Microfossil Storage

[Cris]

Guys,

Just wanted to share with all of you a very useful method I picked up from the local museum on storing small, delicate fossils. For the longest time, I was finding these small snake verts, frog verts, rodent teeth, small bones, putting them in a ziplock and then mistakenly sitting something on top of the bag and destroying all the fossils.

Buy some of these from your local health food store.

Find some kind of small container. I like these Gerber baby food containers I got from someone here on the Forum.

Attach a label and write the site location or whatever you need on it.

Put any tiny fossils you have in the gelcaps and place them in your labeled container.

I haven't had 1 thing break on me since I've started doing this. Just make sure your fossils are completely dry before you put them in a gelcap.

-Cris

[Auspex]

"Keep out of reach of children"; don't want your treasures to become a mineral supplement...

Have you had any weld themselves together so you can't open them?

[Cris]

"Keep out of reach of children"; don't want your treasures to become a mineral supplement...

Have you had any weld themselves together so you can't open them?

Only once when I didn't completely dry a vertebra I put in one.

I know most people probably won't be able to use this since collecting such small stuff isn't too common...but the museum helped me out a lot by showing it, so I thought it would be nice to share.

[Auspex]

They are protected, individualized, visible, and it's lots cheaper than gem jars; mind the moisture and you're home free! Great tip!

[jpc]

I've been using them for years. They also make good little containers for small pieces of fossil that I am prepping when they go flying off and I want to glue them on, but not until later, for whatever reason. But you have to write a very small label to put into the gelcap. yes, I do this. Do not put wet fossils in there or they will stick to the walls of the gel caps. And if oyu get hungry, you can eat them. They truly melt in your mouth. Its kinda fun to do once or twice.

And at the risk of becoming the grammar police, cris, the fossils you are putting in these are mIcrofossils, not mAcrofossils which are much bigger.

Yes, Gel caps make excellent microfossil containers. Microvertebrate stuff anyway. Others may argue that true microfossils are conodont teeth and forams... really truly micro stuff. But in the world of verts, rodent teeth are microfossils.

[Cris]

And at the risk of becoming the grammar police, cris, the fossils you are putting in these are mIcrofossils, not mAcrofossils which are much bigger.

Yes, Gel caps make excellent microfossil containers. Microvertebrate stuff anyway. Others may argue that true microfossils are conodont teeth and forams... really truly micro stuff. But in the world of verts, rodent teeth are microfossils.

Good info. I was under the impression if it was visible and big enough to ID without a microscope, then it was a macrofossil. I suppose using one term for all small fossils avoids a lot of confusion (and is probably why everything small is a "microfossil"). I was actually corrected online here once for calling small shark teeth I had microfossils (Ginglymostoma, I think).

If these would be considered microfossils by paleontologists, then I'll make sure to refer to them as that from now on also (as well as correct the name of this topic to avoid confusion.) Thanks!

Associated fossils. All of them fit into the 1 gelcap.

[Roz]

Excellent tip, Cris. I would have never thought of it. I have lots of tiny teeth that it would be

perfect for..

[jpc]

Good info. I was under the impression if it was visible and big enough to ID without a microscope, then it was a macrofossil. I suppose using one term for all small fossils avoids a lot of confusion (and is probably why everything small is a "microfossil"). I was actually corrected online here once for calling small shark teeth I had microfossils (Ginglymostoma, I think).

If these would be considered microfossils by paleontologists, then I'll make sure to refer to them as that from now on also (as well as correct the name of this topic to avoid confusion.) Thanks!

Associated fossils. All of them fit into the 1 gelcap.

Cris, this is one of those terms that changes if you go from vertebrate fossils to inverts. Invert microfossils are, as you say, smaller enough that you need visual aids. Vertebrate microfossils are ones that fit in gel caps. I have seen the term microverts to help ditinguish.

Nice little gel cap full of fossils... do you know what the the twwo big ones are?

[Cris]

Nice little gel cap full of fossils... do you know what the the twwo big ones are?

I'm not 100% sure, but I know all of those bones are to the same animal. All those bones were found sticking out of a small ball of clay in an underwater sinkhole/cave. I'm guessing it was a rodent...?