Possible Turtle/Mosasaur carpal or metacarpal from North Carolina?

[fossil_lover_2277]

So I found this bone in the Cretaceous Bladen formation of eastern North Carolina. It’s 2cm in length. After looking at pictures of the skeletons of various organism, I think it is either the carpal or metacarpal of a turtle or a mosasaur. Does this look accurate for this bone? Thanks!

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by fossil_lover_2277

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Although I'm not well-versed in turtle, one thing I am certain about is that this is not part of a mosasaur phalanx. Those are much flatter and have wide ends that taper into the middle of the bone. Have a look at the paddle of Tylosaurus (Hainosaurus) bernardi from the Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen in Brussels below:

 

 

In fact, I find it to have more similarity to plesiosaur phalanges, though it's obviously not that either...

 

As to turtle, I have no idea. However, I can see a certain amount of resemblance with the encircled bone in an online or once sold as Miocene turtle remains from Nebraska. But may be @Carl or @caterpillar can help you further...

 

[fossil_lover_2277]

14 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Although I'm not well-versed in turtle, one thing I am certain about is that this is not part of a mosasaur phalanx. Those are much flatter and have wide ends that taper into the middle of the bone. Have a look at the paddle of Tylosaurus (Hainosaurus) bernardi from the Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen in Brussels below:

 

 

In fact, I find it to have more similarity to plesiosaur phalanges, though it's obviously not that either...

 

As to turtle, I have no idea. However, I can see a certain amount of resemblance with the encircled bone in an online or once sold as Miocene turtle remains from Nebraska. But may be @Carl or @caterpillar can help you further...

 

Thanks appreciate the help here. My money would be on turtle then too. It didn’t look crocodilian or dinosaur as far as I could tell, turtle is the only other tetrapod reported from this site (there are pubs on it).

[JohnJ]

I think there is far to little of this piece left to hazard a guess.  Your third photo shows an end view AND the foreshortened, sheared side of the length.  The lack of shadows may confuse one as to the shape.  I'm not sure it is even reptile bone. Was it found as 'float', or in matrix?

[fossil_lover_2277]

24 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

I think there is far to little of this piece left to hazard a guess.  Your third photo shows an end view AND the foreshortened, sheared side of the length.  The lack of shadows may confuse one as to the shape.  I'm not sure it is even reptile bone.  Was it found as 'float', or in matrix?

You’re right there’s not much there. The reason I was hoping it was identifiable, the site it’s from has several publications on it, the possible tetrapods reported from it are turtle, croc, mosasaur, plesiosaur, and dinosaur. But something new is always possible too of course. It was float, but I know the exposure it came out of, there aren’t any others around it.

Edited November 24, 2021 by fossil_lover_2277

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

18 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

I think there is far to little of this piece left to hazard a guess.

 

I agree. I'm pretty confident it isn't mosasaur or plesiosaur, but that's where it stops for me. Though from how pachyosteosclerotic the piece looks in cross-section, I'd still expect it to be reptile. Would be nice if something more could be said about it than chunkosaurus...

Edited November 24, 2021 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

[Carl]

1 hour ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Although I'm not well-versed in turtle, one thing I am certain about is that this is not part of a mosasaur phalanx. Those are much flatter and have wide ends that taper into the middle of the bone. Have a look at the paddle of Tylosaurus (Hainosaurus) bernardi from the Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen in Brussels below:

 

 

In fact, I find it to have more similarity to plesiosaur phalanges, though it's obviously not that either...

 

As to turtle, I have no idea. However, I can see a certain amount of resemblance with the encircled bone in an online or once sold as Miocene turtle remains from Nebraska. But may be @Carl or @caterpillar can help you further...

 

There's not enough there for me to make almost any guess, but I agree that mosasaur phalanx is not likely at all.

[fossil_lover_2277]

Thank you everyone for the help. I’ll take it as being either an indeterminate hand or limb bone of a croc or turtle then. Good to know not much else can be known, thanks!

Edited November 24, 2021 by fossil_lover_2277

[JohnJ]

19 minutes ago, fossil_lover_2277 said:

Thank you everyone for the help. I’ll take it as being either an indeterminate hand or limb bone of a croc or turtle then. Good to know not much else can be known, thanks!

Couldn't this easily fit a broken rib fragment, too?  Without a side by side in hand comparison, it seems presumptuous to be that specific.  

[fossil_lover_2277]

1 hour ago, JohnJ said:

Couldn't this easily fit a broken rib fragment, too?  Without a side by side in hand comparison, it seems presumptuous to be that specific.  

True enough, we’ll go with indeterminate croc or turtle bone that’s not a vertebra ha. I definitely don’t have a ton of experience when it comes to identifying bones unless it’s an obvious ID, so I’m going with whatever you all say. I am learning quite a bit though on ancient reptile skeletal anatomy 

Edited November 24, 2021 by fossil_lover_2277

[caterpillar]

I think this bone is too fragmented to identify it. It can be a lot of things