About haninate

Why hello there. I am a self-proclaimed geek with a passion for collecting fossils. Although I have quite a large collection at hand, I am really just an amateur when it comes to all things paleontology. Here in the blog I shall share with you my treasured fossil hoard. Please look around and enjoy!

Fossils for trade or sale

Posted on February 23, 2013 by haninate

Lately I have been procrastinating and not updating much, please have my apologies for that. I am pleased to announce now that I am offering up a variety of specimens for trade or sale. Please head here to have a look!

Dominican Amber with Inclusions – 4 flies + more

Posted on April 3, 2012 by haninate

This is another piece of Dominican amber(2.1g) from my La Bucara mines collection. I believe it has a semi-green coloration while under natural light. There are 6 inclusions in this specimen – 4 flies(2 of which have a plunger-shaped mouth), a fulgoroid, and a parasitic wasp.

Echinoid with spines from Morocco

Posted on March 25, 2012 by haninate

Today’s fossil is a composited echinoid with spines from Morocco. The spines are found near the echinoid and both are arranged on a separate piece of matrix to create a “natural” display. The following specimen is an Asterocidaris bistriata and some of the spines were shaken loose during transit; I had to glue a few back on and clean up some excess glue stains. The end result is still quite an aesthetic display piece!

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Dominican Amber with Inclusions – Enhydros

Posted on March 24, 2012 by haninate

Time again for another amber piece from the La Bucara Mines of the Dominican Republic! This is a super fascinating piece as it not only contains 3 insects but also 5 obvious enhydro bubbles. The insects present include a beetle, fly and gall gnat. An enhydro is an air bubble trapped inside a pocket of water. Using a quadrupole mass spectrometer to analyse the composition of these air bubbles, scientists can learn what the atmosphere was like when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Upon close inspection, one can notice the air bubbles moving within the water(I tried my best to capture this movement, check out pictures14-18).

Green River Fish – Mioplosus labracoides

Posted on March 23, 2012 by haninate

Here is another one of my Green River pieces(from Jon Hundley on Ebay). This is a fairly large 9+ inch Mioplosus labracoides from the split-level of the Fossil Lake location in Wyoming. The scale and bone structure of this specimen is quite well preserved and I believe there has not been much restoration done to it.

Moroccan Trilobite – Walliserops trifurcatus

Posted on March 22, 2012 by haninate

Here is another Walliserops trifurcatus from my collection. Like the other specimens I have, this slightly enrolled Walliserops probably came from the Foum Zguid area of Morocco. It does not appear to have any major restorations done and both eyes have ocelli present(albeit worn).

Dominican Amber with Inclusions

Posted on March 21, 2012 by haninate

I have quite a number of amber pieces in my collection and I hope to eventually finish photographing all their close ups. Here is yet another piece from the La Bucara mines of the Dominican Republic. This 1.6g piece has 2 winged ants(1 of which is from the Ponerinae family) and a couple of midges(very hard to see amongst the bubbles).

Mosasaurus beaugei tooth in matrix

Posted on March 20, 2012 by haninate

Today’s fossil is a Mosasaurus beaugei tooth from the Cretaceous of Khourigba, Morocco. This particular specimen is the largest and nicest tooth in my current collection. Unlike most teeth from Morocco, this tooth is not composited on the matrix and is completely natural. The tooth measures almost 4 inches along its leading curve and exhibits an excellent root and well preserved enamel. Also of note are various bone fragments scattered around the tooth possibly belonging to the same Mosasaurus.

Moroccan Trilobite – Drotops megalomanicus

Posted on March 19, 2012 by haninate

The following trilobite is a Drotops megalomanicus, formerly known as Phacops rana Africanus, from the Anti-atlas mountains of Morocco. D. megalomanicus lacks the many free standing spines that D. armatus has, and both species are large in comparison to other trilobites in the Phacopidae family. This highly 3-dimensional specimen is slightly enrolled and measures almost 6 inches long when prone. It is also highly inflated and extremely detailed compared to most of my other trilobites. The ocelli of both eyes are around 70-80% complete as seen in the pictures below.

Dominican Amber with Inclusions

Posted on March 18, 2012 by haninate

Here is another piece of amber from the La Bucara mines of the Dominican Republic. I have always been fascinated with amber because of how well preserved inclusions can be. This particular 3.9g piece has 3 insects; a psocopteran with wings, a parasitic wasp, and a fulgoroid.