Specimen library

Fossil Specimen Types

Browse body fossils, trace fossils, mineral replacements, impressions, and inclusions by the evidence they preserve.

Start broad, then narrow carefully.

Commercial labels often jump straight to a species. Strong identification begins with the fossil group, anatomical element, preservation style, matrix, geologic age, and locality.

Specimen guide

Ammonite Fossils

Coiled cephalopod shells from many Mesozoic seas, collected as natural, prepared, polished, split, or iridescent specimens.

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Specimen guide

Trilobite Fossils

Extinct marine arthropods whose cephalon, thorax, pygidium, eyes, spines, and preparation boundaries carry the identification evidence.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Shark Teeth

Dental fossils identified through crown shape, cutting edges, serrations, root form, position in the jaw, locality, and geologic context.

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Specimen guide

Megalodon Teeth

Large fossil shark teeth whose value depends on exact position, size, enamel, serrations, root, bourlette, repair, and reliable provenance.

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Specimen guide

Dinosaur Teeth

Vertebrate fossils that require especially careful legality, locality, restoration, and anatomical identification review.

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Specimen guide

Dinosaur Bone

Fragments, identifiable elements, and prepared bones whose scientific and legal context matters more than dramatic marketing.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Fish

Whole fish, partial skeletons, scales, teeth, and plates preserved in shale, limestone, concretions, or phosphate.

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Specimen guide

Plant Fossils

Leaves, ferns, cones, seeds, stems, bark, and wood preserved as impressions, compressions, coalified films, or mineral replacements.

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Specimen guide

Petrified Wood

Mineralized wood collected as rough branches, slabs, rounds, polished displays, and scientifically informative growth structures.

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Specimen guide

Amber With Inclusions

Fossil resin containing insects, plants, bubbles, debris, or other inclusions, with significant authenticity and ethical sourcing concerns.

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Specimen guide

Crinoid Fossils

Stem segments, calyces, arms, crowns, and colony plates from stalked echinoderms common in many Paleozoic marine rocks.

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Specimen guide

Brachiopod Fossils

Marine shells with bilateral symmetry through each valve, valuable for morphology, age, and assemblage context.

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Specimen guide

Straight-Shelled Nautiloids

Orthoconic cephalopods commonly marketed as “Orthoceras,” often polished in Moroccan limestone and requiring careful labeling.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Coral

Colonial and solitary coral skeletons identified through corallite shape, septa, walls, growth form, and geologic context.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Echinoids & Sand Dollars

Sea urchins, heart urchins, and sand dollars recognized by plate patterns, ambulacra, tubercles, and test form.

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Specimen guide

Trace Fossils

Tracks, burrows, trails, borings, coprolites, nests, and feeding traces that record behavior rather than body parts.

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Specimen guide

Coprolites

Fossilized fecal material identified through shape, inclusions, chemistry, locality, and comparative context rather than appearance alone.

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Specimen guide

Stromatolites

Layered microbial structures whose biological interpretation depends on lamination, growth form, sedimentary context, and locality.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Mammal Material

Teeth, jaws, bones, tusk fragments, and Ice Age remains that demand legal sourcing, anatomical caution, and conservation awareness.

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Specimen guide

Fossil Insects

Insects preserved in amber, shale, limestone, and fine lake deposits, where minute anatomy and provenance are critical.

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