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Oreodont skeletal elements


Peat Burns

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Can anyone recommend a good reference with illustrations of the skeletal elements of the oreodont Merycoidodon?  I especially need pics of individual cervical, thoracic, and caudal vertebrae as well as the bones of the manus.  I have a volume called "Osteology for the Archaeologist" that has photos of most of the individual bones of mammoths and mastodons and am looking for something like that for the oreodont (either a book or journal article):)

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Osteology for the Archaeologist is a great book for folks who are poking around in Pleistocene sites but, unfortunately, there isn't such a book (that I know of) that deals with the osteology of the oreodonts.  The classic 1968 Schultz and Falkenbach paper on The Phylogeny of the Oreodonts is about the closest you'll get.  Though outdated as far as taxonomy is concerned, it does contain abundant illustrations (mostly of skulls and some postcranial elements) that might be useful to you.  Here is a link to that paper: LINK.  I do have to warn you...it is a BIG (126.3MB) download!

 

There are a few articles that might be helpful in the oreodont section in my pdf library here on The Fossil Forum.  Here is a link to that:  LINK.

 

Good luck!

 

-Joe

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Illigitimati non carborundum

Fruitbat's PDF Library

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Thanks @Fruitbat. That's very helpful. That 1968 volume has some very useful morphometric data in addition to the figures of some of the post cranial elements.  Will take a look at the others on Monday.

 

Thanks again for your help.

1 hour ago, Nimravis said:

PM sent with some info.

Thank you, Ralph.

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@doushantuo As I was reading the string I thought of you. You almost always seem to come up with a helpful and relevant reference. If you hadn’t chimed in I was going to offer your name up to see if you had a reference. 

Is there a site you use to find these references?

I work in the medical field and have also been a clinical researcher and I use PubMed or OMIM a lot to find references for life science related topics. I’ve been wondering if there is an equivalent site for the earth sciences.

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As far as I know,there isn't.

I tend to follow the Earth sciences,in a hopefully thorough way,not because i have to,but because I want to.

 

 

I have the feeling my function here is more of a "useful idiot" than anything else.:P

Kowalewsky's "Anthracotherium":

 

angustidproc-56304000-14410696788_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

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"The White River Badlands" by Cleophas C O'hara, published by the South Dakota School of Mines, Bulletin No 13 has some very good photos and drawings of oreodont skeletons and is usually available on ebay. PM me if you can't find it and I will send you photos of the skeletons.

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6 hours ago, doushantuo said:

"useful idiot"

I hope that’s not true, because if it is, what does that make me! Probably  drop the “useful” for me then. :P

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Awesome thread! I have some research to do. Thanks everyone been looking for some detailed drawings/ pictures  myself.

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11 hours ago, doushantuo said:

 

I have the feeling my function here is more of a "useful idiot" than anything else.:P

 

1,682 - "'nuff' said" ;)

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figures from:

 

Scott, W.B., Jepsen, G.L. 1940

The Mammalian Fauna of the White River Oligocene: Part IV. Artiodactyla.

Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 28(4):363-746

 

IMG.thumb.jpg.38649c74e1a2f993a9c9434ef327266b.jpg

All figures drawn from one individual, Princeton Museum., No. 13,626, and all are approximately 4/5 Nat. Size.

 

Fig. 1. Merycoidodon gracilis: Occiput.
Fig. 2. Merycoidodon gracilis: Atlas, dorsal side.
Fig. 2a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, left side.
Fig. 3. Merycoidodon gracilis: Axis, left side.
Fig. 3a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, dorsal side.
Fig. 4. Merycoidodon gracilis: Third dorsal vertebra, left side.
Fig. 5. Merycoidodon gracilis: Fifth lumbar vertebra, left side.
Fig. 6. Merycoidodon gracilis: Seventh caudal vertebra, left side.
Fig. 7. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left scapula, external side.
Fig. 7a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, distal end.
Fig. 8. Merycoidodon gracilis: Pelvis, left side.
Fig. 9. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left humerus, anterior side.
Fig. 9a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, ulnar side.
Fig. 10. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left ulna and radius, ulnar side.
Fig. 10a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, anterior side.

Fig. 11. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left manus, dorsum.
Fig. 12. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left femur, anterior side.
Fig. 13. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left patella, anterior face.
Fig. 13a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, fibular side.
Fig. 14. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left tibia and fibula, anterior side.
Fig. 14a. Merycoidodon gracilis: The same, fibular side.
Fig. 15. Merycoidodon gracilis: Left pes, dorsum.

 

 

figures from:

 

Benton, R.C., Terry Jr, D.O., Evanoff, E., McDonald, H.G. 2015

The White River Badlands: Geology and Paleontology.

Indiana University Press, 222 pp.

 

IMG1.thumb.jpg.f7567c269e143aea0271e49870e3a692.jpg

image.png.a84de26dad44fb03836a743755df237c.png

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3 hours ago, RJB said:

@jpc just might have some good material for you too.

 

RB

Schultz and Falkenbach is the one I have used in the past.  I have never seen the Thorpe monograph.  Thans, dou.  They are both huge.  Scott and Jepsen is good too, and I see someone else posted that while I was typing away.    Are you trying to put one back together?  Below are a few pix of specimens here in our museum, but they are not great. Maybe but the individual thoracic verts may not be diagnostic enough from pix of articulated individuals.   I haven't scrolled though all of these two sources above, but if you find a string of verts from any other oreodont genus, it would be a good stand-in for Merycoidodon.  I think it is fair to say there is very little variation in verts within a family of mammals.   Dinosaurs... very different. 

 

Here is a cast of a front foot.  Missing some toes, and the wrist bones are not very visible. .  I can get you better photos if you want.  IMG_6030.jpg.313e4d24e2b93384c8a6178e59350ba4.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here i an articulated set of verts.  The lumbars show up well, but the dorsals (thoracic) are hidden. 

IMG_6032.jpg.b96f77fc63bb02ef3eb4a496cc578482.jpg

 

and a set of dorsals and lumbars.  Unfotunaelty they are not labeled.  (I will blame someone else for this... this was done before my tenure here).  

IMG_6029.jpg.4f255e8289570c65f60ac51b96adea1b.jpg

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Thank you, @piranha

 

Thank you, @jpc.  Yeah, I have a substantial portion of a skeleton that I collected this summer and I want to purchase, cast, and / or sculpt missing elements to make a 2D mount in artificial matrix.  Some of the elements are harder to find for sale.  And I want to make sure the "Frankenstein" parts are proportional to the individual that I have.  

 

Here is one vertebral element in which I'm particularly interested, as I'm not likely to find one.

 

20171111_135657.thumb.jpg.05c105776e6490ec10432a1690e5b023.jpg

 

20171111_135632.thumb.jpg.f30bbc348735e2e3a4771db8603a2880.jpg

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14 minutes ago, RJB said:

Some cool stuff for sure.  Only wish I had one to prep?!!!  Dang!!!

 

RB

This one had a mostly complete skull eroding mid way up a butte.  I didn't even touch the skull right away.  I started digging the washes at the base and working upwards.  I managed to find probably 60% (?) or so of the skeleton with much of the pelvis, upper leg bones, ulna, vertebrae, toe bones, ankle bones, etc.  These were broken up and required a lot of puzzle work and gluing.  When i got to the skull, i found some vertebrae and ribs in situ.  Because most of the skeleton was reworked, I decided that this would be a good candidate to make a 2D articulated Frankenstein mount.  I found a usable scapula from a different animal on the same trip.  It's going to be a fun and challenging project.  I'll post the whole process in the prep forum like I did for the tortoise when I'm done (but only if it turns out well ;))

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24 minutes ago, Peat Burns said:

This one had a mostly complete skull eroding mid way up a butte.  I didn't even touch the skull right away.  I started digging the washes at the base and working upwards.  I managed to find probably 60% (?) or so of the skeleton with much of the pelvis, upper leg bones, ulna, vertebrae, toe bones, ankle bones, etc.  These were broken up and required a lot of puzzle work and gluing.  When i got to the skull, i found some vertebrae and ribs in situ.  Because most of the skeleton was reworked, I decided that this would be a good candidate to make a 2D articulated Frankenstein mount.  I found a usable scapula from a different animal on the same trip.  It's going to be a fun and challenging project.  I'll post the whole process in the prep forum like I did for the tortoise when I'm done (but only if it turns out well ;))

 

 Nice man!  I do wish I could prep something like that, but i really do have too much fossil stuff as it  is!!  

 

RB

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42 minutes ago, RJB said:

 

 Nice man!  I do wish I could prep something like that, but i really do have too much fossil stuff as it  is!!  

 

RB

I hear you... :) one never catches up with the backlog... :(

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2 minutes ago, doushantuo said:

That's one special find ,Peat.

 

Thanks, doushantuo.  It was a "bucket lister":)

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