MOROPUS Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Hi again.I just return from a week holiday, from my hunting place, and by the way, I asked my friend, the Paleontology museum (practically specialized on inverts of Pliocene epoch-Zanclensen), if I could help him.We talked for hours.And then he show me an fossilized earbone of a whale (there was another in display, with a better conservation).Then I remember that there was a member of the forum that sayed that he can ID any whale earbone.But I can`t remember who was .I think he was from Holland? I will post some pics later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 I have whale "bulla timpanis " from MIO-PLIO from Belgium Antwerpen zone and more Mio from my country but from smaller mammals. Send photo and will see if you have found and earbone . http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 It is actually an earbone, and it is deposited on the Museo Municipal Paleontologico of Estepona.It was excavated some years ago.The thing is, that the director (and most of the Museum), is focused on the inverts of all Malaga,Cadiz, an even Huelva province Miocene, Pliocene and some Pleistocene.Due to this specialization,he don`t know how to match this earbones onto their genus (Misticete, Archaeocete...)(Neither do I!).I hope I can find this guy, and try to ID it, and at least, put it`s name on the exposition.Could he be part of the Denmark team??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 It is actually an earbone, and it is deposited on the Museo Municipal Paleontologico of Estepona.It was excavated some years ago.The thing is, that the director (and most of the Museum), is focused on the inverts of all Malaga,Cadiz, an even Huelva province Miocene, Pliocene and some Pleistocene.Due to this specialization,he don`t know how to match this earbones onto their genus (Misticete, Archaeocete...)(Neither do I!).I hope I can find this guy, and try to ID it, and at least, put it`s name on the exposition.Could he be part of the Denmark team??? Picture, please http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 ...I hope I can find this guy, and try to ID it, and at least, put it`s name on the exposition.Could he be part of the Denmark team??? The member who knows his ear bones is Boesse. He hasn't been on the Forum since July 16; you could try to PM him. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Well, here they are! Sorry for the pic quality!There was poor light in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Hello all, I just stumbled upon this, and rather timely at that; my skills are in need! Alright, thus far... I'm missing the most important angle on the tympanic, but I can say so far that it is probably a balaenopteroid mysticete. Balaenopteroids are a group of baleen whales including extant rorquals (i.e. humpbacks, blue, fin, minke, etc), grey whales, primitive rorqual like whales, and a group of extremely weird and specialized (and small!) critters called cetotheriids. I have a request, and once fulfilled, I can probably make a better ID. That is: could you potentially take another photo, and take it in the position of the first photo. *BUT* rotate the bone so that the bottom surface (in photo 1) is facing the camera? That angle is the view of the bulla straight down (i.e. when the bulla is on the skull, the angle looking straight down, anatomically speaking). Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 Also, what's the age on this? That'll help a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Howdy, LOTS of reading. I'm a paleontology graduate student, studying fossil whales (and pinnipeds). And I've collected around three dozen earbones of different types of baleen and toothed whales - I became interested in learning how to identify them, as some are rather diagnostic; additionally, fossil earbones give a nice sample of whale/dolphin diversity, even if you don't find the matching skulls for all known cetaceans in a given rock unit. Example: there are only about two or three toothed whales in the Purisima Formation (unit I work in near Santa Cruz, CA) that have been found with skulls and ear bones together in the Purisima. Two or three other toothed whales are known either from just isolated earbones or both isolated earbones and earbone-less skulls, but have had skulls with earbones turn up in other rock units on the west coast. Lastly, there are another two or three toothed whales that are known only from earbones, and no skull has yet turned up. In any event... as far as earbones go, the old adage "the best paleontologist is the one who has seen the most bones" more or less is the key. Lots of reading, and many many museum visits. Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted August 26, 2008 Author Share Posted August 26, 2008 Also, what's the age on this? That'll help a lot. It is Zanclean,the earliest part of the Pliocene (more or less 5,5-4 million years).Sorry, but you will have to wait, because I`m 1000 km. far from the museum, and I have to ask them by internet! ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 It is Zanclean,the earliest part of the Pliocene (more or less 5,5-4 million years).Sorry, but you will have to wait, because I`m 1000 km. far from the museum, and I have to ask them by internet! ... That was more or less my guess; where is this from? Spain? Portugal? I can't remember for the life of me where Cadiz is. In any event, if you could take one more photo as requested, I can make a much more accurate ID (family, maybe even genus). It is *probably* a Balaenopterid, but I could be wrong on that. Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi Moropus, I'm back. That you show is very very close to the bulla that I have or I have seen from Belgium, and there, they are relateds to the huges misticete they have found in the Pliocene levels of Antwerpen zone. Bruxels museum could help you, if you want I could get some emails contact there. http://www.mbfossilcrabs.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawooten Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Well, here they are! Sorry for the pic quality!There was poor light in there! Here is agreat site about fossil whales http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/5...Squalodontoidea The best days are spent collecting fossils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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