LordTrilobite Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 I've had this tiny piece of bone from the Kem Kem beds in Morocco for a while. And initially I hadn't looked at it in detail and kinda dismissed it as a random piece of fish. On a whim I re-examined this piece under the microscope and noticed it has an articular surface on it that has a weird shape. The shape is so weird, the only thing it reminds me of is the jaw joint on the quadrate. So could it be a piece of skull? And then I noticed it has spongy structure on the inside of the bone. So that reminds me of reptile bones. I've compared it to most of the known types of reptiles from Kem Kem. It does seem to vaguely resemble many of the quadrates of different animals but it's still quite distinct. The closest match I could find were the quadrates of turtles. But then I compared it to three known turtles from Kem Kem and those also don't seem to match exactly. Only the general shape seems similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kem_Kem_Beds I did find some good reference though. Two of the same genus but different species: http://digimorph.org/specimens/Galianemys_whitei/ http://digimorph.org/specimens/Hamadachelys_escuilliei/ Paper that includes two of the Kem Kem turtles: http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/5824 I can't seem to find a good match. Does anyone have any ideas? Ventral? Dorsal? Anterior? Anterodorsal? Posterior? Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 I asked some of the paleontologists at Naturalis in Leiden and they agreed that it looks like a part of a quadrate bone. But I'm still no closer to the identity of the animal. I'm still hoping some of you lovely people might have an idea. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Missed this post completely, posted when I was out collecting. It's a tough one. Did your paleontologists have any thoughts as to what animal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Let me suggest you email Don Brinkman of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. He's an expert on turtles and may help you. Don.Brinkman@gov.ab.ca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 No they pretty much agreed with me that my quadrate hunch was in the richt direction but couldn't give much extra info on what type of animal it might be. It does also vaguely resemble the quadrate of some dromaeosaurs though, but turtles looked like a closer match to me. And thanks for the mail adress, I'll give it a shot. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Don also knows theropods, good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Going on your initial thought, the bone texture reminds me of fish with the layered appearance of the bone as to what, that is a different question. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 I thought that at first as well. At first I dismissed it as some random fish bone. Only on inspecting it from undert the microscope did I notice the clear spongy bone. A lot of Kem Kem material also tends to look flaky/layered. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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