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Hello Everyone, Newbie here from the Emerald Isle. I finally pulled the trigger and purchased my first fossil—a Green River Diplomystus dentatus with Knightia eocaena. The seller is well-known and highly regarded on this forum so I’m not necessarily concerned with the authenticity, but I am really keen to hear people’s opinions on this specimen. My apologies if this is the wrong place to post. Thanks, Robert

Went up to Douglas Pass, Colorado today for a hike with my wife. I have always hunted for fossils at the Radar Dome location. Today we decided to scout around for another location to collect. Hiked up a very steep hill to a shale exposure and found this larvae after only 1 minute of looking. We had not come prepared today to collect anything. Will probably head back up next weekend. The larvae is approx 2.25 cm across. There are also some parts of other larvae on the piece.

I got this fish with some others in a trade deal the other day; I was supposed to get a mixed box of Diplomystus and Knightia, but this guy stood out for me. Doesn't look like either, and seems a bit too big for Amphiplaga. Maybe juvenile Mioplosus? Anybody? Is there another photo that can help? Thanks for looking!

Since I have had more time to get stuff done due to Corona virus downtime I finally put together a fossil fish wall. I collected the specimens a few years ago in Wyoming. Thought I would share

Is it paint or natural?Priscacara liops Green River Formation?thanks

Final got to a Green River fossil that once exposed looks very much like a insect body or insect nymph. Would anybody out there be able to point me in the right direction as to what it actually is?

I am always eager to try new things and develop or expand my skills. I've been putting in a lot of hours doing final prep on Hell Creek bone, and frankly, thats easy compared to these fish! I recently bought some un-prepped green river slabs from Ptychodus04. Since the weather and pandemic have put a halt to most things I began trying my hand at prepping these. Such a difference from working big dino bones! The fish bones are like fossilized hairs and unbelievably fragile. The matrix (on most of these) is extremely soft which makes clearing easy with a scribe, but also easy to blow it out. Using a soda blaster is a little more gentle, but still easy to blow out the fossil as soon as the matrix is gone. The bone details are so fine, I can understand how having a stereo microscope (along with a micro-jack scribe) would make this type of prep a lot easier. I think I did OK on my first fish. I'm scared to try and clear the spine any more because the bones are so thin and fragile. Then the second fish is in a harder matrix (and deep), but from what I've cleared so far, it seems to be a in a lot better condition. I'm afraid I may wear out my scribe exposing it though, LOL.

Good evening folks. I have two fish, both listed as Knightia and both from Farson Wyoming. They look similar but they don't look like the same species to me, am I wrong? These are 10 and 11 year old purchases with the first being dug in the 60's from "near Farson" and the second stating it is from the Green River Formation, Farson.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a second opinion on this piece, a fish head from the green river fauna, while I believe it maybe Amia due to comparisons I'm not to confident, any help/guidance is and will be appreciated.

I just received confirmation from Professor Steven R. Manchester, Curator of Paleobotany Florida Museum of Natural History, that I do in fact have Bonanzacarpum sprungerorum! Special thanks to doushantuo's post (additions to paleocarpological knowledge:The Eocene) that restarted my identification quest and Paleoflor for encouraging me to pursue it. And TTF for giving me the venue to request identification assistance.

I found this Green River fish at the American Fossil quarry about 4 years ago. I think it could be a Hiodon falcatus, thoughts? Thanks for the help!

The seller labels this as a diplomystus from green river but I don't think it is. The fins look wrong to me. What do you guys think?

I found this Green River fish this fall while at the Warfield quarry. It is too different from a Knightia and the best match I could find is Amphiplaga brachyptera. Thoughts?

What do you all thing about this fossil insect? Real? Fake? Real with paint? It looks like Green River matrix, but I don't know. - edited to add 2 more pics--

Good morning all. I have a fossil that was identified as "plant cross section(?) from Green river". I'm wondering if it's actually a fruit seed pod similar to Bonanzacarpum spungerorum species. It has similar form and shape. I applied a lite coat of easily removeable wax for protection.

I was thinking this is a Knightia but now I’m not so sure. The body shape seems wrong and it does not appear to be compressed. @Fossildude19 @RJB

Hello everyone. I saw this green river stingray bidding for much less than it is worth on an auction site. I will likely not bid on it, but in case I do I wanted to check it’s authenticity. I know these are not really faked, but it would be quite a large purchase so I just wanted to make sure everything was in order with it. Thank you all!

Hi friends, I'm trying to learn more about Green River fish. Interested to know if anyone sees anything wrong with this fossil (repair, restoration, coloring/painting, composite). The color seems slightly darker to me than the typical Green River fish that I've seen but it's not dark enough for the 18 inch layer fish that I've seen.... so that's part of why I'm curious/asking. Thank your for your insights.

Hello I'm a newbie fossil collector (and newly active member) who happens to several interesting fossils for a decent price from our favorite auctions sites 1st is are Knightia. The seller claims that they are not restored or enhanced 2nd set are 4 Spinosaurus teeth. The seller claims that cracks have been repaired, but no restoration or composition has been made (Pictures 2-9 of teeth in pairs) 3rd is a Lycoptera which the seller claims is not restored or enhanced 4th are plates of Elrathia Trilobites from Wheeler Formation 5th are Fossil Ferns from Llewellyn Formation 6th is a Hyracodon jaw fragment I would like to ask if the sellers' description of the items are accurate and/or if they are restored, enhanced or composites. Cheers!

Hey everybody! I realized I never made a thread for my internship at the Field Museum in Chicago this summer. I interned as a fossil preparator under Akiko Shinya in the McDonald’s Fossil Preparation Laboratory (that’s the “fish bowl” lab on the second floor right next to Evolving Planet with the big window). There were some amazing things being prepared in the lab - an Antarctic Lystrosaurus, lots of Dicynodonts, Green River fish (some massive Phareodus), Sauropod femurs and ribs, a massive slab containing several sturgeon and paddlefish - but I’m not sure if I am allowed to post pictures of them, so for the sake of confidentiality I won’t just in case. This is the lab, and I always sat in the red chair, right up next to the window. One of my favorite parts of this internship was seeing all the little kids so excited about what we were doing in there and interacting with them. I was preparing a Priscacara serrata (specimen PF 16961) from the Green River formation of Wyoming, Eocene (~52 mya). All I used was a pin vise and an Amscope stereoscope. This fish also seemed to have slightly “exploded” from the pressure of fossilization as well, it’s jaw was crooked and head smashed, thought most fins seemed surprisingly well intact. The prep took 199.5 hours to complete, from May to August. I finished the prep on the final day of my internship, staying late after the museum had closed to the public and all the others in the lab had gone home. But it was far worth it, because "your name will forever be associated with this specimen." -Akiko Shinya I took a picture at the end of every day and I made a time lapse with it to see the growth! The link is at the bottom of the post. (I kept that floating scale in front of its mouth because I thought it was kind of funny that it looked like the fish was trying to eat it!) You can watch the time lapse Here

Hello Everyone, I am facing a bit of a dilemma. Husband is getting me a trip to go dig fossils for my 40th birthday!! Now, the dilemma of choosing where to go! My dream has always been to go to Green River formation for fishes.... however, here locally I am used to finding marine fossils only (North Texas), and another option would be to go with a certain Adventure group in South Dakota for some variety. I love prepping the delicate fishes, and think the Green River experiences would give more to take home with. Anyone here have any experience, or advice? I want TO DO BOTH!! Thanks in advance, Suvi

Here is another update from my July 2019 solo Fossil run! (Edit...it appears some of the fossil pictures are displaying poorly....I will rectify this shortly.) PICTURE HEAVY Day 1: I drove solo from Omaha, NE to Fossil Butte National Monument. I left at 0300 local and made it to the Museum at the monument about 45 minutes before they closed at 1800 local. The museum is outstanding. Small, but amazing. Also, unlike most other national parks and monuments, it is FREE and open 7 days a week during the summer. I didn't take any photos as A, I was exhausted, and B, there are plenty of pictures of the museum already on the web. Sometimes, I like to just have memories I don't have to share. Anyway, after drooling over all of the great stuff to view (think complete two meter crocodilian skeleton), I got my second wind and had to find a place to camp before dark. Thankfully, you get about 18 hours of useful sunlight up in that area, so I set out for a "secret" campsite on the BLM land just northwest of the monument proper. I found the site and made camp. There was some promising looking shale exposed here, but not a fossil to be found. (I did bring a few samples back however as I discovered later that there was some interesting fluorescence in green, yellow, and orange on some of the rock!) I'm at around 2100 meters above sea level for the night! Either way, beat down and a bit light headed from too many years living in the flat lands, I caught a nice sunset and wolfed down four MREs. I planned to spend the next day in deep in the Green River Formation. Day 2. It was a rough night. I got about two hours sleep from a combination of exhaustion, excitement, and the strangest wind storm I have ever experienced. At right around 0000, a single gust of wind dropped the temp for around 22C to 8C in less than five minutes. I was prepared for this, however I wasn't prepared for what showed up 45 minutes later- sustained 40kph winds with 72kph gusts. Due to the hard rocky ground, I couldn't use tent stakes or bury the deadmen for my guy lines on the tent, so I spent the next three hours in a very noisy, semi-collapsed tent. As the storm continued, I realized I was going to have to set the guy lines under the tires of my truck if I hoped not to blow away. Imagine my surprise to discover that with all that wind, there was not a cloud in the sky. It was crystal clear out. What I had thought was rain hitting the tent was actually small bits of gravel! I carefully positioned the truck as a bit of a wind break and anchor for the guy lines. Ten minutes later, the windstorm quit. I made twelve cups of espresso in my trusty Moka pot and headed over to American Fossil Quarry at sunrise. I didn't bother taking pictures of the quarry as there are plenty on the web. I did a half day dig. I had a most excellent time. What follows is photos of about a third of the fossils I found. I have many many more that need prep work, but these were my "practice" specimens. I found so many fish fossils, I kept only the best ones, plus a similar amount to use as practice for preparation and preservation techniques. Sure, it is a pay-to-play quarry, but I got more than my money's worth I feel. I actually got a bit bored with finding fish, something I never thought would happen. I also found some scales and coprolites, but no stingrays or plants. One fellow digging while I was there ended up with a magnificent palm leaf however! Anyway, here are a few of the fossils I have prepped so far. Apologies for the less than perfect photos. I have only owned this macro lens for a few days and haven't quite figured it out yet. Also, you will notice that they appear shiny, this is because the fixative has not fully cured yet. I will share my best two specimens in other threads later on!

Hi we are newbies, went to Kemerer and found a lot of fish, and a slab with a tree branch (about a foot long 6 " wide). YOu can see patterns of the bark, but it is very faint. I am not sure if we should remove the covering and see if there is a darker layer under the stone? As it was a fairly larger specimen it may be more 3 dimensional. Any Suggestions? Any one have ideas? (On the fish I have heard 1:6 and 1:20 diluted wood glue is that correct?

Hey Gang, Was going thru another box and found a small piece that I acquired awhile back that I dont have a name for and looking for some help....if anyone has any ideas...much appreciated... Did some preliminary review of some of the Eocene pubs but nothing screamed yep thats it... From a quarry near Fossil Lake, Kemmerer, Wyoming. Green River Formation. Got some interesting fish bits in the plate as well... @piranha Thanks! Regards, Chris