Show us your oligocene/white river fossils

[Nimravis]

Hypisodus-

 

[Nimravis]

I have this id’d as a Miniochoerus Oreodont, but I am not positive on that. @jpc what do you think?

 

 

 

 

Hyracodon-

 

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by Nimravis

[Randyw]

@Opabinia Blues great display! I like the idea of the small risers! I may have to do that with mine!great finds for 2 seasons!

[fossilhunter21]

17 minutes ago, Randyw said:

I cut out the middle man and am just looking at these over the sink!

Good idea! I think I am going to need to start doing that. 

 

-Micah

[Randyw]

@Nimravis the toebone in this picture was found with the skull behind it and measures a little under 3cm. The skull in front of it is a little over 1/3 the size so if the toe bone ratio is the same then it would be around 1cm +/- let me know if you ever want picture of all 6 sides so you can compare….once again i can’t tell for sure from the picture though..

[Randyw]

12 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

have this id’d as a Miniochoerus Oreodont

If you ever positively I.D it please let me know. I’ve been studying the differences between lepti and sespia oreodont. My next step is i want to study the differences between the other oreodont families and those great pictures will be a help!

[fossilhunter21]

They just keep coming!  Very lovely fossils, @Nimravis. 

 

-Micah

[jpc]

40 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

I have this id’d as a Miniochoerus Oreodont, but I am not positive on that. @jpc what do you think?

 

I can only claim ignorance.  I have not learned all my oroes at this point. 

[Nimravis]

26 minutes ago, jpc said:

I can only claim ignorance.  I have not learned all my oroes at this point. 

Thanks for looking.

[jpc]

Lots of great fossils here.  Ya gotta love the White river Fm.

 

This is the first fossil I ever found... South  Dakota 1982.  An oreodont skull.  If I had known what I was doing back then I would have had a lot more of this beast.  You can't see them here but there is an articulated foot tucked in between his/her lower jaws, suggesting there was a lot more of the skeleton there when I picked it up.  This was lovingly prepared with a drywall screw during my ski bum days. 

 

Next, some turtles.  I showed this one recently, as I prepped this during the covid shutdown.  I call it a micro-turtle.  The rest of these fossils are from Wyoming.

 

 

And now for a more normal sized turtle.  

 

 

This one even has a skull.  The only turtle skull I have ever found.  (That statement includes all the other turtle bearing units i have collected as well as all the field work I have done for various museums and universities.)  The schnoz is on the left and the big hole is his eyehole.  The jaw joint is on the right, and you can see an out of focus humerus in the background. 

 

 

And a third turtle.  This one a bit bigger.  (I would have to look it up... this one might be form Nebraska).  It is hiding under an old library card catalog.

 

 

and here is a small selection of turtle eggs:

 

 

Oreodonts and Turtles are the most common fossils out there, but in some places, rodents are also pretty common.  Here is a disarticulated small rodent.  The skull and jaws are in the upper right of the photo. The tip of each was among the bones I saw exposed on the surface of this nodule, so the incisors had eroded away by the time I found it... darn.

 

 

I am not going to try to ID this to genus, but let's look a little closer at the skull:

 

 

Not in great shape.  The orange-ish piece running from the lower jaws up to the upper jaws is the ascending ramus of the right jaw.  But wait... what is that bone behind and to the right of it?  If @caterpillar can show his two-skull block, so can I.  If we look on the back side of this block, you can see the rodent skull, with much of the braincase eroded away and very wide zygomatic arch.  And... a small insectivore snout under it all. 

 

 

 

Just the snout, no brain case.  I am sure if I did a little research I would be able to say if the post-cranial bones on this block are actually rodent bones, or if they belong to the insectivore.   I was tickled pink to find this after prepping most of the rodent (?) bones.  I think some cuss words of joy might have been uttered. 

 

Stay tuned for more White River fun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Randyw]

Wow! Great first fossil! You’ve got turtles all the way from pocket size to the large economy size. Really love seeing the double skull blocks! 

[caterpillar]

What great fossils!

We feel that the specimens from the White River are references for American collectors........and others

[MarcoSr]

My favorite White River fossil is my monster tortoise that I collected on my first trip to my sons' Nebraska ranch.

 

Stylemys nebrascensis tortoise, Oligocene Brule Formation, M&M Ranch, Nebraska 2016  23 inches X 17.5 Inches X 8 inches

 

 

 

 

My sons who have collected the White River badlands for years and who own a White River badlands ranch in Nebraska have an incredible collection of White River specimens.

 

Here is a group picture of some of Marco Jr.'s finds.

 

 

 

 

Just a few of Mel's find's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marco Sr.

[caterpillar]

Indeed. Nice collection

[Nimravis]

@jpc and @MarcoSr you have some great stuff, we need to get @ParkerPaleo to add some of his stuff, I bet he also has some great fossils.

[fossilhunter21]

Wow! Those fossils are amazing, @jpc and, @MarcoSr!   Before this post I really wanted to go fossil hunting in the badlands, but now I really really want to! 

 

-Micah

[jpc]

@MarcoSr... I don't know what your boys are doing right; they have found so many cats.  In my 30 years I have only found two lower jaws.  Maybe their prayers to the fossil gods are connecting better than mine.   Great stuff.  And for those who need more, look for MarcoSr's post on his anthill finds.  More great stuff at the small end of the spectrum.  

 

yes, where is @ParkerPaleo?

 

[MarcoSr]

46 minutes ago, jpc said:

@MarcoSr... I don't know what your boys are doing right; they have found so many cats.  In my 30 years I have only found two lower jaws.  Maybe their prayers to the fossil gods are connecting better than mine.   Great stuff.  And for those who need more, look for MarcoSr's post on his anthill finds.  More great stuff at the small end of the spectrum.  

 

yes, where is @ParkerPaleo?

 

 

Marco Jr. and Mel have found at least 10 complete saber cat skulls with lower jaws.  It helps that their ranch produces a good number of saber cat fossils.

 

Marco Sr.

[Randyw]

10 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

their ranch produces a good number of saber cat fossils.

I wonder why theres such a high concentration there?

[caterpillar]

25 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

It helps that their ranch produces a good number of saber cat fossils.

 

 

Where do you live? I come next week

[Bobby Rico]

Apart from the amazing and incredibly interesting fossil of white river formation, it must be an real experience to fossil hunting in the dramatic landscapes of the badlands. 

[RCFossils]

Amazing collections everyone!

Here are some of my better White River pieces.

[RCFossils]

[RCFossils]

[fossilhunter21]

Wow! That is an amazing collection, @RCFossils! 

 

-Micah