October 2017 Finds of the Month

[Fossildude19]

It's officially Autumn, here in the US,  and there is the beginnings of crispness is in the air.

Apple picking, pumpkin carving, and trick or treating, traditional activities for this time of year, while fun, cannot compare to our fossil finding enthusiasm!

 

For many in the Northern Hemisphere, time is running out to find that worthy fossil, and post it here.  

 

 

 

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Remember...PLEASE carefully read the rules below, ... make sure you include all the required information, and submit your fossil! 

If you have a question about a possible entry, please send me 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. Best of success to all, and good hunting!

Entries will be taken until midnight on October 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. 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 contest category.)

3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or most of 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 (when found in the contest month); or the Date of Preparation Completion and Discovery date (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.

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. 

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

 

Date of discovery

Scientific or Common name

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation

State, Province, or Region found

Photos (if prepped, before and after photos, please.)

 

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

Once the Contest Submission period has ended, after all the votes are tallied, and the Polls for both categories are closed, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month for OCTOBER - 2017 !  

 

Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

[Macrophyseter]

Good luck to all october hunters!

 

As for me, Im still waiting for a free day to go to ernst quarries and find my own fossils for the first time.

[Jesuslover340]

Date of discovery: October 1st, 2017

Scientific or Common name: Pallimnarchus pollens osteoderm/scute

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Pliocene-Pleistocene 

State, Province, or Region found: Australia

Photos :

[thelivingdead531]

@Fossildude19 Shouldn't it read that entries will be taken until midnight on October 31? Or do you have to submit in Sept?

[Fossildude19]

3 minutes ago, thelivingdead531 said:

@Fossildude19 Shouldn't it read that entries will be taken until midnight on October 31? Or do you have to submit in Sept?

Ooops. It should say that.  

Sloppy copy and paste job. 

Thanks for pointing that out. 

Fixed now. 

[thelivingdead531]

 I was confused for a moment, but just wanted to be sure. 

[Fossildude19]

2 minutes ago, thelivingdead531 said:

 I was confused for a moment, but just wanted to be sure. 

Sorry for the confusion.    

[thelivingdead531]

1 minute ago, Fossildude19 said:

Sorry for the confusion.    

 

No worries!  

[fossilcrazy]

Date of discovery- October 8th, 2017

Scientific or Common name- Rhizolith, Plant trace fossil

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation- Late Devonian, Duncannon formation, Catskill Delta Group 

State, Province, or Region found- Near Hyner, Pennsylvania, USA

 

In situ picture, saw cut picture and a polished cross section.

For submission to IPFOTM . I have never entered a trace fossil to this before.

Here is a fossil remnant of a mini swamp that existed 360 million years ago.

 

[Ptychodus04]

Date of discovery- June 25, 2017

Date of preparation - October 10, 2017

Scientific or Common name- Eopachydiscus marcianus protoconch (hatchling)

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation - Early Cretaceous, Duck Creek Formation

State, Province, or Region found- Near Long  Valley View, Texas, USA

 

I found this little guy while collecting with the infamous @BobWill this summer. My son brought back the biggest ammonite measuring 18” in diameter and I gladly brought back the smallest. This ammonite faintly displays the widely spaced ribs that cross the venter, common in larger examples of the species.

 

Before prep (you can barely see it poking out of the rock by the cube):

 

 

After prep:

[Archimedes]

Found this morning 10-16-2017, just washed off.

Pentremites pyriformis with brachioles and stem. 

Top picture below is 4 inches high.

Middle Bangor Limestone, Chester, Upper Mississippian

East Morgan County, Alabama

 

Blastoids are common in the upper Mississippian, Chesterian age. The brachioles are very rarely preserved for one to find, specimens with attached stem are almost never seen, and today (this morning) I found a very nice nearly complete specimen of Pentremites pyriformis from the middle Bangor limestone of north Alabama. The white arrow points to another Pentremites specimen (large) with brachioles standing upward, on the right side, which was cut through the middle while sawing the beautiful nearly complete specimen out of a large block of limestone. A small geode within is filled with clear calcite crystals and a couple of very small fluorite crystals.

 

 

 

[Fossildude19]

39 minutes ago, Archimedes said:

Found this morning 10-16-2017, just washed off.

Pentremites pyriformis with brachioles and stem. 

Top picture below is 4 inches high.

Middle Bangor Limestone, Chester, Upper Mississippian

East Morgan County, Alabama

 

Blastoids are common in the upper Mississippian, Chesterian age. The brachioles are very rarely preserved for one to find, specimens with attached stem are almost never seen, and today (this morning) I found a very nice nearly complete specimen of Pentremites pyriformis from the middle Bangor limestone of north Alabama. The white arrow points to another Pentremites specimen (large) with brachioles standing upward, on the right side, which was cut through the middle while sawing the beautiful nearly complete specimen out of a large block of limestone. A small geode within is filled with clear calcite crystals and a couple of very small fluorite crystals.

 

 

Wow!   
I have never seen a blastoid articulated like this before, except in reproduction drawings!

What a rare and beautiful find! 

Congratulations!  

[RJB]

Wow, very nice blastoid!!!

 

RB

[Archimedes]

Thank You Tim and RJB. It was a nice cool breezy morning, out enjoying the day, when I seen this blastoid and it surely made my day. 

[Nimravis]

Very cool find-congrats.

[Archimedes]

20 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Very cool find-congrats.

Thank You

[Brittle Star]

Found in Feb 2017, prepared 15.10.2017

Hybodus Fin Spine

Two inches in length

Atherfield Clay Formation

Yaverland. Isle of Wight.

Photos are before prep when found and after prep which uncovered its entire length, I never even realised that half of it was under the matrix.

 

 

[crabfossilsteve]

Wow, very cool blastoid and then you have one in cross section.  Sweet.

[Arizona Chris]

My contribution - these have been found in the latest acid fines in the past two weeks.  From the Lower Permian Fort Apache Limestone, these are Anisopyge sp. Trilobite parts arranged in a nice pattern.  7x with AmScope trinocular microscope.  The trilobites are preserved in a gelatin colored silica here, the actual hard parts have been actually replaced and are paper thin!

 

 

Date of discovery: October 2017

Scientific or Common name : Anisopyge sp. Trilobite parts.

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Lower Permian Fort Apache Limestone

State, Province, or Region found: Arizona

 

Edited October 26, 2017 by Fossildude19
Adjust for Contest formatting.

[Archimedes]

On ‎10‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 9:51 AM, crabfossilsteve said:

Wow, very cool blastoid and then you have one in cross section.  Sweet.

Thanks Steve, I thought the small fluorite crystals were nice in the blastoid cross section

[belemniten]

This month I want to participate with a tooth from Holzmaden !

Its a Temnodontosaurus tooth with a length of 2.1 cm. Temnodontosaurus is a large Ichthyosaur, which mainly hunted ammonites. The teeth had robust roots so that they could withstand the stresses of cracking shells without breaking off.‭

Too bad that the tooth isnt perfect .... a part of the root is missing and the surface is a bit damaged. But nevertheless such big teeth in a good condition are very rare in Holzmaden !

 

Date of discovery: October 15st, 2017 (The prep work took about 3 hours)
Scientific or Common name: Temnodontosaurus tooth
Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Lower Jurassic, "Schlacke"
State, Province, or Region found: Germany, Holzmaden, quarry Kromer

 

 

 

[Kane]

I may as well throw a bug (or two) into the mix for this month. Apologies for reposting these photos as they already appear in a trip report.

 

Date of discovery: October 20, 2017

Scientific or Common name: Greenops widderensis

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Hamilton Gp, Widder Fm

State, Province, or Region found: Arkona, Ontario, Canada

 

This pair as found, followed by two rounds of prep (prep #1: Dremel, sewing needle, dental pick; prep #2: Sewing needle, Paasche air eraser using baking soda at 25-30 PSI)

[Malcolmt]

Going to be another tough month I see

[Jesuslover340]

Really? I'll have to up my ante...

 

Date of discovery: October 22nd, 2017

Scientific or Common name: Palorchestes sp. Jaw ("Marsupial Tapir")

Geologic Age or Geologic Formation: Pliocene-Pleistocene 

State, Province, or Region found: Australia

Photos :

 

[frankh8147]

I'll throw my Plesiosaur vertebrae into the mix. It's rare to find any Plesiosaur material here and this one is about as good as it gets condition wise.

Date of discovery: October 21, 2017

Scientific or common name: Plesiosaur

Geologic age : Late Cretaceous

State, province or region: New Jersey, USA