX-OK border. I thought it might be better to explore the "coastline" first as opposed to making an arduous journey deep into the state's interior where the pain of getting skunked might be more potent. One obvious destination for this route was Waurika. It had always been a spot at the forefront of my mind. Past reports of it no longer being accessible had given me cause for hesitation before, but after asking a handful of friends who had been there with no issues recently, I decided now was as a good a time as ever to finally dip my toes into this iconic time period. The forecast for the day was set to reach 100F, so I made Waurika my first stop. I'd rather be there early in the morning so that the iron rich rocks of the Petrolia Formation wouldn't have much time to heat up in the summer sun. Heading out in the early morning glow, I surfed the wave of dawn's light on a journey to the west. Upon exiting my car, I was introduced to a couple of stinky dogs from a ranch down the road. They were quite friendly and it was apparent that they weren't going to stop following me, so I entered the site with them in close company. Every time I knelt down to see if I was in the right area for micros, they would ceaselessly try to lick my face and steal my attention. Luckily a rabbit leaped out of the bushes and sent them running after it. I could finally get serious (though I did miss them a little bit)! The first fossil was a common Orthacanthus texensis tooth. These funny lookin things possess two elongated cusps that give them an appearance unlike any other sharks of the geological record. Orthacanthus texensis Shark denticle covered spine I took this to mean that I had stumbled into the right place. Pretty soon, I was finding these little guys left and right. Their serrated cusps were often broken off and difficult to tell apart from one of my main targets, Dimetrodon limbatus. The first non-shark tooth was quite a weird one. It has a broad spatulate morphology that I would say looks very similar to a sauropod like Camarasaurus. The incisal edge of the tooth seems to have poorly developed denticles and the enamel overall is highly textured with what could be described as an anastomosing pattern. The lingual face has a distinct median ridge running longitudinally. I was inclined to believe that this shape of tooth ought to belong to something herbivorous, so my tentative ID was either Diadectes sideropelicus or Cotylorhynchus (hard to find good photos online of Cotylorhynchus teeth). I took the specimen into the Texas Through Time Museum and a couple of the staff instead suggested Archeria, but I am suspicious of that. I was hoping to buy a copy of the Waurika Vertebrate Fauna book by Kieran Davis at the museum to help with ID, but it seems those went out of print and are no longer in stock. Lingual view (note median ridge and incisal denticles) Side view Labial view Another spatulate specimen takes on a very different morphology. I am hopeful that it could be Diadectes sideropelicus. Diadectes sideropelicus? Diadectes sideropelicus? Diadectes sideropelicus? The title of most common non-shark tooth belonged easily to the Temnospondyl, Eryops megacephalus. When I saw the toothy grin of the cast specimen of this species at the Texas Through Time Museum, it was easy to understand why this was the case. These are identified by their prominent ridges that run longitudinally all around the circumference of the conical tooth. Eryops megacephalus This next enigmatic tooth may simply be an oddly shaped Orthacanthus tooth, but I thought I'd throw it in just in case it's something cooler. It has a labiolingual curvature, serrated edges, and robust, chisel-shaped build. There is only very faint texturing to the enamel, but stronger texturing than the completely smooth blades of Orthacanthus. Additionally, both the mesial and distal edges terminate before reaching the enamel-cementum junction which is not the case for my shark teeth. I think this may be Secodontosaurus obtusidens as seen in Figure 5a of 10.1038/ncomms4269 since I read that they are labially convex and possess serrations. This taxon is described as having thick carinae, but I cannot say for sure if that is what's seen here. Secodontosaurus obtusidens? Moving on, I have a couple of specimens that I am much more confident in. Both teeth have strong enamel texturing and serrated edges. A key characteristic is the longitudinal fluting. I saw this mentioned in an old thread by @dinodigger as something found in primitive Dimetrodon species such as D. limbatus. Dimetrodon limbatus It is often difficult to tell the serrated teeth of Dimetrodon and Orthacanthus apart, and one must look for distinguishing features such as textured enamel for a chance at ID. I noticed that the cross sections of the two above teeth look quite different from my similarly sized and shaped shark teeth. The pulp chambers on Orthacanthus are generally spindled shaped and the borders are the same distance from the outside of the tooth in all directions (consistent dentin + enamel thickness). In contrast, the Dimetrodon teeth have circular pulp chambers and varying dentin + enamel thicknesses. Perhaps this could be an additional tool for distinguishing the two. Left are Orthacanthus; Right are D. limbatus In addition to teeth, I may have found a Dimetrodon caudal vert: D. limbatus caudal? To round of the finds, here are an assortment of smaller teeth and claws. Claws Ophiacodon retroversa? Trimerorhachis insignis? Unknown After a solid four hours of hunting, the sun was getting high and the heat was picking up. I had some more spots a long drive away that I needed to hit, so eventually I cut things off and made my way to the car, satisfied with a pocket full of fossils and some bags of micro matrix . Ordovician The Ordovician was an obvious choice for me since it is pretty hard to find quality fossils from that geologic period when searching in Texas. On my map, I had a little spot circled for chances of Bromide Formation trilobites (Early Sandbian). When I pulled up to the site, I initially had little luck in finding anything other than rock solid limestone and flying bugs. The temperature was hitting its forecasted peak and the humidity began eating away at me. My shirt quickly dampened, and it soon appeared as if I had just gotten out of a swimming pool. As I traveled through lower and lower parts of the outcrop, however, I eventually reached a shaded spot that had some brachiopod bits and softer matrix. I was thankful to take a seat and study the brachs a bit closer as I caught my breath and quenched my thirst. After following a chain of crinoid stem fragments I locked onto a reddish colored array of various shapes. It was a fragile mess, but very clearly a smattering of trilobites! I was in the right spot after all... Red trilobite parts in the Pooleville Member of the Bromide Formation The layer quickly proved to be extremely rich. Everywhere I looked, I could find at least a trilo bit if I squinted hard enough. I knew it was only a matter of time before I could grab a better specimen. More trilobite parts Interrupting the steady flow of trilo finds, I snagged a neat brachiopod and some sort of cephalopod! Oxoplecia gouldi? before and after Unknown cephalopod Then, nestled in a little crevice atop a limey slab, I saw a perfect roller just begging to be freed. To clean it up, would using vinegar be a bad idea? Frencrinuroides capitonis? A single step away... Homotelus bromideensis? thorax and pygidium Calyptaulax annulata or Calliops armatus? I then came across a weirdly shaped fossil that resembled the preservation of the previous trilobites, but its shape was hard to figure out. Some searching online showed Probolichas as something similar, but it could very well just be a random shell. I believe Probolichas is quite a rare genus so its unlikely. Probolichas? Rounding out the trilo finds was a beautiful Nanillaenus punctata? I think it will prep quite well, but I don't know if I trust my skills or tools. Perhaps I will get it professionally done. The top right is the most promising specimen (Nanillaenus punctata?) Trilobites were not the only stars of the show, however. I found a complete crinoid crown and I am hopeful that arms may preserved within the rock it came from! Hybocrinus crinerensis? Eventually, I walked far enough to enter the lower member of the Bromide Formation, known as the Mountain Lake Member. It is comprised of older shales that were deposited before a sea level rise (hence why the younger Pooleville is limestone). There were some pretty hashplates that I wish I could have searched through more thoroughly, but I was running out of water and had to make it back to the car. I at least caught a pic of a Mountain Lake trilobite as I was walking by. Homotelus bromideensis? On the drive home I got to stop by my Albian micro shark spot to collect some bags of matrix for my future guide. I was lucky and managed to spot a little ray tooth while filling the bag. It was an exhausting day in a part of the year when really no one should be outside. Thankfully, it also turned out to be one of the most enjoyable adventures yet. Despite being within a two hour drive of DFW, Oklahoma had always felt so distant. For some reason the state border had been a mental boundary for me. Now it feels as though a whole new frontier has opened up just a stones throw away. Thanks for reading!

I see crinoids. Is there anything else? Is the curved moon shaped thing a bent crinoid? What about the triangle thing is that a crinoid top? Also can anyone tell me anything about the age or type of this limestone ? It is very bright white.

During the somewhat annual family trip back to China, we visited Chengdu for some small time. We visited some of the many archaeological sites around, but no fossil hunting. Initially we were going to Zigong to see some dinosaurs, but due to a lack of time and trains, that was cancelled. Not a really big interest, so probably we won’t go next year. Did have time to visit here. This museum is known for some great collections of the more or less local dinosaurs. They had some great small shelly fossils from Shanxi, but I forgot to take pictures of them. Here is some of the ‘early life’ gallery. A nicely sized Eoredlichia intermedia with gut. A very well preserved Cindarella . Trilobites. The glass was an unfortunate distance from them, so I couldn’t get great photos. Some very odd proetids that I think are from Yunnan. A big, fat calymenid which is probably from a similar locality that produces the Coronocephalus, not Moroccan. Some nice, but unprepared Asaphopsoides from Hunan. Unfortunately none of the trilobites had locality info and my Chinese reading isn’t great so most of these are guesses. Well, except for this English label, which has a typo. This is evidently a Walliserops bifurcatus. Here’s a large plate of polished Stringocephalus. Each one is about baseball sized. The museum also had some nice Triassic material. Some lovely footprints, but not as good as the Massachusetts ones. Some big plants, not sure what they are. This HUGE mass of crinoids which are growing around some driftwood. Not Triassic, but. some nice Lycoptera. A chonky, chunky Chunkingichthys And a very big crinoid plate. On closer inspection, they are very poorly prepared, and many of the stems have been cobbled on quite carelessly.

Hello all, This is my first post like this, and hopefully will improve through time, so bear with me! This was a trip I made out to St. Leon, IN on SR-1. I have been here previously, but it was before I joined the forum, so I will only post what I found this time around. Among the finds I have, there was one, big for me, horn coral in pretty good condition. There were some other smaller horn corals as well. I also found an assortment of brachiopods, some of them obviously went through some trauma before being fossilized haha. One thing I found this time around that I did not found on my previous trips were crinoid stems and segments. The longest one was maybe 3 inches long. I also found some gastropods I believe them to be in picture #7. Can anyone tell me what the top one is? I think it's some part of a crinoid but I'm not 100% sure. Also, does anyone has any idea what mineral is in #6? There was several fossils covered in it and I have no idea what it would be. Other than these finds, there were several hash plates that I forgot to take pictures of, including a good share of trilo-bits. Overall it was a beautiful day outside and I look forward to making the trip again.

Hello! I’ve been doing some fossil and rock hunting on a Lake Michigan beach in Wisconsin, and I was just wondering if this could be a crinoid fossil? There’s chain coral in the rock on both sides. I tried sanding a little around what I think is the crinoid, but I didn’t uncover anything else. Thank you for any help!

Hi. Can anyone provide me with this species of crinoid? these were found at the Wren's Nest, Dudley, England. I understand them to be Silurian? I'm assuming they're all the same species.

Howdy again! Following my trip to Kingston a few days prior to this post, I decided to scout some sites elsewhere. It just so happened the family trip took us to Ottawa today to see the Science and Tech Center, as well as the Nature museum. Being a bit opportunistic, I convinced the rest to take a detour to the southern bank of the Ottawa River to test my luck at scouting a new site. I’ve been reading posts across the form about Ottawa’s Billings Shale, and wanted to try my hand at finding some triarthrus and Pseudogygits. As I arrived I realized something was off; the dark pyritic shale I was anticipating turned out to be a rather course dolostone. I had instead found myself in the Oxford Formation, and with little time to check out sites I marked nearby, I decided to make the best of it. With the 20 minutes I had to scan the bank for suitable rocks to break down, I found a pretty cool run of Crinoid, and as I flipped the rock over I discovered a small enrolled trilobite! It looks like the pluerea continue, so I’m hopeful I’m coming home with at least one complete!! Now I turn to the form here to help me ID this bug. I had done little research on the Oxford formation, as it’s not where I intended to end up, so I know little about the bugs here. Looks to me like some form of Calymene, but I’m unsure. Trilobite in Question: Host Rock (Trilobite Side) : Host rock, Crinoid side:

These were found in a layer of broken-up pieces in matrix support on top of the Ohio Valley Knobs (~900’ elev). The Falls of the Ohio are 400’ elevation and there are no exposed rock layers at the site where these were found. There are no pieces larger than the crinoid at 11:00, and nothing intact larger than a tennis ball. It took me 5 years to finally peg these as Paleozoic fossils. I started picking up the round rocks thinking they might be agates, but very few of the pieces I opened up had any crystals, much less agate. Some of the broken pieces suggested a solid interior, and the rock is very hard in some of them and it polishes to a mirror-like reflectivity. I initially dismissed the idea of fossils because all of the fossil beds were 500’ below, so I kept looking around at minerals for identification. I even spent some time researching asteroid ejecta and tectites. It was only after I solved the “broken pieces” riddle that I came back to fossils. I had also started picking up pieces that looked fossilized even if they were not round. I soon realized the ground was literally littered with these broken pieces and that they seemed to be coming out of the hillside as a layer, not really distinct because of all the matrix support, but you can visualize it standing back from the area. Then I came across the Silurian Sea and how glaciation later scraped across that limestone layer the sea left behind. I think I saw it on an interpretive display somewhere. If glaciers scraped up a bunch of fossils in those old sea beds, they’d grind ‘em up and spit ‘em out at the southern terminus. This happened more than once during the Last Glacial Period and of course the Ohio River Valley demarcates much of that southern terminus. My working theory is this is a layer of glacial till left over from the Last Glacial Maximum, or perhaps even the Penultimate Glacial Period as this site is outside the established LGM boundaries. Can anyone help me place them within the Paleozoic era based on their morphology? I can post detailed even magnified pics of any piece. Here’s a link to a short video moving around the table:

I got out of work early and ran to take a look around and was extremely surprised! Thanks for any and all help!

Afternoon esteemed FF community. I'm new here and was hoping for assistance in identification to aid building interest in fossils for myself and my young kids. My 5yo son has been fascinated with fossils and I'm hoping to learn more myself so I can help shepherd his interest. We went to a nearby shale pit in central Pennsylvania that according to the geological map from the area seems to expose the Hamilton Group of the Devonian Period. My son had a great time scrambling around and we came home with some interesting finds that my limited fossil knowledge can't identify beyond "brachiopod" or "crinoid". Any help would be greatly appreciated and if more pictures are needed let me know; I was hesitant to upload too many. Also, as an amateur I'm finding it difficult to know what diagnostic features to pick out to aid in identification so any tips would be greatly appreciated as I learn more. The scale for all the following images is in Inches (sorry I didn't have a metric ruler I could find at the grandparent's house). Thanks! Item 1: Item 2: Item 3: Item 4: Item 5: a rock that I split on site, my amateur work left an unfortunate scratch on one side. My eye picks out crinoid? and brachiopod? Item 5 bottom closeup 1: Item 5 bottom closeup 2: Item 5 bottom closeup 3: Item 5 top closeup 1: Item 5 top closeup 2: Item 6: Crinoid stem? Item 7: Crinoid stem impression?

Good afternoon. Today I want to show 3 types of crinoid limestone (polished plates) from different places in Ukraine. First one. Place of discovery: Ukraine, Donetsk region, Dobropolsky district. The age of it is the Kasimovian stage of the Carboniferous period (307 Ma). 4.mp4 5.mp4 6.mp4 7.mp4

I found this Crinoid on Charnmouth beach, Devon, U.K. I am currently trying to label my collection and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the full species name is and an age of the fossil? Thank you in advance.

Hoooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here we are at last, into Adam's Silurian. Thanks for looking. First up is the Lower Silurian or Llandovery and I begin with a problem. I posted this one incorrectly in Adam's Ordovician as it had got it's label muddled up with an Ordovician Favosites I had that has vanished in the move here, but is being replaced by kind forum member @Herb Anyway, this, I remember now I've found the correct label, is from the greenish Browgill Formation, part of the Stockdale Group from a cutting near Skelgill (Skelghyll) in Cumbria, Northern England. It seems to be a tabulate coral, but I can't find any listed for this location, only mentions of small, rare, rugose corals. It has the star shaped corallites of a Heliolitidid, but seems to be tightly packed together like a Favositidid. A couple of species of Palaeofavosites seem to be close and are a bit star-shaped,, but anyone know any better? @TqB@piranha hmm who else? The coral bit, an external mold, is a maximum of 3.5 cm across and each corallite up to 2 mm.

Hello there, I'm a first time poster so I apologise if I've missed anything off or done anything incorrectly, I tried to do my best with pictures. All of the attached photos are of beach finds found between chapel point and skegness, lincolnshire in the UK, so I can't give any detail on what formations they came from sadly, although we get a lot of wash down from the Yorkshire coast and the carboniferous formation in Northumberland. I've hazarded a guess at a couple of them myself, but would really appreciate someone else correcting me or confirming my thoughts. Again, I apologise if anything isn't up to spec. Thanks.

Besides; Crinoid....Is there a specific name to this thing? Or if it's a piece of something, what is that name of the piece? Just wondering, trying to get more info. Thank you!