A great place to start learning about fossils is right in your "backyard", with your official state fossil. This page lists all of the designated state fossils (and some official state dinosaurs and fossiliferous gem stones) as a launching point for learning about fossils in your state and neighboring states.
Do you know your official state fossil?
Alabama
Basilosaurus cetoides (Eocene age, whale)
Alaska
Mammuthus primigenius (Pleistocene age, woolly mammoth)
Arizona
Araucarioxylon arizonicum (Triassic age, wood)
California
Smilodon californicus (Pleistocene age, sabertooth cat)
Colorado
Stegosaurus stenops (Jurassic age, plated dinosaur)
Connecticut
Eubrontes giganteus (Jurassic age, dinosaur track)
Delaware
Belemnitella americana (Cretaceous age, belemnite)
Florida
Official state stone:
"agatized coral" (Oligocene - Miocene age, coral)
Proposed state fossil (unofficial)
"Sea Biscuit", Eupatagus antillarum (Eocene age, )
Georgia
shark tooth (Cretaceous - Miocene age, shark tooth)
Idaho
Equus simplicidens (Pliocene age, horse)
Illinois
Tullimonstrum gregarium (Pennsylvanian age, soft-bodied animal — "Tully Monster")
Kentucky
brachiopod (Ordovician - Mississippian age, shellfish)
Louisiana
petrified palm wood (Oligocene age, palm)
Maine
Pertica quadrifaria (Devonian age, plant)
Maryland
1) Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (Miocene age, snail)
2) Astrodon johnstoni (Cretaceous age, sauropod dinosaur)
Massachusetts
dinosaur tracks (Jurassic age, trace fossil — tracks)
Michigan
1) Mamut americanum (Pliocene - Pleistocene age, mastodon)
2) Petoskey Stone (Devonian age, coral)
Mississippi
1) Basilosaurus (Eocene age, whale)
2) Zygorhiza (Eocene age, whale)
3) petrified wood (Oligocene age, wood)
Missouri
1) Delocrinus missouriensis (Pennsylvanian age, crinoid)
2) Hypsibema missouriense (Cretaceous age, dinosaur)
Montana
Maiasaura peeblesorum (Cretaceous age, duckbilled dinosaur)
Nebraska
1) Archidiskodon imperator (Pleistocene age, mammoth)
2) mammoth (Pleistocene age, mammoth)
Nevada
Shonisaurus popularis (Triassic age, ichthyosaur)
New Jersey
Hadrosaurus foulkii (Cretaceous age, duckbilled dinosaur)
New Mexico
Coelophysis bauri (Triassic age, theropod dinosaur)
New York
Eurypterus remipes (Silurian age, sea scorpion)
North Carolina
The fossil teeth of the Megalodon shark (Cenozoic Era—late Oligocene to early Pleistocene)
North Dakota
Teredo petrified wood (Paleocene age, shipworm-bored wood)
Ohio
The State Invertebrate Fossil—Isotelus (Ordovician age, trilobite)
The large trilobite genus Isotelus, occurs in rocks exposed in southwestern Ohio.
The Fossil Fish of Ohio—Dunkleosteus terrelli (Devonian age)
At an estimated length of up to 8.8 meters (29 feet), the fearsome Dunkleosteus terrelli was part of a now extinct class of armored fish called placoderms. It was an apex predator during the latter part of the Devonian Period, also known as the Age of Fish, about 360 million years ago.
To learn more about Dunkleosteus terrelli and other prominent Ohio fossils, visit the ODNR Division of Geological Survey website at Fossils in Ohio (ohiodnr.gov).
Oklahoma
Saurophaganax maximus (Jurassic age, theropod dinosaur)
Oregon
Metasequoia (Miocene age, conifer leaf)
Pennsylvania
Phacops rana (Devonian age, trilobite)
South Dakota
Triceratops (Cretaceous age, horned dinosaur)
Tennessee
Pterotrigonia thoracica (Cretaceous age, bivalve)
Texas
1) Pleurocoelus (Cretaceous age, sauropod dinosaur)
2) petrified palm wood (Oligocene age, palm wood)
Utah
Allosaurus (Jurassic age, theropod dinosaur)
Vermont
Delphinapterus leucas (Pleistocene age, white beluga whale)
Virginia
Chesapecten jeffersonius (Miocene - Pliocene age, bivalve)
Washington
1) Mammuthus columbi (Pleistocene age, mammoth)
2) petrified wood (Miocene age, wood)
Washington, D.C.
"Capitalsaurus" (Cretaceous age, undetermined theropod dinosaur)
West Virginia
Megalonyx jeffersoni (Pleistocene age, ground sloth)
Note: The West Virginia State Gem is a fossil coral (Mississippian age, coral)
Wisconsin
Calymene celebra (Ordovician - Silurian age, trilobite)
Wyoming
Knightia (Eocene age, fish)
Triceratops (Cretaceous age, horned dinosaur)
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Last updated: August 8, 2023