digit Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 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 JUNE 30, 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 Find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found personally by you are allowed. NO PURCHASED FOSSILS. 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.) 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. 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). 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. You must include the Common and/or Scientific Name. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the fossil was found. You must include the State, Province, or region where the fossil was found. 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. 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.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 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!!! Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalkdude Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 Platecarpus sp. mosasaur carcass -this carcass consists mostly of vertebrae and jaw fragments. All of the fossils were found within 40 meters of each other. -Date of Discovery: June 1st 2024 -preparation completion date: June 2nd 2024 -Scientific and/or common name: Platecarpus sp. (Mosasaur) -Geologic formation and/or geologic age: Niobrara Chalk, Late Cretaceous -State, province, or region found: Kansas, USA This picture is of some of the fossils before prep (ignore the shark tooth) (I also want to note that they were not naturally found in a pile like this) This picture shows all of the fossils after prep organized like how they would’ve been on the mosasaur with the jaw being on the bottom and the tail vertebrae being at the end. (Obviously there would have been more fossils but they got destroyed by weathering). This picture shows some of the vertebrae This picture shows a jaw fragment with one of its teeth in it. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masonk Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 Hi All, This was a pretty amazing find for me compared to the other shark teeth I've encountered over the past year of fossil hunting. Up for consideration for FOTM is an anterior tooth from Xiphodolamia ensis. As I understand the species was quite enigmatic, which is what makes the tooth so interesting to me. • Date of Discovery: June 1, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Xiphodolamia ensis Shark tooth • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Shark River Formation, Eocene • State, Province, or Region Found: Monmouth Co., New Jersey 11 Eric Instagram - @philly_fossil_collector Reddit Community - r/MidAtlanticFossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifbrindacier Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Size : 40 centimeters. That's a big ammonite for this site. I had a hard time picking it up and à lot of people went to see what i was doing and to support me in my efforts. I'd like to add some photos and some informations about my entry. The Menuites fresvillensis were described by Seunes in 1890. They appeared during the upper Valanginian and ended at the upmost end of the Maestrichtian. I found this one near the K/T limit visible on the beach. It went in four big chunks plus more little ones. After gluing them, and filling the cracks and gaps, I made several color tests. I found a good combination for the cracks, but for the gaps, I chose to rub some matrix in powder with a file. There it is now with my 30 cm ruler beside it. It weights 9 kilos. Date of discovery : June 8, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : Menuites fresvillensis. Geologic formation and/or geologic age : Maestrichtian State, province or region found : France, Bidart, Erretegia beach. 7 "On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) "We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes." In memory of Doren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNGray Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 A beautifully preserved Phyllocarid carapace, found on Day 2 of the annual Penn Dixie "Dig with the Experts". I had to consult the experts as I had never found any part of a phyllocarid before! The preservation is unusually crisp, with the ornamentation very clear. Although this guy is 400 million years old, there is a extant species of phyllocarid today. Hammer prepped when found Date of discovery : June 9, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : Phyllocarid sp. carapace Geologic formation and/or geologic age : Middle Devonian, Windom Shale State, province or region found : Penn Dixie Quarry, Blasdell NY USA 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 29 minutes ago, TNGray said: A beautifully preserved Phyllocarid carapace, found on Day 2 of the annual Penn Dixie "Dig with the Experts". I had to consult the experts as I had never found any part of a phyllocarid before! The preservation is unusually crisp, with the ornamentation very clear. Although this guy is 400 million years old, there is a extant species of phyllocarid today. Hammer prepped when found Date of discovery : June 9, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : Phyllocarid sp. carapace Geologic formation and/or geologic age : Middle Devonian, Windom Shale State, province or region found : Penn Dixie Quarry, Blasdell NY USA Looks like Echinocaris punctata, possibly. 4 1 1 2 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 IPFOTM -- MAY - 2024 _________________________________________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybot Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Don't be shy everyone~ While there are amazing entries already, the more the merrier! 1 -Jay “The earth doesn't need new continents, but new men.” ― Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brevicollis Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 (edited) Hello, I think I've recently found something that could participate here in this contest. My first find of this species so far, and even that beautiful ! And small surprise, on the backside of the flint piece this clam is sitting on, there is even a complete juvenile of the same species ! So beautiful both, they will definetly end up in my showcase Date of discovery : June 19, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : Clam, or Syncyclonema nilssoni Geologic formation and/or geologic age : Flint, Maastrichtium-Danium, 70-60 million years old State, province, or region found : Cliffs at Schönhagen, baltic sea, Schleswig Holstein, nothern Germany Edited June 21 by Brevicollis 7 My account and something about me : My still growing collection : My paleoart : Im just a guy who really loves fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brevicollis Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 (edited) And another, not so common find here : a sea urchin cavity, with chalcedony crystals growing in it ! The sea urchin itself had eroded away, but the consistent oval base shape still suggests that there once was one. It formed, when the urchin died, and the shell got buried, but not completly filled with mud, leaving a cavity behind. In this cavity, chalcedony crystals started growing under the rigth conditions over the past millions of years. Eventually, the urchin eroded away, only leaving the base shape and the grown crystals behind. I wonder, what the other part of the urchin must look like. Date of discovery : June 18, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : sea urchin, Echinocorys sp., chalcedony, bryozoans Geologic formation and/or geologic age : Flint, Maastrichtium-Danium, 70-60 million years old State, province, or region found : cliffs at Schönhagen, baltic sea, Schleswig Holstein, nothern Germany Edited June 22 by Brevicollis 5 My account and something about me : My still growing collection : My paleoart : Im just a guy who really loves fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masonk Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Well the month is almost up, however I'll throw a second entry into the mix. I found this in a new location to me, and initially wasn't sure what I had. Thought fragment of bone or reptile shell. After some research and confirmation from a local Paleontologist (On Facebook), I found a nice chunk of tessellated cartilage from a Chondrichthyan. Possibly from the jaw, based on feedback. • Date of Discovery: June 15, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Chondrichthyan - Tessellated cartilage (jaw area) • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Shark River-Kirkwood Formation, Middle-Eocene/Early Miocene • State, Province, or Region Found: Monmouth Co., New Jersey 9 Eric Instagram - @philly_fossil_collector Reddit Community - r/MidAtlanticFossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted June 23 Share Posted June 23 My contribution this month: How could a Hypostome of a trilobite qualify for "Fossil of the Month"? I am about to try and convince you of such! In early June, I had picked up a fallen rock and noticed a split seam on the surface of the rock. With a slight tap of the hammer, the chunk opened, revealing both a positive and negative of a very large Isotelus hypostome, much larger than any I had found yet. Suspecting that this was a special find, I researched how large Isotelus hypostomes can get. Such values are hard to come by. But in my book, Minnesota Fossils and Fossiliferous Rocks, Robert Sloan includes a picture of the "largest known hypostome" of Isotelus gigas, the likely species of my find. His photos in the book are of actual size unless noted otherwise. So below is a picture of my hypostome next to "the largest"! So I convinced myself that this may compete for world's largest Isotelus hypostome. But I was even more interested in how large of a bug that this belonged to. @piranha had suggested this reference material to a member who had similar questions about their large hypostome: Rudkin, D.M., & Tripp, R.P. 1989. The type species of the Ordovician trilobite genus Isotelus: I. gigas Dekay, 1824. Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences Contributions, 152:1-18 In it, there is a accurate drawing of an Isotelus gigas showing the hypostome too. The photo was enlarged until my hypostome was roughly the size of the illustration's hypostome. This would infer that my "trilobite" would have been 18" long, making my find worthy of "Fossil of the Month", at least in my opinion! • Date of Discovery: June 5, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Isotelus gigas Hypostome • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Galena, Ordovician • State, Province, or Region Found: Northern Iowa 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dries85 Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 Hey, here's my first FOTM entry. Found while shark tooth hunting in the Antwerp area in Belgium, not a shark tooth tho... Just laying around in between a mix of fossil and recent debris was this partial woolly mammoth molar. It kinda looks like a bulldozer chopped of the other half (which was nowhere to be found). Anyhow I'm super pleased and for me personally it's my best fossil find yet! Grtz, Dries • Date of Discovery: June 23, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Mammuthus primigenius - woolly mammoth lower molar • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: (Late-)Pleistocene • State, Province, or Region Found: Antwerp, Belgium 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C2fossils Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 I found this 1 year old or less Bison Bison calf skull section with horn core, it is my first identifiable mammal skull section I've ever found. -C. • Date of Discovery: June 23, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Bison Bison, Calf Skull section with horn core • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Glacial Deposits • State, Province, or Region Found: Kansas, U.S.A. Scale is in 5mm cubes. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamL Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 • Date of Discovery: 6/25/2024 • Preparation Completion Date : 06/26/2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Ichthyosaurus Paddle • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age : Lower Jurassic, Upper Lias. • State, Province, or Region Found: Yorkshire Coast, Whitby Before, as found on the beach After prepwork. 15 Yorkshire Coast Fossil Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patelinho7 Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Well, June has been exciting and people have submitted quite a range of fantastic finds. I wasn’t going to submit anything this month, but I noticed a lack of dinosaur entries! I found this tooth as float in a gravel wash. It is a worn ankylosaur tooth. The primary ankylosaur from this formation is the nodosaur Priconodon crassus, however, this tooth is not Priconodon. It represents a second unknown ankylosaur only known from fragmentary remains, making the find unique and possibly important to filling in gaps in East Coast dinosaur history. It is also the first confirmed dinosaur material I have ever found! • Date of Discovery: 6/15/2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Ankylosaur indet. tooth • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Arundel Clay, Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) • State, Province, or Region Found: Maryland, USA 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svcgoat Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) A Juvenile Triceratops Phalanges I found the other day. Measurement: 2 cm It is extremely rare to find material from Dinosaurs this young. • Date of Discovery: 6/26/2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Triceratops phalanx. • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Hell Creek Formation • State, Province, or Region Found: Garfield County, MT Edited June 29 by svcgoat 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybot Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 My first mammal predator tooth- and it happens to be a Dire Wolf right m2. • Date of Discovery: June 26, 2024 • Scientific and/or Common Name: Aenocyon dirus right m2 • Geologic Formation and/or Geologic Age: Glacial Deposits • State, Province, or Region Found: E. Kansas, U.S.A. 7 -Jay “The earth doesn't need new continents, but new men.” ― Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 For fossil of the month, I want to submit my Salenia tumidula from the Vincentown Formation, Paleocene. New Jersey (USA). It's the nicest condition one I've ever found and I enjoy looking at it so I figure you might too! Date of Discovery : June 5, 2024 Scientific and/or common name : Echinoid; Salenia tumidula Geologic formation/age : Vincentown Formation, Late Paleocene State, Province, or region found : Central New Jersey, USA 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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