calcaneum id

[garyc]

I'm still having trouble distinguishing bison and cow calcanea even with some of the great line drawings that various members have provided. Here are two that look very similar to me except for the size. Are they both cow, bison or are there differences I'm overlooking?

couple more shots

[coled18]

I too have had the problem of distinguishing cow vs bison bones. Harry Pristis once sent me this pdf https://archive.org/details/syllogeus71nati

I hope it helps, assuming that you haven't come across the file before. To me, the larger calcaneum looks more like a Bison than the smaller one, but it is hard to tell since they have been worn down. Although the manual I sent shows Bison Bison vs Bos Taurus, there should be almost no difference in between Bison Bison and Bison Antiquus bones. 

 

Calcaneum is shown starting on page 238 

[Harry Pristis]

 

Try this comparison:

 

 

 

[garyc]

Yes, these are the same diagrams I have been trying to compare to. I thought these bones were in pretty good shape, but I guess some of the diagnostic features are worn enough to make it difficult. I'm leaning toward bison on the big one like @coled18. @Harry Pristis do you think I'm on the right path? Thanks 

[Harry Pristis]

 

 

I think the bigger one is bison.  The smaller is likely to be cow.

 

 

[garyc]

Thanks Harry!

[fossilus]

I just noticed this post from a couple of weeks ago.  I've been trying to figure out the differences between bison and camelops.  Your larger calcaneus looks a lot like what I see of camelops online.

 

[fossilus]

Zazula, G.D., et al. (2016). Osteological assessment of Pleistocene Camelops hesternus (Camelidae: Camelinae: Camelini) from Alaska and Yukon. American Museum

[garyc]

I really did not look at camel that closely, because of the size of my calcaneum, but obviously camelops would be larger than the one pictured in Harry's group. Looking more closely at @Harry Pristis's comparison photos, I have to agree that I see more similarity to camel as well. Thanks for the suggestion fossilus. Let's see if Harry agrees??

[JarrodB]

Dallas Paleo Society has a great book I use on their website by Finley for very cheap you should check out. I think I paid $5 for it. The entire book shows you the difference in the two with pics. 

[Harry Pristis]

21 hours ago, garyc said:

I really did not look at camel that closely, because of the size of my calcaneum, but obviously camelops would be larger than the one pictured in Harry's group. Looking more closely at @Harry Pristis's comparison photos, I have to agree that I see more similarity to camel as well. Thanks for the suggestion fossilus. Let's see if Harry agrees??

 

Good catch by fossilus.  I just pulled my examples of bison, cow, and lamine camel calcanea for comparison . . . it's uncanny how many similarities there are.  I now think your larger calcaneum is from a camelid.  I'd be reluctant to call it Camelops because Texas was home to a number of large camelids.  The species may be familiar to a specialist, but I can't distinguish between between them.  To compound the challenge, Camelops never got to Florida, so I don't have a specimen for comparison.  Good find!

 

Here is Camelops:

 

[garyc]

Thanks for the effort to clear this up @Harry Pristis and @fossilus !  So, if camel is the id for the larger calcaneum, how about the smaller one? I had assumed cow, but it seems so similar to the camel, just smaller......I know degree of mineralization is not a great indicator, but it's about as mineralized as the larger.

[fossilus]

Glad to help. I think I've found about equal numbers of identifiable fossils of camelops, llama. and mineralized bison in the southern Brazos.

[fossilus]

The smaller calcaneus looks like what I would call bison or cow. Some of my camelops are not well mineralized, that may not be the best criteria.

[garyc]

On 12/14/2017 at 2:57 PM, JarrodB said:

Dallas Paleo Society has a great book I use on their website by Finley for very cheap you should check out. I think I paid $5 for it. The entire book shows you the difference in the two with pics. 

Thanks Jarrod. I will invest in that.

On 12/15/2017 at 11:35 AM, fossilus said:

The smaller calcaneus looks like what I would call bison or cow. Some of my camelops are not well mineralized, that may not be the best criteria.

Thanks fossilus. I know what you mean about mineralization.