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Buyer Beware on Dinosaur Holiday Purchases


Troodon

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Posted are a few concerns I found wandering through the internet.  These are but a few examples of the type of issues you may encounter.   I send this out as a reminder if you're shopping for fossil presents of any kind.

 

Sellers mis-identify material simply through lack of knowledge but it's up to the buyer to know what they are looking at.   Don't hesitate to post interests BEFORE you buy. 

 

BUYER BEWARE when it comes to fossils of any kind.

 

Seller wants huge money for this Saurolophus osborni lower arm from the Two Medicine Formation.   Looks like a nice arm but some of his facts are incorrect.  This species is not found in the Campanian of the Two Medicine Formation but the early Maastrichtian age of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation.   Another key point is that it's very difficult to determine taxons from post cranial bones of Hadrosaurs especially in an fauna where multiple species exist.  Nice lower arm from somewhere and from some unknown Hadrosaur.

 

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What's this seller thinking the "2 Medicine Man Formation" really attention to detail not one of his strong points.  Someone tell him its the Two Medicine Formation.  Maybe he watches lots of Westerns :wacko:

 

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Seller describes this as Pachycephalosaurus in my opinion it's Thescelosaurus

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Seller is properly describing this beautiful jaw as Ornithischian but in detail description adds that it was discovered where many Pachycephalosaurus fossils were found giving one the impression it's Pachy.  In my opinion it's Thescelosaurus.  Teeth of these two species look similar inquire before you buy.

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I see a lot of these being offered or sale, nice Christmas gift.  For those of you that are new to collecting the only thing real here are the crowns.  Nice gift 

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Seller is offering this Claw and Identifying it as Velociraptor from the Hell Creek Formation.  It's a very worn Anzu wyliei hand claw.5a2eceb30b2e4_s-l1600(4).thumb.jpg.7dc36d0d0db571ac80039ad47317e6bf.jpg

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2 hours ago, Troodon said:

Seller describes this as Pachycephalosaurus in my opinion it's Thescelosaurus

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I don't have any experience with Pachy, but I agree that this does indeed look like Thescelosaurus.

 

 

Good post, as always.

Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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2 hours ago, LordTrilobite said:

I don't have any experience with Pachy, but I agree that this does indeed look like Thescelosaurus.

 

 

Good post, as always.

It matches the morphology of Thesc so that's what I based it on.  Very little is published on Pachy so I do not know what the bones look like.   “Sandy” is the most complete Pachycephalosaurus individual ever found, with about 50% of the skeleton intact, but unfortunately a technical description of this this specimen has yet to be published. So hopfully someday we will have a glimpse of the toe bones that were with specimen but the feet were far from being complete.

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Thank you there was one piece i was seriously going to bid on had i been allowed to but postage only to us, but yes possibly thescleosaurus.

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I have seen these on sale, so thanks for the heads up!

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

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16 hours ago, Troodon said:

It matches the morphology of Thesc so that's what I based it on.  Very little is published on Pachy so I do not know what the bones look like.   “Sandy” is the most complete Pachycephalosaurus individual ever found, with about 50% of the skeleton intact, but unfortunately a technical description of this this specimen has yet to be published. So hopfully someday we will have a glimpse of the toe bones that were with specimen but the feet were far from being complete.

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Here is a picture of the foot on Sandy the Pachycephalosaurus that I took at RMDRC. 

Only problem is that Thescelosaurus material was also found at the site. So it’s really unknown if these pes parts all belong to Sandy.

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Th

46 minutes ago, hxmendoza said:

 

Here is a picture of the foot on Sandy the Pachycephalosaurus that I took at RMDRC. 

Only problem is that Thescelosaurus material was also found at the site. So it’s really unknown if these pes parts all belong to Sandy.

 

 

Thank nice closeup.  Now that you mention it I do remember that comment from Mike Triebold.  What I find interesting is that in Tom Carr's to be published book Fossils of the Hell Creek he shows a Pachy unguals with a slight twist along their axis while Thesc ones are very arrowshaped with a flat ventral surface like these.  

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54 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Th

Thank nice closeup.  Now that you mention it I do remember that comment from Mike Triebold.  What I find interesting is that in Tom Carr's to be published book Fossils of the Hell Creek he shows a Pachy unguals with a slight twist along their axis while Thesc ones are very arrowshaped with a flat ventral surface like these.  

 

Here are my two photos of the complete pes of a Thescelosaurus neglectus at RMDRC. Digit-III ungual looks like it may have a twist. Not positive though. Maybe those twisted unguals are from the outside toe. Or maybe individual variation? Who knows.

 

The third photo is of the pes of Thescelosaurus garbanii at the LACM.

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Great pic thanks but these are still arrowhead shaped.   Those are definitely Thesc feet.

Sorry for the poor picture just had my phone and no time. This is what Carr calls Pachy

 

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1 hour ago, Troodon said:

Great pic thanks but these are still arrowhead shaped.   Those are definitely Thesc feet.

Sorry for the poor picture just had my phone and no time. This is what Carr calls Pachy

 

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Thanks for the pic! When is this book coming out, and how did you get a copy?

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58 minutes ago, hxmendoza said:

Thanks for the pic! When is this book coming out, and how did you get a copy?

Ha ha my picture come from a beta version book that was handed out by T Carr at the Carter County Museum last year.  Took some pictures from that copy but it's not in my possession..  It was to be a 2016 publication.  Price was crazy.  

 

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15 hours ago, hxmendoza said:

 

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By looking at this photo a question occurs me : are three bigger bone (tarsus ?) welded ?

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

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1 hour ago, Coco said:

By looking at this photo a question occurs me : are three bigger bone (tarsus ?) welded ?

 

Coco

Great pictures HX provided.  The top four bones are metatarsals I-IV and appear to be fused, not sure if its bone to bone or just matrix.  I've seen them both ways.   

The same appears to be the case in this specimen but this one looks more like matrix 

 

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I saw this item when it was listed and the seller actually calls it Oviraptor.  It's definitely a Hallux metatarsal 1 but that is about all that can be definitively said about it.  I do not believe it belongs to Anzu since it does not compare well with the BHI replica and that is all I have to go on. They appear to have a very bulbous distal end which is lacking in this specimen.  Photo shows the BHI one and one in my collection and they compare well.

Your next question will be what does it belong to, no idea.  Does not compare well with Stenonychosaurus not sure beyond that.  We have nothing on the other small theropods to compare against.  It's also a worn specimen with weak distal features so that will not help.

Might even belong to one of the undescribed Caengnathids or Oviraptors in the Hell Creek.

 

 

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12 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

And my contribution is.....

 

 

Spot on John I'm sure you struggled to find those but they are very real, serrations a very worn.  Very typical of the material found in the UK.:rofl:

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17 hours ago, Troodon said:

Spot on John I'm sure you struggled to find those but they are very real, serrations a very worn.  Very typical of the material found in the UK.:rofl:

So I bought it for a friend. Not sure it will get to you by Christmas tho Frank :D

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19 hours ago, JohnBrewer said:

So I bought it for a friend. Not sure it will get to you by Christmas tho Frank :D

Cannot wait. Thanks :(

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Kem Kem material.   This seller list this as dinosasurian and I believe it's croc.  The neural spine is not dinosasurian.

 

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