Peace River hunting 7/13/24

[Shellseeker]

It has been 11 days since I last went hunting. Hunting partner chose a spot that we had not visited in 5 years, It used to have Megalodons and Hemipristis , colorful like Bone Valley mines. I wondered if they were still there.  I found an Equus tooth just before I reached this mostly Miocene Location...

The Hemis were still there.  

 

Unfortunately broken

 

A look at everything I found,  Not a lot of variety. Sting Ray teeth, shark teeth, Those worm like (seashells??) transformed to Silica...

Here is one up close.

But then I find a clump together also, I find modern versions of these called Worm Shells, but modern ones are smooth lacking the horizontal banding.  Possibly @MikeR can add illumination... especially on approximate age.

 

The other odd one is this broken Vertebra:

 

I wondered 2 things:

Is this indicative of a missing epiphysis? 

and could I connect this Vert to Dugong? Have not completed the 2nd task.    Jack

[Plantguy]

Hey Jack, nice to see the latest finds!...

 

Look forward if Mike has the chance on what the tubes are...Kind of looks like some of the Vermicularia I have but I'm not sure they are the same. Like the preservation! 

 

I see you mentioned an Equus horse tooth. Did you find any non-Equus genera from there in earlier visits? I ran across this attached horse publication awhile back while looking for new info on the Montbrook site and forgot to ask if you had already seen it/had it..Probably do but theres some good info in there about the non-Equus types...

 

Species occurrences of Mio-Pliocene horses (Equidae) from Florida: sampling, ecology, or both?

Stephanie R. Killingsworth and Bruce J. McFadden

Paleobiology 24 January 2024

Cambridge University Press

 

Regards, Chris 

species-occurrences-of-mio-pliocene-horses-equidae-from-florida-sampling-ecology-or-both (1).pdf

[Shellseeker]

12 hours ago, Plantguy said:

Hey Jack, nice to see the latest finds!...

 

Look forward if Mike has the chance on what the tubes are...Kind of looks like some of the Vermicularia I have but I'm not sure they are the same. Like the preservation! 

 

I see you mentioned an Equus horse tooth. Did you find any non-Equus genera from there in earlier visits? I ran across this attached horse publication awhile back while looking for new info on the Montbrook site and forgot to ask if you had already seen it/had it..Probably do but theres some good info in there about the non-Equus types...

 

Species occurrences of Mio-Pliocene horses (Equidae) from Florida: sampling, ecology, or both?

Stephanie R. Killingsworth and Bruce J. McFadden

Paleobiology 24 January 2024

Cambridge University Press

 

Regards, Chris 

species-occurrences-of-mio-pliocene-horses-equidae-from-florida-sampling-ecology-or-both (1).pdf 615.94 kB · 1 download

Thanks Chris,  

You know I love those little horses and Nannippus aztecus (#A below) is my 2nd most frequent find..

 

I love the preservation on the Tube worm single shell... Hard to believe that this is at least 3 mya!!!

It is fragile,  a couple broke as I was picking them out of the screen. 

So,  I looked up Vermicularia renta first

NOPE !!! Not similar enough... 

Then Vermetes virginicus and this one looks the VERY similar, almost exact to my cluster... It is always fund to get an ID, I hope Mike agrees. 

So I can speculate on this .. Late Pliocene,  maybe 3 myas, a layer was laid down in what would eventually be the Peace River ... other fauna included Megalodon,  Hemipristis, tiger sharks including P. contortus, Stingray teeth and barbs, sea urchin spines, and not very much else.  Most of these finds are small for the fauna. Shallow marine environment. 

I know if 5-6 of these isolated spots (maybe 15-20 feet in diameter) that seem to have very few or no fossils from younger fauna.

The Equus tooth was found about 100 feet upstream. 

In our previous hunts 4-5 years ago, once again almost exclusively pliocene_miocene fauna, an occassional dolphin tooth or earbone. 

One of the things I find interesting is that the churn of storms and currents has not disturbed the underlying layers. It might be something about  shape of the river and height above sea level.

[Shellseeker]

Some additional shark teeth: This is what I mean by colorful, light roots. In order to stay this way, they had to be protected to the Tanic acid in the Peace River.

 

Here is a photo of everything I found...

Fragment of a ray mouthplate

 

There were large numbers of Tube worm singles in every sieve (maybe 20-25).  I started picking them up because I wanted to identify the species and thus hope to  date the layer..

 

Pretty interesting day of hunting...

[hemipristis]

12 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

 

 

 

 

fossil ramen?

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, hemipristis said:

fossil ramen?

Now that you mention it,  excellent ID

[MikeR]

On 7/14/2024 at 1:03 AM, Plantguy said:

Hey Jack, nice to see the latest finds!...

 

Look forward if Mike has the chance on what the tubes are...Kind of looks like some of the Vermicularia I have but I'm not sure they are the same. Like the preservation! 

 

I see you mentioned an Equus horse tooth. Did you find any non-Equus genera from there in earlier visits? I ran across this attached horse publication awhile back while looking for new info on the Montbrook site and forgot to ask if you had already seen it/had it..Probably do but theres some good info in there about the non-Equus types...

 

Species occurrences of Mio-Pliocene horses (Equidae) from Florida: sampling, ecology, or both?

Stephanie R. Killingsworth and Bruce J. McFadden

Paleobiology 24 January 2024

Cambridge University Press

 

Regards, Chris 

species-occurrences-of-mio-pliocene-horses-equidae-from-florida-sampling-ecology-or-both (1).pdf 615.94 kB · 1 download

 

I agree with Chris.  Looks like Vermicularia.  

 

Edited July 15 by MikeR

[Meganeura]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:45 AM, MikeR said:

 

I agree with Chris.  Looks like Vermicularia.  

 

Vermicularia - Vermicelli. Seems like fossil ramen wasn’t too far off?