Fossilized Mango?

[biohazard8100]

my father has a fossilized mango w/seed, i would like to know if anyone has seen one and what condition it is in. ours is the soft bodied friut with the seed the come out and set s in perfectly. is this a rare thing or common??

[Auspex]

...is this a rare thing or common??

Unprecedented.

Can you post pictures of it please?

[Ordovician_Odyssey]

i never new fruit could be fossilized...........i guess you learn something new every day

[bear-dog]

:)Would really love to see a picture of it.Never heard of them growing that far north,let alone a fossil of one. Not trying to change your mind,but could it be a recent one dropped by someone and it just dried out?As they do get hard when they dry out.I have found a few like that here, but not fossilized.

Edited November 7, 2010 by bear-dog

[ohiofossilhunter]

i never new fruit could be fossilized...........i guess you learn something new every day

I have a piece of a date fossil from the hell creek formation in Montana. It does have both soft flesh and the seed in it.

[tracer]

there were never any mangos in the stores when i was a kid. i thought they were a recent invention.

[frozen_turkey]

there were never any mangos in the stores when i was a kid. i thought they were a recent invention.

:laughing on the floor 24: seriously?

[jpc]

Yeah, unprecedented. I work in a geology museum just down the road from you (maybe, I'm in Casper). If you guys ever make it this far south, bring it on by, but I am willing to bet it is not a fossil mango. These things just don't exist, but what does exist is a whole lot of rocks that might look like fossilized mangos. As a f'rinstance, we have a lot of folks bring us dinosaur eggs they have found, and each and everyone of them has proven to be a concretion. And I say that as someone who would love it if someone actually did bring us a fossilized dinosaur egg, or petrified mango. To make it a fossilized mango it would need more than shape... it'd need some internal structure.

Meanwhile, yeah, we'd all love to see a decent photho if you can.

[Bill]

i never new fruit could be fossilized...........i guess you learn something new every day

Shamus, lots of fossilised fruits, seeds, nuts, etc, can be found in the Early Eocene, London clay. c 56-49 mya. See here for a couple of examples.

Here's a squashed Nipa burtinii fruit husk and a N. burtinii 'nut'.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Bill

[Frank Menser]

I'd have to suggest that if a Jellyfish can leave fossils, why not a fruit? Though Mango would not be my first choice Allergic)

[Auspex]

I'd have to suggest that if a Jellyfish can leave fossils, why not a fruit?

Jellyfish leave fairly vague impressions; this sounds like a 3-D fossil.

[Bill]

Jellyfish leave fairly vague impressions; this sounds like a 3-D fossil.

So are a lot of the fruits, etc, from the London Clay.

Another example, small, pyritised, 5 segmented fruit.

[tracer]

seems like some of the analogs are not analogs. if pictures of the fossil mango were to be posted, then that would be helpful. and where was it found? anywhere where mangoes have been known to hang out? (pun hugely intended).

i cannot participate in any attempts at fossilizing any mangoes, in that the peel of those suckers contains urushiol, to which i am beyond allergic. so actually, i wish they'd all turn to stone, but i don't see that happening.

<sigh>

[Auspex]

So are a lot of the fruits, etc, from the London Clay.

Another example, small, pyritised, 5 segmented fruit.

Your amazing examples ( ) are the best thing coming out of an otherwise speculation-laden thread.

Without some pictures of the 'mango', we can't do much else.

[jpc]

bill- do you have an ID for that last London Clay five sided fruit? I found one just like it (I think) last time I was at Sheppey. Does it have five big hls on the surface that we can't see?

as for making fossil mangoes with tracer, I can't do that either, cuz i would have to eat every lasy one of the experiments.

[Bill]

Without some pictures of the 'mango', we can't do much else.

I agree Chas, I was just letting Shamus know that fruits, etc, can fossilise.

jpc:- I've had difficulty id'ing this one from the Plants of the London Clay book but will try again over the weekend

[jpc]

yeah, I haven't found it my any of my London Clay books. Dang it.

[bear-dog]

seems like some of the analogs are not analogs. if pictures of the fossil mango were to be posted, then that would be helpful. and where was it found? anywhere where mangoes have been known to hang out? (pun hugely intended).

i cannot participate in any attempts at fossilizing any mangoes, in that the peel of those suckers contains urushiol, to which i am beyond allergic. so actually, i wish they'd all turn to stone, but i don't see that happening.

<sigh>

Sorry to hear of your allergy.I cant eat mango's,let alone get near them,the trees or leaves .I can only go near them with med's. which is bad because when in season every store here carries them.Also there are too many trees here. Without the med's.I would have to leave Florida.

[siteseer]

Yes, I have also seen fossil fruits and nuts from the Eocene (or Oligocene) of Oregon (one of the John Day sites) as well as a Miocene site in Germany where specimens were preserved in coal. Similar land plant fossils are found in the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed as well (extremely rare).

I think it was the Natural Canvas (fossil dealer) that once had a collection of these for sale from Oregon (the most recent catalogue or the one before).

Shamus, lots of fossilised fruits, seeds, nuts, etc, can be found in the Early Eocene, London clay. c 56-49 mya. See here for a couple of examples.

Here's a squashed Nipa burtinii fruit husk and a N. burtinii 'nut'.

[biohazard8100]

Sorry it took me so long to get you guys a picture and also sorry it's not very good but I hope this helps. What would something like this be worth? My father passed away and he has a huge amount of fossils and minerals, and is also about 60,000$ deep in back taxes so anything would help. Maybe you know him his name was Richard (Bud) Castor.

[Auspex]

...his name was Richard (Bud) Castor.

Glory B Ranch in St. Ignatius?

Was this specimen found nearby?

[biohazard8100]

[biohazard8100]

Not sure where he found it

[tmaier]

Is this a decade long conversation? =-)

The specimen above looks like a very odd concretion that has formed around a stone as the nucleus. The photo is small, low resolution, and dimly lit.

Have you had any professional from a museum or university look at it in-hand?

[tmaier]

Tiger Eye... that is what the center stone reminds me of.