Hell Creek Vertebrae id help Theropod?

[jikohr]

Hi everyone!

 

I acquired this vertebrae a little while ago. I'm reasonably certain it's dinosaur and and would greatly appreciate some help narrowing down the ID. It's from the Hell Creek Formation of Powder River County, Montana. The piece is 5 cm tall, 4.7 cm wide, and 2.9 cm long. The centrums are 4.2 x 3.6 cm and 4.4 x 3.7 cm. The bone is really spongy which is best seen in pic 2, the pores are all 1 to 2 mm so I'm kinda leaning toward Theropod (if that has nothing to do with a Theropod ID please correct me).

 

So what do you all think?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated as always!

 

[fossilhunter21]

@Troodon.

 

-Micah

[Troodon]

The honeycomb structure of the centrum is typical of theropods.   A more important feature is pleurocoel that can be found in some Hell Creek Fm theropods.

We don't have a lot of published information on these bones from HC theropods and little comparative material so most of these should be described as indeterminate as this one should be.  Centrums are especially difficult since they are hidden in most of the replicas you see in museums by processes or other bones..

From a guessing side it's not a Tyrannosaurid, Ornithomimid or Alvarezsaurid so that leaves a Dromaeosaurid, Troodontid, or Caenagnathid or one of the other toothed taxons.  We know very little to nothing about most I but lean more toward a Caenagnathid.

 

 

[jikohr]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

The honeycomb structure of the centrum is typical of theropods.   A more important feature is pleurocoel that can be found in some Hell Creek Fm theropods.

We don't have a lot of published information on these bones from HC theropods and little comparative material so most of these should be described as indeterminate as this one should be.  Centrums are especially difficult since they are hidden in most of the replicas you see in museums by processes or other bones..

From a guessing side it's not a Tyrannosaurid, Ornithomimid or Alvarezsaurid so that leaves a Dromaeosaurid, Troodontid, or Caenagnathid or one of the other toothed taxons.  We know very little to nothing about most I but lean more toward a Caenagnathid.

 

 

Good to know, thanks!