mosasaur skull

[Prognathodon saturator 101]

i brought this from my job almost a year ago now i have been having some troble identifying it wondering if you guys could help

[Troodon]

Isolated bone fragments are very difficult to ID.   Can you provide an specifics like locality found, age etc and size of what we are looking at.  Thanks

[abyssunder]

Worth to prep it carefully with patience. You never know what is hidden in the matrix. Don't use water to clean !!!

 

[Prognathodon saturator 101]

my pleasure its from morocco from the late cretaceous period the skull in the matrix its self measures 7 cm long and 1 cm wide at the nose

[Prognathodon saturator 101]

my boss said it doesnt need preping and is best to leave it how it is

[LordTrilobite]

Well how much a fossil needs to be prepped is mainly just personal preference. Sure it's fine as it is. but if you want to know more about what type of bone it is and what species it could be it's best to prep further to uncover and possible morphology.

 

It's very hard to tell from just one photo/angle. But it looks to me like it could be a partial premaxilla. You could try to prep it a little with some dental picks. That Moroccan Khouribga matrix is generally pretty soft. though the bones are generally also fairly soft.

[Prognathodon saturator 101]

my boss sells dental picks infact i have many for my own phospate block preps i work at fossils galore

[Troodon]

I agree,  a little prep may go a long way to identify the bone.   I like to use Xacto knives on Moroccan matrix since it's soft but dental picks work fine.  If you decide to attack it my suggestion is to work slow since rushing will only cause problems.  It's not that hard but you may want to try it in an area that is not very visible to see how comfortable you are.  

[abyssunder]

Nothing could be said with certainty without a preparation of the Moroccan matrix.