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I am working again these days, but on Wednesday, I got off early enough that I made a trip to a creek in northern Hill County. Its limestone walls are full of fossils, but the limestone is very hard. It is obvious that I need to get better at chiseling fossils out of limestone. I could get lots of practice in this creek. Macrostrat shows the area where I was as being right on the border of the Fredericksburg and Washita Groups. The first thing I noticed about this creek was how many Gryphaea (devil's toenail) oysters there were. Most are pretty small, but they are everywhere. There are more of them in the creek than all other fossils combined, including lots of limestone pieces just full of small ones like the one in this photo.

I decided to do a little experiment. awhile ago, I went to the canyon in the Snake River, and I found a bunch of gastropod shells. Not extinct, these were not fossilized. I decided to bring some home and compare them to a fossil gastropod shell that I had. I am aware that differences and similarities vary by species, but I don't know gastropod species that well, extinct or not. Pictures are attached under a magnifier. The white one is the living, the brown one is the extinct fossil. Due to file size, I'm posting the fossil on a different post. I want to invite others to point out what they notice is different and similar about the living and extinct gastropods. (Besides the obvious fossil/non-fossil) I'll point out what I notice myself later.

Hey all. Couple questions about North Sulfur River Tx. Why can I pull one gastropod that will be black (one species) and then within arms reach (another species) will be red? Both semi covered in the red matrix. Has anyone found a large complete red ammonite? I find pieces of large ammonites but always just pieces. I have found a complete Pachydiscus that is around 6 inches in diameter. That is the largest complete one I have found. Thanks for any help. Still learning this stuff.

Hello, I found this very unusual seashell on a Tampa Bay beach, Florida. It measures 1 3/4" long by about an 1 inch wide with distinct whorls. It appears to be agatized like the coral I find and is translucent when held up to the light. I than noticed bubbles inside of it which must be water? I spoke to a mineral and fossil vendor and he said it was a enhydro and very rare. What do you think? How was this created and what kind of seashell do you think it is? Thanks! Lynn

I was able to get some much needed "me time" yesterday. With all the worries of the world I have been in a foul mood lately, but I am happy to report that my mood has brightened significantly. . There is nothing like crawling around on a road cut, and hunting fossils, to really lift one's spirits! I spent a couple of hours at an upper Ordovician road cut that has been on my list to check out. It is an exposure of the Grant Lake Limestone. Shortly after I arrived, I realized that I was in for a real treat! This particular exposure is more fossil than limestone. Brachiopods are everywhere! Vinlandostrophia dominate the exposure; with Hebertella coming in a close second. Other brachs are also found, but less abundant. Orthoconic nautiloid fragments are frequently found and bryozoan encrusting is a common sight. I also found a few gastropods, and one trilobite piece that I am excited about. Unfortunately I did not take pictures in the field. It was a conscious decision. I just wanted to enjoy my time, relax, and focus on the hunt. I'll get some next time as I will definitely be going back. I did take a few pics of my better finds at home. Enjoy! First up are the Brachiopods. I found some nice whole Vinlandostrophia, and Hebertella, and what I think is Rafinesquina ( @Tidgy's Dad ) . I also took home a few single valves for study of the internal structure. I think with a little bit of clean up these will look great! I was happy to find some orthoconic nautiloids. They have been sorely lacking in my collection. I will have to research what species are found in this formation to come up with an ID. I have a few ideas, but need to confirm. Here are a few gastropods and bryozoans. I can't resist the alluring whirls of a gastropod. They seem to be uncommon in the areas that I hunt so I grab them whenever I see them. I believe these are new species of bryozoa that I will be adding to my collection. Which is exciting! Here is a tril-o-bit that I found. I'm very happy with it. Typical trilobite fragments from this area are not usually identifiable. Except to say they are possible trilobite pieces. This is a cephalic doublure of an Isotelus. Thanks to @piranha for help with the ID. All in all it was a great time. I got to relax a bit, forget my troubles, and brighten my mood. I also added some nice pieces to my collection. It was a good day!

Hello, sorry to be a pain with all these IDs. I thought itd be easier if I just put all of them in one post. All were found in Northamptonshire, UK. Which is mostly Jurassic in age. Sorry there's no scale, I couldn't find my ruler anywhere. I'll have to upload more images below this. Its been quite some time since I've found ammonites. The land had just been rotavated, and aside from the ammonites, I found some Bivalves, and two golf balls buried. Thanks. These are the first two ammonites, I tried to ID them, but they are incomplete, so it was a difficulty, the closest I think it looks like is Harpoceras. Each are about two centimetres (about 0.8 inches). I saw a neighbour had a very similar rock with two larger ammonites on them that was being used to hold a fence down.

Hello all I found this gastropod about 18 months ago in the Provence province in France. The spot should be Cenomanian in age. It's about 1 cm wide. It's not the best picture but the fossil itself is not all too well defined. Any ideas? Thanks in advance

Was digging around looking for snakes is west texas (Odessa) and found many of these large gastropods will only let me load one photo this site on mobile is hard to figure out

Hello all I haven't posted in a while. I haven't really been able to get out much for a while, but recently I did find a few (i believe) Composita lying on top the ground just off the road near Albuquerque. Some were complete and some eroded. They seem to be filled with crystals. One in the matrix. I also wanted to show you guys this other fossil in a matrix. A friend was showing me some rocks around her yard when she show me this one. At first I thought it was just a rock with some white inclusions. She liked the rock, but did not know there was a fossil in it.! We were pleasantly surprised.

Good morning again! I found this 1.5cm gastropod yesterday over lunch in soft gray "mudstone". Haven't cleaned it or identified it yet, but the most interesting aspect is a mineralized, lined, trace fossil or actual mineralized remains of some sort of fossilized nematode. It is at the 12:00 position in the photo. The "trace" is covered by matrix to the left. Bear with me on this one Since it is in the plane of the inner shell and mineralized, I surmise the gastropod died, and as in modern world, nematodes take advantage and migrate through the tissues, eating/absorbing the detritus, but some "event" killed the nematode, or over time mineralized its "track" along the interface of the shell and the tissue. Make sense? Regardless, its really cool!!. There's another tracing in it but difficult to get any pics. Thoughts as always appreciated!!! Bone

Before pictures are shown, I want to give @MikeR special thanks for helping to ID my finds. I spent countless hours attempting to name my specimens before showing them to Mike. So I am sure he too donated many hours of help to me. Lets say my batting average was a little under 50% (which included obvious ones that I did not send to him) in correctly IDing the shells. Hats off to my teacher!!!!! Less than 50% does mean I received a failing grade. So unfortunately for MikeR, I must repeat his course next year! With my gratitude expressed, let me get on with the topic. There was a wonderful shell bed quarried in the Sarasota, Florida area. That quarry had been abandoned years ago and the most productive piles used in the construction industry now seem to be disappearing. The specimens likely came from this quarry and are from the Tamiami Formation, likely Pinecrest Beds, a late Miocene to Pliocene formation. I have collected and reported on this formation before so many species found this winter are not shown again. These are either my favorites or new specimens for me.

Found these in a large deposit near road cutaway.

Hi everybody, i'd like to lighted by your opinions on those Bartonian fossils from Blaye on the estuary of the Gironde. Firstly, those urchins. Blaye is a place where exist endemic urchins. I made a little research on myself and found some names. Echinolampas burdigalensis ? (maybe sismondia for the upper one ?) 1) 2) 3) Echinolampas stellifera ? Those gastropods : Olividea ? Olivancillaria ? Terebellum ? Bivalves : 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Tellinidae ? Arcopagia for the one in the middle ? 6)

My wife ordered a 2 x 1 x 1 Meter raised bed for herbs last week and it was just delivered today. The first thing I did before I start putting the thing together was to dig up a plot of that size at the edge of the garden where I'll be placing it for her. It's interesting what you can come up with when you're turning over a new area in an old garden. When we first moved in and I started rearranging things out there I dug up a nice rock crystal block as well as things like marbles, plastic toys and other household paraphernalia. This time along with a couple of marbles I dug up a nicely preserved gastropod. I think that it's recent, but who knows? Maybe it's from the Holocene? Now I'd like to ask if anyone could help me out with the id on this little snail. It's 5cm. long. I've checked out @MikeR 's Tamiami Album and the closest I could come up with was Stramonita, but it doesn't quite fit.

I took a much needed break this morning and went fossil hunting for a couple of hours. I decided that I wanted to go back to the same water eroded hill that I made a quick stop at the other day. It rained last night, so the place was a muddy mess, but I had a good time and it took my mind off of things. It's supposed to rain here for the next 2-3 days. Can't wait to see what else is revealed afterwards. I'll stop in again. Preferably after it dries out for a couple of days. Here are pictures of the hillside that I have been working. The red clay is littered with rocks and fossils that have been weathered and washed out of the hill by runoff. Fragments of the rugose coral Acrocyathus floriformis litter the ground. Thanks to @Jeffrey P for help with the ID! Unless you look 5 feet one way or the other... The next picture was taken 5 feet away from the spot in the above pic. It seems that the fossils were very localized. I made multiple stops at different hills like this in the same area. I found 1 other that had a good amount of fossils in a small section. Most were fossil barren, or had very few. Still, there was plenty to keep me entertained. When I took a gander past the coral fragments, I was able to find a few more gastropods. The biggest thing I had to watch out for was my own pareidolia. The geology of the area can really trick you if you are not careful. There are also more modern evidence of creatures, and some areas where fill rock has been brought in; presumably to help with erosion. Below are a few things I had to look out for... Here are a bunch of eroded limestone fragments mixed in with coral fragments. They can definitely trick the eyes at first glance. Coral/Bryozoan fragments, or water eroded and shaped limestone? Unfortunately, limestone. At first glance I thought I was seeing the internal structure of a coral colony. Maybe a tabulate coral? Nope. Another look alike. A modern gastropod. Once I got home I cleaned the mud off with water and a soft brush. Not a bad haul for a few hours. I took quite a few pieces of coral. Some I will give to my son, some will go in my collection, and maybe, just maybe, some will end up in an auction lot to support the forum (once all this virus stuff blows over). I'm actually sorting through my collection and will hopefully have more to add to the auction pile, but that's a discussion for a different thread. Towards the end of the hunt I was on the lookout for anything branching, or that resembled a coral colony. I was hoping to find a relatively complete coral head, but alas luck was not with me. I was still able to find some nice pieces though. Here are some of the better ones with multiple coralites. A few gastropod steinkerns. This one I really liked. It's a little over a centimeter in height, and still stuck in the matrix. And last, but not least... I always pick up a few geological pieces that catch my eye. My twin is more of a rock hound so I always let him take a look. If he doesn't want them. The "cool rocks" go to my son. If all that fails, I have a "cool rock shelf" that gets the left overs. That's it for now. I had an enjoyable time today that gave me a much needed break from all the happenings in the world. It was nice to dig in the mud and forget my troubles for a few hours.

With all of the recent field trip reports being posted I have been that I haven't been able to get out there yet myself. The weather has been warmer than usual, but it’s also been rainy. Today I had very little time, but on my way home from giving my father-in-law a helping hand, I was able to make a quick stop at a local Mississippian site that is 5 minutes from my house. I believe it is St. Louis Limestone, but need to verify. I was only at the site for 20 minutes or so, but I picked up a handful of things. I didn’t get any pictures from the field as I was in a rush, but a few of the finds are below. I’ve known about this spot for a while, but it’s the first time I have stopped there. I think that’s because when I get a chance to go hunting I want to go to a place that it a little farther away since I have the extra time. I have been telling myself “It’s close. I can stop there any time...” I finally took the time, albeit a short amount, and I’m glad I did. The site is a low road cut. Well... it’s more of a water eroded slope on the side of the road than an actual cut. Little bed rock is exposed, except fragments mixed in with the soil from erosion. The dirt in the area is locally called red clay. With the recent rains, it was very muddy and the red clay tends to stain whatever it touches. You can see a reddish orange hue to the fossils. This was after a cleaning with water and a brush. I haven’t had a chance to try and ID these yet, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to throw them out there! The area is littered with pieces of this rugose coral. This picture of a calice is a little more out of focus than I realized, but you get the idea... EDIT: Swapped the out of focus picture with one that is a little less fuzzy. This rock is full of these little gastropods. They are only about 1cm in height. I also found this gastropod and brachiopod. A close up of the gastropod. I like it. Hopefully this quick stop will hold me over until I can get out there for a long relaxing hunt.

Everything was pretty well picked over in my regular spots so I took a thirteen mile eleven hour hike with a friend at the North Sulphur River Texas. Here's my finds. The mosaaur tooth, fish fin with verts, fish occipital condyle and the big Tylosaur vert made my day. The water moccasins were mating and did not appreciate us walking by. They both took the time to open their mouths and warn us to get away.