jpc Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Howdy all- Here is what I have been working on lately. Doing some screenwashing from a site I found last month in the late Cretaceous Lance Fm of eastern Wyoming. I have a dozen (at least) sites that I have screen washed for fossils over the years. Most of them have yet to be picked (i.e. finding the fossils). But I decided to attack this one cuz it was only a small sample. These are from an anthill; the ants did a lot of the colleting for me. I have only picked maybe a quarter of the stuff, and it is turning out to be very rich. I usually put a half of a film cannister's worth of sediment on a tray and look at it under the binocular microscope. With some sites I find one of two fossils per tray. This one is producing over 50 fossils per tray. Very thick with mini fossils. Granted most of them are eenie weenie unidentifiable chunks of something bigger, or rounded pebbles of bone, but between those there are some beauties in this stuff. I love these things as much as jkfoam loves his little snails. Go small or go home. (Full disclosure... I also collect big things). My favorites are the mammals, so I'll start with them. (I've found maybe ten of them,; these are my faves). I'm not going to ID them to genus yet. Save that for a later date... (retirement project?). There's no scale on these, but these pix are all shot through the microscope. The largest fossils are maybe 6 mm long. Well, the long toe bone is probably a full cm. Here is a marsupial lower molar, missing one root. A multituberculate molar. A small croc tooth. And a flock of small theropod teeth, starting with Paranychodon And a troodontid (note the big serrations). A small dromeosaur, I think. Now this one is very unusual... I think it might be a snake vertebra. (sorry for the bad focus). And a hybodontid tooth.. Lonchidion. (The most common identifiable fossils in this batch are ray teeth, but I did not take any pix). Three little toe bones and a broken claw.... ah, to find a complete claw. I think it might be bird. That is only based on size; it could be a very small theropod. And I really like this one, the tip of a lizard jaw... seen from both sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Grreat finds :D so... do you like to screen for microfossils? I have a little surprise for you Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Way kewl JP Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Way cool! How itsy-bitsy are these things? "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bear-dog Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Nice fossils.Any more pics? :eat popcorn: Bear-dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alopias Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 very interesting fossils ,nice micro teeth :pic: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 JPC, Great photos! Thanks for sharing them with us. Incredible to think these things are there - so small- and most people don't even know it! Thanks again. Regards, 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...
JohnJ Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Fascinating material, JP! Thanks for posting it. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted May 7, 2011 Author Share Posted May 7, 2011 Way cool! How itsy-bitsy are these things? They are all about 4-6 mm long. The long toe bone is longer. The little claw is smaller. I have no more photos for now. I'm gonna be too busy to chase thisproject for the near future. But I'll get more up eventually. Meanwhile, I'm about to put up a "Find-The-Fossils" post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel59 Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Great eyes JP! I love the Micro-fossils easily overlooked for the bigger things. Thanks for sharing.... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 good eye and great finds. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Jim Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Really fantastic...love the microfossils. Thanks for sharing the photographs and the identifications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilFreak Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Thanks for sharing. Those are definitely cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Real cool, JP! Thanks for showing them. Best wishes, Roger Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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