Let's see your latest mailbox score - 2021!

[Misha]

The other piece is a Mississippian brachiopod from the Spickert Knob Formation.

It is labeled as Athyris lamellosa,

Athyrids are really cool in my opinion and this one is no exception, the color and preservation seem very nice on this pedicle valve and it is very similar although much bigger in size when compared to the Devonian Athyris spiriferoides which I have from Penn Dixie.

[Ken K]

Misha,

 

The latest brachiopods pics of your specimen represent Stegerrhynchus neglecta, (Hall).  Smaller specimen to the left of the two S. neglecta appears to be what Hall named Meristella rectirostra, Hall.  

[Misha]

17 minutes ago, Ken K said:

Misha,

 

The latest brachiopods pics of your specimen represent Stegerrhynchus neglecta, (Hall).  Smaller specimen to the left of the two S. neglecta appears to be what Hall named Meristella rectirostra, Hall.  

Those seem to fit!

Thank you so much for all the help, the Waldron Shale Formation is such a fascinating one and I am really enjoying learning about it.

[Ken K]

Well Misha I hope you get hooked on the Waldron as I am...someone to knock elbows with.  I can certainly help fill in some holes if you decide to attempt a synoptic collection.  All the best...Ken

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 1/9/2021 at 7:28 PM, Misha said:

I'm really excited about some of my recent purchases,

This is my first fossil from the Mid Silurian

 Waldron Shale in Indiana,

It's a pyritized brachiopod, labeled as Chonetes nova-scotica with beautifully preserved hinge spines.

I'm not sure that the ID is accurate though, online I can only find references to Chonetes novascotius and nothing about that being present in the Waldron. 

Currently, I am looking for papers which may help with the identification of this brachiopod but I have not found much.

Stunning! 

I adore all your new brachiopods. 

 

[Misha]

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Stunning! 

I adore all your new brachiopods. 

 

Thank you!

I was very excited about all of these.

[Tidgy's Dad]

I decided to keep a few parcels I received towards the end of last year to open for Christmas. 

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a working camera (other than a digital microscope), so apologies for recycling Mike's @ClearLake's photos here. 

This parcel was part of an auction win and contains lovely stuff. 

These are from the Eocene Stone City / Whiskey Bridge localities in Texas.

It's nice to have some Eocene fauna from Texas to compare with my own similar fossils from South East England like the Barton Beds.

The gastropods are so varied and one or two extras of some of the species have been included on top of those shown in the photo above. 

I'm very fond of scaphopods too and this is a new species for me, Dentalium minutistriatum. Here's a close up that explains the specific name :

The fish otoliths (number 20) I think are a new thing for my collection. 

Because I love forams, a few were included; these are Orbitolina texana from the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation.

This one's the enormous Lepidocyclina supera from the Oligocene Byram Formation of Sylvarena, Mississippi. There were others in the packet too. The little 'hub' in the centre doesn't show up in the picture, unfortunately. Thank you very much for including these as extras, Mike. 

 

 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

The second part of this lot from Mike @ClearLake was the part that I was most interested in bidding for. 

Pennsylvanian specimens from a few different sites in Texas. 

Love these. 

Some wonderful brachiopods, of course.  Plus some really pretty gastropods, a bivalve, yummy corals, a lovely nautiloid, a sponge and some fusilinids. I love seeing what lived alongside the brachiopods in these locations. 

And also included as much appreciated freebies were some Ordovician hash plates from the Kope Formation of the Cincinnati area. This is great as it adds more to my ever increasing collection of specimens from the different Middle to Late Ordovician formations of this region. This batch includes an abundance of the orthid Cincinnetina multisecta, the crinoid Cincinnaticrinus varibrachialus and various other crinoid stem sections and bryozoa. 

So, thank you once again, Mike, a great package for me. 

 

[Yoda]

I have recently read “Monarchs of the Sea” and it tempted me to add some Cephalopods to my collection : 

 

 

[ClearLake]

 

13 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

thank you once again, Mike, a great package for me

Adam, glad you like the fossils. I just wish the box had been bigger (or shipping wasn’t so ridiculously priced) so I could have added some more stuff. Enjoy!!

[Tidgy's Dad]

I also saved a parcel I received from my bestie Sophie @fifbrindacier

Sorry about the quality of the photographs, they're taken at a distance using my digital microscope.

A gorgeous sponge and some terebratulids and several really nice ammonites from the Oxfordian of Niort, France. 

And some Late Cretaceous brachiopods.  from France.

Thanks very much, Fifi, it's always nice to build up my Mesozoic collection and French fossils are much appreciated.

 

 

 

[BellamyBlake]

My dear friend has property on Bone Valley. She sent me personal finds from her farm, they're gorgeous!

[digit]

Really lovely teeth. The white color is characteristic of land-based finds.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Tidgy's Dad]

Last, but certainly not least of my parcels that I opened for Christmas was from my good friend Mike @minnbuckeye

Lots and lots of lovely brachiopods from the Decorah Shale. 

Again, I'm sorry about the photos, but all taken at range with my digital microscope as our camera is currently OOC. Better photos will be posted in my Ordovician thread soon, I hope.

Wonderful.

Also some bonuses such as this beautiful bryozoa.

And a gorgeous little trilo pygidium :

Thanks a million, Mike, i'm going to have lots of fun with these! 

 

[Monica]

And now it's time to show you what Adam @Tidgy's Dad sent my way!

 

Back in autumn, I sent Adam a box of fossil goodies I had found mainly in "Formosa Reef" here in Ontario.  While Adam was looking through all the pieces, he noticed an interesting little something.  He prepped it and revealed that it was a hypostome belonging to Acanthopyge contusa!  Some of you may remember that I had found one such fossil back in March and donated it to the Royal Ontario Museum later on in the year because they didn't have one in their collections.  Well, Adam thought that since I donated the other one that I had found, I should have this one for my collection.  So, he mailed it back to me!!!  What an amazing guy!!!  Here's a photo of the adorable little hypostome:

 

In addition to this wonderful little surprise, Adam added the following fossils:

 

A chunk of matrix from Khouribga, Morocco containing a beautiful Squalicorax pristodontus tooth and shark vertebra:

 

A chunk of matrix from Faro Beach, Gotland, Sweden that contains corals (Heliolites sp. and Coenites repens) and bryozoans (Helopora lindstromi):

 

A couple of corals from Wren's Nest, U.K. - Favosites sp. and Thamnopora cristata:

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, ADAM!!!!!!!!!! 

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 hours ago, Monica said:

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, ADAM!!!!!!!!!! 

Pleasure.

Nice to be able to send you a little something for a change.

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

It should also be noted that in return Monica sent me yet another parcel, the contents of which have just been posted on the Secret Santa thread. 

[Monica]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Pleasure.

Nice to be able to send you a little something for a change.

 

 

I very much appreciate it, Adam, especially you finding, prepping, and mailing back to me the rock with the hypostome so I can have one in my collection 

[Praefectus]

It's been a while since I posted my last mailbox find. Here are some of the fossils I added to my collection over the past couple months. 

 

 

I received a wonderful tyrannosaur pre-max tooth from the Hell Creek fm. from a friend. 

 

I picked-up a Montana metasequoia leaf. 

 

A Carcharodontosaurid tooth from the Kem Kem basin of Morocco. 

 

And a whopper-sized phytosaur tooth from the Redonda formation. 

[TOM BUCKLEY]

I Secret Santa'd myself. I was very good this year. Megalodon tooth. So. Carolina coast. Just under 5".

[TOM BUCKLEY]

And this was a Christmas gift from my wonderful wife.

ANKYLOSAURUS Spike Scute Armor 1.mhtml

[-Andy-]

A big thank you to @Nimravis for this lovely Tully Monster! What a wonderful X'mas present!

[Guns]

On 1/15/2021 at 4:46 AM, Praefectus said:

And a whopper-sized phytosaur tooth from the Redonda formation. 

wow ! That Phytosaur tooth is  massive and superb condition ! really cool new addition man .

[Joe_17]

Giant ground sloth teeth (Megalonyx jeffersoni ) got these at a reasonable price . Very happy with them .

[digit]

19 minutes ago, Joe_17 said:

Giant ground sloth teeth (Megalonyx jeffersoni ) got these at a reasonable price

A species with an interesting backstory.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalonyx#Taxonomy

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken