Unidentified Bone

[rod]

Found this today while searching a Cretaceous creek site in North MS. Demopolis Formation.

Any ideas of what this could possibly be? I did not get a size reference in the scan, but it measures approx 2 inches by 1/4 inch thick.

[Fossildude19]

Hello Rod - Cool find.

Not an expert by any means, but,... it looks turtle-ish or croc-ish to me.

Others with more knowledge of the area may weigh in shortly!

Thanks for sharing!

Regards,

[Seldom]

Looks turtle

[LoneRanger]

Agree that it's a turtle shell fragment. The pieces you're finding in northern MS are also found in many eastern seaboard states. Even though you're not in New Jersey (no jokes please), you'll find these websites on NJ fossils very helpful in identifying Cretaceous vertebrate pieces: njfossils.net/fish.html; njfossils.net/reptile.html; and, njfossils.net/shark.html.

[tracer]

more specifically, it sort of looks like soft-shelled turtle shell/bone that underlies their skin. i've never tried to look up what function the "dimples" perform but always sort of assumed that maybe it either helped give a stronger form to thin bone or that it served as a more stable attachment surface for the overlying skin/tissue.

it also seems possible, unless you actually found it in the matrix and there hasn't been reworking, that the fragment is more recent than the cretaceous. pleistocene and holocene turtle shells fragments are a frequent find in the beds of many creeks and rivers.

i'm not familiar with the environment in that area during the cretaceous, but if it was open marine environment as opposed to near shore or a river, then the fragment would likely be from a later time.