North Carolina Coast Cretaceous Hunt 12-2023

[old bones]

Last December we took trip to the South Carolina coast and found lots of Pleistocene treasure which I have already posted in my latest gallery, South Carolina Pleistocene Fossils Finds.

 

I didn’t get time to write up a trip report about the South Carolina trip as I have been other busy with other projects, but the photos in the gallery speak for themselves. It was a very good trip.

 

Since we were already so far from home, we planned to drive up the coast to Holden Beach to see what we could collect there as we had heard of the Cretaceous fossils being found as a result of the beach nourishment.

 

Even though we were a bit late to the fossil frenzy on Holden Beach, we were pleased with our finds.

The fossils on Holden Beach are a wild range from the Late Cretaceous PeeDee Formation through to the Pleistocene.

 

And the very first fossil I picked up on day one was this Pleistocene Equus sp. right astragalus.

 

 

 And then the entire day, and every day after was spent picking up and evaluating each echinoid for quality. (They get heavy if you keep every one.)

 

 A few of the better preserved samples that I collected have big chunks of attached matrix. If anyone has a way of removing that without serious tools, please let me know.

 

 

 

I don’t have a group shot of all the Hardouinia mortonis that we picked up, but this one was nice enough to edit for my gallery. Just ignore the predation hole on the base.

 

 

Low tide was before or at dawn those six days and we experienced some of the most beautiful

sunrises ever! We were prepared for hunting in the dark and made the most of every day.

 

 

Right away we began finding Crow shark teeth.

 

 

 

 

I really like this one. Does anyone think that it is a symphyseal tooth?

 

 

All shark teeth were scooped up for further examination later under warmer conditions. Even the small Bull shark teeth are striking when looked at closely.

If I have any IDs wrong, please let me know.

 

 

 

I love the colors on this Great White tooth, and I was pleased that it didn’t fade too much upon drying.

 

 

Another Great White

 

 

 The Cretaceous fossils were the reason for the trip, and it was exciting to pick up such unusual fossils as these crab specimens of Prehepatus harrisi.

I was fortunate to collect both a right and a left manus of this crab even if both are missing the dactyl and pollex.

 

 

 

As found.

 

 

Another crisp December morning with my little helper Annie the Rat Terrier.

 

 

 

continued in next post...

 

[old bones]

Another fossil that was on my list to collect were these Brachyrhizodus sp.vertebrae.

 

 

I especially liked this vertebra with the calcified cartilage.

 

 

 How surreal it is to be able to go to a beach on the North Carolina coast and pick up Mosasaur teeth!

Needless to say, this was the highlight of my trip.

 

 

 

 

Even more Cretaceous goodies…Enchodus sp. fossils

 

 

And these pretty shark teeth - Serratolamna serrata

 

 

And something I don’t find on my usual beach trips,

 

 

One of the coolest things that I found are these fragments of Peritresius ornatus.

Notice how the pattern on these is raised rather than pitted as we see on soft-shelled turtles. These were a surprise for me, and I went down some rabbit holes learning about the turtles. This paper is interesting: A new species of Peritresius Leidy, 1856

 

 

 

Another fine sunset and some photos of the collected finds.

 

 

Various bones and turtle bits.

 

 

Squalicorax, mosasaur and fragladons.

 

 

Enchodus, ray and crab

 

 

Shells, coral and bryozoans

I think that all of my knobby shells are Arcinella cornuta ?

 

 

Dennis was hunting for treasure as well. As soon as the sun began to show, he was metal detecting the beach using his Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II.

 

 

Can’t beat a Palladium wedding band! Ironically, his old wedding band needed replacing, and the found ring fit him!

 

 

And, oh yeah, he also finds fossils!

 

 

Thanks for looking at our rather late trip report!

[sixgill pete]

Holden Beach never seems to disappoint. Nor stop producing!

[Ancient Bones]

Very interesting Julianna. I particularly like the Bull Shark teeth and the Mosasaur of course. A very nice collection you have there great photos too.

[old bones]

4 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

Holden Beach never seems to disappoint. Nor stop producing!

I am so glad that I got some of its treasure while I could! 

[old bones]

3 hours ago, Ancient Bones said:

Very interesting Julianna. I particularly like the Bull Shark teeth and the Mosasaur of course. A very nice collection you have there great photos too.

Thanks, Ancient Bones! 

[ThePhysicist]

Very nice finds and diagrams! What a wondrous place to be able to find both mosasaurs and GWs on the same shoreline.

[Neanderthal Shaman]

Very nice

[JohnJ]

What a pleasure to see your finds and photography.  

[patelinho7]

Wonderful report and photography! Thanks for taking us along.

 

Only one thing I will point out, and forgive me for pointing out a minor ID issue, but aren’t these Squalicorax kaupi? Maybe someone else can confirm for me… there may be more lurking that I didn’t spot, but these were the most obvious ones with the typical S. kaupi notch in the crown.

[Al Dente]

6 hours ago, patelinho7 said:

Only one thing I will point out, and forgive me for pointing out a minor ID issue, but aren’t these Squalicorax kaupi? Maybe someone else can confirm for me… there may be more lurking that I didn’t spot, but these were the most obvious ones with the typical S. kaupi notch in the crown.

 

This always brings up the question, what do juvenile pristodontus teeth look like? In the Peedee Formation (Maastrictian) only the largest pristodontus completely lack the indentation on the distal side of the tooth. I'm not certain that the small notched kaupi are a different species from the large indented pristodontus or the larger typical pristodontus.

[old bones]

9 hours ago, patelinho7 said:

Wonderful report and photography! Thanks for taking us along.

 

Only one thing I will point out, and forgive me for pointing out a minor ID issue, but aren’t these Squalicorax kaupi? Maybe someone else can confirm for me… there may be more lurking that I didn’t spot, but these were the most obvious ones with the typical S. kaupi notch in the crown.

Thank you for pointing this out!  I was under the mistaken impression that the Crow shark teeth to be found at Holden were all pristodontus. I should have gone deeper on that research. I have corrected the images title to reflect the questionable ID.
 This image remains to explain the query for others who might make my mistake. 

[old bones]

3 hours ago, Al Dente said:

 

This always brings up the question, what do juvenile pristodontus teeth look like? In the Peedee Formation (Maastrictian) only the largest pristodontus completely lack the indentation on the distal side of the tooth. I'm not certain that the small notched kaupi are a different species from the large indented pristodontus or the larger typical pristodontus.

Thank for explaining further! I always learn something new on TFF!

[old bones]

14 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

Very nice finds and diagrams! What a wondrous place to be able to find both mosasaurs and GWs on the same shoreline.

Thank you very much! It is a unique experience for sure. 

[old bones]

11 hours ago, JohnJ said:

What a pleasure to see your finds and photography.  

Thank you, @JohnJ !

[Echinoid Express]

Very cool finds and pictures, Holden Beach is one of my favorite places to go when I need to unwind! The matrix pieces that can be found there are very cool, I've found that many of them contain some really cool specimens of various things that people often overlook. I've had another trip down there myself since February I need to post about, I found some rather unusual Peedee Formation specimens there in April.

 

Most of those knobby shells are indeed Arcinella cornuta, although you do have a Peedee Formation Exogyra costata on the left in that photo. I've found some really nice, high quality specimens of them there!

 

[old bones]

@Echinoid Express Thanks so much for weighing in on my shell specimens! I am glad that I collected at least one of the Exogyra costata. 
I have followed your trip reports on Holden with great interest...they were helpful in guiding some of my IDs.

I wish that I had brought home some of the shells containing matrix to search as you did. Perhaps I will get to return one day.