SawTooth Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Hello, I am new to the Fossil Forum but have been looking for fossils for about a year. Yesterday we went Fossil hunting and found these two fossils (along with many other Miocene age fossils) one is some sort of bone, and the other a rodent jaw but I was wandering if anyone knew the specifics? The jaw is from a creek, and the bone is from a land site. They were found in the same city, and are from the Miocene. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 The occlusal (chewing surface) of the rodent teeth are important for an ID. A focused photo in bright light showing this surface will help greatly. Even before seeing that surface, this reminds me a lot of a Round-tailed Muskrat aka Florida Water Rat: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/neofiber-alleni/ Welcome to the forum! Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 22, 2022 Share Posted February 22, 2022 Oh, and a scale (an actual ruler not something used for approximate size comparison) would be greatly useful for the long bone. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawTooth Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 1 hour ago, digit said: The occlusal (chewing surface) of the rodent teeth are important for an ID. A focused photo in bright light showing this surface will help greatly. Even before seeing that surface, this reminds me a lot of a Round-tailed Muskrat aka Florida Water Rat: https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/neofiber-alleni/ Welcome to the forum! Cheers. -Ken Thank you for the advice, I hope this will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Try a picture with sunlight for the jaw. We really can’t see the chewing surface. The bone looks like a deer cannon bone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Yup. Better light (outdoors works well as the sun is an unparalleled light source). Hold the camera (likely a smart phone) a bit further away as it looks like you might be too close to focus properly. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawTooth Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 Is this better? I do agree with you that it looks like a muskrat after seeing other pictures. On the bone, I noticed that deer cannon bones have the curled piece on the end, and it does not look to me like anything is broken on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Shark13 said: Is this better? I do agree with you that it looks like a muskrat after seeing other pictures. On the bone, I noticed that deer cannon bones have the curled piece on the end, and it does not look to me like anything is broken on this one. It looks close to vole (IV in the sketch). " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Agreed. But that skull looks pretty large for a vole (at least from the species I'm familiar with). The size does seem more typical of Neofiber alleni (the Round-tailed Muskrat). Here's the dentition from the UF link above: Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawTooth Posted February 23, 2022 Author Share Posted February 23, 2022 Ok, thank you, I do agree that (after seeing pictures) it does look like a round- tailed muskrat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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