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I recently added a Dromaeosaurid vertebra to our collection. I honestly did not bother with specs once I got it confirmed as Dromaeosaurid. I never asked size or what formation. I assumed it was from Judith River because it was sold as Dromaeosaurus. i knew it was going to be Dromaeosaurid indet so I was not worried about the specific ID. It is a raptor fossil so I wanted it. The vertebra arrived today and I got two very pleasant surprises. It is bigger than I thought. It is also not from Judith River or the species known from that formation. We got a Dromaeosaurid vertebra from the Hell Creek formation Many of our fossils end up being listed as a indet species. This one went into our official inventory as Dromaeosaurid indet. An indet species gives us some degree of latitude with our programs. I assign species to many of them such as Medusaceratops or Zuul from Judith River so that we can teach the kids dinosaurs they do not know about. When I first saw Hell Creek on the paperwork, I thought "Great, we have a vert to add to our Acheroraptor display which contains a single tooth." I began to think that I should assume it is from Acheroraptor because I had run across a published paper about a reconstruction of Dakotaraptor's tail. I thought it might be a good idea to reread that paper and see what information it provided. Our caudal vert is 5 cm long. Much to my surprise, that is right in the middle of the size range for a Dakotaraptor caudal vertebra according to the reconstruction (if I read the paper right). Now I am not saying this is a Dakotaraptor vertebra. I am nowhere near qualified to make that call. I also doubt I am lucky enough to find a fossil of that species by total accident lol I am also not qualified to say for sure that this is not a Dakotaraptor fossil. As an educator, this gives me a really awesome option. I am now considering that this may be an opportunity to add Dakotaraptor to our program with a fossil that MAY be from the giant raptor. Kids would dig that and it gives us the chance to talk about how the science, and art, of describing dinosaurs works. I think I am going to to print up the paper and give kids the information from it. They can see the fossil and come to their own conclusions. We do this with the lineage of Great White sharks. We show the kids teeth from a GW, a Meg, and a Hastalis. They can make their own conclusions though 80% of the kids the other day believed hastalis is the ancestor of the GW. It was a fun thing to do and it would work very well this fossil too. Dakotaraptor has been high on my list to add but I thought it would be down the road. I do not think there is any problem with introducing this fossil as possibly being from Dakotaraptor. Either way, we added an really cool fossil that I am super stoked about. Here is our Hell Creek Dromaeosaurid indet vert. Is it Acheroraptor or Dakotaraptor ? I am going to let the kids decide which awesome raptor this fossil is from.

I just saw this tooth listed as Dakotaraptor. It's 3/4" long. Most of these "Dakotaraptor" teeth I see just scream Nanotyrannus, but I'm not so sure on this one. I looked at my Acheroraptor and Nanotyrannus teeth and the distal serrations look a bit more like those of Acheroraptor - especially those near the base. Unfortunately, the mesial serrations are all worn off. What do you guys think?

Hello all. Seller has this labeled as a dakotaraptor tooth. After hours of my own research and still being unable to come to a clear conclusion I decided to post here for help. Troodons guide helped a great deal but I still couldn't be positive. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone, I'm new here! Are there anyone who can identify these teeth? The shop says they are dromaeosaurid, but I think these might be from Nanotyrannus. Their crown morph clearly not Acheroraptor. Many thanks in advance!

Hi all, I am new to the forum and new to collecting =) I recently obtained this nice tooth labeled as Dromaeosaur sp. premax. tooth - I would like to get a more refined ID if possible. It was found in the Hell Creek Fm., Powder River Co., Montana and measures 15/16". Denticle count per 5mm is distal 18, mesial 24 (not many denticles visible mesial though). I found a thread here stating it is possible to distinguish Nanotyrannus from Dakotaraptor teeth by the shape of the denticles - however I find this very hard as rookie. Any help is appreciated!

I noticed a Dakotaraptor tooth for sale and caution anyone interested in it to do a bit more homework before you buy. Dakotaraptor teeth are difficult to diagnose and can easily be confused with Nanotyrannus teeth. These teeth have been very difficult to find and are prized but be patient and be sure its the real deal. If interested my suggestion is to obtain more information on the tooth: A photo of the mesial carina. On the holotype the mesial carina typically ends 1/3 from the base A closeup pictures of the mesial and distal denticles, see below on what they should look like. Not box shape like Nano. From the photos provided it might look right but need that closeup A serration count midline of both edges 5mm wide. Being a Dromaeosaurid the serrations are larger on the distal carina than mesial one. . Denticle shape from DePalma paper included in my topic shown below

Is this a nanotyrannus tooth or a dakotaraptor tooth ? size of the tooth is one inch and from hell creek formation.

This is a fossil from the Cretaceous time period, it was found in the Hell creek formation. The specimen is a little under an inch long (tried to get a good picture of the serrations). I've done some research on the differences between the species I listed in the title and I've come short of being able to properly identify it (I'm only really a rookie fossil collector).