Show us your oligocene/white river fossils

[jpc]

5 hours ago, bruce said:

JP - Your work is both beautifully prepared and photographed in artistic poses that capture one's eye and attention.

Thanks, bruce.    

[siteseer]

On 4/12/2022 at 4:03 PM, jpc said:

as well known as Mesohippus is, it is not as common as one would think... at least not where I collect.   Nice stuff. 

 

 

 

Hi JP,

 

That was what I realized in northeastern Nebraska as well.  I spent an afternoon in the early 90's on one ranch and didn't find much more than bits.  I was on another ranch and found some interesting specimens that included a Mesohippus upper molar and astragulus, a partial Peltosaurus skull with partial lower jaws, a couple of Leptomeryx jaw sections, and a couple of unidentified premolars.  Other collectors had been through and it hadn't rained in a few weeks.  It was still great to have that experience of collecting in the Badlands, walking the earth.

 

I did walk into a depression that was filled with "exploded" (eroded) turtle shells.  That was a bummer - nothing really salvageable.  I was too late.  I didn't find any skulls or limb bones among them.

 

I understand the ranches have changed hands since then.

 

I'll get some photos of what I have.  I've bought and traded for some small specimens.  I know how hard it can be to find a complete bone or a nice clean jaw section.

 

Jess

Edited April 14, 2022 by siteseer
typos

[jpevahouse]

Humerus, femur, tibia, radius, ulnar, oreodont and possibly other mammals of similar size. White River Formation, North Dakota.

Edited April 14, 2022 by jpevahouse

[fossilhunter21]

On 4/12/2022 at 6:58 PM, Randyw said:

Heres another one of mine! Its a fragment and a couple jaw pieces from a messohippus skull. It’s not pretty but I’m still glad to have got it!

They may not be very lovely, but they are still cool pieces.  

-Micah

Edited April 14, 2022 by fossilhunter21

[fossilhunter21]

1 hour ago, jpevahouse said:

Humerus, femur, tibia, radius, ulnar, oreodont and possibly other mammals of similar size. White River Formation, North Dakota.

 

Nice!  That is a lot of bones! 

 

-Micah

[Nimravis]

A few miscellaneous Femur pieces.

 

[Nimravis]

Miscellaneous Mesohippus teeth.

 

[Nimravis]

More miscellaneous WR mammal bones. Scale cube is 1 inch.

 

[Randyw]

Wow! Nice bones!

heres my misc W.R. Bones! Still havent got around to identifying them. I suspect oreodont…

[Randyw]

[ParkerPaleo]

Couple pics of things.  Lots more around but this was easier to reach.

 

Hypisodus

 

 

Hyaenadon

 

 

A big hollowed out Stylemys

 

 

Lepticits

 

 

And a titanothere palate

 

[ParkerPaleo]

And here is an Aciprion.  Its a small iguanid lizard, no scutes like a Peltosaur though.  Needs more prep eventually.

 

[Nimravis]

5 hours ago, ParkerPaleo said:

Couple pics of things.  Lots more around but this was easier to reach.

Beautiful fossils.

[jpc]

Lots of great fossils posted here.  This is last installation from my collection of eye candy. 

 

I'll start with this one that I prepped last year and posted on the forum, along with CT scans.  A Hypisodus partial skeleton.

 

This next one is in honor of marcosr who has spent countless hours collecting White River micro fossils.  I have a total of one anthill that I collect from, so not nearly as much cool stuff as he has, but here is a stereophoto of a few pieces as seen through the microscope:  Toe bones, small verts, teeth, a mammal jaw, lizard scute and more.

 

The rarest thing I have is a pile of bones (including the skull) of the little burrowing mammal called Epoicotherium.  As far as I know there are only a few examples of this thing.  The skull has very boring teeth with no enamel.  The left photo gives you an idea of size.  The skull is there in front of my index finger.  The triangular bone on the right of that photo is the sacrum.  The auditory bulla is separated from the skull.  It is the white-ish thin bowl shaped bone seen to the right of the skull in both shots.  In the right photo we are looking at the palate... two large (ish) canines followed by little peg teeth.  The back end of the skull is missing/broken.    Below the skull are the humerus, a vertebra, three fused neck verts and the scapula with an huge extended acromion process (the right-most bone in the second photo).   

   

 

Another rarity... a bird bone (my only bird bone from the White River). This is the carpometacarpus of an unknown bird.  I have CT scanned this rock and seen no other bones, which makes me sad.  I have yet to finish prepping it, but it is about 3 cm long.

 

Another future prep project... a fairly complete lizard skeleton.  this might be the same thing PaleoParker posted above... it is small and has no scutes.  I have micro-CT scanned this one as well and it has lower jaws but no obvious skull.  That might be disarticulated in there somewhere.  The thought of prepping this one actually scares me.  The two halves fit together. 

 

 

And speaking of not-yet-prepped stuff... here is the White River section of my stockpile. 

 

The bigger plaster jackets are in a different place.  Some day I will retire and start working on this stuff.  

[fossilhunter21]

Nice collection of bones, @Nimravis and, @Randyw! 

 

-Micah

Edited April 23, 2022 by fossilhunter21

[fossilhunter21]

Those fossils are amazing, @ParkerPaleo and, @jpc! I think I might need to put in a drool sink. 

 

-Micah

[Randyw]

My drool sink overflowed when I saw that storage room of boxes of unprepped W.R. Stuff!

[bruce]

Impressive collection, JP - There needs to be some Irish-type equivalent greeting for fossil preppers - i.e. "May you live long enough to see all your boxes of retirement fossils prepped!"

[ParkerPaleo]

On 4/23/2022 at 5:54 PM, bruce said:

Impressive collection, JP - There needs to be some Irish-type equivalent greeting for fossil preppers - i.e. "May you live long enough to see all your boxes of retirement fossils prepped!"

 

I don't know about @jpc but my pile of unprepped won't be completed in my life time.  And I'm okay with that.  I'm training a 3rd generation to pick up the mantle after I'm gone.

 

[jpc]

that picture looks like out at Douglas....  : )

Yeah, my lifetime may be too short as well.  No next gen here, just a museum to donate to.  

[Bobby Rico]

This is why I love the “show us your “ thread. They become museums in this case a local museum of the White River Formation. Incredible thread 

[ParkerPaleo]

22 hours ago, jpc said:

that picture looks like out at Douglas....  : )

Yeah, my lifetime may be too short as well.  No next gen here, just a museum to donate to.  

 

Quite possibly!  Maybe someday I will head back to Nebraska/South Dakota for my hunting but I do love Wyoming.

 

Nice small lizard skeleton, much like alot of the other microfauna, there are several lizards other than Peltosaurus, mostly unstudied.

Edited April 27, 2022 by ParkerPaleo

[siteseer]

Wow, JP, that Epoicotherium is fantastic.  Is it the same specimen that was on a page of that museum calendar from about ten years ago?  It's a funky animal for those unfamiliar with it.  It belongs to an extinct family and order of burrowing mammals that were mole-like but not moles.  They were similar to but unrelated to anything today.  The White River occurrence is perhaps one of the last ones in the fossil record.

[jpc]

19 minutes ago, siteseer said:

Wow, JP, that Epoicotherium is fantastic.  Is it the same specimen that was on a page of that museum calendar from about ten years ago?  It's a funky animal for those unfamiliar with it.  It belongs to an extinct family and order of burrowing mammals that were mole-like but not moles.  They were similar to but unrelated to anything today.  The White River occurrence is perhaps one of the last ones in the fossil record.

yeah, it is the same specimen.  Yeah, really bizarre beast.  

[Nanotyrannus35]

On 4/23/2022 at 2:17 PM, jpc said:

  

That's an amazing Epoicotherium! It''s so tiny!