North Sulphur River Big Rain

[flyingpenut]

After no rain for many months we got a big 13 foot rise last weekend. I was hoping that would wash away all the mud and uncover many great fossils. Unfortunately it was still few and far between. The mud has been halfway washed away, which is halfway to where we want it, but the fossils are still not uncovered. Here are a few of the things i found:

 

 

A couple decent but small mosasaur verts. Also the in situ shots.

 

 

 

Decent fish jaw. Not sure which species though.

 

A cool shell from the grey shale zone. All I ever see are impressions but this came out whole with nacre.

 

1. Coprolite? People find it all the time but I just don't have an eye for it. However this looks like a dog just had a fresh one on the ground.

 

2. No idea. Looks like a modern bone but hard as a rock. Maybe it is just rock?   

 

3. Last looks like a fossilized jaw bone but is modern unfossilized non-jaw bone. It is amazing how much it looks like the fish and mosasaur jaw i found earlier. Anyone know what part of the animal this is from? 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by flyingpenut

[Meganeura]

26 minutes ago, flyingpenut said:

 

I am pretty sure this is a mammalian ear bone.

[GPayton]

I'm almost positive you found an actual coprolite, you can even see the "pinching off" point in the second picture.  I can't remember right now if that's diagnostic to a certain animal but I think it rules out fish and shark since their digestive tracts form pinecone or spiral shaped coprolites. 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

On your last photo, it looks like a piece of mammal mandible cut in half lengthwise.

 

Coco

[Tales From the Shale]

Always loved vertebrae, those belonging to the mosasaur look lovely with those earthy tones!

[Meganeura]

9 hours ago, GPayton said:

I'm almost positive you found an actual coprolite, you can even see the "pinching off" point in the second picture.  I can't remember right now if that's diagnostic to a certain animal but I think it rules out fish and shark since their digestive tracts form pinecone or spiral shaped coprolites. 

@GeschWhat 

[Brandy Cole]

On number 3, can you provide a top-down view?  It could help us get a clearer idea of what the shape of the teeth might be.

[GeschWhat]

Yep, looks like #1 was #2. It even appears to have little feeding traces (aka dentalites).