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Howdy all, I've had this salamander vertebra from the Hell Creek Formation for quite some time now, and I was wondering if there would be any way to place an ID. (I've been told it could be either Scapherpeton tectum or Habrosaurus dilatus)

Hi everybody I have been sifting through some micro matrix off of a hadrosaur pubis I have been working on and was hoping to get some ID's. I'll label the specimens by number to aid in responses. The first is this therapod tooth that I was thinking could be dromaeosaurid, possibly Archerorapter because of the ridges on crown but unfortunately the tooth isn't in wonderful shape. The tooth CH: 5mm CBL: 3mm CBW: 1mm and the distal Carina are 10 per mm. There aren't any distal Carina preserved. 1. Next is what I think as a gar dermal plate and the several other pieces like it but with different patterns. The dermal plate 2. The other patterns. 3.4. Next is an odd bone fragment that I haven't the faintest ides of what it is. 5. Probably my best find would have to be this vertebra that I think is a Scapherpeton tectum trunk vertebra that I was beyond thrilled to find. 6. I feel like this next one is a tooth and makes me think gar but is fairly beat up so it might not be identifiable. 7. Here's a fragment of bone that is only diagnostic in the fact that it is hollow. 8. Here's some of what I think are gastropods with a small amount of shell remaining. 9. Here is a curious looking fragment that is only half there but seems to have some enamel? 10. And finally here is what I'm pretty sure is just a fragment of tooth enamel. 11. As always think you for your time and knowledge I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello everyone, I'm interested in buying this fossil salamander. It is offered as an 'Apateon dracyiensis' found in Autun, France. Is the location possible for this find? And is it possible to narrow the id to 'dracyiensis' or is it best to keep it just as a general 'pedestris'? Size is pretty small, 6 cm at most. I like the piece but... what is it? Thanx for any advice! J

Hi there everyone! Ive got a tricky one today. I came across this listing for a “Trimerorhachis fossil” and I was wondering If y’all would be able to help me properly identify the specimen and possibly identify from what part of the body it comes from. The seller specifies that it was found in the Ryan Formation near Waurika, Oklahoma and claims that the bones belong to a member of the family Trimerorhachidae. Permian fossils are personally some of my favorites, but I’m not completely able to distinguish what this fossil could be. My only guess is that it could be part of the frontal/nostril area of the skull seeing as there’s a cavity at the front and that the eye sockets of the skull point upwards and not forward, but I’m not entirely sure. I’d greatly appreciate any guesses as to what exactly this specimen may be!

Could this be a genuine salamander fossil?

This has bugged me for years. It's a small amphibian or reptile ( 8cm long) found at Fossil OR at the high school site. The strata is tuffaceous siltstone famous for leaf impressions. It's part of the John Day formation, oligocene in age. I have read that salamanders are occasionally found there but cannot find any more information as to species or anatomy. I was even wondering if it could be a snake with vestigial femurs. I'm hoping that someone can provide me some specifics so I can finally finish cataloging this specimen.

This is a track of a Carboniferous era salamander from the Union Chapel Mine in Alabama. I forgot the species, but I was told they could get five feet long. I didn't find this track, a member of the Alabama Paleontology Society found it and gave it to me during our visit the mine. I did find one of these, mine isn't as nice looking.

Hi I found this on a walk today, I’m not a fossil hunter but thought it looked interesting. Can anyone give me some idea of when it was formed and what it is? It measures approximately 10” or 26cm long when measured round the rock. Thanks

A new exciting paper regarding early lissamphibian evolution is available online: Rainer R. Schoch; Ralf Werneburg; Sebastian Voigt (2020). A Triassic stem-salamander from Kyrgyzstan and the origin of salamanders. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117. doi:10.1073/pnas.2001424117. https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/05/2001424117 For a long time, a bonafide salamander from the Triassic remained elusive in the fossil record, although the recent description of Chinlestegophis has helped shed light on early caecilian evolution. Triassurus had been assigned to Caudata by Ivakhnenko (1978), but Estes (1981) questioned this placement and viewed it as a larval temnospondyl, while Milner (1994, 2000) noted that Triassurus has a suite of traits that distinguish it from Jurassic salamanders. Now, however, the paper by Schoch et al. confirms the initial placement of Triassurus as a member of Caudata, effectively making that genus the earliest bonafide salamander and filling another gap in the fossil record of early lissamphibians. Additionally, the new specimen of Triassurus happens to further confirm the temnospondyl origin of lissamphibians by sharing physical features with branchiosaurids and amphibamiforms.

I have for trade miocene salamanders from Bosnia. The images are of lower quality, since they are also more accessible for exchange. I also have other specimens, better quality or natural untreated. My interest are megalodon ( Charcarodon) teeth, miocene fossils ( echinoids, crabs, big gastropod,bivalves) all kind of interesting specimens. Im also interesting for fossils which I could use for compare with european fossils. If you have something interesting please contact me.Thanks!

I was digging around in Sacha's wonderful Merritt Island matrix the other day and found this. First let me apologize for the fuzziness of some of the images. My curiosity over-road my patience. Because of the ball and socket, I'm thinking this is a salamander caudal vertebra? If that is correct, would this be a vertebra that would break in an effort to avoid predators? Or could this be where the tail grew back? Mind you, these are just guesses. Perhaps it's not even from a salamander. I will try to get better photos, but this little bugger is so small, I'm having a hard time getting clear images. Thanks for your help! @old bones, @MarcoSr

Here is a Melanerpeton humbergense. I acquired this lower Permian branchiosaurid recently from a well-known dealer in the Netherlands. I had been eyeing this specimen for some time and decided now would be a good time as ever to pull the trigger on it. Even with some bone missing it was a nice price for a nice creature that probably would have been about 12 centimeters long in life or close to it. Much of the fun of fossils for me is to find and read as much material on them as I can. The most prominent recent paper on Melanerpeton is TIMELESS DESIGN: COLORED PATTERN OF SKIN IN EARLY PERMIAN BRANCHIOSAURIDS (TEMNOSPONDYLI: DISSOROPHOIDEA) (Werneburg 2009) regarding a 19 cm long specimen of Melanerpton tenerum found at Börtewitz in Saxony. This paper describes a "spotted pattern of skin color" which feature patterned spots (gaps in the pigmentation?) of about 2 to 5 millimeters in width. The fossil I own has been identified by the seller as Melanerpeton humbergense and is from a completely different location, Odernheim in Pfalz. I am somewhat confident in those IDs of location and species. The stone closely resembles other branchiosaur specimens from Pfalz I have seen internet photos of. I can find no contra-indicatory features in my fossil to the rather detailed description of M. humbergense in THE INTRARELATIONSHIPS AND EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE TEMNOSPONDYL FAMILY BRANCHIOSAURIDAE (Schoch, Milner 2008). M. humbergense is a different species from a different location of a slightly different stratigraphy than M. tenerum. Still, there is color on the stone of my fossil that may suggest a possible pattern of open circles. I present this fossil to the forum for open consideration of this feature. I seek to avoid a confirmation bias and hope to get an understanding of what is there, whether that understanding is positive or negative. Hopefully there are some European collectors here who have seen many of these before in hand, and collectors familiar with the preparatory methods used. Per the seller, there has been no restoration. The fossil seems to show none of the protective surface coating often applied to branchiosaur specimens from other sellers. Factors that may be negative to a confirmation of patterned pigmentation to this specimen: M. tenerum and M. humbergense are different species from different locations from a different stratigraphic period. None of the possible 'patterned circles' seem to be evident on my fossil's tail, only a portion of the thorax, There is no counterpart impression to examine. Per Werneburg "Hundreds of branchiosaurid specimens are known from the vertebrate Lagerstaette Börtewitz, but only one is preserved with colored skin pattern. " This would suggest that finding a branchiosaurid with colored skin pattern would be very improbable. More photos will be posted after this initial photo. Thank you for looking, and I hope you enjoy this little bit of mystery as much as I do.

Hi all, Last weekend at the fossil fair in Ede I bought a big box full of great fossils, but i need your help with some of them. Here are some verts, and the seller said they were greater siren verts (Siren lacertina). Is that true, or are they from another animal? They were found in Florida (US), but no exact location was given. They are apparently Pleistocene in age; and were collected in 2011. I made closeups of the most complete one. Thanks for your help! Max