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I have recently been trying to work out the exact ages of my fossils from the Ouled Abdoun Basin, but it is proving somewhat difficult, particularly with regards to sharks and crocodilians. I have been unable to find any comprehensive resources on the matter, and any relevant resources or other guidance on this front would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance Othniel

The Eumaniraptora is a clade of non-avian theropod dinosaurs that first emerged during the late Jurassic period and diversified extensively during the subsequent Cretaceous period (143-66 Million years ago). This group is most famously known as the Raptor dinosaurs (the sister clade of the theropod dinosaurs that gave direct rise to the birds), consisting of mostly small to mid sized theropod dinosaurs. There are a few species though that exceed the typical small-medium size range for the raptor dinosaurs. Only a few giant raptor dinosaurs are currently known. But recent discoveries over the past few decades have demonstrated large raptor dinosaurs were less of an exception in Cretaceous ecosystems than previously thought. Here is a list of all the currently known giant Eumaniraptora from the fossil record which hopefully can expand our understanding the vital roles these animals played in the ecosystems they once inhabited. Let me know if I forgot any examples. South America Austroraptor cabazai (Dromaeosauridae - Argentina, South America) (Late Cretaceous (78-66 Million Years ago)) (grew up to 6 meters (20 feet) in length) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679073/ Antarctica Imperobator antarcticus (Eumaniraptora - part of what is now James Ross Island, Antarctica) (Late Cretaceous (71 Million Years ago)) (grew up to 4 meters (13 feet) in length, note: did not have the iconic pair of sickle shaped claw on its feet like most other Eumaniraptora) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667118300120?via%3Dihub Asia Achillobator giganticus (Dromaeosauridae - part of what is now Mongolia, Asia) (Late Cretaceous (96-89 Million Years ago)) (grew up to 5 meters (16 feet) in length) Perle, A.; Norell, M. A.; Clark, J. M. (1999). "A new maniraptoran Theropod−Achillobator giganticus (Dromaeosauridae)−from the Upper Cretaceous of Burkhant, Mongolia". Contributions from the Geology and Mineralogy Chair, National Museum of Mongolia (101): 1−105. Unnamed Bissekty Formation Giant Dromaeosauridae (Dromaeosauridae (could possible be a species of Itemirus) - part of what is now Uzbekistan, Asia) (Late Cretaceous (92-90 Million Years ago)) (based on Specimens CCMGE 600/12457, ZIN PH 11/16, grew up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263891965_Dromaeosauridae_Dinosauria_Theropoda_from_the_Bissekty_Formation_Upper_Cretaceous_Turonian_of_Uzbekistan_and_the_phylogenetic_position_of_Itemirus_medullaris_Kurzanov_1976 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/abs/giant-dromaeosaurid-theropod-from-the-upper-cretaceous-turonian-bissekty-formation-of-uzbekistan-and-the-status-of-ulughbegsaurus-uzbekistanensis/4543ABAB1EC19C84405EDF66A5F53124 Europe Unnamed Wessex Formation Giant Dromaeosauridae (Dromaeosauridae (specimens for this species could belong to Vectiraptor) - Isle of Wight, Great Britain, Europe) (Early Cretaceous (125 Million Years ago)) (based on Specimens IWCMS.2002.1, IWCMS.2002.3, IWCMS.2002.4., and BMNH R 16510, grew up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222830089_The_first_record_of_velociraptorine_dinosaurs_Saurischia_Theropoda_from_the_Wealden_Early_Cretaceous_Barremian_of_southern_England https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667121003712 Unnamed Giant Dromaeosauridae (Dromaeosauridae - Gorodishchenskii District Russia, Europe) (Late Cretaceous (72.1-66.0 Million Years ago)) (based on Specimen VGI. no. 231/2, grew up to 5.8 meters (19 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235806763_Carnivorous_dinosaurs_Saurischia_Theropoda_from_the_Maastrichtian_of_the_Volga-Don_Interfluve_Russia North America Utahraptor ostrommaysi (Dromaeosauridae - Western North America) (Early Cretaceous (135-130 Million Years ago)) (grew up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285714464_A_large_dromaeosaur_Theropoda_from_the_Lower_Cretaceous_of_eastern_Utah Dakotaraptor steini (Dromaeosauridae - Western North America) (Late Cretaceous (66 Million years ago)) (grew up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283655219_The_first_giant_raptor_Theropoda_Dromaeosauridae_from_the_Hell_Creek_Formation Unnamed Marshalltown Formation Giant Dromaeosauridae (Dromaeosauridae - Eastern North America) (Late Cretaceous (72.1 Million Years ago)) (based on Specimen NJSM 14158, grew up to 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327117985_The_distinctive_theropod_assemblage_of_the_Ellisdale_site_of_New_Jersey_and_its_implications_for_North_American_dinosaur_ecology_and_evolution_during_the_Cretaceous https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~gdouglas/raptor/index.html Unnamed Tar Heel Formation Giant Dromaeosauridae ((Dromaeosauridae - Eastern North America) (Late Cretaceous (78.5-77.1 Million Years ago)) (Based on Specimen YPM.VPPU.021397, grew up to 3.4 meters (11 feet 2 inches) in length) https://peerj.com/preprints/26829/ Alaska Troodontid (Troodontidae (could be a species of Troodon or a new genus in Troodontidae) - Prince Creek Formation Alaska, Western North America) (Late Cretaceous (70.6-69.1 Million Years ago) (grew up to almost 4 meters (13 feet) in length) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236632883_On_the_Occurrence_of_Exceptionally_Large_Teeth_of_Troodon_Dinosauria_Saurischia_from_the_Late_Cretaceous_of_Northern_Alaska Latenivenatrix mcmasterae (Troodontidae - Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta Canada, Western North America) (Late Cretaceous (75.5 Million years ago)) (grew up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in length) https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/78296/1/cjes-2017-0031.pdf Unnamed Mount Laurel Formation Giant Dromaeosauridae (Dromaeosauridae - Eastern North America) (Late Cretaceous (72.1 Million Years ago)) (based on Specimen NJSM GP 22949, grew up to 3.4 meters (11 feet 2 inches) in length) https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191206 What do you guys think?

Hello friends, I'm very much a novice, but have fallen in love with this hobby after having found some Ilymatogyra, Texigryphaea, Neithea, and Pycnodonte specimens in the creek beds here in South Central Texas. Thank you for having me as a member. ps - My member photo is of our family's pit bull Dahlia, who loves flowers.

well, it can't ALL alliterate after all.... Texas is so incredibly blessed with a ridiculous amount of fossils, and it's also a BIG state, as we Texans like to remind everyone. So I don't get up to North Texas as much as I would like, but it's definitely worth the four hour drive for some new hunting grounds! Happily, I have a friend in Fort Worth who let me stay with her and she was excited to show me a new spot she'd found. I've showed her around Central Texas a few times and when I said I was heading up her way, she said..."well..there's not really any spots I know of to take you", so I was going to scout out a few spots when she called back..."I found a spot! 10 minutes from my house!". She showed me a few things she'd found and I was excited to see it was Grayson Formation, which are not common exposures to be found in Central Texas. It's a super non-descript spot, practically a ditch, but it was obvious no one had hunted it before, which is AMAZING considering how many fossil hunters are in Texas. It was littered with tiny heteromorph ammonites called Mariellas. I didn't find any that were well preserved but they were everywhere! And I know with this formation, you have to look CLOSE. REALLY CLOSE. It's a lot of micromorph fossils, interspersed with large oysters. It's hard to see past the oysters sometimes. It was actually pretty late in the day and we hunted till the sun set, so some long shadows. Erich Rose called it Echinoid Light - that early morning and late evening long shadows which show up surface decor so well. A Mariella - it's about 3/4 inch long As I mentioned, none of the Mariellas were well preserved, but they were surprisingly intact...up to 6 whorls sometimes! We found a couple of little ammonites Otoscaphites but they were also pretty worn. My first great find was a complete Engonoceras serpentium. I have found fragments of them, but had yet to find a whole one. It's tiny but complete! I was on the lookout for any echinoids, but didn't see anything until just as we were starting to wrap up....I was walking back to my bucket and my eye caught that telltale round shape. I was VERY VERY excited, because I've only found a couple of these echinoids at the Waco Pit which is no longer open to collectors. I have one decent sized moderately crushed one and one tiny good one, so to come across this monster in perfect condition made my heart do a little flip flop! A Goniophorus scotti. One of my favorite little echies. I have to admit I was feeling a little bad that I was hoarding this echie, because my friend who generously shared the site with me didn't find one....but then SHE FOUND THE SHARK TOOTH....not a foot away from where I found the echie. So she was happy and I was happy and everyone was happy. hahahah Found a couple of other nice samples of the fauna typical in the Greyson (also known as Del Rio in Central Texas) - a really lovely Neithea texana: A good sized Plicatula and an interesting worm tube cluster. Pyrgopolon squamosus And of course, I brought back some micro matrix to look through! That Grayson/Del Rio stuff is hard to process because it is primarily clay mud. But I was happy I did because I found a few good things! Another tiny Goniophorus (sadly, crushed) and some pretty little gastropods of unknown genera Plus found ONE single Comatulid Crinoid - Roveocrinus sp. But this was a real surprise! I have not found Baculites in the Grayson, but this little piece was in the Micro matrix! And one of my favorite things to find...a little starfish ossicle! I'm still hoping to find my "whole brittlestar" someday.... But thankful for friends who love fossils as much as I do. Hunting alone is nice, I enjoy the solitude very much, but it is also really nice to hunt with friends.

Dear TFF, This year I have visited Oman, which is a nice and super hot country, with spectacular mountains and wadis. The first place that will be of interest to this forum was the Bimmah Sink Hole, which is said to have the underground connection via caves with the nearby sea. There are hundreds of wadis all over the country – and in the part of the country we visited, they are basically the only places with some greenery, as otherwise the country looks like this: or like this: The first place where one can spot fossils was the Al Hajar Mountains range and more precisely the Jebel Akhdar (the Green Mountain). It’s covered with huge stones with fossilised corals: The next beautiful place was Jebel Shams, which is also called the Grand Canyon of Oman: We first browsed the rocks close to our camp on the top of the mountain and one can find some fossilised rudists there. The next day we went to the bottom of the canyon – Of course you can drive the car only up to a certain point – and afterwards you need to walk. On the way we spotted several huge stones with fossils, and a few small ones, already very smooth because of the water. In one of the villages we came across a few stalls where locals were selling fossils – The next day we were supposed to visit the Al Hoota cave – I booked tickets online yet in July. As we were a bit ahead of schedule, our local guide called the cave to find out, if we can come a bit earlier than the booked time – and (surprise, surprise) he was told that the cave is closed for the reason of heavy rains in August. No one from the cave has bothered to mail me or text me with this info or to refund the cost of tickets to my account for more than a month – and it turned out the company operating the cave cannot transfer the money back to a foreign account – so we needed to go there anyway to get the refund in cash. There is always a silver lining – a cave has little geological museum before the entrance, so while they were processing the refund, I went to see it. Here are the specimens on display: Further on we went to Wadi Bani Awf, where we stopped on the road to help a Spanish couple park their sedan somewhere safe (they ventured on this type of road with a small FWD Suzuki sedan and when they realised it’s completely out of question that they could continue, they tried to go back, but got stuck) and to call the police to come and tow them out in the meantime I browsed the rocks on the side of the road - and they were full of such stuff - whatever this may be: The wadi is beautiful You can see the road we took and it’s the place where the famous Snake Canyon is Its name comes from its shape We had some fun on the bottom of the wadi – and gave our car a little wash a few times The last wadi we visited was Al-Khod with Eocene and (I think Miocene) rocks, full of nummulites and foraminiferas. I hope you enjoyed the report

What is this wee tiny little thing? Measures just under 2 cm. Was found in a late Cretaceous stratum, in a transition area between the Pecan Gap Chalk and Austin Chalk of South Central Texas, USA. I'm leaning toward a fossilized echinoid of some sort. Maybe a fibularia specimen? Thanks for any help.

Recently got back from a trip on Holden Beach, and just WOW. Words can't describe the uniqueness of being able to find Mosasaur teeth next to Megalodon teeth. The recent Hurricane brought in many new fossils and I had quite good luck. Here are some photos of the trip, I will post a picture showing all of my best finds shortly, but for now enjoy! First, here are some of the Squalicorax pristodontus teeth I collected. These were relatively common.

Could someone please help me identify this small (~6 cm long, 2 cm diameter) cylindrical fragment, embedded in a surrounding rock matrix? It's certainly Cretaceous and marine, having been found in South Central TX. I was thinking baculite, belemnite, or maybe a crinoid. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm wondering if this might be a Requienia fragment? It's a circular, very flat piece, about 22cm (8.7") wide at the bottom, embedded in a block quarried from the central-Texas Austin Chalk. As you can see, due to the block being cut / broken off, it's shaped like a semi-circle, or maybe a setting sun, with some residual rock matrix in the center. Some faint stripes are visible that curve clockwise along with the general arc of the thing. It's VERY flat and thin. There's nothing to be seen while looking at the block from the lower side. Otherwise I would have included a pic. Any thoughts? Thanks!

i’m generally pretty good with identifying dinosaur teeth but i cannot find anything that matches this tooth, it’s roughly 2.5cm long found in kem kem morocco. if anyone can help pin it down to the species that would be great help. thanks

After a fair amount of research which paid off quite well for a beginner, I finally began to mesh some of the "bookworm" experience with the "on site blundering around in the desert until I got lucky" experience. The research said - large ammonites in this location. Okay. Many trips later, I suppose 6 inch diameter ammonites are considered Large. Found some, check. Another fossil collector's blog said the same thing so I went there. It just happened to be on the other side of the big ditch I was previously hunting in. Okay, the ditch was 20 plus miles wide with the Morrison Formation filling the ditch all the way to the other side. Turned out this opinion of what equates to a large ammonite was more in line with what I was thinking. 10, 12, 15, 20 inch diameter ammos sure fit the bill to me. When it takes two to carry one to their vehicle...yeah...you have a BIG ammonite. For me even the partials were amazing when just 3 or 4 chambers of an outer whorl were found. Doesn't take much to realize this 3 pound whorl section belonged to 350 to 500 mm diameter squid in a snail shell! Kinda like finding a Meg tooth or raptor claw...one definitely envisions the original owner's size. This is another chemical prep after gluing the loose parts securely. I used muriatic acid and a soft bristled toothbrush with a tub of water to rinse after each pass. This whorl section had been previously dug some years ago, IMO, and left behind. It has a few small lichen patches on the "back" side which I left as is. The largest lichen patch is 1 CM wide which equates to 1 mm a year's growth over 10 years of sunlight exposed rock. More or less. No other connecting parts were nearby when I collected it. I made one pass, rinsed, then a second pass with fresh acid followed by a rinse, repeat until the stopping point. As found. First pass. Second pass and rinse. Third pass and rinse. Final pass, rinse and stopping point. I was looking for some color contrast from before and after...or rather...coated with calcite and coating removed down to the "chocolate" with some areas still showing the calcite coating. Top view of the keel area. Backside with lichen patches showing. Drying after final rinse and inspection. Dry the next day. Freshly applied Paraloid coating. It cured out slightly less shiny except for the smoothest spots. Besides just liking these partial whorls of large ammonites, It's good practice for these guys awaiting preparation. The one on the right is a concretion of over 100#/45 + kg. The bucket on the left side has a 56 pound concretion with a 10-12 inch ammo in it. So the research boiled down to who considers what's big and what's REALLY BIG. I like them all but it was nice to find some that make me think I found something " DINOSAUR big" and not snail shell big.