Australian Pleistocene Bone for ID

[Paleoworld-101]

Collected in a creek bed near Gunnedah, NSW, Australia. The sediments date back to the late Pleistocene about 52 000 years ago and contain fossils of the Australian megafauna: kangaroos, diprotodontids, marsupial lions, crocodiles, birds and various others. 

 

The bone is 75 mm long and as you can see is almost dead straight! There is a circular cross section with thick bone walls at one end and a generally circular cross section with thinner bone walls at the other end. I first thought some kind of bird limb bone, but the thick bone wall at one end didn't make sense. Now i am thinking kangaroo metatarsal but would like more opinions. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Paleoworld-101]

Nobody?

Am leaning more towards kangaroo fibula now. 

[Jesuslover340]

Well...I agree with it being a metatarsal...and I think the most PLAUSIBLE candidate would be some sort of roo-potoroo, wallaby, juvenile macropid, etc.

 

Perhaps this without the 'cap' at the end (the absence of which indicates juvenile, as it wasn't fused):

[Jesuslover340]

59 minutes ago, Paleoworld-101 said:

Nobody?

Am leaning more towards kangaroo fibula now. 

It's a bit straight to be a fibula of a roo, I think...

[Paleoworld-101]

9 minutes ago, Jesuslover340 said:

It's a bit straight to be a fibula of a roo, I think...

 

It's hard to tell from the angles i've been looking at in pictures. 

 

Here the metatarsals look pretty curved too. 

 

EDIT- distal portion of the fibula?

 

 

[Jesuslover340]

I don't think fibula with how long yours goes straight; still think one of the thin metatarsals is your best candidate as they remain straight for a bit near the distal part.

[Paleoworld-101]

4 minutes ago, Jesuslover340 said:

I don't think fibula with how long yours goes straight; still think one of the thin metatarsals is your best candidate as they remain straight for a bit near the distal part.

 

This section here looks pretty straight and long though. I wonder if it's also circular in cross section (need a roo skeleton in front of me lol)

 

[Jesuslover340]

2 hours ago, Paleoworld-101 said:

 

This section here looks pretty straight and long though. I wonder if it's also circular in cross section (need a roo skeleton in front of me lol)

 

But in this photo, the fibula flares out towards the distal end and I don't really see that in this bone...

[Paleoworld-101]

7 hours ago, Jesuslover340 said:

But in this photo, the fibula flares out towards the distal end and I don't really see that in this bone...

 

One end of my bone flares out a little bit, then is broken off, so I still think it's possible. The upper part of the fibula in this photo also looks suitably straight and thin. That metatarsal on the other hand is quite curved from the side, and proportionally a bit thick too I think. Might need to send off the pics to more people so we can get a third perspective lol

 

Btw that display in your picture is the skeletons exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney. Perhaps I should pop in for a closer look