Lance Formation potential claw

[Mickeyb06]

Hello, my name is Michael and I'm from New Hampshire. This past summer I was hunting with PaleoProspectors in Wyoming with my best friend @PaleoNoel in mostly the White River and Lance formation. One day in the Lance formation we found what appears to be a piece of claw from an Ornithomimid. It looks like the leftmost claw of the foot with a gradual curve and a large groove running down the side possibly due to erosion. I'd love to hear if anybody has any ideas on what this could be and I'd greatly appreciate an ID. The width is 1.7 cm at the base and 1.0 cm at the top. It is 2.6 cm long.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Mickeyb06

[Mickeyb06]

[Mickeyb06]

[Mickeyb06]

[jpc]

Hello Mickey-

Are you sure this was from the Lance?  I see a mammal calcaneum.  The second photo shows two articular surfaces just above the 1.5 cm mark. It is certainly not a claw, sorry to tell you.   

[Troodon]

I dont see a claw but can you please post a photo of both sides showing the blood groove.   Important, straight in shots no obtuse angles are best for identification 

[jpc]

straight on shots of all six sides would be great. 

[LordTrilobite]

I also don't see a claw in this.

[Kiros]

It looks like a mammal metapodial, those articular surfaces make me think this

[ClearLake]

Would a calcaneum be hollow like that?  Not the ones I’m familiar with, but perhaps some are. For the same reason, I don’t think it looks like a claw core either. Mind you, I’m more familiar with recent bones than Cretaceous ones, so take that for what it’s worth. 

[-Andy-]

@hxmendoza Can you help to take a look at this? Thanks

[IsaacTheFossilMan]

I'm also on the side of "not a claw".

[PaleoNoel]

On 2/12/2021 at 5:57 PM, jpc said:

Hello Mickey-

Are you sure this was from the Lance?  I see a mammal calcaneum.  The second photo shows two articular surfaces just above the 1.5 cm mark. It is certainly not a claw, sorry to tell you.   

Thanks for taking a look JP. There is a high probability that bones from either formation got mixed up on this trip. I considered that issue before we posted this. When first looking at this bone I noticed the curvature, hollow end and two odd circular sections which I interpreted as some articular surface. Additionally I felt that it looked similar in dorsal view to my ornithomimid claw and others I have seen, my biggest issue with that concept were the apparent lack of blood grooves (the area of damage was not continuous on the inner curve and shouldn't be misconstrued as a blood groove). I knew ornithomimid was a stretch going in, but I wanted to confirm either way, don't want to throw an interesting bone in with the fragments you collect which may rarely see the light of day.

On 2/12/2021 at 5:57 PM, Troodon said:

I dont see a claw but can you please post a photo of both sides showing the blood groove.   Important, straight in shots no obtuse angles are best for identification 

Clearer shots of the angles should be on their way soon.

Thanks to everyone who has voiced their input so far!

[hxmendoza]

On 2/14/2021 at 1:29 AM, -Andy- said:

@hxmendoza Can you help to take a look at this? Thanks

I don’t see a claw.