2023 Fossil Trips to Richmond Qld- Ichthyosaurs, kronosaurus , pterosaur, and Giant Squids

[Huntlyfossils]

After a crazy few previous years with pandemics , new baby and many other things, I was really keen to rip into 2023 and make some good finds at Richmond and it didn't disappoint.

Richmond which is in Western Queensland is part of the Toolebuc Formation which is a marine deposit from early Cretaceous in age. We made it out there three times this year it's about an 8 hour drive which a very harsh climate of over 40c for half of the year below are some of the finds we made this year.

 

 

Eromangateuthis soniae (previously referred to Boreopeltis) , Giant Squid remains were close to a 1m long.

 

 

 

 

2. Small Turtle bone cluster not rare but still a nice find.

 

 

 

 

3. Sorry not a great photo but this is Pterosaur limb bone which has now been donated to the museum.

 

 

 

 

4: This is a nice Kronosaurus (K. queenslandicus) tooth that we found right next to the squid fossil not a large one and was broken but as it is rare we are still happy with this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5: While shark teeth are common this is our 1st pair of shark verts we have found.

 

 

 

 

 

6: This is hard to make out but this is jumbled large fish , this fish didn't have a well preserved vertebrae so is a bit messy but all the ribs etc have been preserved. I'm still working on prepping this.

 

 

 

 

7: A large almost compete Chimearoid spine which is a soft-bodied, shark-like fish , we also found another smaller one.

 

 

 

 

Our goal of coming out here over the last 5 years was to find some nice  Ichthyosaur bits now on a whole this has eluded us which has been frustrating at times how ever we stuck at it and on our last day of our last trip we found a juvenal Ichthyosaur Platypterygius australis, bones included limb, verts, jaws, teeth, ribs , paddle bones and more. Below is a bit of a dump of photos from this specimen it is at the museum so will be prepped at a later date where i will place up some updates when they do.

 

 

 

Finally a couple o snaps of our set ups to beat the heat

 

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Thanks everyone for your support and help over the last year lets bring on 2024 ,a bird bone is my goal this year also  a big thanks to the Kronosaurus Corner Museum for helping us out.

 

Good luck to everyone this year with your fossil adventures.

 

 

Cheers 

 

 

 

 

[Danielb]

Nice finds.

[Yoda]

@Huntlyfossils

 

Some fantastic finds

Very nice 👍

[RJB]

Wow!  You guys are finding some really cool fossils.  Looks like some fairly tuff preps too.  Nothing like a challenge for paleo fun.  Best of luck

 

RB