Microvertebrate stereophotos

[jpc]

Thought I would share with you folks a little project I just finished up... until next field season starts.  Last spring/summer I collected from two Eocene sites where I have found small mammal teeth in the past in the hopes of finding more small teeth (and bones).  One site I screen wash; I quarry on site and find largeish bones and then scoop up the stuff I have excavated for screen washing.  The highlight of in situ quarrying last spring was three turtle scapulae and a very small mammal maxilla.  I screen wash it twice. A five gallon bag will break down to about a pint (not sure the metric equivalents) of rocks and fossils.  Lots of broken pieces and lots of fish bones, and some reptile pieces such as lizard jaws and snake verts, and then a few mammal teeth.  The other site is a quarry; I sit there and break rocks looking for little fossils then prep them under the microscope when I get home.  I got about 30 mammal teeth and one jaw with two teeth in it that day. 

 

To organize the collection, I mount them on toothpicks and store them in 2 inch square plastic boxes. 

(Numbers 121 and 122 are yet to be found).

 

Then I take photos and create stereophotos of each tooth.  I am a big fan of stereophotos so get a kick out of this.  Here are some pix for you all to look at.  I have shown stereophotos here before, and there are instructions online on how to see them, but the basic idea is to relax your eyes let the two images merge into a middle image and then focus on that middle image.  It will pop put at you in 3D.  Or you can use a stereoviewer if you have laying around.  (Tool's last cd came with one as one of the band members is also a 3d fan as is Brian May of Queen). 

 

I confess that my specialty is finding and prepping.  I am not an expert at IDing these things, but where I can say something about the photo, I will.  Each of these specimens is measured in millimeters and mounted onto a round toothpick.  No scale bar, but the toothpick is about 2mm in diameter and will give you an idea of size.  I take the photos through the eyepieces on my microscope.  I do not have photostacking software so many have focus issues.  In a perfect world I would also take pictures form the sides of some of these, but hey, there are more fossils to work on.  The teeth are all seen looking at the occlusal (=chewing) surfaces

 

The first batch of teeth are from the Washakie Fm of Sweetwater County, Wyoming.  Bridgerian (middle Eocene) in age.  These are the screenwashing finds

 

1. This is a very small upper third molar of a carnivorous or insectivorous mammal:

I found this tooth in two pieces.  Yo can see the glue line at the base of the high peak.

 

2.  an upper molar

 

3.  another upper molar

 

4.  a rodent? sacrum; two fused verts:  ( a contender for coolest fossil of the year)

 

5.  A very interesting ungual.  I have not seen this sort of toe bone before but I actually found two of these in my screen washings this fall. 

 

6.  This is the mammal maxilla that I found in the field.  It includes two molars and a premolar.  This is a strong candidate for my best find of 2023.

 

7.  And this is a lower jaw with one molar.  

 

 

The next batch are from the quarry site in the Wind River Fm of Fremont County, Wyoming.  They are early Eocene, probably Wasatchian in age.

 

8.  another upper molar

 

9.  a small astragalus 

 

10.  and still another upper molar

 

11.  a very small premolar

 

12.  A third lower molar

 

13.  I think this one is a rodent molar

 

And that's it for now

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by jpc

[Coco]

@jpc they are great and very small fossils ! What mastery already to fix them on their support without making them fall !

 

I’m not used to playing with my eyes, but when I try to do what you say I see three pictures and I look at the middle one. Is this what needs to be done ? I feel like it works, but it takes a little practice

 

Coco

[Ludwigia]

But it worked somehow.

[minnbuckeye]

7 hours ago, jpc said:

I am a big fan of stereophotos

I can truly see the effect!!!!! Thanks for showing this.

[Fin Lover]

Interesting!

[jpc]

On 12/16/2023 at 12:51 AM, Coco said:

@jpc they are great and very small fossils ! What mastery already to fix them on their support without making them fall !

 

I’m not used to playing with my eyes, but when I try to do what you say I see three pictures and I look at the middle one. Is this what needs to be done ? I feel like it works, but it takes a little practice

 

Coco

yes, coco... look at the middle image and try to focus on it.  Try to pick a part of the two images, say an edge of the fossil, and make the two images of that edge come together in the middle image.  It may help to tilt your head a little to line up the images to where they sit together.  Then try to focus.  Yes, if you are not used to doing tis, it takes practice.  

Edited December 17, 2023 by jpc