Triceratops Vertebra Pedicle

[Lucid_Bot]

Hi! I bought this piece a few months ago and just wanted to make sure it is what they tell me it is. Apparently it's a Triceratops horridus vertebra pedicle from the Hell Creek Formation of Dawson County, Montana.

[Troodon]

Might be, hard to visualize that portion of the vertebra on a specific animal.   You really need to compare it next to one.  If its ceratopsian I am scratching my head how it was assigned to Triceratops horridus and not one of the other ceratopsians in the HC.   Postcranial verts are pretty similar and you are only dealing with a fragment.  Only way would be if it came from a skeleton that had diagnostic features on the skull of a T. horridus  

[Lucid_Bot]

19 minutes ago, Troodon said:

 If its ceratopsian I am scratching my head how it was assigned to Triceratops horridus and not one of the other ceratopsians in the HC. 

 

Does Triceratops horridus sell better?

[Lucid_Bot]

32 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Might be, hard to visualize that portion of the vertebra on a specific animal.   You really need to compare it next to one.  If its ceratopsian I am scratching my head how it was assigned to Triceratops horridus and not one of the other ceratopsians in the HC.   Postcranial verts are pretty similar and you are only dealing with a fragment.  Only way would be if it came from a skeleton that had diagnostic features on the skull of a T. horridus  

Btw, thanks for the always informative answers. I appreciate it.

[Troodon]

Ha ha well that the name most sellers and collectors are familiar with, so yes to your question.  I think sellers like to put genus/specie name on items they sell versus family name, helps sales.  I also believe lots of collectors prefer buying a specimen with a genus/species name than family.   So would have purchased this item if it was identified indeterminate Ceratopsian?

[Meganeura]

18 hours ago, Troodon said:

Ha ha well that the name most sellers and collectors are familiar with, so yes to your question.  I think sellers like to put genus/specie name on items they sell versus family name, helps sales.  I also believe lots of collectors prefer buying a specimen with a genus/species name than family.   So would have purchased this item if it was identified indeterminate Ceratopsian?

Yeah - hearing “indeterminate Ceratopsian vertebrae” just doesn’t quite spark the same sense of joy as “Triceratops horridus vertebrae”, unfortunately.

[hadrosauridae]

Sorry, species ID from a fragment is just a guessing game most of the time.  Even complete bones can be almost impossible to ID when its not found associated to a skeleton. So the scientifically true lable would be something like, the classification family and "ind" for indeterminate plus the element.  so "partial vertebra, Ceratopsian ind, Dawson Co. MT"

[Meganeura]

On 9/4/2022 at 9:35 AM, hadrosauridae said:

Sorry, species ID from a fragment is just a guessing game most of the time.  Even complete bones can be almost impossible to ID when its not found associated to a skeleton. So the scientifically true lable would be something like, the classification family and "ind" for indeterminate plus the element.  so "partial vertebra, Ceratopsian ind, Dawson Co. MT"

 I just now realized that indet also means indeterminate!