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North Sulfur River bones


BudB

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I made a trip to the North Sulfur River June 21st. Among the things I found were these three bones, which I can't identify. Bones from this part of NSR are from the Ozan formation, and are usually mosasaur or fish.

 

Here are three views of bone #1.

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And three views of bone #2. It is so big and thick, it makes me think of mosasaur jaw, but there are no teeth in it.
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Three views of bone #3. It's so thin, I wondered if it's from a mosasaur paddle or fish fin.
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These are indeed quite enigmatic pieces. The first definitely has a reptilian feel to it, and I suspect it may be a rib head, in that case likely from a rather large mosasaur.

 

My first thoughts on the second piece would be that it could be a mosasaur phalanx with how flat it is. But, if so, it's be a huge one and, moreover, one with a very peculiar articulation surface. Could be one of the first phalanges coming out of the hand, articulating with the metacarpalia or metatarsalia, but hard to say for sure. It may also be a bone somewhere further up the arm or leg. In any case, mosasaur paddle bone seems likely, in my opinion.

 

As to the third item: are you sure this is not, in fact, a piece of fossilized wood? When I hunted in the French Boulonnais a couple of years back, I found a couple of pieces of wood that had me fooled into thinking they were bone when I first pulled them out of the mud. I think I see some knots (both front and back) and the piece is suspiciously thin and differing in texture from the other bone material commonly found at NSR. At the same time it's not flaky like you'd expect from fish...

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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