Tiny Vertebrae From Calvert Cliffs

[BrowniesMix]

Hi all; thanks again for the help with my first post last month regarding the meg/chub tooth and the whale vert... this time I'm back with two tiny little vertebrae from Calvert Cliffs that I'm hoping someone can identify. I feel like the smaller one is likely some kind of fish vert based on other posts and some helpful websites, but the slightly larger one has me more uncertain/curious.

I expect that positive identification of species for tiny specimens like these is difficult if not impossible, but can anyone at least clarify if they are fish/mammal/reptile/other?

Thanks for looking!

[FossilFisher]

Could be some other fish, but Calvert Cliffs is known for its shark fossils, so the bottom one I would guess as a shark vertebra. Definetly aquatic chordate though. The top one is probably not a fossil, I'm guessing its a current, well ex-current mammal that fell down the cliffs.

[jpc]

The black one is definelty a fish...deeply concave on both ends. It is hard to make out details on the whiter fossil. Can you tell where the articular surfaces on the centrum are? (The same areas that are deeply concave on the fish vert). Are they flat and parallel or are they concave/convex? Flat would be mammal; concave convex would be crocodilian. Here is a test I do out here to ID modern from fossil: tap it gently to your own upper incisors. If it is petrified it will sound/feel different than modern bone. So tap it to your teeth and compare that sond to that of known fossils, for example the smaller vert.

[BrowniesMix]

Took some photos with my camera (instead of my phone). Hopefully details present themselves a little better in these. The surfaces on the centrum (at least on the one side, anyway) of the larger/whiter specimen are concave. So, not mammalian. As for the tooth-tap test, it sounds exactly like a known contemporary vert that I have, so that answers that! Not a fossil.

Thanks for the detailed help so far, FF and jpc.

[Al Dente]

The light colored vertebrae is from a snake.

[Scylla]

I was just going to ask if that was a snake! It reminded me of the Titanoboa verts.

[Auspex]

The light colored vertebrae is from a snake.

Sho 'nuf! Is it fully mineralized?

[jpc]

I have to agree, with the new pix, I think it is snake as well. How big is it?

[Rockwood]

Perhaps about this big ? Scale in cm.. That's where this one is from. Dave Bohaska was at the museum at the time. He thought it was most likely a fossil but not Miocene. He didn't think it was fully mineralized, perhaps Pliestocene. The resemblance could be a coincidence, but it sure looks similar.

[BrowniesMix]

Al Dente, Scylla, jpc, Auspex: thanks for the ID!

Rockwood, I'd say it's almost exactly that size, and indeed looks quite similar (though the one you've posted is obviously in far better condition). If both of the largest processes (transverse?) on mine were intact it would likely be just under 2cm wide.

Auspex, I'm not entirely sure how to determine whether or not it is fully mineralized. There are slight variations in color; the exposed "edges" appear to be a lighter/whiter shade of tan. So perhaps partially fossilized?

[Auspex]

Stick a red hot pin in an inconspicuous place; if it smells like burning hair, then the collagen-forming proteins are still present, which would argue for a fairly recent origin.

[BrowniesMix]

No burning hair smell as far as we could tell. Thanks again to all for the knowledge.