Triceratops toe bone?

[Pterosaur]

Hi everyone!

 

I found this in Montana this summer, and I'm pretty sure it's a triceratops digit. If so, is there a way to tell which it is? Just bored and curious.  Also, which side would the vale core have attached to? The bumpy, textured side? 

 

It was pretty shattered when I found it, so I  pieced it together. The white stuff is pales putty I just haven't painted yet. 

 

Thank you!

-Lauren 

[jpc]

not sure.  the end that your fingers are on in  the first photo...is that a broken edge?  

[Ramon]

Could be some other bone like a shoulder bone. It seems thin. 

 

Photo of shoulder bone

 

 

[Pterosaur]

12 minutes ago, jpc said:

not sure.  the end that your fingers are on in  the first photo...is that a broken edge?  

 

Yes, it is!

 

1 minute ago, Ramon said:

Could be some other bone like a shoulder bone. It seems thin. 

 

Photo of shoulder bone

 

Wow that's an interesting thought... It seems pretty solid in my opinion, but then when it comes to dinosaur bones 'thin' doesn't quite mean what it normally would when you're comparing 30 ft long animals... haha

[FossilDudeCO]

shoot us pictures of both ends if you can.

[Ramon]

Could also be a femur.

 

[Ramon]

Look at the part I circled and look at your bone.

 

 

Could be the lower part of a femur

[Pterosaur]

8 minutes ago, Ramon said:

Could also be a femur.

 

 

I don't know though... it really flares out at both ends and though the end seems to have been knocked off it seems almost complete. What do you think? 

 

 

[Ramon]

Is it HOLLOW?

[Pterosaur]

3 minutes ago, Ramon said:

Is it HOLLOW?

 

No I don't believe so. Sorry that picture was a little misleading. Looks like where the hole stops there is spongey bone. Also looks like spongey bone around the hole. 

[Pterosaur]

Aren't hollow theropod bones normally pretty smooth inside?

[Ramon]

Yeah, Theropods needed hollow bone to run fast. Their bones are light weight.

[Pemphix]

I don't think that's a digit.

It's to "flat" to be a digit and seems not to have the proper habit of a digit at all.

Nevertheless, i'm not an expert for dinos so let's wait for experts opinion like for example Troodon....

 

Best regards,

Pemphix

[Pemphix]

P.S.: i don't see any hints for a theropod bone here - bones is solid inside - "hole" can be artifact of several processes beginning with the death of the dino ending by digging it out of the matrix...

 

[ynot]

@Troodon

 

@Pemphix Just so You know  @ + name =  A call for that member.

Tony

[Ridgehiker]

Its not a phalange.

 

It can be difficult to identify bone ends without associate material.

 

Two things  are diagnostic about the specimen.   It is quite robust and the distinct rugose bone end.  These are both consistent with ankylosaur material and ankylosaur would be found in the area.  Not saying 'it is' ankylosaur.

 

I'm fairly sure its not hadrosaur. Possibly ceratopsian but?  

 

Even after decades in the badlands I still have difficulty identifying isolated bone chunks. 

[jpc]

NOw that I have seen the broken end, I say it is not an easy one.  And I agree with canadawest... even after years of collecting in the late Cretaceous of out here, it can be tough to ID bone pieces.  

 

Here is what it is NOT:

Trike toe bone, shoulder blade of anything, theropod long bone.  

 

And honestly, I am embarrassingly unfamiliar with ankylosaur bones, having not found one ... yet.  

[Pterosaur]

11 hours ago, jpc said:

NOw that I have seen the broken end, I say it is not an easy one.  And I agree with canadawest... even after years of collecting in the late Cretaceous of out here, it can be tough to ID bone pieces.  

 

Here is what it is NOT:

Trike toe bone, shoulder blade of anything, theropod long bone.  

 

And honestly, I am embarrassingly unfamiliar with ankylosaur bones, having not found one ... yet.  

 

 

I would love if this turned out to be ankylosaur. It does have some really weird texture on two sides, but I can't figure out where it would go. 

[Pemphix]

@ynot : thank you for the hint !

[Opisthotriton]

Based on the lateral view and the articular surface (as well as the size), I would say it's half of a metatarsal from an ornithischian (probably hadrosaur or ceratopsian, probably digit IV). But you show two different views of broken ends, one quite thin/flattened and one with the "hollow" spongy interior, and I'm having trouble visualizing the bone in 3D. The thin cross section makes me doubt the metatarsal ID.

 

Take a look at the Edmontosaurus metatarsals in this paper:

http://www.palarch.nl/wp-content/Zheng_Farke_Kim_2011_Photographic_Atlas_of_the_Pes_from_a_Hadrosaurine_Hadrosaurid_Dinosaur_PJVP_8_7.pdf