Dinosaur Vertebra (Isle of Wight, England)

[BellamyBlake]

I have here a dinosaur bone from Isle of Wight, England. It's from the Wessex Formation, Cretaceous in age. It's around 1.5" x 1.5"

 

How much credibility is there to the claim that this is a dinosaur vertebra? And if that's what it is, could be be narrowed down?

 

Thank you,

Bellamy

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Well, the general shape is that of a vertebra, and dinosaurs are commonly found there... Occasionally, you'll bump into turtle, but that's about all I know about the Wessex Formation at that location. For comparison, here are a couple of very well-preserved vertebrae from the Wealden Clay of the Isle of Wight Wessex Formation that have come onto the market recently:

 

5.3" unidentified theropod

 

 

3.6" Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis caudal vertebra

 

 

2.9" Polacanthus foxii caudal vertebra

 

 

4.3" Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis vertebra

 

 

Bringing this somewhat closer to home, with the vertebra you've shown, let me first point out I've got little experience with dinosaurian remains. However, to me it seems like the vertebra could easily be the caudal of an ornithischian dinosaur - that is, either Mantellisaurus or Polacanthus (with my personal guess being the latter). Hope this helps!

[Welsh Wizard]

Hi

 

Yes, it looks like a small dinosaur vertebra from the Isle of Wight. Probably an ornithopod.

 

Btw, I don’t think the first vertebra in the second post is not from a theropod but again from an ornithopod.

 

Regards