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On November 27 of this year my mother and I went hunting in a new housing development exposing the Austin Chalk in North Texas. The first and only site that we got to was covered in this rock that has been brought in from somewhere else. It was odd in that it looked like someone had just poured a bunch of it in an empty lot in no particular pattern. It was all next to a man made hole in the ground in the middle of the lot, but I don't see how that could be related. We have seen bags of this matrix in drainage ditches before and had also seen it variously thrown about at different Austin Chalk sites. I had found a few things in it that were intriguing, but for some reason I had largely (and very incorrectly) assumed that there was probably not much that one could find in it, so I never seriously hunted it. But my mother proved me very wrong! When we got to the site and I saw that much of it was covered in this stuff, I was somewhat annoyed since it was covering up some of the Austin Chalk. But we both got out anyways and began hunting. I went off towards the ditch where more of the Austin Chalk was exposed while she was looking around in the foreign matrix. I wasn't having much luck and she was commenting on how she was seeing some layered patterns in the matrix, pictured in F31. I didn't think much of it and kept hunting away from the pile of unknown matrix. Then less than a minute later my mother let out something along the lines of, "Hey! Hey! Hey! What is this?!" When she does that, I know she is not kidding around! So I went over there and saw her pick this up off of the ground. We both immediately knew that it was an echinoid. What made this specimen really special are the facts that this is the largest or at least second largest echinoid that we have ever found, the first echinoid from a formation other than the Austin Chalk, and our first regular echinoid all in one. Its a sad thing that it is so beat up, but then again its not surprising since it was probably hauled in a bag in the back of some guy's pickup for possibly hundreds of miles. Only two tubercles that have not been knocked off are visible, though perhaps there are one or two more buried under the chunk of matrix stuck to the side of the specimen. It is also missing most of its adoral side and most of its apical disc, with bits of the disc still in the depression that is left. Its test is pretty scuffed up in general, but at least most of it is still left and I don't think that it is too beat up to be identifiable. I took pictures of the site while I was there (pictures in F1-F4) and brought home a lot of matrix to experiment with and to photograph later to aide in identifying the formation from which it came. When I got home I consulted @Bill Thompson's book on Texas echinoids and I have been able to narrow this specimen down to the genus Temnocidaris for sure. I am hoping that you guys can help me find out what formation the matrix came from, which would greatly help to narrow down the species possibilities. Out of the four species of Temnocidaris listed in Thompson's book as being reported from Texas only two of them have there tests pictured, T. borachoensis and T. hudspethensis, with the other two species only described from their spines. Now I am not an echinoid expert by an stretch of the imagination, but I am personally leaning towards this being T. borachoensis from the Boracho Formation of Upton county or a nearby county in West Texas. My reasoning is twofold: First, to me its test much more resembles T. borachoensis than T. hudspethensis in two ways. They are that the interabulacrum tubercles are closer together than T. hudspethensis and that its test is a bit more squat than T. hudspethensis, even if it still had its base. Coincidently, just a little over a month ago @KimTexan posted for identification a Temnocidaris specimen from the Edwards Formation of Johnson county that very much resembles mine, though I can't say for sure it is the same species as mine since her specimen is missing much of its aboral side while mine is missing much of its adoral side, making a comparison between them a bit difficult. Second, from what I have seen the matrix most closely resembles the San Martine member of the Boracho Formation. If I want to learn a bit about Texas paleontology that I didn't know before I will usually look up one of @Uncle Siphuncle's Fossil hunting reports. Here is one which contains pictures of a lot of matrix and a few fossils from the Boracho formation, starting with Figure 91. The most striking resemblance I see is that the matrix has a lot of red/orange matrix streaks running through it like mine does. But because I have never hunted in the Boracho Formation other than possibly this brought in matrix, I don't know for sure. I also noticed what appears to be the same layered fossil shown in F31 in Figures 136-138. After seeing this post, I tend to think that it is oyster related material. This matrix is a lot more dense than the Austin Chalk that I am used to, making it noticeably heavier. It bubbles when I put vinegar on it indicating that it is limestone, though perhaps not as vigorously as vinegar on the Austin Chalk. I scraped some matrix with a dentist's pick in the places weakened by vinegar and places I didn't treat with vinegar, and while it did scratch the limestone matrix, the untreated matrix was harder than untreated Austin Chalk. I have tried to see if the sandy red/orange matrix bubbles, but my experiments were inconclusive because the limestone is always nearby, skewing the results. I would assume that it does not bubble on its own. After cleaning the echinoid, a few other fossils, and chunks of matrix, the toothbrush fibers had turned orange indicating that the sandstone it is not that hard, at least when wet. Also the limestone matrix is just packed full of calcite crystals, which is very noticeable in direct sunlight! The specimen its self, excluding any matrix, is 53mm in diameter by 36mm in height, though it would be taller if it still had its base. It appears to me that it is only infilled with the sandstone while there is an actual limestone chunk stuck to the side of it, shown specifically in F12. Notice the red patch on the matrix, a characteristic not unique to this chunk but seen on another chunk of matrix shown in F32. All of the pictures were taken in sunlight, so the color that you see is how it really looks. Thanks for any help in advance. F1-F4. On site photos. F2 F3

I had about an hour and a half to go hunt for fossils today. Someone had been asking to go hunting with me and today was the only time I’d be free to go until after New Years. There has been a lot of construction on highway 75 in McKinney, TX and they took a lot of the rock dug up during construction and dumped it in a field by 75 just north of the county courthouse on the east side of 75. I had seen the piles of construction rock several times and wanted to check out what fossils might be in the McKinney underground. I doubted there would be much of interest, because it’s the Austin Chalk and I live near and on it and there are very few fossils in the chalk that are preserved well and they are mostly chalk clam casts from what I’ve seen. The other things I’ve seen where the actual clam was preserved mostly had fragments of the shell and nothing whole. But I was hoping if it had been dug up maybe it would be preserved better. No such luck, but it was interesting to see. Here are a few pics I took. There were lots of clam remnants, some quite large. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they are Inoceramus clams. This was the dump site. It had been there a while. This is a good example of the colors you will see. The brown to taupe color (on the right) I believe to be the outer layer of the original shell. The yellow and rust color (on the left) is where the original shell pulled away from where the clam was when the chalk split. This slab is about 2 feet long and about as much wide at the top. You can see numerous layers with clam spanning the whole width and length. Sometimes multiple clams were overlaying one another. I put my key fob on this for scale. I think there were 2 clams here. One on top left and another that is only a fragment, but still looks to have been well over 12 inches wide. There were a few specimens where the whole layer of the outer shell was preserved fairly well. This is one of them. I put my hand in the pic for approximate size. I think my hand is about 8 inches long. So this clam was about 5 inches wide. I left my heavy duty hammer and chisel in the car. I tried breaking the rock so I could carry it out, but I didn’t manage to break it. Heres another one of similar size. This one must have been quite large by my estimation, but nowhere near as big as Inoceramus clams get. I read in Wikipedia that one over 3 meters had been found. This could easily have been 20 inches across or more. Most all of the slabs were 2 feet plus. The chalk often split or broke easily, but it was hard to pull apart in the plane of the clam shell in one piece. The fossils were quite fragile and not of the best quality, but they were cool to see. It was an interesting visit, but I wasn’t able to bring much home sad to say.

Our class found these along the creek walls that border the school's property. They look like large petrified wood chips, but we are wondering if you can tell us what they might be. Part of the schools property is considered preserved wetlands. This might be a reason these are here.

I found this rock a few years ago and have been wondering about the fossils in it ever since. At first I thought that they where some kind of fish remains, but upon further inspection I am beginning to think that they may be bits of either pterosaur or bird bone. But I really don't know. This rock was found in North Texas in the Upper Coniacian stage of the Austin Chalk Formation. The member of this formation in which I found these fossils is extremely scarce in any vertebrate fossils, with most of the them coming from a more blue/gray toned member of the Austin Chalk which I believe lies underneath this member. In fact, if these are vertebrate fossils then they would be the first and only ones that I have found to date. Aside from vertebrate fossils, the only other thing that I thought that these could be were bits of the hinge of an Inoceramid oyster, which I have found. The last attached photo is of a hinge that I found recently only about 1 mile away from where I found this rock. However, there are a few problems with this theory, the first being the lack of any prismatic (calcitic) crystals being visible in any of the pieces, which there would be if these fossils really were cross section bits of an Inocermid hinge. The prismatic crystals are clearly visible in the cross section view of my Inoceramid hinge. Second, even if I am just not seeing the prismatic crystals, the piece pictured in F7 appears to me to be hollow with a thin, bony looking wall. It is this feature that first got me thinking that these could be bone bits from a pterosaur or a bird. The only thing that makes me rethink that theory is the fact that the larger piece pictured in F2-F3 is completely filled in on the inside and even has something sticking up in the center of it, pictured specifically in F3. But I also do not know for sure whether these two pieces are actually related at all. Compare my fossils with this TFF article about a possible pterosaur bone from the TXI quarry in Midlothian, Texas, which is in the Upper Turonian Atco Formation: And third, at the broken end of the piece pictured specifically in F5 and F6, I see what I perceive as stepped layers where some of it flaked off. That is good evidence against it being an Inoceramid hinge, because the prismatic crystals would be running parallel with an Inoceramid hinge's length, not running perpendicular to it. And as the steppes go down, it seems to show layers of more reddish material, which is also something that I have never seen from an inoceramid shell. There are four main pieces in this rock (which are presumably related) that I am inquiring about, which are pictured in F1-F9. But there are other pieces in this rock that might be related to them, pictured in F10-F12. I also have a few other pieces in this rock that I am pretty sure are not related to the others, pictured in F13 and F14 . F13 is something that I have seen before, but I still do not know what it is, and F14 looks kind of like the shell of a very small urchin, but I really have no idea. The rock its self is 16 cm long. The largest of the 4 main pieces is pictured in F2, F3 and F13 and is 14½ mm in diameter and has 5 mm of it visible above the rock, plus the part of it sticking up in the center. The second largest piece pictured in F4-F7 is 9 mm in diameter and 6 mm in length. The third largest piece pictured in F8 is 5 mm long. And the smallest piece which is right next to the second largest piece is pictured in F4, F9 and is 5 mm long. There are many bits and pieces in this rock that I just can't take pictures of because this post would be 45 pages long. If photos or information apart from what I have already given is needed then I would be happy to give it. I could be way out there and totally off, so I appreciate any help/correction that I get. I am more of an ammonite guy and I don't really know that much at all about vertebrates. Even if these are nothing, I will have learned something. F1 F2

Not many fossils on this hunt but plenty of artifacts. Did manage to find one good size mosasaur vert and one pristine shark tooth. I ran into a mother hog and her babies, numerous other herds of hogs, snakes and more spiders than you can count. I also sunk in mud & water up to my chest and I'm 6ft 4 lol. North Texas creek hunt.

Hello, folks. I'm not totally new to fossil hunting, but I am new to trying to identify fossils. As a kid growing up I always search fossils on Grand Lake, Oklahoma, but never tried to identify anything. I recently went to the North Sulphur River, Ladonia Fossil Park and have many finds that I plan to post for help identifying, I'm still in the process of taking pictures. I look forward to your help and, thank you in advance for your time. Laura

Ok, I hope this is a fossil, or something other than a rock. I'm not going to guess as to what I think it looks like, I will just go on the photos since I have no idea what it is. Thank you for your help. Location: Ladonia Fossil Park, North Sulphur River Crustaceous Period fossils, from what I have read Weight: 11.56 OZ

I found this at the Ladonia fossil Park, Texas, in the Sulphur River, it looks like it might be a fish in this rock towards the top but I'm not sure. I believe all findings in this water or from the Cretaceous Period. Thank you for looking and any help identifying. Laura

Need help identifying. Thank you in advance for your help. Laura Location: Ladonia Fossil Park, Ladonia, Texas, North Sulphur River Weight: 13.83 Ounces

This is from a Formation in the Eagle Ford Group of Denton County, Texas. It's only 2" X 1½" but it has a lot of fossils in that small space. I will do or get done a little more prep to make sure there isn't anything else in there but I'll keep it all attached. I think the brownish-red matrix is sandstone and it's pretty thick so I think it will hold together fine. Very little was showing when I found it. The close-ups are clockwise to the center.

Found the following yesterday while out gathering some gravel in Post Oak Creek. I know its not million of years old but it looks quite a bit older than I am. Any idea what this may be? Thanks in advance David

Hello! We went fossil hunting in North Texas about a month ago and found these oddly shaped rocks. Two of the three really have me scratching my head and wondering if we found something cool or just oddly shaped. Found in a shale creek bed, where paleontologists recently found a really neat fish specimen from the Cretaceous period (skull and vertebrae). We also found several ammonites and concretions (crab). they were fairly easy to pull up out of the changing creek bed, found while hunting for concretions and turning over large bits of shale and rock. I was curious if anyone had any idea of what they could be, if they are anything. The first one is round, with a knob, and a hole in either side that doesn't look like it goes through but looks like it could have been connected at some point. It's fairly smooth. The second is too defined to just be a random rock, but I have no idea how to go about identifying it. I thought maybe coral (but it's smooth) or maybe bone? The third was in the same area as the second and was picked up by my 5 year old as a "tooth". I'm pretty sure it's just a rock. I will post more pictures in comments #2 #1

Any idea if this is bone or shell? What might this be? Any help is very much appreciated. About 3/4" square. Thanks!

Spent a couple of early morning hours on Post Oak Creek this morning trying to beat the heat. We had a little rain the other night so I figured I would give it a shot. Someone posted a couple of weeks ago about snakes but I can tell you I saw less than usual, zero to be exact. The bigger issue is finding access. The usual spot was grown over and the only option was to go down on your rear which doesn't bother me much but once I slid down the challenge was to find a way up the slippery clay but that was something to worry about later. There was an abundance of teeth. There were tons of small foot prints that looked fresh so someone must have been out there yesterday after the Saturday night showers. They must have found the good ones but I did get a good haul of broken teeth with a couple of complete teeth for the display jars. Found a few bone fragments, a partial lobster, three gastropods and a nice bottle.

Found these while shark tooth hunting and wondering if someone can help me with an ID. These are from North Central Texas. Thank you in advance for any help.

I live on some property in far north east Grayson county, Texas and runs alongside Iron ore creek. It that has several places on it where we have been finding clams and gastropods. It consists of heavy red clay mostly; with some grey, yellow, orange and a little black clay. Sandstone and Ironstone is very abundant. From what I have been able to find is this property is in the Woodbine formation. These clams have me stumped. Can anyone help me identify some of these beauties?

Any ideas what these are? they look like jelly beans and are probably geologic but I have run across three of them as I shave searched through micro matrix from the eagle ford of both Texas. They are approximately 5mm. Thank you for any help.

Hi all. Me and hubby have been out on some exploring trips and we've come across several bones that are very dark. I want to say mineralized. They are not fossilized. Also I'm sure bovine in most cases, and maybe bison? Also, recently came across a deer skull cap and partial antlers. The area we have found some of these pieces are in a creek in Grayson county Texas (Choctaw creek) that consist of heavy red clay, grey marl and sand. I don't know even where to start on dating non fossilized bones, other than the good ole' it's darker so older method. I can understand that simply it being exposed to heavy red clay that it may darken the bone considerably, but still the dating method eludes me. Help? Here are some examples I have.

Hello all. My buddy and I went to the NSR and Post Oak Creek this weekend. I was hoping someone could help me identify a couple of finds. The first is one was found on the bed of the NSR. It appears to be bone, but it is very heavy (perhaps from soaking up all the grey clay since it was embedded in the bed). The second was found at Post Oak Creek and appears to be bone, kind of like a finger type bone (digit). We also found some nice teeth and nice baculite. This is my first post about my finds, so any help would be much appreciated. I was also wondering if anyone could provide some advice on where to look for fossils at the NSR. This was my second trip in a month (or ever for that matter) and I am having a really hard time finding anything. The baculite is about the most identifiable thing I have found. Should you look on the bed, the cliff side (it's all grey!), mouth of creeks, the creeks themselves...? Thanks in advance. Glad to be a member.

Hey guys and gals. My hubby and me have been tromping around in Post Oak Creek (Sherman, Grayson Co. Tx.) and he came upon this tooth... I for the life of me can't figure this one out. Is it just part of a shark tooth?

Would love to tell a lie on how I found this Ammo.... something fancy like "I research some places to visit and it paid"... But theres no sexy story here... I bought some stuff, went to pick it up and was coming back home to Houston around 4:30 pm when going thru Mansfield in SouthEast Tarrant County saw that, were they are expanding the highway, they were a bunch of rocks in the typical "lightish brown look alike" rocks where I´ve found gastros before in Central TX... Nothing to lose since there was plenty of sunlight left..... Decided to do a stop and 5 minutes later I found this:

Appreciate any comments! Looks like a flat Hippurites radiosus? Scientific Name: Unknown Found: North Central Texas Date Found: Summer 2014 Formation: Alluvium Qt / Eagle Ford Size: 50mm sorry for the hand and fingers!