Mystery fossil #64

Mystery Fossil #64

Every month we present a mystery fossil for you to attempt to identify. By examining these specimens, you can get a sense of what paleontologists see as they uncover their discoveries. Fossils don't come with convenient labels. Some fossils are incomplete, squashed and shattered. Some are of multiple organisms jumbled together. And some are of organisms that look different than anything alive today. Here we select fossils that have already been collected, prepared, identified, and placed into the UCMP collection, but they still may seem a bit mysterious at first glance.

Take a close look. Can you identify this mystery fossil?

Too obvious, right? This fossil has "fern" written all over it. Would you be surprised to learn that this is not a fern? Without a scale bar and no way to know what the size of this fossil is, we're making it a little tougher for you, but think about what other organisms look fern-like …

Do you think you can identify this Mystery Fossil? Find out if you are correct.

Visit the Mystery fossil archives for more mysteries from the past!