Some Dromaeosaur Sickle Claws I Have Owned In The Past And Currently.

[hxmendoza]

The current iteration of a long, proud, and scary line:

Golden Eagle Feet.jpg

Wow, those talons are long and sharp!

Edited February 5, 2015 by hxmendoza

[Auspex]

Wow, those talons are long and sharp!

Word.

Caution is advised when handling.

[Troodon]

Yikes and impressive. At least the fossilized ones are harmless.

[jpc]

It took me a few days, but here is my one and only dromaeoasur claw.... from the Hell Creek of North Dakota.

[Troodon]

Absolutely beautiful foot claw, love the shape, nice addition to any collection and not from your typical Hell Creek locality. I'm not sure its a dromaeosaur be interesting to hear what Henry has to say. The morphology doesn't fit the typical dinosaurs I'm familiar with in the Hell Creek. I would lean more toward bird but it won't be the first time I'm wrong.

[Auspex]

Absolutely beautiful foot claw, love the shape, nice addition to any collection and not from your typical Hell Creek locality. I'm not sure its a dromaeosaur be interesting to hear what Henry has to say. The morphology doesn't fit the typical dinosaurs I'm familiar with in the Hell Creek. I would lean more toward bird but it won't be the first time I'm wrong.

Not Aves, IMO; it has a very well defined 'blood groove', not typical of true birds.

[hxmendoza]

Absolutely beautiful foot claw, love the shape, nice addition to any collection and not from your typical Hell Creek locality. I'm not sure its a dromaeosaur be interesting to hear what Henry has to say. The morphology doesn't fit the typical dinosaurs I'm familiar with in the Hell Creek. I would lean more toward bird but it won't be the first time I'm wrong.

JPC, I agree with Troodon. Looks bird to me. And bird foot claws can, and do have blood grooves. It doesn't have any of the characteristics of a dromaeosaur foot claw, sickle claw, or hand claw.

These illustrations show the grooved bird foot claws:

[hxmendoza]

But it's still a great claw, regardless!

[Auspex]

The highly curved claws of raptorial birds lack notable blood groves, and the less curved ground-dwelling raptors only weakly exhibit such. JPC's claw core is curved in the extreme, and it's grove is deeply incised for it's entire length. There is a real lack of comparative Cretaceous bird material, but I would be astonished if it were from a bird.

Here is one of my Hell Creek bird claws:

(Core and phalanx from the same microsite, but not associated in situ).

[jpc]

I guess it would be fun to compare it to the Chinese Cretaceous brid material.

[Troodon]

Good suggestion. I have a book on Mesozoic birds but images of claws are very few. Like Auspex said comparative material just does not exist. I showed a similiar claw, attached image, in my collection to Pete Larson a couple of years ago and he scratched his head and said it could be bird but he had not seen one before and left it at that. Pretty cool claw however since its rare, unknown and why I love the chase to ID this type of material. Great collector specimen.

[Troodon]

I guess it would be fun to compare it to the Chinese Cretaceous brid material.

JP Can you send me an image of the bottom of your claw. May have an opportunity to have Phil Currie look at it in March. My buddy is attending a workshop he is giving in Calgary.

[PFOOLEY]

Could those be Caenagnathid hand claws? Just a thought...bird would be cool, though.

[Troodon]

Bird would be very cool. I believe it to be a foot claw and the only caenagnathid dinosaur currently described in the Hell Creek is Anzu wyliei and its claws are very different. A second much smaller caenagnathid species is being studied but its claws more resemble Anzu's.

[PFOOLEY]

They are mysterious creatures in North America...on my "to find " list for New Mexico..

They are "bird like"...

[Troodon]

Yes definitely birdlike more like a big ostrich. Wow to find one in NM would be awesome. You need to get to some late cretaceous exposures to have the best chance. Not sure if any remains have ever been found.

[Dracorex_hogwartsia]

On 2/4/2015 at 6:31 PM, Troodon said:

Well Paronychodon will soon be undergoing a significant change. I provided a Hell Creek jaw section to a leading theropod museum that contained both Paronychodon and Richardoestesia teeth in it. The jaw has been under study for over a year and even the experts are having difficulty placing it in the proper family. Stay tuned.

Well this is an old thread Troodon it's been over five years. Have they decided what it is yet?

[Troodon]

4 hours ago, Dracorex_hogwartsia said:

Well this is an old thread Troodon it's been over five years. Have they decided what it is yet?

No they have basically concluded their study and nothing conclusive.  They are leaning toward pterosaur but need more material to unambiguously say its one and publish.  So unfortunately it remains a mystery until more material is found.

[Dracorex_hogwartsia]

7 hours ago, Troodon said:

No they have basically concluded their study and nothing conclusive.  They are leaning toward pterosaur but need more material to unambiguously say its one and publish.  So unfortunately it remains a mystery until more material is found.

Fascinating! So three different morphologies on one jaw!? With Paronychodon and Richardoestisia gilmorei considered to be Pterosaur not Dinosaur teeth?! Now that the study seems to be over, will you be allowed to post pictures of your jaw section? I don't think I have ever seen it. Have you posted pictures in the past?

[Anomotodon]

On 9/5/2020 at 4:53 AM, Troodon said:

No they have basically concluded their study and nothing conclusive.  They are leaning toward pterosaur but need more material to unambiguously say its one and publish.  So unfortunately it remains a mystery until more material is found.

 

Pterosaur with teeth in the latest Cretaceous?? This is very unique. How does a similar Euronychodon from younger deposits fit into this idea? Do they think it's a ghost lineage of toothed heterodontous pterosaurs that survived until the Maastrichtian?

[Troodon]

8 minutes ago, Anomotodon said:

 

Pterosaur with teeth in the latest Cretaceous?? This is very unique. How does a similar Euronychodon from younger deposits fit into this idea? Do they think it's a ghost lineage of toothed heterodontous pterosaurs that survived until the Maastrichtian?

No idea they just said pterosaur.  Nothing beyond that.