The Vertebra Appreciation Thread : Show Some Back-Bone!

[Harry Pristis]

Random vertebrae are very difficult for me, but I do have a few identified examples:

 

 

[Spoons]

I have a pretty cool Bison Priscus atlas vertebrae. (1st cervical vertebrae)

 

Its got some neat barnacles and bryozoans attaches to the surface too.

[Harry Pristis]

Here are a few more examples from my very limited collection:

 

 

"It is from an alligator. In gators the first neck vertebra, the atlas, does not fuse and remains three separate pieces of bone. This is one of them, called the intercentrum."  ---Richard Hulbert
---------

It seems that the crocodilians alone, among higher vertebrates, retain a primitive amphibian structure of the atlas. The atlas is the only place in higher vertebrates where an intercentrum occurs. The other two bones are the pleurocentra.

 

 

[Harry Pristis]

A few more examples:

 

 

[caterpillar]

Atlas and sacrum of Palaeotherium magnum, upper eocene, southwest France

[Harry Pristis]

9 hours ago, caterpillar said:

Atlas and sacrum of Palaeotherium magnum, upper eocene, southwest France

 

 

Scale??

[Harry Pristis]

I guess no one bothers to photograph these bone because they are so esoteric.  But, they would be easier to identify if we became more familiar with them through images like these.

 

 

 

 

[caterpillar]

12 hours ago, Harry Pristis said:

 

Scale??

 

Sorry!

185mm for the atlas and 190mm for the sacrum

[Troodon]

Triceratops had one of the largest dinosaur skulls known at the end of the cretaceous.  To hold that skull in place was a group of vertebrae.   This is the lateral view of the anterior coalesced cervical vertebrae, or syncervical, of a Triceratops/Torosaurus from the Hell Creek Formation.  The photo shows the Atlas, Axis and third cervical fused into one large vertebra. 

 

17.5" (45 cm) wide

 

 

The large socket that supports the skull.

[RJB]

  Holy Cow!  Some amazing stuff on this thread! 

 

 

I found this at Capitola many years ago.  it was in a very large rock.  The lateral processes went to the edge of the rock.  I wish there was more rock.  Very nicely preserved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flx]

Some mosasaur vertebrae that I prepped a while ago. The slab is about 1m long. 

Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco. Late Cretaceous.

 

If you look closely you can additionally see a small shark tooth. 

 

[Ruger9a]

WOW!!!!   This is a great thread with some outstanding photos (especially the 3D) and LOTS of useful/helpful information.  

[paulgdls]

Lots of superb information in this thread. Here's a partial Ophthalmosaurus icenicus backbone, cervical to dorsal region. The neck is curved through a considerable angle. The neurals  never ossify to the centrum in this species (or in any other ichthyosaur to my knowledge). Some neural arches and spines were also present (see last photo (unusual for the pedicles to be in 3_D and not crushed together. Alfred Leeds spent decades trying to find such an example)):

 

 

[Notidanodon]

On 21/01/2020 at 6:25 PM, LordTrilobite said:

I'll add some spinosaur vertebrae in sequence. We need some 3d scans.

 

Cervical.

 

Dorsal.

 

Caudal.

 

can you use VERTual realilty with these images

[Harry Pristis]

Here's the only bison axis I've ever recovered:

 

[caterpillar]

Rhabdodon priscus from campanian of southwest France. 130mm

[Vieira]

A Dinosaur vertebra "in situ" from Portugal Cretaceous:

 

 

[Vieira]

Jurassic vertebras:

 

Dinosaur:

 

 

Caudal Sauropod?

 

 

Croc?

 

 

[Flx]

I'll add some more jurrasic sauropod verts:

Camarasaurus sp. , Morrison Formation

 

Caudal vertebrae

[Flx]

Camarasaurus sp. , Morrison Formation

 

Cervical Vertebrae

[Flx]

Camarasaurus sp. , Morrison Formation

 

Dorsal Vertebra

[Bone Daddy]

Wow wow wow. I am definitely having the worst case of vert-envy! 

[Bone Daddy]

I found this unknown vert on my last fossil-hunting trip. I have no idea what it is. I didn't even realize it was a vert at first. It was caked in muddy clay and I just thought it was a "chunkasaurus" bone fragment, so it tossed it in my bag of finds without much thought. I got home, cleaned it up, and was pleased to see that it's a vert of some kind.

 

 

[smokeriderdon]

Vertebra you say? I have some. No dino though. The first two pics are assorted verts from Lee Creek, Calvert Cliffs and a creek or two in MD. Mostly porpoise, whale, and fish and one croc in there. 

 

 

 

These are my two largest whale verts from Lee Creek. Of course, these plus a LOT of other bone stuff was found at the furthest point I went that day. That was a HEAVY backpack.

 

 

Shark verts from Lee Creek

 

 

This beauty was lying on a sand bar in a creek in MD. People too busy digging for megs and missed this.

 

And likely my favorite vert I have. Llama I collected in Leisey Shell pit in Fla.

 

 

 

[Bone Daddy]

Awesome vert collection!  That heart-shaped on the llama vert reminds me a vert I found several years back. It also had a heart-shape on the central column. I didn't know what it was, and now I am thinking it might have been a llama and I didn't realize it. Or, is that heart shape common to certain types of vertebrae?