February 2024 - Finds of the Month Entries

[digit]

REMINDER: PLEASE carefully read ALL of the rules below.

Make sure you include all the required information, IN THE REQUESTED FORMAT (below) when you submit your fossil! 

If you have a question about a possible entry, please send me (or any staff) a PM.

Please pay special attention to 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.

Entries will be taken until 11:59:00 PM EDT on FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Any fossil submitted after that time, even if the topic is still open, will be deemed ineligible! 

 

Only entries posted with CLEAR photos and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll. 

Photos of the winning specimens may be posted to TFF's Facebook page.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

 

Shortly after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month.

 

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the fossils. 

Tell us more about your fossil, and why you think it is worthy of the honor. 

To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.

 

Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!
Best of success to all, and good hunting!

 

***********************************

Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. Find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found personally by you are allowed. NO PURCHASED FOSSILS.
2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry. (Only two entries per member per contest category.)
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 Discovery (when found in the contest month); or the Date of Preparation Completion and Date of Discovery (if not found in the contest month).
5. Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest. Please make sure you arrange for photos if someone else is preparing your fossil find, and completes the MAJORITY of prep in the contest month. Pre-Prep Photos need to be dated with the start of the month date, and then finished prep date must be supplied.  Entries not including this information/photos will be disqualified.
6. You must include the Common and/or Scientific Name.
7. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the fossil was found.
8. You must include the State, Province, or region where the fossil was found.
9. You must include CLEAR, cropped, well-lit images (maximum 4 images). If you are proud enough of your fossil to submit it for FOTM, spend some time to take good photos to show off your fossil.
10. Play fair and honest. No bought fossils. No false claims.

 

* Significant Preparation = Substantial work to reveal and/or repair important diagnostic features, resulting in a dramatic change in the look of the fossil. The qualification of Significant Preparation is decided at the discretion of staff. Any doubts as to the eligibility of the entry will be discussed directly with the entrant.

 

PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE RULES BEFORE YOU POST!!!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT A MOD OR ADMIN.
ENTRIES NOT FOLLOWING THE REQUESTED FORMAT WILL BE ELIMINATED FROM THE CONTEST!!

 

******* Please use the following format for the required information: *******

 

Information about your find. A short paragraph or sentence or two about why it should be fossil of the month.

Rarity, completeness, beauty, etc.

 

 

• Date of Discovery  [month, day, year]

• Preparation Completion Date (if prepped) [month, day, year]

• Scientific and/or Common Name

• Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age

• State, Province, or Region Found

• Photos of Find  (Please limit to 4 clear, cropped, and well-lit images.) (If prepped, before and after photos are required, please.)

[Fossildude19]

For the sake of adhering to the rules, finds will have to be approved, before being seen by the membership at large.

They will be approved as the mods/admins have time to check for proper formatting, identification,  prep dates, etc.

READ THE RULES CAREFULLY!

 

ANY ENTRIES NOT FOLLOWING THE REQUESTED FORMAT or PROVIDING NEEDED DETAILS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED!!!

[Collector9658]

I'll take a stab at it. I took a short reconnaissance trip on the first of the month that paid off! This weathered, but complete ventral Eomonorachus intermedius trilobite is the largest speicmen I found that day, measuring in at 1.4cm in length.

 

• Date of Discovery: February 1, 2024

• Preparation Completion Date: February 1, 2024 (As found)

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Eomonorachus intermedius (ventral view)

• Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Decorah Formation, Ordovician 

• State, Province, or Region Found: Missouri

 

[musicnfossils]

I probably won’t find anything else this cool this month…may not even get to find ANYTHING else this month with this giant snowfall we just got. 
 

 

• Date of Discovery: Feb 3, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Pachycephalosaurid (Stegoceras) Squamosal Section 

• Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Dinosaur Park Formation 

• State, Province, or Region Found:  Steveville area, Newell County Alberta 

 

[Brian James Maguire]

really happy with how this turned out its quite rare to find complete specimens in the malahide formation.
Date of find,  February 10 2024

Date of prep completion, February 11 2024

name, Orthoconic nautiloid 

geologic formation,  Malahide Formation , Carboniferous 

Dublin Ireland

 

[Fossildude19]

1 hour ago, Brian James Maguire said:

really happy with how this turned out its quite rare to find complete specimens in the malahide formation.
Date of find,  February 10 2024

Date of prep completion, February 11 2024

name, Orthoconic nautiloid 

geologic formation,  Malahide Formation , Carboniferous 

Dublin Ireland

 

 

Beautifully done, Brian. 

[cngodles]

Date of Discovery:  February, 2024

Scientific Name: cf. Orthacanthus

Geologic Formation and Geologic Age: Portersville Limestone, Glenshaw Formation / Kasimovian [Late Pennsylvanian] [Late Carboniferous]

State, Province, or Region Found: West Virginia, USA

 

 

Photos of Find:

Top left: Aboral view         Top right: Oral view

Middle: Lateral left,           lateral right  

Bottom Left: Lingual         Bottom Right: Labial

 

[ThePhysicist]

I recently found a snail that's in surprisingly good shape, considering it retains the the original aragonite shell and was found in a river channel microsite. Most of the mollusks I find from this site are heavily fragmented and tumbled. It's not very often you see a snail this good from the famed Hell Creek formation.

 

• Date of Discovery: Feb. 10, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Lioplacodes tenuicarinata (gastropod)

• Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Hell Creek Formation (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian)

• State, Province, or Region Found: Garfield County, Montana, USA

 

[DardS8Br]

Finally my time to shine. I've been waiting to submit this for over a year and a half

 

I was lucky enough to take a trip to Beecher's Bed in July 2022. After waiting over a year and a half, I was finally able to get it prepped. This was probably my greatest find ever. Only six trilobites (though one was lost in preparation) and the graptolite were visible prior to preparation, and the raptoral appendage plus a few other trilobites were revealed during prep work. Apparently, the raptoral appendage is one of three found at the site so far. I also found an undescribed megacheiran at the site on the same day, though it hasn't been properly imaged yet. I don't think I'll be topping this find anytime soon and I'm really excited to finally be able to share it.

 

 

 

• Date of Find: Thursday, July 28, 2022 

• Date of Preparation: Monday, February 19, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Triarthrus eatoni (Trilobite), Sanctacarididae indet. (Raptoral Appendage), Graptolite

• Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Frankfurt Formation (Katian, Ordovician)

• State, Province, or Region Found: Rome, New York, USA

 

Fossils prior to preparation. Photo taken about an hour after discovery on July 28, 2022

 

Full prepared plate. Photo taken a day after prep work was completed on February 20, 2024

 

Closeup of the largest trilobite. The ventral trilobite was revealed during prep work. Look at the legs on the largest trilobite

 

Closeup of the raptoral appendage and other trilobites. Only the bottom trilobite was visible prior to preparation. The raptoral appendage and trilobite with the head cut off were revealed during prep work. Due to water exposure, the rock ended up fracturing a bit which is mostly visible here. The rock was completely soaked in water when I first dug it up

[Jaybot]

Eh I’ll give it a go

Found this in a Muncie creek concretion that was already opened in situ.  I believe that the tooth was broken prior to fossilization, as grains of sand are compacted inside the tooth.  Some small amounts of the root are visible under magnification.  Campodus teeth are relatively rare in my area.

 

 

• Date of Discovery: Feb. 13, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Campodus sp. (crusher shark tooth)

• Geologic Formation: Pennsylvanian Muncie Creek concretions

• State, Province, or Region Found: Missouri, USA

 Preparation completion date: Feb. 20, 2024 (minor amount of matrix removed to make tooth more visible)

 

 

[Fossildude19]

There are quite a lot of nice entries this month.
Good luck to everyone.

[Notidanodon]

My entry is this huge heteromorph ammonite that I collected last summer and finally got prepped!  It weighed about 30 kg and there was no official path so lugging it up this cliff was painful!!

 

 

• Date of Discovery: July. 28 2023  - Preparation start and completion date:  Start: - January 30th 2024  Finish - Feb. 20, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Tropaeum bowerbanki

• Geologic Formation: Lower crioceras bed, group VI Ferruginous sands formation

• State, Province, or Region Found: whale chine Isle of Wight 

 

 

[PFOOLEY]

Placenticeras is not the most uncommon Ammonite in the Carlile exposures of the Puerco...but finding them in this condition, is.

 

Invertebrate 

 

• Date of Discovery:  February 25th, 2024

• Scientific and/or Common Name: Placenticeras pseudoplacenta Ammonite

• Geologic Formation: Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Carlile Shale

• State, Province, or Region Found: New Mexico, USA

 

 

[shark57]

Here is my entry for vertebrate fossil of the month. This is a specimen of the rare platanistid (river dolphin) Araeodelphis natator which includes the skull, ear bones, lower jaw (with six teeth in place), and some vertebrae.  It was identified by Dr. Stephen Godfrey of the Calvert Marine Museum. The lower jaw and both tympanic bullae and periotics were still attached to the skull. One bulla was partially crushed and rotated out of position. I removed, cleaned, and partially repaired it, then took a picture of it before placing it loosely back in the skull. This specimen is important for several reasons:

(1)    It is only the third known skull,

(2)    It is the first specimen to have a nearly complete lower jaw (the type specimen had the anterior end of the jaw),

(3)    It is the first specimen with tympanic bullae,

(4)    It is the first specimen with associated vertebrae.

Interestingly, the previous best skull was found by my son. It is pictured on page 81 of the recently released publication The Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA – Volume 2.

 

Date of discovery - November 1, 2023.  Collected in sections during two trips in November.

Prep work started in December on rostrum. Prep work started January 16, 2024. on main portion of skull

Prep finished February 28, 2024. *** Most of the prep was done in February.

Common name - river dolphin. Scientific name - Araeodelphis natator.

Age and location - Miocene Calvert Formation in Maryland.

 

Dorsal view of skull

 

Ventral view of skull showing lower jaw and both tympanic bullae in place

 

Lateral view of skull showing 3 teeth in lower jaw

 

 

Tympanic bulla and vertebra

 

 

Opening the jacket with the main part of the skull

 

Discovery of the tympanic bullae!