Training Module 1 – Cretaceous Creatures

Which category best describes your fossil?

1. Isolated teeth

2. Jaws and tooth plates

3. Vertebrae

4. Scales, shells, and plates

5. Bones and bone fragments

Try again! Isolated teeth usually have pointy tips or rounded ends.

Try again! Jaws and tooth plates usually have rows of teeth or sockets for teeth that fell out.

Try again! Scales, shells, and plates usually have broad surfaces that are flat or bumpy.

Try again! Bone fragments usually have broken cross sections that look like a hollow tube or like the end of a broken pencil.

ID Sheet 2

1. My fossil curves inwards on both ends.

2. My fossil is flat on both ends and one side has ridges.

3. My fossil curves inward on one end and outward on the other.

4. My fossil is a vertebra that is too fragmented to further identify.

ID Sheet 2-A

1. My fossil has a hole through the middle.

2. My fossil does not have a hole through the middle.

3. My fossil has two cup-like structures on one side.

Try again! Focus on the ends of your fossil. They should curve inward on both sides.

Try again! Focus on the surface of the outer rim. It should have a series of long pits.

You did it! You found a bony fish vertebra!

1 – Vertebrae may have a hole in the middle, struts on the sides, or curve inwards or outwards.
2 – Many individual vertebrae make up the backbone and protect the spinal cord.
3 – Small fish living today have ~30 vertebrae and large sharks have ~180!

Place your fossil in the correct box on the Fossil Training Sheet.

Click here to identify another microfossil.

Try again! Your fossil should have a hole through the middle.

Try again! Your fossil should not have any struts that stick out on the side. Also, your fossil should only have one cup on each side (two cups total).