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Tyrannosaurus rex or nano femur??


Dinobot

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Hi there! I recently purchased this online, could you please help identify this? the seller was unsure if it was a juvenile trex or a nano.  It was found in Hell creek dawson County east of Glendive Montana 

 

Thank you :)

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Can you take a photo straight down of this view.  Need to see the location of the 4th trochanter with respect

to the end condyles.  Also a straight in view of the broken end.  What is the length of what you have ? 

20201123_140142.jpg.a610cdc237f1a1743501b39b4bfb2da5.thumb.jpg.e2a3829960106987886cbd86f3ae7f43.jpg

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On 11/26/2020 at 12:58 PM, Troodon said:

Can you take a photo straight down of this view.  Need to see the location of the 4th trochanter with respect

to the end condyles.  Also a straight in view of the broken end.  What is the length of what you have ? 

20201123_140142.jpg.a610cdc237f1a1743501b39b4bfb2da5.thumb.jpg.e2a3829960106987886cbd86f3ae7f43.jpg

I haven't received the piece yet and because its an international shipment, it doesn't look like I will get it until early January. I can post pictures then :)....based on the photos the full length of the piece is between 16 and 18 inches.

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Thanks I will need the additional photos because:

I actually think it looks more like a proximal tibia and is it Tyrannosaurid or a Herbivore like Edmontosaurus 

On the broken end I'm trying to determine medullary cavity is hollow and filled with rock/matrix , or is it solid bone?  The former says Tyrannosaurid.  That end looks more solid but photos are not adequate 

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10 minutes ago, SULLY said:

I was told it was full of matrix and rock for whatever that’s worth.

Okay thats good but like to see solid evidence of that

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Yes sir. I don’t have any more pictures other than the person that started this post unfortunately. I almost lucked out and got this one :DOH:

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Troodon @SULLY

 

It arrived early :)

 

Here are some additional photos, the matrerial in the center of the bone (at the break) was coming out fairly easy with a pick. The entire length of the piece is just over 16 inches.  

 

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@Troodon, @jpc, @SULLY

I reached out to university of Alberta and this is what they had to say,

 

 "It ia hard to tell for certain, but it looks like either a femur or a tibia. In either case the proximal articular surface seems broken (hence my hesitancy in choosing one way or another). As for if it is theropod, it still could be given how round it is. Hadrosaur and ceratopsian femora tend to be more square ish in cross section.....

No worries! Although "hollow" the degree to which that is true is less extreme than in birds and small theropod dinosaurs. I find that bone density (how compact it looks) can be more reliable for large theropods like tyrannosaurs. There is a small hollow core on the specimen you photographed and the bone around it looks tightly packed so I think there is a good chance the initial diagnosis was correct."

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Against my better judgment I decided to put my opinion in on this one.   I respectively disagree with the wishy-washy statement of U of A.   

 

The bone density of a Tyrannosaurus rex femur is .577 which means the medullary cavity should be about half the bone.  Not the little circle you have

Screenshot_20201214-141901_Drive.thumb.jpg.7fafb3b2d77fe671e3705070b86425a4.jpg

 

I believe you have a Tibia and if you look at that bone density its similar to that of a femur based on Horners study.

 

Screenshot_20201215-022733_Drive.thumb.jpg.3006343a25d0205eb77c58ceccc82522.jpg

 

Your bone does not exhibit the density of a trex tibia or femur 

 

I dig at a Edmontosaurus bonebed and shared your photos with someone who digs with me that has dozen of tibias to compare against.  He said the bone is similar when he compared it to his.  Called it Edmontosaurus.  

 

The center that is circle in red looks like medullary bone not matrix.  

20201207_120410.thumb.jpg.efdae4d94e6008461fbf85bbb50bdfd8.jpg.3a9325e5c3d3606f940edb3553b2296f.jpg

 

Signing-off again to the peace and quite of my bed

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My apologies Troodon I hope this didn't take too much time away from your recovery.   In either case thank you very much for your time and input.

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