Iguanodon vert

[FF7_Yuffie]

Hello,

 

Finally found a decent Iggy vert. But if someone can give it a quick glance, that would be super.

 

It matches other Iguanodon verts I've seen sold--but always the chance those sellers are mistaken.

 

It is from Brook Bay. 11cm wide, 13 cm high, 8 cm long.

 

Hope this checks out as Iguanodontid. But it also looks a bit like some plesiosaur verts I've seen.

 

Thanks

Edited May 19, 2021 by FF7_Yuffie

[Troodon]

I say marine most likely plesiosaur 

[jpc]

I don't know much about iguanadon verts, but I know a hadrosaur vert when I see one, and a plesiosaur vert.  This certainly has a plesiosaur feel to it, including the two foramina at the bottom, which are further apart on this one than I am used to but, still they are there.  

[FF7_Yuffie]

Thanks for taking a look at it. I feared as much

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Didn't have a proper look at it yesterday, when your post first came up (wasn't feeling too well), but even then already thought this doesn't particularly look like an iguanodon vertebra. Though I haven't heard of plesiosaur coming out of Brook Bay, I believe plesiosaur remains have been found in the Atherfield Clay Formation (but please correct me if I'm wrong), which becomes accessible towards the south end of Brook Bay, if memory serves me right (it's been a couple of years). I've never seen a confirmed IoW plesiosaur vertebra, though, so remain somewhat sceptic of claims concerning plesiosaur material from this locality - the more preservation of commercially available pieces very closely resembles that of Smallmouth Sands/Waymouth finds.

 

In any case, I'd say that this pieces looks more plesiosaurian than iguanadpntid: not only does it have the subventral formanina typical of plesiosaurs, the "barrel" of the vertebral body in iguanadontids is also somewhat laterally compressed while the face is vertically elongated. Below are a few images for comparison (first two sets of images are supposedly Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis, and were posted here before, together with some other British dinosaur vertebrae):

 

 

 

Then some more from Lomax's (2014) "Dinosaurs of the British Isles":

 

And to cap it off, some photographs of the Iguanodon bernissartensis type specimens at the Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen in Brussels:

[FF7_Yuffie]

Cheers, definitely looking like a Plesiosaur is correct. The seller has messaged saying he's double checking where it was found. 

 

I've seen a couple of these types of verts for sale (already sold) and they were listed as Iguanodon, so seems it may be a common misidentifiecation, same as the Abingdon verts.

 

I'll be interested to see if seller finds the location and where it's from.  I don't see much online about IoW plesiosaurs, but I see some have been found from the Vectis Formation and also from Yaverland beach--which I think has a few formations there.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by FF7_Yuffie

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

5 minutes ago, FF7_Yuffie said:

I've seen a couple of these types of verts for sale (already sold) and they were listed as Iguanodon, so seems it may be a common misidentifiecation, same as the Abingdon verts.

 

Yeah, unfortunately wouldn't be the first time plesiosaurian material gets mistaken for dinosaur. Then again, I do respect how broad a knowledge fossil dealers typically have over a much broader range of material than I would...

 

5 minutes ago, FF7_Yuffie said:

I'll be interested to see if seller finds the location and where it's from.  I don't see much online about IoW plesiosaurs, but I see some have been found from the Vectis Formation and also from Yaverland beach--which I think has a few formations there.

 

Yaverland is, in fact, one of the places where the Vectis Formation is exposed (source):

 

 

Of the formations exposed here, most are marine sediments - e.g., Atherfield Clay Formation, Gault Formation, Upper Greensand Formation, Chalk - with the Wessex Formation representing a floodplain environment and the Vectis Formation itself being that of a freshwater lagoon. Now plesiosaurs are known to have inhabited such environments (e.g., here), and the leptocleidid Vectocleidus pastorum was even recovered from the Vectis Formation itself (though al the Cowleaze Shine rather than Yaverland). But overall, it's my understanding that remains of these "freshwater plesiosaurs" are far and few between. I certainly wouldn't expect that to come up on open market with any frequency. Plesiosaur remains from the Atherfield Clay would be much more likely, in my opinion.