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Daze

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Just purchased this bone fragment that was sold as from an Azhdarchid pterosaur. I know it's not complete and it has a few repairs, but is it possible to tell if it's indeed from a Pterosaur. And if so, what part of the body might it be from? Wing bone? Toe bone? 

 

Locality: Kem Kem Beds, Morocco, El Begaa
Bone size: 156 x 11 x 7 mm
Weight: 14 g

 

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Edited by Daze
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Interesting bone for sure! Pterosaur bone wall thickness is varied. It certainly can have a thickened bone wall towards the ends where the bone nears an articulation, but I have to say this doesn't strike me as a clear Pterosaur bone...... It could be a wing phalanx digit IV of a Pterosaur or it might be a rib bone from something else or maybe neither. I have to say it is difficult to know for sure, but it is quite a slender bone and it might still be Pterosaur, but like Troodon I am unsure.

 

 

Here is an example of what I mean about the bone walls from my collection - This is the same bone with the broken ends (a wing phalanx from an Azhdarchoid)......

 

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I'd also have expected the walls to have been thinner for pterosaur, from what I've seen. Though I agree with Michael that wall-thickness varies, and yield to his greater knowledge of pterosaur material ;)

 

Might I, as alternative hypothesis, posit this could be a section of a theropod fibula, much like the thinnest section of this unidentified theropod (supposedly raptor) fibula from Dawson County in Montana - although it does seem a bit long for that:

 

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'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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Well, I'm pretty convinced it's a Pterosaur bone now. Unfortunately the bone broke, but good thing is I could see the inside now. The bone is filled with matrix but the bone wall thickness is about 1mm or even less.

 

Unfortunately stupid me didn't take photos of this, I was so startled it broke I immediately glued it back together without thinking about taking photos. Luckily I could repair it almost invisibly and I'm happy to now know it's indeed most probably a Pterosaur bone :D

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20 hours ago, Daze said:

Well, I'm pretty convinced it's a Pterosaur bone now. Unfortunately the bone broke, but good thing is I could see the inside now. The bone is filled with matrix but the bone wall thickness is about 1mm or even less.

 

Unfortunately stupid me didn't take photos of this, I was so startled it broke I immediately glued it back together without thinking about taking photos. Luckily I could repair it almost invisibly and I'm happy to now know it's indeed most probably a Pterosaur bone :D

Yeah if the bone wall thickness is around 1mm, then I'm also quite sure that would confirm it as Pterosaur. Sometimes a broken bone can tell you quite a bit about what it is, but glad to hear you were able to glue it back together. I can't say for sure which bone we are looking at, could be a wing phalanx, or  maybe even a radius (all just guesses). Anyway, it is a nice bone :) 

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22 hours ago, Daze said:

The bone is filled with matrix

That was my thought. It can't be turtle bone. It must be diagenetic.

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