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I found these corals in Lower Oligocene deposits from Romania. Does anyone know what family or genus they are?

I went out today with two other fellow geologists for a short trip in the NW part of the Transylvanian Basin. We choose few different locations for our fossil hunt but all locations are quite close of each other. For our first stop we choose Lutetian deposits with a horizont known for Nummulites perforatus. On a hill, with a beautiful landscape, we picked few Nummulites and went for the next location. Descending the hill we stopped at a known outcrop in Eocene/Oligocene deposits where we found few echinoids (mostly Eupatagus and Scutella) and few gastropods. After a short walk through the forest we identified some gypsum deposits and we picked few interesting crystals. Our last location was near a river. It was a strategic pick because we didn't have much precipitation in the last weeks so we expected the water level to be low and we get into the bed of the river and found as expected some interesting bivalves, especially we were looking for Gryphaea esterhazyi (renamed as Sokolowia buchsii) and yes, we found them. Nearby we also found a Xenophora and other gastropods. Here are some Nummulites and few more fossils that we found today.

I found a fossilized dolphin skeleton in Summerville, SC this week that has been donated to the Charleston Center for Paleontology. They worked with the Palmetto Paleontology Museum to get all necessary approvals from the property owners, county, city, and state to excavate it. Both organizations provided the resources to do the excavation, which was a big undertaking. So far, they've identified at least 37 vertebrae, 8 ribs, and a skull with teeth. I'll post some pictures here, but lots more can be seen on the Charleston Center for Paleontology's Facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/CharlestonCenterforPaleo/ and the Palmetto Paleontology Museum's Facebook page at https://m.facebook.com/100094770079332/. You can view one news story at https://www.counton2.com/news/national-news/25-million-year-old-fossil-discovered-in-charleston/amp/ and there should be a couple more coming. Thank you so much to the Charleston Center for Paleontology, the Palmetto Paleontology Museum, and everyone else who participated or provided the necessary approvals! Red: mandibles with teeth and skull are upside down; Green: some of the thirty-something verts found so far. Back section includes the tail verts. Single molar that was already loose: I will definitely provide updates as the prep happens!

Found in Bahria Town, Karachi Sindh. Pakistan. 33-2 MYo, the hills were a formed by the result of the Indian Eurasian tectonic plate collision, the (at the time) basins were filled by the Tethys sea, now rich in many bivalves of sort, crab fragments, echinoderms, clams and possibly more.

Sorry for the previous post with no images, I accidentally clicked enter and can’t seem to delete it. Anyways, a little bit of info regarding the post: The following images contain a fossil of a possible sea urchin (I believe) that I found in Bahria Town, Karachi Sindh, Pakistan. Bahria Town has rock formations from the oligocene, miocene and Pliocene era, ~33-2MYa, anyways, the area itself was a sea basin that was formed around the time the Indian and Eurasian plates collided, and creatures of the now ancient Tethys ocean essentially thrived in the zone. Furthermore, the creatures (of specific location) includes certain bivalves, scallops, crustacean claws, clams, sea urchins (more obviously sea urchins). Oddly the area seems to be greeted with more than 1 species of sea urchin - I found three different types of sea urchins in the area, not just 1. Some things to take notice of is the build of the given fossils, they seem to be quite thin with some obvious asymmetry, unlike generic sea urchins. Furthermore, one of them seems to have been completely crushed by sediment rock (as its structure its evidently broken I believe it was during the time of its existence). The first three images include the fossil I believe to be from a rare/new species, please observe the details on it, and the last is the sea urchin that was squashed.

I’ve recently received a box of White River fossil “projects” in unlabeled baggies. Most look like an exercise in frustration, but this one was relatively easy to put back together. It was only in 12 pieces, fortunately all in one bag 😅 To me it looks like a tibiotarsus from a bird, but correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know the White River fauna very well. The White River wiki lists only two bird genera, Bathornis and Paracrax, both of which were large ground dwellers and seem to have been larger than this fossil (although I suppose it could be a smaller species or a juvenile). Having just seen a couple of beautiful wild turkeys today, I’m guessing my bird was about turkey-sized. Thoughts on an ID?

Today I took a trip just by myself without having in mind a certain location. I ended up in two different locations from The Transylvanian Basin, Romania. In first location are Priabonian/Rupelian deposits with marls and I found many Pycnodonte gigantica and few things that I am not sure what they are (any suggestion it's much appreciated). In first few minutes I found these Pycnodontes. Then I found these things but I am not really sure yet what they might be (maybe corals??) Another strange thing found in this place it's this piece. I hope to get a clear understanding about what it might be after some preparation. Then I decided to go in another location where are Priabonian deposits with limestones and I found many gastropods from Campanilidae family, some bivalves and few corals. Here I found (parts of) gastropods in different sizes, largest begin around 30 cm and some bivalves. In the first spiral of a gastropod I found these beautiful calcite crystals. As a conclusion it was a good day for a solo trip and I got few interesting fossils.

It looks different from Pulalius Vulgaris, has a more flattened carapace, and one claw is noticeably larger.

I am putting a display together for a club show and could use a little help to ID some of the items I hope to include. The display is of Oregon leaves from the Willamette flora, dated 30.1 million years ago. The leaves are from a road cut south of Eugene near Goshen, Oregon. I have found very little written on this formation, I've done my best to ID as much as I can with what I have available and was hoping to put it out to a wider community to both check my work and in the hopes that someone could identify something I could not. If someone is aware of any writing on this formation I would be eager to know that as well. Thanks for the help! 1. Maybe a Quercus, but that's a shot in the dark. 24 cm long

My younger son Mel just led his first fossil trip of the year on our Eocene/Oligocene M&M Ranch in Nebraska last week. My sons, Mel and Marco Jr., are starting to get back from their prepper some of the fossils that they found on our ranch in 2018. Not all fossils go to the prepper. Mel preps some of the specimens himself. Below is a picture of the specimens Mel found in 2018 that he will prep. Here are a few pictures of 2018 specimens just back from the prepper. Mel found another saber cat in 2018 that is in prep. Below are a saber cat skull found by Mel and saber cat skeleton found by Marco Jr. in previous years on the ranch. They have found seven or eight so far on the ranch. I'll probably be going out to the ranch a couple of times this year. However, I spend most of my time at the ranch taking matrix that contains micro squamate, bird, amphibian, and mammal specimens. I'm currently working with seven researchers on this micro material. Marco Sr.

Hello These are the adventures of myself and my dog Millie as we hunt for fossils and history along the Peace River. Our mode of travel is our 12’ Indian River Canoe, Balance. Im a 4th generation Polk county native, and Millie comes from a long line of Colorado ranch dogs. We do everything together. Including work, as I am a farrier for my day job, and the farm owners are more excited to see Millie than me! The goal of this journal is to document the learning along with the adventures. To go below our sieves, and learn why the river is presenting as it is. Other members have already posted pictures and info on every fossil I’m likely to find, but the river can still teach me/us why the hole I’m digging is delivering specific materials. Understanding what happened before what happened, happened. That’s what I want to know! Millie and I have been gifted this river and the ability to run it at a moments notice. That’s not the case for everyone. Even with access I still only get out for a morning or so a week. So this journal will also provide an avenue for those who can’t just jump in the boat with us. Jump in through this forum and help out along the way when you can/want. The more we learn the better the treasure!! Jp & Mille LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN! Season opener - Oct 2023 water depth day of - 8’ and falling. Like most things I’m impatient about, starting Fossil hunting this year was rushed. Millie and I ran head on into a river that’s a solid 3’ too high for me to handle any real working conditions. There’s places to work. We just haven’t found many at these depths! Yet!! After work arrived and we got started towards the river. Late arrival and definitely some dark water running ahead but at this water height you just gotta keep the boat in the middle. Got in late but just in time for a welcome back from the Peace! We woke up ready! Well, I did. Camp and my “Field Office” ready. Now to get wet! Because of the water depth I tied leashes to all the heavy tools and tied some extra pool noodle to them. That way I could drop them and just pull up the leader. Brought the “Velvet Touch” probe. No stopping us now! “What” I was after wasn’t an option this trip. I had only two available spots in mind that would be under 4’ deep. Both those spots are in a very recent deposit that I’ve been getting lots of Pleistocene and some Pliocene mammal material from. I ended up finding the time frame expected, and possibly an extinct sand shark nursery area. The river had sifted one spot completely away during the last flood so I was left with only one place to put in effort! At 4’ it was at my cap for height. I’m 5’6’’ and I could only dig 2 feet down before I ran out of shovel. So I had to figure something out. First I tried to fill the sieve on the River bottom and lift it up. FAIL! never got it to stay put long enough to do anything productive before I’d loose it and it would pop up down stream pulling on the leash. Next I tried to lift the gravel to the sifter on the surface. There was so much water the shovel load was gone before I broke the surface! FAIL! At a max depth of 2 feet down I wasn’t going to be learning much about the geography or layers I needed to work through. So I shifted gears and decided to focus on just the top 2’ as effectively as I could. The third try ended up succeeding. I would loosen the riverbed into a loose filled hole that had collapsed on itself and then use my scoop on a pole thing to transfer the loose material up to the surface. Not the best method but I’m grateful to have been able to stand there all day. I’d work forward 3’ and over 1’ then back again. All at 2’ or less deep or I’d go under. I suppose if I feel like moving a bunch of river bed again we could come back here and go deeper! One of my questions about this area is what is it old enough to find within it? Another trip! Here’s the gratuitous highlights shot! Not a bad day! The alligator tooth got a yell but the sand tigers and mammal teeth got me really excited. Millie and I were exhausted and COLD! I learned a few things this weekend to put in the journal. Before that. Let’s eat! Steak for me and steak for Millie. Yumm. Lessons: 1. I need appropriate clothes. Like wet suit stuff. Can’t be under water like that all day again. I got chilly and had to warm up several times. 85deg out too! What I wear is fine for knee deep wading but definitely time to upgrade the wardrobe. (I did try my new dive boots and that was the only part of me that wasn’t cold) 2. Regular shovel handles are way too short. Amend as needed to your stature. I need a 12’ handle to dig a hole in this water. So I’m out! 3. Jack, (Shellseeker) is insane!! This was my first time hunting this deep and it’s right in his sweet spot. You’re an animal! He tried to assist my tool tuning but until you run out of shovel that’s a new feeling to adjust to. 4. At two feet deep this area is where I will come for younger land aged fauna and I can expect the standard peace river sharks teeth assemblage with a higher than usual volume of sand sharks teeth. This was a great day hunting and I learned a lot. Maybe not about what my intended question was or the areas I’ve been thinking of but a ton about gear and technique! KEEP THE FAITH AND TRY TO DO GOOD!! Jp & Millie Here are the finds from this trip and some info used to figure out the unknowns. sand shark and some Hemi Serra Peace River mix fun and unique things - The mammal molar ended up being a Giant Tapir. By shape and size 3rd or 4th premolar. No root. Should have given it away. Mixed bag bottom to top of left- Gator tooth gator tooth Crappy Barbra’s incisor Canine- size 22mm broken suggest coyote or smaller domestic dog. 25mm would be the target. Tiny molar - it’s broken but by the face and measurements it’s most likely a rodent. Camel type tooth frag. Upper right - various tiger shark species to identify with Florida fossil hunters PDF middle - two deer horn buttons. One I already had but these were found 5 feet apart. Same deer?!? Bottom right- Eocene snail and crab shell fragments. Those are 37.5 Mya.?? Snail identification was general to the Ocala formation results of similar snail species.

Paid another visit to the old road cut. Didn't find much, save for the usual little gastropods and one small Pulalius carapace. Headed to Colorado tomorrow, and will get some photos from the Florissant quarry. Peace!

I recently saw this carnivorous mammal tooth from the Brule Formation for sale. It is labelled as being that of a Hesperocyon gregarius, but what little I know of carnivorous mammal dentition leads me to believe that the tooth could in fact come from a Hyaenodon. As always, I've decided I'm going to play it safe and ask someone of greater expertise to verify this. It is my understanding that @jpc, @Randyw and @ParkerPaleo are all Brule Formation specialists, so I will take the liberty of "@ing" you all in. Thanks in advance for any guidance Othniel

So this happened back in late March and I’m just now getting around to posting (or boasting?) about it. At this years gem and mineral show in Loveland, Colorado I entered a display case of White River Formation fossils which I have collected mostly in Colorado over the last few years. I emphasized diversity, attempting to show the diversity of the organisms (or at least prominent organisms) in the ecosystem while aiming to educate show visitors about the under-appreciated Eocene to Oligocene transition. Over 4,000 people came to the show, and at the end of the weekend the judges selected my case for first place in the fossils category, which I was very happy with because there were some other really awesome fossil displays people had put together. For the win I received a trophy and blue ribbon. I definitely intend to display again next year at the same show!