[Iwonda (OP)]

I have contacted several marine biologists, micro paleontologists, geologist and a number of other scientists trying to ID
these specimens and no one seem to have a clue as to what they really are. There were a few specimens such as the last three in the photos that were identified as foraminifera. These were found inside of sandstone boulders that were littered with some bivalves and gastropods that scientist say are between 2.5-55 million years old. The boulders were picked up from the desert of southern California. There were just way too many of these things found for them to be unknown to science. Does anybody have a clue as to what these things are?
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[Zer0]

Elphidium?

I donno.

[Iwonda (OP)]

Elphidium is the genus that the last three specimen belong to, there could be close to a hundred specimen that were found and only a small fraction can be identified by scientist. I keep telling myself that it's a matter of contacting the right person because there are just too many of these things for them to be completely unknown to science. They range in size from about 3mm to less than 0.50mm. If all of these specimens are indeed unknown to science, someone is going to have to come up with a lot of names. What you see in the photo below is about half of what was found. 

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[Zer0]

Good thought of placing the specimens with a quarter.

Wow they sure are Tiny!

I've heard the TNS Twitter army which is 50k strong, are very good at identifying stuff.

Or let's Hope someone else in here could share their views.

P.S. - anyhow All the Best!
👍

[GaryBrownIE]

They are indeed so small , waiting for more research results about them.

[Iwonda (OP)]

Yep, these things are super small, some are less than 0.50mm. I've contacted several scientists, and none had a clue as to what most of these things are. I'll just have to keep asking, maybe I'll give Canadian scientist a try too.

[Zer0]

Once the Mystery is Resolved...
Please do Post the Answer in here..
So that We could Know it too.

Thanks!
🙂
& All the Best!
👍

[Iwonda (OP)]

I will indeed let you know what I find out. 

[Colin2B]

Yep, these things are super small, some are less than 0.50mm. I've contacted several scientists, and none had a clue as to what most of these things are. I'll just have to keep asking, maybe I'll give Canadian scientist a try too.

Yes, some are foraminifera and some of the others look like they might be fragments of foraminifera.
Even whole foraminifera are so varied that many individual types are never named, too many
Also, mixed among them you find other detritus eg micro teeth etc - look at jpg 3 & 4

I’m not sure you will get definitive answers to most of these.

[Iwonda (OP)]

Well, I contacted four scientists and so far, I've gotten back three I don't know and still waiting for one. When I first came across these things, I too thought that they were fragments of other fossils, but I just don't think that is true anymore. I also find it difficult to think that all of these things could somehow be completely new to science, but it is really starting to look like they just might be, I've been searching for over five years and so far, no answer as to what these things are.

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[Iwonda (OP)]

After contacting four scientist and showing over thirty different specimens I can say that I do now know something about four specimens that I did not know before so I'm grateful for that, every bit helps. Specimen #1 below, these are bryozoans, #2&3 are forams and # 4 is an ostracod. As for all of those strange, shaped specimens, it's still anyone guess. If I find out anything else new, I will come back and update.
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[Zer0]

Thanks for the Updates Iwonda!

[Iwonda (OP)]

I thought that I'd give this one more try and contact a couple more scientist to see if maybe they could ID what I thought for sure were just a couple of diatoms. These were found inside of the same stone with all of the specimens shown above, I only found about 7 or 8 for each of these. Once again, they could not ID them nor explain why they look so well preserved. They were shocked to find out that these specimens were found inside of a stone in the desert with gastropods and bivalves that were 2.5-55 million years old. All of these are just a very small part of a very large mystery.
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