November 2015 Finds Of The Month

[JohnJ]

Last month was a little "light" on entries, but not on quality. This month, will we have a repeat winner from the past, or another first time contest winner??? I hope you find something this month that dilates your eyes, catches your breath, and causes a whisper or yell of joy! Stay safe out there.

Carefully read the rules below, make sure you include all the required information, and submit your fossil!

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. Best of luck to all and good hunting!

Entries will be taken through November 30th. 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. (Only two entries 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 your Discovery or the Date of Preparation Completion.

5. Before and After Preparation photos must be submitted for Prepped specimens not found during the Month of the Contest.

6. You must include the common 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. Play fair and honest. No bought fossils. No false claims.

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. 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!

Edited November 22, 2015 by JohnJ
rule clarification

[ZiggieCie]

Not many last month, but great ones.

[Trickworm]

I'll throw something in. Pleistocene Horse tooth found 11/11/2015 in Southern Ohio.

[Manticocerasman]

This will be my entry for this month:

Goniatite: Manticoceras sp.

Late Devonian / Frasnian / Formation of Neuville

Lompret (Belgium)

Found 7th November 2015

Kevin

[PaleoWilliam]

Nice!

This will be my entry for this month:

Goniatite: Manticoceras sp.
Late Devonian / Frasnian / Formation of Neuville
Lompret (Belgium)
Found 7th November 2015


Kevin

[thair]

I will put this one in since it is one of my better ones I have found lately. You might notice in the picture on the ground that part of the face of it was broken off and laying down and to the right. I glued it back then had to remove the matrix off to re-expose the blade.

Petalodus (hope I spelled that right) 5cm by 4cm

Central Texas Penn. Found 11-11-15.

[thair]

I will put this one in since it is one of my better ones I have found lately. You might notice in the picture on the ground that part of the face of it was broken off and laying down and to the right. I glued it back then had to remove the matrix off to re-expose the blade.

Petalodus (hope I spelled that right) 5cm by 4cm

Central Texas Penn. Found 11-11-15.

Another pic for size in hand

[fossilized6s]

That is a gorgeous tooth, Tully.

[Guguita2104]

This is my entry for November (finally a good fossil!)

-Isastrea sp (colonial coral)

-Serra d'Aire e Candeeiros,Portugal

-Jurassic (probably Middle Jurassic)

-Found on the 14th November 2015

-About 15 cm long

1-

[Guguita2104]

2-

3-

[FossilHunter99]

Going to try this month! I found a red mammoth tooth which is pretty rare, most are brown . It's a milk (baby) tooth that came out as the animal grew, according to paleontologists.

Species: Mammuthus Primigenius

Age: Pleistocene

Location: Dunavarsány, Hungary

Found: 14th of November 2015

Edited November 17, 2015 by FossilHunter99

[Pilobolus]

Spathites puercoensis from the Cretaceous Mancos shale in NM. Probably the largest (~5" diameter; ~12 cm) I've ever encountered...most of these locally-relevant ammonites I've come across are 2 to 3 inches diameter.

Found November 7

Preparation: I've futzed with the contrast of the image to enhance visibility of the suture patterns.

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

This is shaping up to be a hard competition.

[marguy]

My first entry for 'find of the month':

a 'huge' fish coprolite, found in continental deposits in Brive basin, France

Age: autunian (continental facies), lower permian

found on 8 november 2015, no preparation, only cleavage of the stone on the field.

usually here (though rare in Brive basin) , fish coprolites are about 1 cm long , like the one on the right, (1st picture) , but this one is especially huge and very well preserved!

[njfossilhunter]

My first entry for 'find of the month':

a 'huge' fish coprolite, found in continental deposits in Brive basin, France

Age: autunian (continental facies), lower permian

found on 8 november 2015, no preparation, only cleavage of the stone on the field.

usually here (though rare in Brive basin) , fish coprolites are about 1 cm long , like the one on the right, (1st picture) , but this one is especially huge and very well preserved!

Is that a shark coprolite in the last picture....it sure looks like it to me and I would assume its rare as well. Its a super find if it is. If so Congratulations...WOW....I would have loved to find a Permian shark poop.

You got my vote.....

Edited November 22, 2015 by njfossilhunter

[marguy]

njfossilhunter: yes , it is a softwater shark coprolite

[njfossilhunter]

njfossilhunter: yes , it is a softwater shark coprolite

That is so cool.....Have you found others ??? I would love to get one of these.

[marguy]

njfossilhunter: I don't want to disappoint you, the big one is unique, but I have some small ones (about 1cm) with spiral shape and without ornamentation like this one! if still really interested, please pm.

Marguy

[Pilobolus]

Looks like I'm in trouble as poop doesn't have a backbone.

Nice find!

[deutscheben]

I don't know if this stacks up with the entries from other folks here, but I thought it was unusual enough to throw it in the ring.

Pyritized Achistrum sp. (sea cucumber)

Pennsylvanian / Mazon Creek

Braceville, IL

Found 9/26, split 11/19

It appears to continue under the unsplit portion on the right half, but my attempts to crack that portion of the nodule just resulted in damage to the already exposed portion, so I will leave it as is.

[Pterosaur]

Hi guys,

A couple members recommended I enter the Multituberculate molar I found in Hell Creek, so here we go! Technically, I found it at home in Houston... I was poking around in a box I'd used for digging in Montana, and I found the tooth in a pile of dirt and sand at the bottom! I've cleaned it up as best as I can, and there's a lot of pretty neat detail.

Here are a few pictures of the detail on the crown. The last one shows it sitting on my Labrador's nose. Thought it was a fun way to show the scale of the tooth...haha. If he wasn't so well behaved I wouldn't try it.

Thanks!

Lauren

[Pterosaur]

Here is the box I used when I was digging and where I later found the mammal tooth. As you can see the box is mostly full of concretions, the best kind of fossils.

The tooth was nearly covered in matrix when I found it, and was pretty tedious to clean. The root is complete; which is awesome! However, it made cleaning about 100 times harder.

I still don't know how the tooth wound up in my box. It did not come off of the matrix of my ischium, and I'd never seen it until I found it this month. I'd originally found a bird tooth while digging, but the box swallowed it. Maybe this is the boxes way of making it up to me.

[Mike Pocock]

Some very nice finds this month

Good luck all

Regards

Mike

[Northern Sharks]

I haven't played in a while, so here's my entry. Found on the once per year trip to the St Marys cement quarry in Bowmanville ON Oct. 25 and prepped last week. It's a Cupulocrinus sp. crinoid crown showing, amongst the arms, the anal tube. Found on a thin flake of shale, I embedded it into some colored grout then did the prep. It still needs some landscaping, but you get the idea. It is Ordovician and comes from either the very top of the Verulam fm. or the bottom of the Lindsay fm.

[PFOOLEY]

Spathites puercoensis from the Cretaceous Mancos shale in NM. Probably the largest (~5" diameter; ~12 cm) I've ever encountered...most of these locally-relevant ammonites I've come across are 2 to 3 inches diameter.

Found November 7

Preparation: I've futzed with the contrast of the image to enhance visibility of the suture patterns.

That is a very nice, complete, adult specimen. Excellent find!