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After looking around at spots in dfw I had decided to check out post oak river on the west side of the service road I climbed down the embankment where I found a lot of shells like this one pictured no idea what exactly it is I’m very new to this and looking for info. I thought it might be a devils toe nail.

I'm new to this forum, and would like to request help in identifying a fossil that has been in my possession for about 50 years. When I was a child growing up in Dallas, Texas, my father was a landscape architect who often visited job sites and had excellent relations with various sub-contractors. One day, he brought home a fossil "dinosaur bone" from a private residential swimming pool construction project. It certainly does appear to be a fossil bone from a large animal, and one can even see fossilized marrow in a hole on the specimen - but whether it's from a dinosaur or a mammal, I have no idea and would like some help with here. The specimen is approximately 90mm long, 60mm wide, and 50mm high. I haven't weighed it. Although I've worked in museums for much of my professional career (and so I'm motivated both by scientific curiosity as well as a strict adherence to scientific rigor), I've somehow never brought this specimen for any expert to identify. Don't know why - just didn't. My father is still living and a couple of weeks ago I asked him if he remembers any additional information on exactly where, at what depth, etc. this specimen was found. Unfortunately, he does not remember any additional information or context. I'm including some photos here, but of course would be happy to provide additional ones, or to provide any other information that would prove helpful in identifying this specimen. And thank you very much in advance.

Hey Everyone! My name is Hogan and I'm an Associate Producer at Rugged Productions. I'm currently doing research for a new show concept and I'm looking for the best and most unique fossil hunters / collectors / buyers / sellers! Please let me know if this reminds you of someone (or of yourself). Thank you!

Good evening all, I'm a new guy on this site. Just moved from central Pennsylvania to the Dallas/ Fort Worth area a few months ago. I've been a rockhound since I could remember thanks to my old man, I'm also really into hunting fossils. I have 2 little boys who also love searching for fossils (nothing better than your little ones running up to you to show you the cool rock they found all by theirselves). We have been out every weekend looking for the awesome unique fossils that the dfw has to offer. So if your out and come across myself and my 2 boys stop by and say hi. Happy hunting and be safe

Here are some of my fish fossils from the Eagle Ford group of North Texas. Apsopelix sp.

I was cleaning some matrix I got from the Kamp Ranch formation in Dallas last weekend and found this tiny thing in the matrix. I’m wondering if anyone can tell me what it may be without it being fully exposed. The picture quality is not that great. I sure tried to get better pics, but wasn’t able to. It is 5 mm wide at most. So it is difficult to get a good close up pic of it. It’s 4 sided pyramid shape with a peak in the middle that almost looks like it has a groove down the middle of the peak. It was in a loose fragment of matrix I pried off a slab. Some of the surface of the item remained in the negative half of this. That is where you see the lighter color on the top and sides. This is a pic of it when wet. Top looking down view. Top down view again while dry. Side view from one end. Side view from the other end. Maybe it’s a funky shaped pebble, but I don’t think so. All the other stuff in the matrix looks like shells or shell fragments along with shell and ammonite impressions and some fragments.

Hello! I'm a long-time fan of the Fossil forum, but just signed up today. I live in Dallas and LOVE LOVE LOVE to go fossil hunting in my free time. I'm a teacher, but I don't teach paleontology! So I consider myself a Fossil Hobbyist. My favorite place to hunt so far has been the North Sulphur River. Wendy

Hello all! I am wondering if I could get some ideas for places to hunt fossils in Texas. We are currently just north of Dallas and will be heading sort of diagonally to the big bend area. Any ideas of good spots to hunt fossils aong the way. (Some of the trip will have a 9 year old. Any kid friendly spots also appriciated) thanks all in advance!

I went exploring today. I hit 3 places. The 1st two were the Ozan in Rowlett. The first 2 were a busts, but the 3rd was in the Eagle Ford in Dallas and it was a very interesting place. I can’t say that I found specific fossils per se, but I did find the product/remains of prehistoric animals. I was ecstatic with my finds. Septarian nodules have been on my bucket list of things to find. I found a hill full of them!!! I got there less than an hour before sundown and was thrilled with what I found. This one is very cool, but I’m not sure what the original creature actually was. The only thing I can think of is that it was an ammonite and maybe the septa became crystal filled, but that is a total guess. The curves on the edge and sides don’t look right, but I’m not sure exactly how these formed in the particular area. It honestly looked like the badlands or something desolate with nothing growing there and was a very fine soft gray shale. I found a lot of what I think are aragonite crystals at the site as well as some other beautiful crystals. I have never found any crystals in this form before. So I’m thrilled and hope to go back tomorrow if I don’t get paged into work tonight. This is the one I’m very curious about. Maybe some of you may have seen something like this before, but I have not. I think it is super cool though. I’m pretty sure it was once a critter of some sort. I believe it is a septarian nodule, but there are no septarian marks externally like you usually see. When I was washing off other nodules I found, as I was washing, the exterior began to slough off and the septarian lines became visible. There are basically 7 bundles of crystals across this thing. Some are kind of merged. #1 This one has me most curious of all. #2 other edge. Right edge is encrusted with what I guess could be considered pyrite disease, rusty material mixed with crystals encrusting it. I have found an ammonite before that was rusty with crystals like this. #3 Close up of the encrustation with small crystals jutting out. They’re hard to see. #4 one side. The other side is less descript. The curve on this doesn’t look ammonite to me. I found some pieces that looked almost turtle like, but I don’t know turtle stuff when I see it. I will say the rock material is soft and is a fine shale like texture and material so when wet it becomes slick almost like soap, but no bubbles. This is a 2nd find in the same area. In the center below the crystal on top is a sea shell. Wish I knew what kind, but not much is exposed. All you can see is the mother of pearl inside the shell. #5 note crystal branching in 3 directions below shell, there is also a beautifully formed crystal on top that is pristine and wafer thin that was part of the septarian, but the non-crystalline material has eroded away leaving the flower petal like crystal. #6 This is it from another side. You can see more of the septarian sections. If anyone knows the critter this arose from or the crystal type I’d like to know it. Calcite and gypsum are most common here. There is brown too. I also found stone with green crystals. This is a 3rd find in the same area. #7 I found these bars just laying on the ground like this. They looked so peculiar. I couldn’t figure out what they were. I thought they looked a little like columnar basalt, but knew that wasn’t it. There was a small nodule in the ground less than a foot away that was cracked all over and filled with crystal. I wanted to dig it out. In the process of digging it out I found another hard object just under where these were. I thought it was a solid rock, but when I started to move it the rock came apart in these shapes. #7 cleaned up a little at home. #8 one up close. I believe they are all covered in aragonite or brown crystals. I’ve been told that when an ammonite is encased in a nodule and then the mineralization process takes place that often aragonite crystals form as a result from the nacre in the ammonite shell. I have not found the source of that claim though. Can anyone tell me how these formed and what the crystal is? Is it aragonite? How would I know? I can provide higher resolution pics upon request. I had to make these low res to get all of them in here. @Uncle Siphuncle, @Fruitbat and @BobWill you 3 have hunted the Dallas and North Texas area for many years. I assume you’ve seen these sorts of things and may have insight you can share.

Here is a very nice little gastropod fossil I found in a creek about 10 miles east of Dallas recently. Once I washed it off well I was shocked by the detail, and even colored stripes! Can anybody give me more info on this? I will post it to the Gallery with more info. Is it very common to see color in fossilized gastropods? Thanks again! KP

I briefly explored an old creek outside of Dallas, TX yesterday; a creek I used to explore as a kid. I didn't find much at all because it was so overgrown and difficult to access these days. I found a few pretty river rocks, a nice little shell fossil and what appears to be either a little piece of petrified wood or bone. I took macro photos of it tonight. Please let me know what you think. I'm baffled. Larger fossil bone pieces, with this color/texture, have been found in this creek many years ago.

So I've gotten myself into an extremely rare deal- a mosasaur and pliosaur tooth both in the US for a great price. The goodies arrived today, and I might as well show em off. First off, we have a mosasaur tooth from the Ozan Formation of Fannin County. Knowing that the NSR flows inside Fannin County and is also part of the Ozan Formation, This tooth is probably also from the NSR itself. Although the seller didn't have time to do a full ID on the tooth and simply labeled it as unidentified, by extensive comparing with other mosasaur teeth from the area, I can promptly assume that this is cf. Tylosaurus proriger, meaning that after 11+ years of my life, I finally have a T. proriger tooth . Next, we got a tooth that has been sought out for by countless collectors- a north american pliosaur tooth. As with other Texan pliosaur teeth, this one was from the Britton Formation near Dallas. Again, the seller labeled it as an unidentified pliosaur. This time though, IDing is difficult. Based on my knowledge, the two possible candidates are Brachauchenius lucasi and Polyptychodon hudsoni, which both have been found in this area. But as its hard to tell the difference between the two in teeth, I can't make a solid pinpoint. Maybe I'll just be biased and label it as cf. Brachauchenius lucasi because brachs are more iconic to me and due to the unstableness of the polyptychodon taxon. Although not as large as other's tylosaurus teeth, this one still kicks over 4 cm which is still pretty big to me. The pliosaur tooth is just over 2 cm, making it quite small but worth due to its rarity.

Brand new to the forum, but learned about Post Oak Creek from you guys, so figured I'd share some of my finds from the two trips I've made out there so far. Not pictured are ptychodus teeth and various bone and/or shell fragments. If you wouldn't mind, I would like some help identifying some of the non-shark teeth as well as one shark tooth in particular. Those will be directly below this in the thread due to size limits. Thanks in advance! Ps. for those who aren't local, Post Oak Creek is in Sherman, TX and cuts through a Cretaceous (?) formation. First, here's a shark tooth that was particular thick and blunt. Not sure how to ID it...

Can you please help me identify these? I found them in my backyard in Fort Worth (Dallas), Texas, and approximately 15in diameter. Are these things that i should find someone to give them to or are they okay to throw away? thanks!

Hi all, Want to share something I saw on a creek bank. Are these foot prints or just natural formations? I think the bottom part is Austin Chalk, the darker, sandier top is Ozan? Which where "foot prints" were found.

Another DFW Creek find, it looks very similar to a Ctenacanthus fin spine but could be skin, trace fossil?

I am using a deer calcaneum for comparison. From a creek in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Am I correct about the crinoids?

From the tip of the root ( seems it may be longer, going further in the rock ) to the tip of the crown is a little over 2 1/4 inches. Dallas County, Atco Formation What say the experts?

Mosasaur?

My wife and I took a trip to the Perot Museum Dallas for my birthday. Such a cool place.

Hi all, Im new to the forum and I have seen some amazing fossils on this site, many of which have been found suprisingly close to my home .I would love to meet some new friends to go dinosaur hunting with , I have a few places to look for fossils but I am an extreme amateur, I realize this after i thouroughly looked over the website . I have always found palaentology interesting and would like to get my kids interested if anyone knows a kid friendly(easily accessible) place in the selma area to hunt fossils,i would greatly appreciate any input. We are not looking to unearth a t-rex or anything like that,just looking for someplace to share the experience of finding their first fossils. As i stated before i know a few places, but not easy to get to safely with kids.That being said i would like to carry an experienced fossil hunter to a few places to see what they could pull from the earth ,Iknow there is more there than sharks teeth ,and fossil oyster shells ,just not sure how to find the good stuff. If this peaks anyones interest let me know I'll be watching.

Hey, I found a few shark teeth in the Eagle Ford fm in a construction site in the town of Denton, just north of Dalla. Can someone help me identify what shark species they are ? Also, there were these large shells that appeared rotated, and they were extremely common in the area. Any idea on what those are as well? Thanks

Need help with this one. Found in the Kamp Ranch formation, in SE Dallas, TX, about 4 inches across. Geologic or fossil?

Hello All, Wanted to ask if anyone with more experience has any idea what bone from what animal this looks like it could be from? Found it in a rocky gravel bar/streambed in the Richardson/Dallas area. Trying to ID this bone has eluded me for far too long so I'm ready to hear some suggestions!

Hello, Does anybody know what bone from what animal this might be from? Found it in a gravelbed by a creek in Richardson. Looks to be relatively new or very well-preserved. There are four nutrient foramen on one side. It doesn't look like a typical vertebrae as it does not have a neural foramen, so I'm guessing it could be some kind of caudal vertebrae but I can't ID it although I have researched extensively. Other ideas that seem close are that it is part of a hoof or even a scute... but from what animal? Any help would be great!