Deinonychus bone section?

[Dino Dad 81]

Hi all,

 

This bone section is thought to be from a limb of Deinonychus. it's from the Cloverly formation in Carbon County, Montana.

Is there enough there to ID it as Deinonychus?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Troodon]

Difficult to assign a 2 cm diameter section of bone to a specific dinosaur

[Dino Dad 81]

@Troodon Is it hollow to the point of suggesting it's more likely Dromaeosaurid than anything else?

[Troodon]

What about the rest of the theropods in that fauna

[Jurassicbro238]

I agree. There's not enough material to identify down to the genus level. Neat bone though.

[Dino Dad 81]

I guess I should have mentioned, I'm really only trying to get at family. Could this fit ornithomimus or microvenator? I'm struggling to find helpful examples of how hollow they each are.

[Troodon]

Theropod

[Nanosaurus]

The orodromine Zephyrosaurus from the Cloverly FM would also have hollow limb elements too. Not much can be said about this fragment I am afraid.

[Troodon]

Keep in mind that although theropod discoveries have been made and described from the Cloverly Fm it is a poorly sampled deposit and we are far from understanding the diversity that exist.  Sellers like to focus on high profile dinosaurs like Deinonychus so we need to be weary of claims made.  The Cedar Mountain Formation also an early Cretaceous deposit is better sampled with more diversity including Therizinosaur's, Tyrannosauroids, Troodontids and multiple Dromaeosaurids.   So its not unrealistic to believe the Cloverly is more likely to be much more diverse than what we see described today.