Dinosaur bone?

[Strepsodus]

Hi.  I found this on the Isle of Wight, UK (Cretaceous.)  Is it a Dinosaur bone, a reptile bone or something else?

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

Daniel

 

 

[Fossildude19]

Doesn't look like bone, to me.  

 

[JohnBrewer]

Scute from turtle I think. Looks similar to ones I've found at Boulder. Can you tell us exactly where you found it? @TXV24 will probably know.  

You need to invest in a better camera Daniel!

[TXV24]

Hi, 

 

I agree with @JohnBrewer this looks like a heavily beach worn fragment of turtle carapace, turtle material is found in the Early Cretaceous Wealden exposures here, but is much more common (by that I mean ridiculously common) in the Bouldnor Formation along our NW coast, which dates from the Eocene - Oligocene boundary. If it is from the NW coast, then it's probably Emys s.p, but any ID depends on what locality it's from. @Strepsodus Do you remember where exactly on the Island you collected it? 

[Strepsodus]

Hi.  Thanks for the replies.  I found it at Yaverland.

 

 

Daniel

[TXV24]

Ah Yaverland, I completely forgot about there when thinking Wealden, I did think the matrix didn't look right for the Hamstead Member. In that case it's a worn fragment of turtle carapace from the Wessex or Vectis Fm. I haven't properly collected from the Wealden here for years (thinking of starting up again soon) so I'm not sure exactly how common turtle material is in that strata, but we do have several taxa that have been found on the Island, Helochelydra, Plesiochelys, and Tretosternum. Hopefully this is helpful, obviously with the condition it's in it's impossible to say anything more specific than 'worn turtle carapace', but those taxa would be your most likely options. Still it's a nice non-dinosaur find, especially at Yaverland which is often overcollected. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Strepsodus]

8 hours ago, TXV24 said:

Ah Yaverland, I completely forgot about there when thinking Wealden, I did think the matrix didn't look right for the Hamstead Member. In that case it's a worn fragment of turtle carapace from the Wessex or Vectis Fm. I haven't properly collected from the Wealden here for years (thinking of starting up again soon) so I'm not sure exactly how common turtle material is in that strata, but we do have several taxa that have been found on the Island, Helochelydra, Plesiochelys, and Tretosternum. Hopefully this is helpful, obviously with the condition it's in it's impossible to say anything more specific than 'worn turtle carapace', but those taxa would be your most likely options. Still it's a nice non-dinosaur find, especially at Yaverland which is often overcollected. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi.  Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

Daniel

[TXV24]

@Strepsodus No worries, glad I could help out.

[JohnBrewer]

20 hours ago, TXV24 said:

....but is much more common (by that I mean ridiculously common) in the Bouldnor Formation along our NW coast....

Yeah, if you look carefully on Boulder beach you might, just might, find a stone amongst the scutes. 

[TXV24]

@JohnBrewer Ahaha my rate of plastic sandwich bag buying definitely backs that up! In reality though that is actually a lot truer than people would think