Red Flag on Spinosaur verts

[LordTrilobite]

So I was browsing our favourite auction site, and I came across these interesting specimens. The seller claims these all belong to the same individual, while at the same time, strangely, they are selling each bone separately. And while these bones are definitely real Kem Kem bones, I'm posting it in this forum because there is reason to believe the information that these belong to the same animal is suspect. All of these are sold as being from one individual Spinosaurus.

 

This first one is definitely a Spinosaurid cervical vertebra. a fairly nice one. But the rugose triangular area on underside shows that this is in fact from a Sigilmassasaurus, one of the Spinosaurids from Morocco. From the length of the vertebra this can be placed somewhere in the back of the neck of the animal.

 

Next specimen is also a Spinosaurid cervical vertebra. Though due to damage this one is harder to identify as Sigilmassasaurus. Again due to the shortness this seems to be a cervical vertebra from somewhere back in the neck. The dorsal spine though worn, seems to be not that big. So this might point towards it being Sigilmassasaurus as well. So seems fairly plausible if the seller says these belong to the same individual right?

 

Now here comes the problem. This third specimen is listed as belonging to the same individual. But this is clearly a cervical vertebra from a type of crocodile. Since it's nice and complete we can see which way is the front and which is back. The front of the centrum looks to be concave, while the back of the centrum here is convex. This is typical of some crocodiles. But on Spinosaurids it's the other way around, with the front of the centrum being convex and the back is concave. So with that this specimen casts doubt on the whole claim that some of these specimens belong to the same animal. Which is too bad 'cause the fossils seem pretty nice.

 

There were some other specimens as well. But these three were clearly identifiable.

 

[Troodon]

Yep that's definitely a crocish looking bone.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

Thank you! Very interesting and informative! 

[Spinosaurus]

thank you, i always was intreted in IDing spinosaurus fossils for my own collection.

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

I've learned a lot from this post ... I'm so grateful for you for sharing your knowledge with us! Thank you!