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August 2013 Finds Of The Month


JohnJ

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Time to see what you've found this month!

We would also like to introduce another qualification to the current rules. Please make a note of Rule #5: Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for Prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest. In addition to keeping the contest fair, this new qualification will encourage better documentation of our spectacular past finds. Best of luck to all and good hunting!

Entries will be taken through August 31st. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.
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Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. You find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found by you.

2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry.

3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or significant Preparation of your Fossil must have been completed during the Month of the Contest.

4. You must include the Date of your Discovery or the Date of Preparation Completion.

5. Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for Prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest.

6. You must include the common or scientific name.

7. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the Fossil was found.

8. Play fair. No bought fossils.

Shortly after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month. The maximum entries allowed by the Polling software will be selected for each contest by the staff.

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the fossils. So, only entries posted with a CLEAR photo and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll.

Within a few days, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month! Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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hard to choose again... I'll place my two best finds.

Somniosus microcephalus

age: Pliocene

location: Antwerp area (Belgium)

date: 10th

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Nullus finis longius si quod facis delectaris

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Centrophorus sp.

age: Pliocene

location: Antwerp area (Belgium)

date: 10th

It's my only from there :)

very rare

post-12517-0-04778600-1376639212_thumb.jpg post-12517-0-91769800-1376639241_thumb.jpg

Edited by Adron

Nullus finis longius si quod facis delectaris

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It has bee a while since I have found anything I considered putting in the FOTM mix so here we go.

Found: 08 Aug 2013

Where: Pender County NC

Formation and Age: PeeDee Formation, Late Cretaceous

Name: Aldebarania arenitea, an astropectinid asteroid (starfish)

without a doubt one of the most unique, rare and intresting pieces in my collection.

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Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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I'm game :)

Cretalamna appendiculata var. lata

Age: Maastricht formation, Emael Member?, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous.

Location: Eben-Emael, Belgium

Date found: August 12th

You don't find these extremely often in the Belgo-Dutch Maastrichtian.

As I found it:

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avhe6c.jpg

After exposing the root:

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Edited by Hieronymus
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Here we go the first FOTM post for me hopefully of many.

This specimen was found on July 26th, 2013 but was completely covered with rock and unable to be seen at all until removal of the matrix.

Removal of the matrix began on August 3rd and concluded on August 9th.

The second picture shows the slabs at the quarry in the red circle behind me. This pic was snapped at the end of the day when I figured out I couldn't get that slab home, so I had everything I was taking piled up.

The specimen I submitted if exposed at the quarry would have been one they would keep, but I got lucky. It was broken in 2 pieces down the middle and the only way we knew a fish was in there was from the backbone forming a lump under the rock, this fish had to be 100% dug out.

DATE PREP. COMPLETED: August 3-9, 2013

GEOLOGIC AGE: Eocene (50 Million Years old)

GEOLOGIC FORMATION: Green River Formation, Kemmerer, WY

NAME: Amphiplaga brachyptera

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Edited by Sully
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Well, what the heck. I'll give it a go. This Arthroacantha carpenteri was found August 10 in Hungry Hollow, Ontario. It was in the shale layers of the pit, however, inexperience with shale made the matrix dry and flake out very quickly.

One side - post-12582-0-43649800-1376841199_thumb.jpg

And the other - post-12582-0-16913500-1376841202_thumb.jpg

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I guess i will take a stab at this..

This was found the 6th of August if i remember right. I started prepping a few days after i found it so there is no before picture.. I hope this is ok. I did not know about the rule change until i had finished prep.. I will leave that up to the admins to decide.

This was found on the Oregon coast in the Miocene Astoria Fm. 15 - 20 myo.

Prep took about 4 hours over the course of a few days.

As far as i can tell this is the bottom back of a juvenile pinniped skull. The first picture is a view of the occipital condyle.

A friend at a local museum was kind enough to let me compare and take photos of two Harbor Seal skulls. The one on the left is and adult and the one on the right is a juvenile. As you can see from the picture and the red arrow the fossil skull has a hole right above the occipital condyle much like the juvenile Harbor seal. This is not present in the adult Seal which leads me to believe that the fossil skull fragment is a juvenile.

Maybe bobby would have more input on this..

I had to crop the photos to get them to fit so its harder to tell the size. This is roughly the size of a tennis ball.

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Edited by uncoat
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I guess i will take a stab at this..

This was found the 6th of August if i remember right. I started prepping a few days after i found it so there is no before picture.. I hope this is ok. I did not know about the rule change until i had finished prep.. I will leave that up to the admins to decide.

This was found in the Miocene Astoria Fm. 15 - 20 myo.

Prep took about 4 hours over the course of a few days.

As far as i can tell this is the bottom back of a juvenile pinniped skull. The first picture is a view of the occipital condyle.

A friend at a local museum was kind enough to let me compare and take photos of two Harbor Seal skulls. The one on the left is and adult and the one on the right is a juvenile. As you can see from the picture and the red arrow the fossil skull has a hole right above the occipital condyle much like the juvenile Harbor seal. This is not present in the adult Seal which leads me to believe that the fossil skull fragment is a juvenile.

Maybe bobby would have more input on this..

I had to crop the photos to get them to fit so its harder to tell the size. This is roughly the size of a tennis ball.

Your entry is fine. :)

Before prep photos would only be needed if it was found before August.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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well, might aswell.

Green mill run, NC

Great white

pliocene

found on friday the 16th.

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one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha.

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good choice zachj, that is a gorgeous tooth!

thanks man, thats a great find there yourself. Ive always wanted to collect green river fish but its so far away!

one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha.

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I will give it a try....

I found this Sperm Whale tooth at Green Mill Run, North Carolina on August 10, 2013. Mr. George Powell identified the specimen for me.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Cetacea

Suborder: Odontoceti

Family: Unless a skull it present a the Superfamily is named: Physeteroidea indet. So, that follows along with Genus and Species. This is information from research. If I am not correct, please let me know.

The Sperm Whale off the Eastern seaboard during the Miocene-Pliocene epoch was massive! The tooth I found measures about 5.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide at the end of the root. The Sperm Whale had a single blowhole, non-fused nostrils and a large brain. Mature males could reach up to 52-67 feet in length. The females could give birth every 4 to 20 years and kept their offspring very close. From my research, the whale could dive up to 9,800 feet into the abyss of the ocean in search of giant squid and other prey. Such a captivating mammal.

Libby

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Process of identification "mistakes create wisdom".

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well, might aswell.

Green mill run, NC

Great white

pliocene

found on friday the 16th.

That is a killer GW!

Process of identification "mistakes create wisdom".

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thanks man, thats a great find there yourself. Ive always wanted to collect green river fish but its so far away!

Come on out! its a 900-mile round trip from my place, but I am ITCHING to get back up there! I had a blast!

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I guess I'll give it a shot. Why not? B)

My vertebrate find of the month:

A Mosasaur tooth

Cretaceous Epoch (145-66 myo)

Greenville, NC

Found on Friday, August 16th, 2013 with Zachj

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My entry for this month is a Late Ordovician hash plate. It was found earlier in the month and pieced back together from a few chunks. I have both the positive and negative impressions. It is from the Georgian Bay Formation.

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There are at least 12 species represented on this slab, which I believe represents about 6% of the total number of species known from the formation! This includes at least 2 species of crinoids and 1 conulariid, both of which are seldom found articulated here and suggest that this area of the seafloor must have been buried fairly rapidly. There is also a rare Isotelus maximus meraspis pygidium for you trilobite lovers! :P

I have done my best to identify the fossils on the slab. Close ups of some are posted below the description.

Crinoids: Heterocrinus sp. (picture 1, 2, 4), Iocrinus? sp.(columns visible covering slab, arms of one specimen in picture 5 and a few disarticulated arms in picture 3)

Trilobites: Isotelus maximus (picture 4), Flexicalymene granulosa (picture 3)

Conulariids: Conularia sp. (Picture 6 and 7-in next post)

Brachiopods: Orbiculoidea sp.(Picture 1), Dalmanella? sp.

Bivalves: Ambonychia radiata (Small specimen in picture 5), Modiolopsis sp.(Picture 7), Cymatonota sp.(Picture 7), undetermined

Bryozoa: undetermined treptostome bryozoan

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can i enter great white teeth, all in one entry?

one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha.

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can i enter great white teeth, all in one entry?

Not unless you found them in a jaw. ;) There has to be a clear association between the teeth as belonging to the same animal.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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I was in Scotland earlier this month and on my last day of collecting I picked up this fellow -

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Dipterus valencienessi (Dipnoan lungfish)

Location: Caithness (Highland), Scotland

Age: Devonian, around 380 million years old

Found 01/08/13 : Prep Finished 07/08/13

Size: 11 cm

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Before preparation photos available here if interested - Link

Regards,

Edited by Kosmoceras
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Not unless you found them in a jaw. ;) There has to be a clear association between the teeth as belonging to the same animal.

darn :(

one day i will find a tooth over 3 inches in good conditon haha.

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Here is my entry,

Collected August 17th, 2013

Upper Cretaceous, Texas U.S.A

Maestrichtian 66.0 mya - 72.1 mya

Phylum : Chordata

Class: Chondrichthyes

Subclass : Elasmobranchii

Order: Rajiformes

Family: Sclerorhynchidae

Genus: Ischyrhiza

Here is a lucky Ischyrhiza mira "Extinct Sawfish" rostral tooth that survived the gravel gauntlet.

This one was buried in the gravel and shale mixture that I was hunting with only a small portion of the root exposed.

Thinking it was just a broken root of which I have many :( I pulled it out without photographing the find. I started pulling and it just kept coming out. I was bummed that I hadn't photographed the find as I love to take in situ pics. I quickly wrapped the dirty tooth in some tin foil and packed it away to clean off later as the hunting was good. It wasn't until I was cleaning off my finds at home that I realized that I had just collected my best sawfish rostral tooth thus far. It measures right at 1 3/4" and has all the bells and whistles..

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Edited by CreekCrawler
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