Entries - October 2010 Finds Of The Month

[JohnJ]

Invertebrates dominated the submissions last month. Will they be found in the same numbers again, or will the Vertebrates make a better showing this month?

The objective is to have fun. So carefully read the rules below, and go make some great finds! Entries will be taken through October 31st. Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for sharing more of your fossils and research this month.

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Rules for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month Contests

1. You find a great Vertebrate Fossil or Invertebrate/Plant Fossil! Only fossils found by you.

2. Post your entry in the Find of the Month topic. Use a separate post for each entry.

3. Your Fossil must have been found during the Month of the Contest, or the Preparation of your Fossil must have been

completed during the Month of the Contest.

4. You must include the Date of your Discovery or the Date of Preparation Completion.

5. You must include the common or scientific name.

6. You must include the Geologic Age or Geologic Formation where the Fossil was found.

7. Play fair. No bought fossils.

Shortly after the end of the Month, separate Polls will be created for the Vertebrate and Invertebrate/Plant Find of the Month. The maximum entries allowed by the Polling software will be selected for each contest by the staff.

In addition to the fun of a contest, we also want to learn more about the Fossils. So, only entries posted with a CLEAR photo and that meet the other guidelines will be placed into the Poll.

Within a few days, we will know the two winning Finds of the Month! Now, go find your fossil, do your research, and make an entry!

[paleoflor]

Hi all,

My first contribution here, hope you guys like it. Last Saturday, on 2 October 2010, Sven and I went fossil collecting in the Upper Carboniferous (Bolsovian) near Osnabruck, Germany. It was drizzling the whole day, and we had to walk back about 2 km to get to the car, but this specimen had to come along, despite its considerable weight (Sven, again thanks for carrying the counterpart!). I found this 40 by 40 cm Crossotheca crepinii Zeiller 1883 specimen (figure 1), complete with main rachis and both part and counterpart (figure 2). Over five secondary rachides are preserved. Given, the mineralization (though typical for the locality) makes the fossil appear a bit cluttered, but still, a large portion of the frond of such a very delicate fern is extremely uncommon (normally you only find smaller bits as the fronds easily get destroyed upon transport) and therefore quite a spectacular find (IMHO). Note the main rachis is very thick (about 2-2.5 cm) for the species, which led Bruno to believe the specimen forms the basal part of the frond (communicated by email; thanks for the help Bruno!). From this find we can conclude that Crossotheca, despite having extremely delicate and small pinnules, apparently forms rather large trees, as they have main rachis thick enough to support 1 to 2 meter-scale fronds!

Tim

Crossotheca crepinii Zeiller 1883

Edited October 5, 2010 by paleoflor

[Fossildude19]

Tim,

Fantastic Find! Congratulations!

I think I know where my vote will go!

Regards,

[dhk]

Stunning plate, off and running in October with a great find. Congrats.

[paleoflor]

Tim,

Fantastic Find! Congratulations!

I think I know where my vote will go!

Regards,

Thanks! There's still a good deal of "October" left to do better finds though. So let's hope I won't win, because then this month's haul was good! Haha

[docdutronc]

Great find Tim

Congratulations

Bruno

Edited October 7, 2010 by docdutronc

[Ordovician_Odyssey]

well heres pretty much, the best cephalopod i've ever found...and its practicly sitting on the shale...though it broke in a couple place..i was able to repaire it

Formation: billings formation, ottawa ontario

Species: pyritized orthocone cephalopod

Geological age: ordovician

Date found: october 3rd, 2010

no prepping was needed

Edited October 11, 2010 by trilobite guy

[Ordovician_Odyssey]

well heres another cool guy........i found him the 1st of october....did a bit of prepping..finished that on the 4th

formation/area: i beleive its the lindsay formation, near gorgeon bay canada

species: the main species is the bryozoa....im not sure wich sposific species but it branch-like

geological age: ordovician

Edited October 19, 2010 by trilobite guy

[Ordovician_Odyssey]

sorry about the last picture......heres a better picture

[worthy 55]

Cris,Mike and I were diving for fossils in the Santa Fe river ,Fla on 10/08/2010 in a spot that has mostly Pleistocene fossils when I found a Pantherinae Incisor/big cat incisor. I am going to give it a try for FOTM you don't find these very often .

[flyguy784]

All beautiful specimens to be sure. The Cephalopod is beautiful, the cat incisor is very special indeed but, Tim's fern plate is spectacular. Congrats Tim, certainly a very special piece. I love that thing. I treasure plant material and that piece takes the cake. I can only imagine your excitement when that plate split open. You had to carry that out, regardless of it's weight, or you would have never slept again. Congradulations on a truly great find.

[paleoflor]

All beautiful specimens to be sure. The Cephalopod is beautiful, the cat incisor is very special indeed but, Tim's fern plate is spectacular. Congrats Tim, certainly a very special piece. I love that thing. I treasure plant material and that piece takes the cake. I can only imagine your excitement when that plate split open. You had to carry that out, regardless of it's weight, or you would have never slept again. Congradulations on a truly great find.

Thanks! When it split I first had to gaze at it for a second or two, which was quickly followed by a loud "allemachtig, wow!!". Then I lost all sense of self-conciousness as I started belting and signalling for Sven to come and see this find (he was literally on the other side of the rather large quarry). And yes, of course this one had to come home! It was just the right size, bigger and it would have posed serious problems as it's a long way back to the car over rather steep terrain. For example, Sven found a just amazing Calamites cf. cisti specimen which was over a meter long on the same day. However, this specimen was way too heavy to lift out of the quarry, even for the both of us; sometimes you have to leave your treasures behind... But sigh... wish we would have been able to... and stupid me, I didn't even bring my camera that day...

[Boneman007]

Cris,Mike and I were diving for fossils in the Santa Fe river ,Fla on 10/08/2010 in a spot that has mostly Pleistocene fossils when I found a Pantherinae Incisor/big cat incisor. I am going to give it a try for FOTM you don't find these very often .

What a gorgeous tooth! Congratulations on that one!

[worthy 55]

What a gorgeous tooth! Congratulations on that one!

Thanks Boneman007.

[barefootgirl]

Great finds all of you! Keep em coming!

[fossiladdict]

I like all of them especially the cat tooth!

[alopias]

hi all ,

this is my best find !

date of discovery : 16 October 2010

sientific name : Notorhynchus primigenius ( Agassiz, 1843 )

age : middle Miocene helvetian

location : Loupian sothern France

size : length ,15 mm height 12 mm

lower jaw teeth , symphyseal teeth

[bear-dog]

Cris,Mike and I were diving for fossils in the Santa Fe river ,Fla on 10/08/2010 in a spot that has mostly Pleistocene fossils when I found a Pantherinae Incisor/big cat incisor. I am going to give it a try for FOTM you don't find these very often .

Your correct about not finding those often.Has my vote.Nice find.

[Shamalama]

Here is Entry #1 for me this month:

Date Discovered : October 1st 2010

Scientific Name : Hyperoblastus reimanni

Common Name: Blastoid

Age : Middle Devonian (Givetian)

Formation: Hungry Hollow member of the Widder Formation

Location : Arkona, Ontario, Canada

Size: 7.5mm by 4.5mm

[Shamalama]

Entry #2

Date Discovered : October 3rd 2010

Scientific Name : Archinacella patelliformis

Common Name: Monoplacophoran

Age : Upper Ordovician

Formation: Verulam Formation

Location : Gamebridge, Ontario, Canada

Size: 3.5mm by 2.5mm

Same fossil, slightly different lighting

[JohnJ]

Very nice finds, Dave. I hope they don't divide and conquer each other. Great preservation on both.

Entry #2

Date Discovered : October 3rd 2010

Scientific Name : Archinacella patelliformis

Common Name: Monoplacophoran

Age : Upper Ordovician

Formation: Verulam Formation

Location : Gamebridge, Ontario, Canada

Size: 3.5mm by 2.5mm

Same fossil, slightly different lighting

[Terry Dactyll]

I've been biting my fingernails trying to stop myself typing 'that fern is awsome'.... as I know I'm going to have to type it all out again....

[dhk]

My entry for October is my newest track. Excavated on 10/15/2010, this Grill track is 7 inches long and 5.5 inches wide. The track is depressed about 1/4 inch into the stone and shows a great mud rim on the left side of the print. Photographed dry with no alterations. The original slab was collected at 20 x 22 inches and prepped down to 9 x 12. Made by a dinosaur very much like a Podokesaurus Holyokensis or small Coelophysis. These tracks were made by a small to medium- sized bipedal carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The rock layers that make up this area are called the Newark Supergroup. This track was found near Mt. Tom, MA. The entire Connecticut River Valley which scientists believe was a sub-tropical swamp a mere 190 million years ago has long been recognized for its wealth of prehistoric footprints making the dinosaur footprint the state fossil of Massachusetts.

Edited October 22, 2010 by dhk

[pleecan]

Oct Entry

Carbonized film on Dolostone matrix

Silurian Plant from Queenston Quarry,

near Niagara Falls ON

approx. measure 10mm x 15mm

ROM Tentitive ID: "appears to be a tiny fragment of a dendroid graptolite,

possibly an acanthograptid such as Thallograptus"

Collected Oct23/2010

Edited October 25, 2010 by pleecan

[bruce]

This Pulalius vulgaris crab is Lincoln Creek Formation, late Miocene or early Oligocene from the KM Mountain area of Washington State. When I found the concretion it was in two pieces and you could see it contained a good cross-section of a crab, I've saved it for 3 years, and have been working on my broken and shattered ones for practice until I finally had enough self-confidence and equipment to tackle it. I glued it back together without any loss in the body area and just finished preparing it today. All the work was done under a microscope mainly with a Microjack #5 and #3 from Paleo tools. There is NO Vinac, or color applied or any restoration done to it,except for two cracks in the matrix which i filled with ground matrix and diluted Elmers glue. I left the back side unfilled so you could see the size of the gap between the two pieces. I only put a little CA toward the ends of some of the legs where flaking started. Once uncovered, i was amazed at the preservation of the mottled color and shine.

Edited October 25, 2010 by IVIVI