March 2013 Finds Of The Month

[Cris]

Entries will be taken through March 31st. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

To view the Winning Fossils from past contests visit the Find Of The Month Winner's Gallery.
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Rules for The Fossil Forum's Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. You find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found by you.

2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry.

3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or the significant Preparation of your Fossil must have been completed during the Month of the Contest.

4. You must include the Date of your Discovery or the Date of Preparation Completion.

5. You must include the common or scientific name.

6. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the Fossil was found.

7. Play fair. No bought fossils.


Shortly
after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the
Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month. The maximum
entries allowed by the Polling software will be selected for each
contest by the staff.

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the Fossils. So, only entries posted with a CLEAR photo and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll.

Within
a few days, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month! Now, go
find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

[PetrolPete]

So, it turns out that the jaw I entered last month had been misidentified at the museum, because this month on March 6th, I returned to the site and found parts of it that I missed before, including a tooth. So this month I'm entering an edestus tooth, that apparently went with the jaw, Pennsylvanian in age, either from the Fort Scott Limestone or Senora Formation near Lake Oolagah Oklahoma

[Govinn]

Awesome find!! That tooth is on my bucket list of teeth to find!

[Jurassic Jim]

I am going to enter this month. This has been the culmination of multiple trips over multiple months. Each time I go to the fossil location where this was collected, I find additional bits of the puzzle. The source is a 4 foot x 1 foot area of shale and to date I have found some 25-30 fragments that I have pieced back together. On MAR 2 I found 8 pieces that when glued together formed a section of the middle of the fossil and connected two sections already collected together. The fit was perfect...I couldn't be happier. While I will continue to look for missing bits I figure it is complete enough to enter now.

The fossil is a fin spine from Ctenacanthus. It is Upper Mississippian Age.

[jpc]

wow... we're off to a ripsnorting start... two Paleozoic sharks.

[Boneman007]

Petrol:

WOW! Suddenly I know what the specimen you are entering is! A good buddy of mine has found a few partial roots, but no blades. Finding this specimen is like finding a 7.5 inch megaladon - It just doesnt happen!

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best finds ever to come out of TFF.

Congratulations! It was my pleasure to actually see one of these bad boys mostly complete!

Here's a pic of a complete jaw (tooth?)

[Evgeny Kotelevsky]

Category: Invertebrate

Name: Napaeana plicatopunctata
Phylum: Porifera

Class: Hexactinellida
Age: K₂st (Upper Cretaceous, Santonian)
Location: Saratov, Russian Federation

Discovery date: 10.03.2013

Preparation completion date: 12.03.2013

[Rob Russell]

Mazon Creek Nodule
305 myo mid-Pennsylvanian
Opened 3-8-13
Didontogaster cordylina (tummy tooth wor

Edited March 27, 2013 by Rob Russell

[Missourian]

Petrol:

WOW! Suddenly I know what the specimen you are entering is! A good buddy of mine has found a few partial roots, but no blades. Finding this specimen is like finding a 7.5 inch megaladon - It just doesnt happen!

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best finds ever to come out of TFF.

Congratulations! It was my pleasure to actually see one of these bad boys mostly complete!

Indeed. I've been poking around the Pennsylvanian for 20+ years, and I've never heard of any collector finding even a fragment of one of these. Well, there was one pulled from a deep hole while they were building an ICBM silo in 1963.

Peter, I wonder if the root that goes with the tooth could be included here, even though it was found last month?

[Boneman007]

Indeed. I've been poking around the Pennsylvanian for 20+ years, and I've never heard of any collector finding even a fragment of one of these. Well, there was one pulled from a deep hole while they were building an ICBM silo in 1963.

Peter, I wonder if the root that goes with the tooth could be included here, even though it was found last month?

I would think that the root and the blades are a single specimen and anything dealing with the specimen should include all parts.

Just my opinion.

Needless to say, you all know what I will be voting for at the end of the month!

[PetrolPete]

Petrol:

WOW! Suddenly I know what the specimen you are entering is! A good buddy of mine has found a few partial roots, but no blades. Finding this specimen is like finding a 7.5 inch megaladon - It just doesnt happen!

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best finds ever to come out of TFF.

Congratulations! It was my pleasure to actually see one of these bad boys mostly complete!

Here's a pic of a complete jaw (tooth?)

Wow, I understood it was uncommon, but I had no idea it was that rare! I'll have to scour the entire area that I found it in because I may have found fragments of at least 1 other jaw in the area too.

Indeed. I've been poking around the Pennsylvanian for 20+ years, and I've never heard of any collector finding even a fragment of one of these. Well, there was one pulled from a deep hole while they were building an ICBM silo in 1963.

Peter, I wonder if the root that goes with the tooth could be included here, even though it was found last month?

It'd probably be up to the mods, although I guess I could technically say that I over doubled the number of pieces I have for it. Also, although I know where the tooth fits on one concretion, I found the jaw(s?) as two large concretions side by side, and I don't know how, or if, it fits with concretion next to it. I'll just have to try to reassemble it some more

I would think that the root and the blades are a single specimen and anything dealing with the specimen should include all parts.

Just my opinion.

Needless to say, you all know what I will be voting for at the end of the month!

Thanks for the support, it means a lot.

In case it is allowed, here is the jaw(s?) in its/(their) current condition:

Edited March 26, 2013 by PetrolPete

[cowsharks]

Found a good portion of a Paleocene Soft Shelled Turtle, Trionyx sp. Details and pics below.

Date: 8March2013

ID: Trionyx sp. (Soft Shelled Turtle)

Location: Maryland

Formation Info: Paleocene, Aquia, Piscataway

Daryl.

[mikeymig]

Is that a bite mark on the shell in the close up photo?

Mikey

[cowsharks]

Is that a bite mark on the shell in the close up photo?

Mikey

Mikey, that's what I'm thinking. In the one close-up photo you see 2 parallel lines that look like they could be tooth marks from a shark, and if they are, I would surmise they are from a large shark (Giant mackerel; Otodus obliquus) because of the spacing distance between the marks. In the second close-up photo you see 1 line and then something that looks like a circular puncture hole to the right. It would be cool to think that maybe that hole is from a croc tooth biting down?

Daryl.

[PFOOLEY]

Invertebrate

coilopoceras springeri (Hyatt)

Late Cretaceous (Turonian) Carlile Shale

discovered: March 17th, 2013

[piranha]

Invertebrate

coilopoceras springeri (Hyatt)

Late Cretaceous (Turonian) Carlile Shale

discovered: March 17th, 2013

Spectacular Ammonite.... Congrats!

[evren]

Found: August 2012
Prepped: March 24, 2013

Scientific Name: Scytalocrinus disparilis
Formation: Edwardsville Fm.
Age: Lower Mississippian

[jpc]

Mikey, that's what I'm thinking. In the one close-up photo you see 2 parallel lines that look like they could be tooth marks from a shark, and if they are, I would surmise they are from a large shark (Giant mackerel; Otodus obliquus) because of the spacing distance between the marks. In the second close-up photo you see 1 line and then something that looks like a circular puncture hole to the right. It would be cool to think that maybe that hole is from a croc tooth biting down?

Daryl.

Daryl-

Cool find, esp[ from ana rea that usually produces bits and pieces. Nice job. I see the one bite mark... looks crocodilian. Soft shells are strictly freshwater, so I suspect crocodilian over shark. but that's just my thinking.

[hokiehunter]

3 plus years of hunting the Miocene cliffs of VA and MD and this find represents my most complete crab(s) find to date. A three for one of crab carapace.

Invertebrate

3 x Cancridae (rock crabs)

Miocene, Zone 16-18 Choptank Formation

Found 03/02/13

[hokiehunter]

Baleen whale jaw found eroding out of a large block of clay from a fresh fall. Super hard to find pieces of jaw or bone any larger than a few inches long due to the way these erode out of the cliffs. My best jaw section to date by far.

Vertebrate

Balaenopteroid or Cetotheriid lower jaw (Baleen Whale)

Miocene, Zone 16-18 Choptank Formation

Found 03/01/13

Edited March 27, 2013 by hokiehunter

[cowsharks]

Baleen whale jaw found eroding out of a large block of clay from a fresh fall. Super hard to find pieces of jaw or bone any larger than a few inches long 3 due to the way these erode out of the cliffs. My best jaw section to date by far.

Vertebrate

Balaenopteroid or Cetotheriid lower jaw (Baleen Whale)

Miocene, Zone 16-18 Choptank Formation

Found 03/01/13

Jason, such a neat find - glad to see the pieces went back together nicely. This would look cool on a shelf or as a wall mount (on "L" shaped brackets).

Daryl.

[Nandomas]

Great fossils also this month

Being a fossil shark lover, Ctenacanthus spine is my voting intention.. but wait... the Edestus is nice too and I also love turtles :wacko:

[Boneman007]

Great fossils also this month

Being a fossil shark lover, Ctenacanthus spine is my voting intention.. but wait... the Edestus is nice too and I also love turtles :wacko:

And I thought it would be easy to know what to vote for...

I definitely wouldnt have thought I'd even have a question of what I'd be voting for after seeing the Edestus!

But wow, the turtle! The spine! Even the crabs are exceptional to a crab lover like me!

I'm still going to vote for the Edestus, but, it was VERY close, and that s DEFINTELY saying something!

Spectacular finds! Congrats to everyone this month. You all deserve to win!

[hokiehunter]

And I thought it would be easy to know what to vote for...

I definitely wouldnt have thought I'd even have a question of what I'd be voting for after seeing the Edestus!

But wow, the turtle! The spine! Even the crabs are exceptional to a crab lover like me!

I'm still going to vote for the Edestus, but, it was VERY close, and that s DEFINTELY saying something!

Spectacular finds! Congrats to everyone this month. You all deserve to win!

Hi Boneman, you are in luck... the crabs and edestus are in different categories (two different votes). Vertebrate and Invertebrate. You can have two pieces of cake.

[Boneman007]

Hi Boneman, you are in luck... the crabs and edestus are in different categories (two different votes). Vertebrate and Invertebrate. You can have two pieces of cake.

Yeah, but that Russian sponge, and the gorgeous crinoid. Im defintely at a loss for what to vote for in the invert category!

Edited March 29, 2013 by Boneman007