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NJ Cretacous hunt today, found this tooth in a deep sift. Has a tiny bit of enamel left on it. Any ideas? Its about 1-1/2 inches long.

When I first set out to collect Dinosaur fossils, a fossil dealer with a long history in the industry and from whom I had purchased shark fossils from had this listed for sale. It was sold as a Troodon formosus ( I am aware it is an invalid taxon). When I committed to purchasing this, i was unaware that only Troodontid teeth had been found in Hell Creek and I tended to believe dealer ID's. I do not regret the purchase. It is a great little bone to have in our education program and it was not expensive. We want to cover Troodontids in our education program which is why I bought this. It was cheaper than a tooth. It was also a good lesson to learn early on and without a significant financial investment. I do my homework know before purchasing a dinosaur fossil and if I have questions, I put it here. It seems unlikely that that the dealer ID is correct just based on the lack of Troodontid bones that come from Hell Creek. I want to know we have and be accurate in what we present to kids so I have put some effort into figuring this out. It is a very small vertebra as you can see in the pictures. I did find some small theropod caudal vertebrae that look similar including a Troodontid. I have done some homework on this and tried to figure it out but I can not get much further on my own. All I can say for sure is that is does not appear to be a fish or mammal and I do not think it is a crocodilian either. Any thoughts or information would be helpful !!

Hi, wanted to ask for opinions about the identification of this partial jaw, offered to me as a Spinosaurus jaw (or Spinosaurid), but unsure on how to tell the difference between a spinosaurid jaw and a crocodilian jaw. Thanks.

Dimensions: 90mm long ; 60mm base to top of processes Location: Ifezouane Formation, Taouz, Kem Kem Basin, South Morocco After a lot of research I'm confident this is a cervical rib (something I didn't even know existed previously). I'd also take a guess that it's crocodilian rather than from a dinosaur. If it is crocodilian then my impression is that this would have been a pretty substantial croc. Based on some crude extrapolation from an image of a crocodilian skeleton I'm coming up with a figure of something like 5m from nose to tail. I understand that there were plenty of crocodilian species in the Cretaceous Kem Kem but hopefully maybe someone could confirm if at least my identification is correct, and maybe point me in the direction of a croc expert if there is one.

Hey everyone! Feels like it's been a while since I've posted any of my finds. Life is busy as it can be at the moment so it's hard to find a time to post regularly. Here is a section of reptile jaw I found at a microsite in the Lance formation of eastern Wyoming. It was initially identified as belonging to a champsosaur, but I wanted to see what people thought on the forum. In the field: At home: (little un-erupted tooth)

Hi everyone, I am once again seeking advice from this wonderful community! I am learning a lot from a lot of the resources provided here, so I hope to contribute more in the near future. What I have in question are--- Four scutes found in the brooks of Monmouth county NJ. The first and third (from left to right) appear to be crocodilian, being dimpled on one side and smooth and boney on the other. The second has feature consistent with a ray scute with one smooth side and a ridge on the opposite side. The scute I am most perplexed over is furthest to the right; it is dimpled on one side and possesses a ridge(s) on the other side. Can anyone offer insight into these scutes? Thanks in advance!

This small crocodilian fossil was collected on the beach at Bouldnor on the Isle of Wight in southern England. It comes from the Bouldnor Formation and is about 33 million years old. I'm certain it is crocodilian (from the small aligatorid Diplocynodon) based on the distinctive pitted texture. Scutes and vertebrae from this small croc are fairly common finds on this coastline. However this particular piece has stumped me, it is 3D and hollow on the inside, not like any scute i've picked up. I was thinking it must be some sort of skull element but i'd appreciate any help to rectify this! It measures 4 cm long.

Hi, I thought I'd show some of my first micro-vertebrate fossils from the Bembridge Marls Mbr. of the Bouldnor Fm. I collected around 2kg of matrix from one of the 'shelly' estuarine horizons in the lower part of the member at Hamstead Ledge, and am really pleased the results so far! The Bembridge Marls form the basal member of the Bouldnor Fm. and were deposited between 34.0 and 33.75 million years representing the final 250,000 years of the Eocene epoch. The depositional environment varies throughout the member and many beds are laterally discontinuous (like the Insect Bed, which produces finely preserved insects, feathers, leaves, and lizard skin impressions). Generally however, the Bembridge Marls were laid down in a sluggish lagoonal/estuarine environment with areas of wetland and adjacent sub-tropical/tropical forests, in the southern regions of the Hampshire Basin. To the south were forested chalk uplands that are now the downs of the Isle Of Wight. There was also some fluvial influence from rivers flowing from the west, draining the uplands around Dartmoor in Devon. Fauna-wise vertebrates like fish and freshwater turtles are common, and mammal remains are rarely found (in comparison to the overlying Hamstead members which are rich in post and pre-grande coupure mammals), these include palaeotheres, creodonts, rodents, anoplotheres, choeropotamids, xiphodonts, and primates. So far I've only searched through a small amount of the matrix but it has produced indeterminate teleost vertebra, Bowfin teeth, fin spines, indeterminate fish premaxillae, and a very nice crocodilian tooth. (The quality of the images isn't always fantastic but I'm trying to find a way to work around it in the microscope's program) Isolated fish vertebra from teleosts are by far the most common micro-fossil, and I've collected more than 10 so far. Here's a nice example: Bowfin teeth are also quite common and vary in size from 2-7.5mm in length. Bowfins would have been ambush predators feeding on smaller fish and other vertebrates in the lagoons and estuaries. Based on vertebra I've found ex-situ on the beach it seems some of these fish were very large. (Close up of one the teeth) These pre-maxillae also seem to turn up from time to time and appear to be from some form of teleost. The closest match I can find is with some kind of Gadiform? And finally the best find so far, a crocodilian tooth crown. I spotted this on the surface of one of the matrix blocks. It's most likely from the alligatoroid Diplocynodon which was very common in the wetlands and rivers of Europe from the Palaeocene to the Miocene. Diplocynodon has also been found in the early Eocene marine deposits of the London Clay suggesting that they frequented both freshwater and brackish/coastal habitats. The matrix is nowhere near fully sieved and sorted through yet so hopefully there's a lot more micro-vertebrates in there! Hope this was of interest, Theo

Here's a few teeth that have me stumped from Southeast Alabama. The area they were found is right in the middle of the Tallahatta formation which should point to them being from the Eocene. We found over twenty of them in the same area with the sizes ranging from 1" to 1/4' inch long. Each tooth is curved and has deep ridges that run the entire length of the tooth, though some are worn more than others. The bases are all round which points me in the direction of a crocodile of some sort but that's where I'm getting stuck...I cant seem to find anything that resembles it online so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Terence Here's a picture of the other items that were associated with them

I'm posting both sides to see if that helps to identify. Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks! Laura