Partial turtle breastplate?

[Ropterus]

I believe what I have here is a partial turtle breastplate I found in pieces at Calvert Cliffs about 5 months ago. Unfortunately, my reassembly did not turn out as well as I had hoped. Looks pretty rough, but it was my first time doing anything like this and I have definitely learned a lot in the process! I wish I would have found more of the pieces.

[jpc]

I think you are right about this thing.  The term used for turtles is plastron.  Nice find.

[CBOB]

Looks like a fun project.  Nice find!

[Mike from North Queensland]

I agree with the others turtle plastron.

This would have been a good learning piece.

Bear in mind the plastron would have been curved so that would explain unexpected gaps.

 

Mike

[Al Dente]

Nice find but this is a carapace, not a plastron. In the second photo you can see that these are pleural bones with the little piece of rib attached.

 

Here's an illustration that shows the rib attaching to the pleural bone. It is from a document I found online "The Anatomy of Sea Turtles" by Jeanette Wyneken.

 

[Carl]

I agree with turtle carapace but I disagree with you about your reconstruction skills: I think you did a fine job!

[jpc]

I stand corrected... al dente is careful observer. This is a partial plastron.  

[ynot]

16 minutes ago, jpc said:

I stand corrected... al dente is careful observer. This is a partial plastron.  

Don't You mean "carapace"?

[Ropterus]

8 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Nice find but this is a carapace, not a plastron. In the second photo you can see that these are pleural bones with the little piece of rib attached.

 

Here's an illustration that shows the rib attaching to the pleural bone. It is from a document I found online "The Anatomy of Sea Turtles" by Jeanette Wyneken.

 

Thanks Al Dente! The photo and illustration leave no doubt.I appreciate your input!

4 hours ago, Carl said:

I agree with turtle carapace but I disagree with you about your reconstruction skills: I think you did a fine job!

Thank you Carl! It took my awhile to get everything cleaned up and figure out how it all went back together.

[IonRocks]

 

These repairs are a pain in the butt. I've found that sometimes the shells are pre-crushed which can misalign repaired pieces. And when there isn't a shell cast (preferably one with their internal bone structure, like spines type parts, and long bones) to follow, gaps are almost to be expected. But that said, great job on this

[jpc]

On 12/30/2016 at 8:51 AM, ynot said:

Don't You mean "carapace"?

ummmm... double corrected.