Mystery mammal limb bone from Matoaka Cottages

[Shamalama]

Hi All,

 

Been a while since I've been out collecting but I just got back from a trip to Matoaka Beach Cabins along the Chesapeake Bay.  I found an interesting section of limb bone in the surf and would like your opinion as to if it belonged to a land or sea mammal.

 

Found in the surf piles near the cliffs at Matoaka Cottages, St. Leonard, MD. Most likely from Shattuck Zone 17 (St. Leonard Member) or Shattuck Zone 18 (Drumcliff Member) of the Choptank Fm., Miocene, Neozoic.

 

If you need larger versions of any of the pics, let me know.

 

Thanks!

 

Dave

[val horn]

i really dont know what you have.  the curve in it makes me think of turtle but it is not thick enough.  You might sent pictures (or visit the calvert cliffs marine museum)

[Rockwood]

My gut feeling is turtle. Mostly the texture, I guess.

[Brandy Cole]

Proximal metacarpal maybe?

[Harry Pristis]

I am reminded of a 'gator metapodial, though the curve of the mystery bone makes me hesitate.  If that bone is filled with matrix, bird should be considered.

 

 

[Rockwood]

7 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said:

If that bone is filled with matrix, bird should be considered.

Come to think of it, bone ? Is this perhaps essentially concretion surrounding an internal mold/cast ? The texture just looks strange.

[val horn]

It is a bone.  My opinion  May not have been in perfect condition when it fossilized ie worms bugs but where you see tecture the texture looks like what it is

[Shamalama]

@val horn @Harry Pristis @Brandy Cole@Rockwood Thank you for the suggestions. I did send these same pictures to the Calvert Museum and am awaiting their reply.  I had not considered reptile or bird!  The bone looks dense so perhaps reptile is the way to go. The interior of the bone is not infilled with matrix, that is all solid.

[Harry Pristis]

Very few bones are solid in their natural state, even fewer metapodials.  That's not to say that the void left by cancellous bone erosion can't be filled with hard sediment.  Which is what I was alluding to.

[Shamalama]

4 hours ago, Harry Pristis said:

Very few bones are solid in their natural state, even fewer metapodials.  That's not to say that the void left by cancellous bone erosion can't be filled with hard sediment.  Which is what I was alluding to.

I guess I'm used to see whale bone with the bone structure still intact (or for that matter Dino bone or the bones from the White River Fm.) vs. a different type of critter.  But I can see your point in that the interior may have been more hollow, thus more attributable to birds, and infilled with a harder sediment or mineral.