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Showing results for tags 'castoroides'.
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Hi all, Back again with a new ID request. Found a mammal bone in the surf of Asbury Park, NJ (USA); this area overlies and regularly exposes fossils from the Kirkwood formation which is known to have been a near-shore marine environment laid down during the early Miocene. The surf also occasionally reveals Pleistocene mammal bones as well as those of modern animals (have found bone bits and crab parts at various stages of fossilization for reference which makes it difficult to decide what's Neogene and what's Quaternary). My initial hunch was that this was a worn marine mammal rib and posted it to a local Facebook group with that in mind. It's very dense with minimal porosity (it was at the tide-line closest to the wave action where dense bone collects and was basically getting pulled back in by the coming high tide) which said dolphin or manatee bone to me. The responses I got were varied though. Some believed it to be a tooth due to an dark, enamel-like layer at the top of the 'top' of the specimen (it's 10cm or nearly 4 inches tall so that's a pretty big tooth). My assumption at that point was it might be Squalodon or some other odontocete from the Miocene. Another person believe it be specifically a incisor from the giant beaver Castoroides (based on the vertical striations) which would place it roughly Pleistocene in age. The final opinion, and the one that is prompting me to message here, confirmed my initial hunch that this is a rib fragment from a Miocene delphinid. I know that marine mammal fossils are relatively common on this forum and there are several experts that lurk around here... anyone have a clue? I've attached images of the specimen in question. It's ~10cm/~4in 'tall' and ~1.5cm/~0.6in 'wide' for reference. Sorry about the sand in the bone, it's basically impossible to get that out at this point. Will also take more pictures if needed.
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Five Fascinating Ice Age Finds Discovered in Yukon Permafrost
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Five Fascinating Ice Age Finds Discovered in Yukon Permafrost Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian Magazine, February 7, 2022 Yours, Paul H. -
Donating a fossil
Shellseeker posted a topic in Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
I found this bone 10 days ago , recognized a toe bone, eliminated tapir, but thought it might be Peccary because I had found a peccary molar previous time out. A bad assumption. I sent the 92.7 mm bone into University of Florida fossil Identification service, which usually means Richard Hulbert. He helps me a lot with fossil questions and identifications. I like to return the favor but in most cases, Richard has seen my fossil clones hundreds or thousands of times. YES !!!! YES !!! Found a bone that Richard needs. Time to make a donation... 4th Metatarsals of Castoroides are HARD to find... Photo's of them on the Internet are hard to find... At 3.65 inches, this specimen may be smaller , earlier giant beavers like Castoroides leiseyorum or Castoroides ohioensis dilophidus. Enjoy, I am... Jack- 18 replies
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