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Squirrelman91

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Hi everyone! I have a large claw from the Hell Creek Formation of Harding County, South Dakota that I was hoping to have help identifying. It is large enough that I initially believed it stood a chance at being tyrannosaurid, but it seems a bit more compressed than tyrannosaur claws I’ve worked with in the past - particularly on the lower ridge. The ventral surface of the claw is also distinctly flat rather than rounded, which seems unusual. Could this be a Dakotaraptor claw or is that just wishful thinking? Large Anzu perhaps? It is right around 1.75 inches across the length of the claw (sorry, no metrics on this ruler).

 I have referred to the incredible guide posted by Troodon, and have some experience with various claws, but I still can’t quite come to a conclusion on this one. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

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Not Dakotaraptor. It doesn’t fit a dromaeosaur hand claw or a dromaeosaur sickle claw.

 

Neither is it tyrannosaur.

 

Best fit is an Anzu hand claw.

 

Below are photos of a cast of an Anzu claw that has a similar placement of the grooves and a mostly flat ventral surface that occurs midway on the length of the hooked claw end.

 

They tend to be more softly rounded to rectangular there, but as this cast shows, the flat surface is within the variability encountered on these claws.

7571640B-DF65-4680-927A-90E40A065BCD.jpeg

B5A623BA-C762-49D0-A919-7735B0EC7703.jpeg

A2C9C2E4-D423-4897-8514-430D51D05D52.jpeg

5EC548DE-CEA9-42FE-9B32-67707375B53C.jpeg

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On 1/9/2021 at 2:48 PM, hxmendoza said:

Not Dakotaraptor. It doesn’t fit a dromaeosaur hand claw or a dromaeosaur sickle claw.

 

Neither is it tyrannosaur.

 

Best fit is an Anzu hand claw.

 

Below are photos of a cast of an Anzu claw that has a similar placement of the grooves and a mostly flat ventral surface that occurs midway on the length of the hooked claw end.

 

They tend to be more softly rounded to rectangular there, but as this cast shows, the flat surface is within the variability encountered on these claws.

7571640B-DF65-4680-927A-90E40A065BCD.jpeg

B5A623BA-C762-49D0-A919-7735B0EC7703.jpeg

A2C9C2E4-D423-4897-8514-430D51D05D52.jpeg

5EC548DE-CEA9-42FE-9B32-67707375B53C.jpeg

This was very helpful, thank you so much!

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