Let's see your latest mailbox score - 2021!

[Yoda]

Added a few Mazon Creek nodules to my collection 

 

 

 

 

[Wrangellian]

A couple more Chengjiang items - not easy to photograph and in some cases interpret:

The larger one was sold as 'unknown creature' and is from Chengjiang, Yunnan. Is this a Ctenophore?

Smaller one is Archotuba conoidalis (Incertae sedis) from Haikou, Yunnan.

Both Qiongzhusi Fm, Yu'anshan Mbr (Cambrian Stage 3), as far as I can determine.

 

Another batch contained 5 fossils from Ontario and Quebec. That's my budget for a while now, I think....

Finally got me one of those Rostroconchs from Ontario. I was a little disappointed to find how incomplete it was on the underhang, but no matter, it is something I didn't have before.

 

Nice-sized bryozoan Stictoporellina from the Verulam Fm:

 

Lingula cobourgensis from the Lindsay Fm of Bowmanville - also slightly incomplete but looks nice anyway:

 

I quite like this one, my first piece from the Eramosa lagerstatte. Too bad the adjacent piece was not recovered. I wonder if it sits in someone else's collection, or maybe it's still out there waiting to be collected? Let me know if you find it! (slim chance, I know)

 

Lastly a Conularia trentonensis from the Upper Ordo. Grondines Mbr, Neuville Fm, Quebec City. It looks like it could use a bit of prepping. I already pried a small chip off where it is darker toward the right end. I'll need someone else to do the rest 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Wrangellian

[Wrangellian]

The biggest package I received recently came from probably our most generous member @FranzBernhard from Austria. He told me how much there was but it still took my by surprise! This probably doubles the European part of my fossil collection.

Lots of rudists which were heretofore lacking in my collection even though they are the same age as the stuff I find around here (wrong environment, I guess). Ditto the Trochactaeon snails. Also some Triassic Monotid bivalves and coaly pieces which we do find around here, and rock samples. All nicely documented with labels and a pdf file.

The sun was too low to illuminate everything when I thought to get a group photo, and there hasn't been any since. Rain rain rain! These shots obviously don't do them justice but it's the best I can do for now. I can get individual photos under indoor lighting, or whenever the sun comes out, if anyone is interested.

Thanks again, Franz!

Edited November 6, 2021 by Wrangellian

[Paleorunner]

32 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

A couple more Chengjiang items - not easy to photograph and in some cases interpret:

The larger one was sold as 'unknown creature' and is from Chengjiang, Yunnan. Is this a Ctenophore?

Smaller one is Archotuba conoidalis (Incertae sedis) from Haikou, Yunnan.

Both Qiongzhusi Fm, Yu'anshan Mbr (Cambrian Stage 3), as far as I can determine.

 

Another batch contained 5 fossils from Ontario and Quebec. That's my budget for a while now, I think....

Finally got me one of those Rostroconchs from Ontario. I was a little disappointed to find how incomplete it was on the underhang, but no matter, it is something I didn't have before.

 

Nice-sized bryozoan Stictoporellina from the Verulam Fm:

 

Lingula cobourgensis from the Lindsay Fm of Bowmanville - also slightly incomplete but looks nice anyway:

 

I quite like this one, my first piece from the Eramosa lagerstatte. Too bad the adjacent piece was not recovered. I wonder if it sits in someone else's collection, or maybe it's still out there waiting to be collected? Let me know if you find it! (slim chance, I know)

 

Lastly a Conularia trentonensis from the Upper Ordo. Grondines Mbr, Neuville Fm, Quebec City. It looks like it could use a bit of prepping. I already pried a small chip off where it is darker toward the right end. I'll need someone else to do the rest 

It looks like LUSH MORANIA ( sponge  ).  - LOWER CAMBRICO - YUNNAN - CHINA

 

 

I don't know if it translates correctly. In Spanish it is MORANIA FRONDOSA.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Paleorunner

[Wrangellian]

1 hour ago, Paleorunner said:

I don't know if it translates correctly. In Spanish it is MORANIA FRONDOSA.

Morania frondosa - we use the Latin names too.  That is an interesting piece, but I think the textures look different. On mine if you look closely there are parallel rows of dots, maybe radiating from that 'knob' you see near the middle.

[ThePhysicist]

Found these nice Hadrosaur teeth in the mailbox today. I thought they were quite a steal, especially with two partial batteries in the lot!

 

Edmontosaurus annectens

Hell Creek Fm., Harding Co., SD, USA

 

 

[lesofprimus]

Got this Borealosuchus sternbergii jaw section today in the mail to go with the teeth and scutes I have in my collection...

[Misha]

Recieved some really cool Pennsylvanian inverts today.

These are from the Graham formation in Texas and we're generously sent to me by forum member @HotSauceCommittee.

I am not super familiar with the Carboniferous and organisms from there as most of my fossils come from before that, but all of these are very fascinating and have some incredible preservation.

Let's start with the brachiopods:

Linoproductus number one, I found it really beautiful how the shell creases and folds towards the hinge

Another Linoproductus

Parajuresania sp. I love the encrusting all over this one, what organisms could have caused this?

another Parajuresania, the spines on all of these are also fantastic

this one is interesting, I don't know the ID, when looking up the formation I did see a lot of a similar looking brachiopod, could it be Kutorginella sp.?

Now some rugose corals:

Lophophyllidium spinosum and Lophophyllidium sp. Also with those beautiful encrusters

And finally gastropods:

Amphiscapha sp.

Trepospira illinoisensis

Worthenia tabulata

Euphemites sp.

Pharkidonotus sp.

[FF7_Yuffie]

11 hours ago, lesofprimus said:

Got this Borealosuchus sternbergii jaw section today in the mail to go with the teeth and scutes I have in my collection...

 

 

Cool jaw, and a nice collection Borealosuchus fossils.

 

Are the teeth original with the jaw? 

[Gareth_]

A few fossils that arrived for me recently.....

 

Pic 1 - Otodus megalodon. The largest is 129.87mm / 5.11", the smallest 93.3mm / 3.67"

Pic 2 - a bunch of Otodus obliquus teeth

Pic 3 & 4 - Lots of Mosasaur teeth (got 100 in total)

 

Ok, I got these to sell locally.... but being exposed to so many teeth from one specific species helps you learn a lot! 

[lesofprimus]

7 hours ago, FF7_Yuffie said:

 

 

Cool jaw, and a nice collection Borealosuchus fossils.

 

Are the teeth original with the jaw? 

3 teeth are original...

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

19 hours ago, Misha said:

Trepospira illinoisensis

 

Who's a pretty shell!?

[RobFallen]

Nothing too exciting just this 7.0cm tooth I put into a spare riker case I had

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by RobFallen
spelling

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Some of my latest acquisitions...

 

A cut and polished Temnodontosaurus cf. trigonodon jaw with teeth from the Posidonia Shale of Baden-Württemberg. It's really cool to be able to see the internal structure of ichthyosaur teeth, with their folded roots and the layering of dentine and enamel - things you'd otherwise only read about in academic articles (e.g., Scheyer and Moser, 2011). And while there are, of course, other such specimens out there that show a cross-section through jaw and teeth, I like this particular specimen because it cross-sections the teeth a lot better than most examples I've seen.

 

 

 

Thalattosuchia indet. marine crocodile vertebra. What makes this particular specimen so special, however, is that it dates to the Bajocian-stage of the Jurassic, from which few marine reptile remains are known. This particular specimen is said to come from Bielefeld in Germany.

 

 

 

Finally, a small set of Tethysaurus nopscai vertebrae (and rib pieces) from the Akrabou Formation at Goulmima. The unusual colour of the matrix is due to the glue that was applied to stabilize the soft matrix. I'm still contemplating whether I'd want to take the bones out or not...

 

[FranzBernhard]

3 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

A cut and polished Temnodontosaurus cf. trigonodon jaw with teeth from the Posidonia Shale of Baden-Württemberg.

!!

But how did they come up with such cut and polished specimen? Is it cut parallel or perpendicular to bedding? Is the exact stratigraphic position known?
Franz Bernhard

[thelivingdead531]

9 hours ago, RobFallen said:

Nothing too exciting just this 7.0cm tooth I put into a spare riker case I had

 

 

Looks very nice! 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

17 hours ago, FranzBernhard said:

!!

But how did they come up with such cut and polished specimen? Is it cut parallel or perpendicular to bedding? Is the exact stratigraphic position known?
Franz Bernhard

 

Unfortunately I don't even know the locality this came from, but the surroundings of Holzmaden are a good guess. Most marine reptile material there seems to be found in the lower layers, although I haven't actually ever been lucky enough to find any myself. Based on that, the "Holzmaden book", and the strategraphic display at Urweltmuseum Hauff it should be possible to take a guess at the likely layers yielding ichthyosaur remains, though I've ashamedly never taken the effort to look this up. @belemniten, however, is likely more familiar with the stratigraphy at Holzmaden/Ohmden, so may be he knows... Then again, this piece may equally well have been found during road works, which typically also yields a lot of good specimens.

As to how they managed to get to this particular cut, I've also wondered, as it's somewhat strange to have such a thin plate (no more than 7mm) that on one side shows what appear to be perfectly halved teeth, but on the other what looks like a perpendicular cross- section of roots fitted in the jaw...  Thus, maybe the teeth had already come somewhat loose from the jaw when fossilization set in (it's not uncommon for ichthyosaur teeth to fall out of their tooth grooves post-mortem). With a little experience, a preparator would then be able to figure out where to cut to get the best cross-section (I just bumped into a video of someone having done something similar to my piece on Instagram today).

 

And the one thing I do know about this piece is that it supposedly comes out of the private collection of a preeminent preperator of Posidonia Shale fossils. The below specimen was part of the same collection (stupidly I passed up the opportunity to buy this one when I had the chance, but do have a wonderfully prepared pair of mandibles from him as well).

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon
Added missing images

[FranzBernhard]

2 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

no more than 7mm

Thanks so much for all that  info!

I took the freedom to combine these two pics, with one of them flipped:

Franz Bernhard

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

3 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

Thanks so much for all that  info!

I took the freedom to combine these two pics, with one of them flipped:

Franz Bernhard

 

That's pretty cool and insightful, actually! And, yes, if I interpret your "thickness markers" correctly, you can indeed see the opposite side of the tooth groove even on the obverse right next to the leftmost tooth. Since the teeth look to me as having an upright position in this slice, that'd mean that the jaw itself is offset at something of an angle/somewhat slanted vis-à-vis the teeth. I think your composite image perfectly illustrates that!

[carch_23]

On 11/9/2021 at 2:28 AM, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Some of my latest acquisitions...

 

A cut and polished Temnodontosaurus cf. trigonodon jaw with teeth from the Posidonia Shale of Baden-Württemberg. It's really cool to be able to see the internal structure of ichthyosaur teeth, with their folded roots and the layering of dentine and enamel - things you'd otherwise only read about in academic articles (e.g., Scheyer and Moser, 2011). And while there are, of course, other such specimens out there that show a cross-section through jaw and teeth, I like this particular specimen because it cross-sections the teeth a lot better than most examples I've seen.

 

 

 

Thalattosuchia indet. marine crocodile vertebra. What makes this particular specimen so special, however, is that it dates to the Bajocian-stage of the Jurassic, from which few marine reptile remains are known. This particular specimen is said to come from Bielefeld in Germany.

 

 

 

Finally, a small set of Tethysaurus nopscai vertebrae (and rib pieces) from the Akrabou Formation at Goulmima. The unusual colour of the matrix is due to the glue that was applied to stabilize the soft matrix. I'm still contemplating whether I'd want to take the bones out or not...

 

That vertebrae set looks absolutely stunning in the matrix. Just an absolute beauty. But do whatever you wish with your fossil lol. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

1 minute ago, carch_23 said:

That vertebrae set looks absolutely stunning in the matrix. Just an absolute beauty. But do whatever you wish with your fossil lol. 

 

That's the reason I'm still hesitant (as well as a slight doubt as to how difficult the removing of the vertebrae would be, how fragile the bones will turn out to be) 

 

For I was actually just looking for a couple of matrix-free specimens to compare them with those of more derived mosasaurs...

[FossilDAWG]

On 11/7/2021 at 12:35 PM, IsaacTheFossilMan said:

 

Who's a pretty shell!?

That one is indeed a pretty shell!   However it is a Worthenia tabulata, not a Trepospira.  Mish put the photos first and the name underneath, not the name above the photo.

 

Don

[Notidanodon]

Got some nice miocene teeth from bonpas  an oligodalatias and a cookie cutter

[Kane]

A few more Russians came by today. 

 

A cute Asaphus broeggeri:

 

 

The long-tailed Illaenus atavus with some compression:

 

And two prep jobs for me: an Asaphus (punctatus?) with what my connection says might be some bite damage, and a  Pliomera fischeri

 

[FB003]

On 11/10/2021 at 4:48 PM, Kane said:

A few more Russians came by today. 

 

A cute Asaphus broeggeri:

 

 

The long-tailed Illaenus atavus with some compression:

 

And two prep jobs for me: an Asaphus (punctatus?) with what my connection says might be some bite damage, and a  Pliomera fischeri

 

Impressive!  These look great.