Humerus ID

[garyc]

I know the ends are quite worn, but is there any way to determine what animal this is from? My gut says hog, but Before I trash it I want to be sure it’s not something like tortoise.

[garyc]

[garyc]

[LabRatKing]

Location/ formation info?

[Brandy Cole]

Toward the middle of Harry Pristis's bones gallery there are multiple humerus examples with sizes, including hesperotestudo.  I think his example for that is bigger than your humerus, but the stockiness looks similar.

 

 

 

I could be totally wrong, but to me your humerus looks longer and thicker than I'd expect hog to be.  

 

Here are some miocene horse examples, but your humerus doesn't resemble them much.

 

 

Anyway, here's the whole gallery. There's at least one other tortoise example there.

 

 

 

[garyc]

The location is Brazos River, Texas. I put it in the tags. Guessing I should include location in the description also.
Thanks @Brandy Cole I actually did compare to those same photos. I don’t think it’s Miocene horse either. My bone is certainly not that mineralized. 

[Shellseeker]

Gary,

I am still searching for a land mammal humerus that has no protuberances on the distal end. I do not think that horse, hog, or land tortoise qualify.  Did you ever identify this bone ?

 

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison:

[Shellseeker]

Harry,

I am trying to get a sense of of what differentiates a Tortoise Humerus from a Tortoise femur...

1) Your Humerus seems to have an EECF hole on the left of the Distal ventral side, but Gary's find does not...

2) From the Distal dorsal view, both Humerus and Femur seem to have a wide "groove" in the center...I am not sure that Gary has provided us a photo of the dorsal view...

 

With the info you provide , I think Gary's find can not be a Tortoise Humerus because of lack of EECF,  but might be a Tortoise femur. 

 

I am also trying to compare Tortoise to Sea Turtle..

Many (most,  all?) Sea Turtle humeri have both an EECF hole on the ventral side and a groove on the dorsal side...

The Sea Turtle does not have a wide center grove on it dorsal side. and in general lacks any protuberances on the dorsal view.

Both Tortoise and Turtle have a slight center protuberance on the ventral view.

 

There is some variability:  Here is Desmatochelys Iowi from the Cretaceous of Nebraska. It lacks the EECF groove, and seems to have a groove on the Dorsal view... but few/no protuberances.

 

I have yet to find a real good match for my find... Sometimes I think it can not be this hard...  Jack

[garyc]

On 5/1/2023 at 7:58 AM, Shellseeker said:

Gary,

I am still searching for a land mammal humerus that has no protuberances on the distal end. I do not think that horse, hog, or land tortoise qualify.  Did you ever identify this bone ?

 

I tried looking for this bone, but I may not have it anymore. I had no more luck getting an ID

[fossillarry]

I would have to go with Harry on this one that the specimen is a mammal and not a giant tortoise. The bone is  a humerus from a juvenile individual. It is missing the upper epiphyses(growth center) and has a deep posterior olecranon fossa (for reception of the anconeal process of the ulna) which tortoises don't have. Probably is a modern pig.