Jesuslover340 Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Well, decided to check an old site before the year ended and really glad we did! @Ash and I originally went out on December 9th and found a part of a Diprotodon humerus, half a large Diprotodon incisor, and what looked to be an array of associated foot bones with the proximal ends of a couple ribs from the same animal. Given the heat, however, we had to turn around and come back that Saturday to plaster jacket the busted incisor out and to more carefully extract the associated bones, as they seemed fragile (they had cracks and some were already in pieces) and we were low on glue. So we came back on Saturday and set to work on the associated bones. This is as they were found: We could initially see about 4-5 bones: But as we progessed, there were more...tiny bones, amorphous bones...and it wasn't a foot-it was a hand! And those proximal ends of ribs? Were actually beautifully complete, large unguals!!! We were so excited-we had found a Diprotodon manus, complete with unguals! Or, at least, we thought. In the back of my mind I felt something was off. The unguals were HUGE and very thin. And I didn't recall coming across any photos pf Diprotodon feet with such large, compressed unguals, though I had seen a much smaller, similar one in an educational display being contributed as having been from Diprotodon. But all my reference photos showed the unguals as being smaller and more blunt and rotund. And as I pieced the bones together in as best their respective positions as I could figure from prior knowledge of basic anatomy and Diprotodon foot reference photos, I found the bones to be very 'funny'. I finally looked up Palorchestes-the only other marsupial mammal I could think of of similar size but that would have the possibility of accounting for the variance I was seeing when compared to Diprotodon. Palorchestes is, essentially, Australia's answer to the giant ground sloth, as far as we know. It had really large unguals, locked 100° elbows, strong, muscular forearms, and possibly a trunk. The unguals were a match to those in this paper, which details the known manus/pes elements of Palorchestes: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221824 And after consulting a few experts, well... Meet Chester. Or, his left hand, at least. The only known manus of Palorchestes azael (the manus in the paper is that of P. parvus; P. azael was larger and existed until the late Pleistocene) : 24 "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."-Romans 14:19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 That is one BIIIIG hand! Fantastic find! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 It’s interesting to note that the person we spoke to also mentioned how this is different again to Palorchestes parvus. Good example of how features get more exaggerated as time goes on. 1 "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 simply awesome............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Congratulations on the outstanding find!!!!! Are these bones going to be the focus of a future paper, perhaps??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 FOTM material fur sure! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Rico Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Amazing critter that these wonderful finds came from. Congratulations and I am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DinoHunter1105 Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Really nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Awesome find guys! Congrats Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruger9a Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Spectacular finds! Congratulations. Prep is extremely nice. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 On 12/22/2019 at 7:37 AM, Monica said: Congratulations on the outstanding find!!!!! Are these bones going to be the focus of a future paper, perhaps??? Heya, Hopefully. They’re interested in the entire site where these came from as there’s a rather nice faunal assemblage we’ve collected. At least 10 genera have come from one spot, which is pretty good for here. 2 "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe" - Saint Augustine"Those who can not see past their own nose deserve our pity more than anything else." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 4 hours ago, Ash said: Heya, Hopefully. They’re interested in the entire site where these came from as there’s a rather nice faunal assemblage we’ve collected. At least 10 genuses have come from one spot, which is pretty good for here. Amazing!!! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 That is so cool!! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Awesome find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Beautiful!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilNerd Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Awesome! Congrats on the amazing finds! Hopefully the experts you spoke to will be more than just interested. The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it. -Neil deGrasse Tyson Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allosaurus Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Amazing find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Tahan Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Spectacular specimen and great job identifying the bones. Also....Amazing that this find is pushing to the edge of our understanding. That is science! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilus Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Amazing find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesuslover340 Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 Thanks everyone We actually managed to scrape together little fragments we found in the area that comprise yet another partial toe, but the pieces are very weathered, so it's been a bit of a task to piece together what we can of it (not all of it is there). "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."-Romans 14:19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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