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A little help with these bones?


ajgus

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Hi! I have a couple of bones that I would love some help with. The first appears to be a metacarpal perhaps (?), about 2.5" long - of unknown origin. I received it in two pieces, with a bit of the surrounding matrix still intact. The matrix is rust-colored & grainy, almost similar to what you might find on a Spino tooth; although the fossil itself isn't colored like any spino specimen I've encountered, plus its a pretty small bone. Any thoughts on what it might be?

 

Secondly, is a vertibra, perhaps caudal (?). Very small, roughly an inch squared. My assumption is that it is mammalian in origin. It's color is reminiscent of various bear, lion & canine examples I've worked with, but I would differ to the more knowledgable minds here. Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

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51 minutes ago, caterpillar said:

Croc vertebras

That was one of my early suspicions. Any idea as to the age, species?

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39 minutes ago, ajgus said:

That was one of my early suspicions. Any idea as to the age, species?

Hard to pin down without any locality information.  :( 

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The small ones I’d write off as Chiplodocus or Fragmentadon or chunkasaurus, but the bone...I need to google morphology but I swear I’ve seen something similar before.

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6 minutes ago, LabRatKing said:

The small ones I’d write off as Chiplodocus or Fragmentadon or chunkasaurus, but the bone...I need to google morphology but I swear I’ve seen something similar before.

 I should have been more clear, that’s my fault. They are the same bone, before & after cleaning/prep. I’d love to hear what you find, thanks!

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7 minutes ago, ajgus said:

 I should have been more clear, that’s my fault. They are the same bone, before & after cleaning/prep. I’d love to hear what you find, thanks!

I’ll review that on my big screen shortly- my phone has limits! 

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Hello Ajgus,

I do not think the elongate bone is a metacarpal, that is really just a "gut feeling" but in my experience metacarpals do not have this 90° twist (if you compare the ends, they are flat in different directions). makes me think femur or humerus, reptile, maybe also croc?

Bet regards,

J

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something

Thomas Henry Huxley

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On 11/8/2020 at 2:56 AM, Mahnmut said:

Hello Ajgus,

I do not think the elongate bone is a metacarpal, that is really just a "gut feeling" but in my experience metacarpals do not have this 90° twist (if you compare the ends, they are flat in different directions). makes me think femur or humerus, reptile, maybe also croc?

Bet regards,

J

Thanks! I believe you are correct.  Just today I had someone tell me they believed it was in fact a humerus;  perhaps that of a turtle.  I believe this particular fossil hails from Hell Creek,  so that helps narrow it down a little bit as well. 

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