Texas Trip

In July I planned out a road trip from Florida to Texas, hoping to collect fossils in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas with a focus on a few sites in TX. By luck my planned route also passed a favorite spot of mine in Arkansas so I attempted a visit there as well.

The first stop was Alabama, collecting an Eocene river site with the main goal being my first auriculatus tooth to add to my Otodus collection. We woke up early and drove the stretch from south Florida to the Alabama site and got collecting immediately.

It was a productive day but took a while to find the right spot to dig, an unfortunate truth that comes with new territory. We finished the day with a few choice finds, notably a large Striatolamia macrota and several uncommon micro species including Nebrius sp. and Orectolobus ziegenhinei! We even managed a crocodile tooth in the first few sieves. Despite no auriculatus tooth I will be trying the spot again on the way home.

S. macrota, found in 3 pieces but as of now it is repaired.

The haul for day 1

2 Orectolobus and 1 Nebrius

Day 2 was collecting and scouting two spots in MS. The first spot was a raging, muddy creek so we headed north to the second spot where we stayed for the day. The spot was W. M. Browning Fossil Park, a public access with cretaceous aged fossils! It was a lovely place to visit and I would return there

Several shark teeth and an Enchodus (fish) tooth!

We began sifting the gravel around the concretions and quickly began finding some nice sand tiger/ goblin shark teeth and several crow shark (Squalicorax) teeth!

The days’ haul, we kept a small fraction of the fossil oysters that can be found there! We ended with loads of fossilized wood, bone fragments, shark teeth, vertebrae, ray teeth and even a partial mosasaur tooth.

A handful of crow shark teeth, several species are represented here

If you are lucky enough when visiting this site you can meet the caretaker, a very nice man that is happy to help identify your finds and show off some of the amazing things that have turned up at the site in the past!

Day 3 was mostly a driving day but we tried another spot in MS and revisited a paleocene site in Arkansas!

The first site was in Mississippi searching for fossilized crabs, I have found isolated claws and carapace fragments in FL and AR but nothing like this before so I was excited! Only had a short time at the site, essentially an abandoned pit, but left with 2 full crab carapaces and 1 partial! Also collected a lot of turitella shells and fossilized oysters.

A complete one and a partial that needs a lot of prep work

A beautiful small crab, one claw would end up being intact here

The Arkansas site was unfortunately impassable due to high water levels but a nearby site yielded one more small crab carapace in Arkansas, crossing off a bucket list find at two sites in one day! We ended the day in Texas, exhausted and sweaty from the first days of constant driving and collecting but we were finally in the destination state: Texas.

Day 4 began with scouting some sites along the North Sulphur River, unfortunately this was mostly a bust with a few small enchodus fish teeth and a lot of baculite fragments. While cool I was hoping for some shark teeth so I headed to a creek site in North Texas that was supposed to be on day 5.

The finds from the NSR, one bone fragments and numerous baculites

A closeup of the baculties showing the suture lines, very interesting black preservation that makes them easy to find among the gray clay of the river

The second site was amazing, we found a lot of beautiful Cretaceous aged shark teeth, including Ptychodus (the shell crushing shark) Cretalamna and Cretodus. All of which were high on my list of desired finds!

Closeup of the best finds from Day 1, note the interesting round shape of the 6 Ptychodus teeth. They are designed for crushing shelled creatures such as ammonites

An incredibly small shark or fish vertebra, I often work with microfossils so even in the field I try to notice a few

Day 5 was a return to the creek site of the previous day, and with a full day we did very well at this site, finding numerous ptychodus teeth, a possible partial marine reptile tooth (likely plesiosaur) and a lot of other teeth!

Cretodus in situ on one of the gravel beds

The best *Ptychodus* of the day, all *whipplei*

The day of finds, also managed a few Pleistocene mammal tooth fragments

My display case for the site!

Day 6 we collected at Lake Texoma for ammonites then headed further south to be closer to a future site. Lake Texoma was productive but construction limited the search area unfortunately

Holding a large section on the lakeshore

Complete ammonite found near the end of the day

The haul, I managed to lug out some of the larger heavy pieces, I also kept several oysters and a few tiny possibly heteromorph ammonites

In Waco we stopped to visit the Waco Mammoth site as well as the collection at Baylor University. The Mammoth site was very impressive although rather small while the university was very child focused but incredibly interactive. I would highly recommend it for any parents for the child section alone although the fossils were interesting as well.

Day 7 we collected on the Brazos River briefly, the water was raging so the collecting area was very limited unfortunately. The particular site was an Eocene exposure with primarily shells but managed 3 shark teeth!

The finds, shells are not my primary focus but I’ll take any opportunity to collect stuff at unique locations

Thus began the drive home, unfortunately. On the way back we stopped and collected some Eocene in Louisiana, the spot wasn’t very productive but did cross LA off of my list and the food nearby was amazing!

A few shells, besides the Cuttlefish prong the site was not very interesting

On day 8 we visited New Orleans to see some sites and eat some delicious cajun food! No fossils this day

Day 9 was the last day of the trip but we managed to hit the Alabama site on the way home and found one of the coolest teeth of the trip. Otodus auriculatus! We also found a number of other teeth including more eocene tiger shark and sand tiger teeth.

A closeup of the display from Alabama, note the sawfish teeth as well

The display, loads of shark teeth as well as some catfish fine spines (bottom right) and stingray mouth plates and barbs

It was a spectacular trip and I hope to one day visit some of these sites again! Fossil road trips are very difficult with lots of research and no guarantee of success but this trip went very well despite a lack of local contacts!