Trip to the North Sulphur River - Turtle Plastron?

[rcranch]

My first post, so hopefully I can figure out how to post some photos of this find.  I have been going out to the NSR some and have found the usual bone fragments, vertebrae, etc. but this was something unique for me.  Thought I would post it to see if I am correct on the identification.  From what I have learned this is probably a large piece of turtle plastron.  It is about 1 inch thick, so I assume this was a big turtle?  Has a unique pattern to the surface and the other side has what appears to be large scrape marks?  Now that I have got started posting on the forum, I hope to continue sharing some of my finds.  Thanks for any input.  Tommy

 

 

[JarrodB]

Welcome to the forum. You are correct on the ID and it does have some cool scavenging marks most likely from shark. Nice find. Here's one I found last year in that area.

 

[rcranch]

Thanks for the reply, appears these could have come from the same size turtle.  I assume these come from the belly portion of the turtle?  My piece is pretty flat with no curvature.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice find! 

It could well be a piece of the plastron (belly) , I think. 

[Al Dente]

The shape is right for turtle but the broken edge doesn’t look right for turtle plastron or carapace. It looks too solid. Usually turtle shell has a lot of large holes in cross section.

[JarrodB]

@Foshunter check out this large piece of turtle similar to yours. 

[-AnThOnY-]

45 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

The shape is right for turtle but the broken edge doesn’t look right for turtle plastron or carapace. It looks too solid. Usually turtle shell has a lot of large holes in cross section.

I wonder if it depends on the genus or some other factor? I have plenty of turtle shell that's pretty solid like what is shown. But I have also seen some pieces that look like they have ~pea sized 'pores' in them. Hmm.

[rcranch]

Thanks for all the input.  I now realize that the carapace is the top portion of the shell and the plastron is the bottom.  I am slowly picking up on the technical side of this and this was my first experience with a turtle.  I have attached a close-up of the side view that I believe does show some holes, some of the sides are more weathered than others.  I probably could have cleaned it a little bit more also?   See if this looks better for turtle fossil. 

[Al Dente]

16 minutes ago, rcranch said:

 See if this looks better for turtle fossil. 

That looks better. I think it is turtle.

[JarrodB]

49 minutes ago, rcranch said:

Thanks for all the input.  I now realize that the carapace is the top portion of the shell and the plastron is the bottom.  I am slowly picking up on the technical side of this and this was my first experience with a turtle.  I have attached a close-up of the side view that I believe does show some holes, some of the sides are more weathered than others.  I probably could have cleaned it a little bit more also?   See if this looks better for turtle fossil. 

 

Turtle. That's a nice piece for NSR. 

[JarrodB]

50 minutes ago, rcranch said:

Thanks for all the input.  I now realize that the carapace is the top portion of the shell and the plastron is the bottom.  I am slowly picking up on the technical side of this and this was my first experience with a turtle.  I have attached a close-up of the side view that I believe does show some holes, some of the sides are more weathered than others.  I probably could have cleaned it a little bit more also?   See if this looks better for turtle fossil. 

 

Carapace pieces are a little more hard to find at NSR. Here's one from my last trip. They are thinner and seem to be more broken up. 

[rcranch]

I was curious about the carapace, now that I know it is the top portion of the shell.  I need to go through my unidentified bone fragment pile and see if I have something that looks like this, I think that I do? 

[rcranch]

Here are a few smaller fragments that might qualify for the carapace.  They all appear to be bone, versus petrified wood, and are thin.   The biggest piece is about 2" X 3".  

 

[KimTexan]

2 hours ago, rcranch said:

Thanks for all the input.  I now realize that the carapace is the top portion of the shell and the plastron is the bottom.  I am slowly picking up on the technical side of this and this was my first experience with a turtle.  I have attached a close-up of the side view that I believe does show some holes, some of the sides are more weathered than others.  I probably could have cleaned it a little bit more also?   See if this looks better for turtle fossil. 

The first few shots were hard to tell, but this shot is very helpful. It is a lovely piece of shell. The coloring is very nice. Most of what you see from out there is solid brown or black. Very cool find.

[JarrodB]

2 hours ago, rcranch said:

Here are a few smaller fragments that might qualify for the carapace.  They all appear to be bone, versus petrified wood, and are thin.   The biggest piece is about 2" X 3".  

 

That all looks like turtle to me. You have some nice finds. 

 

 

[rcranch]

Appreciate everyone's comments and assistance.  Now I am all pumped up to get back out there, lot's of rain forecast this week!  

[rcranch]

Since it is flooding at the NSR and there will be no hunting for a few days or weeks, I decided to dig into my unidentified bone pile.  I need to acquire some books that will help me identify these more unique pieces but based on my notes, these 3 pieces were found near the turtle plastron shown above.  Could these be from a turtle or are they from something entirely different?  I know that much of the material found at the NSR come from the Mosasaurs but these were completely different than anything else I have found.  Thanks

 

 

   

[believerjoe]

On 2/23/2018 at 4:00 PM, rcranch said:

Since it is flooding at the NSR and there will be no hunting for a few days or weeks, I decided to dig into my unidentified bone pile.  I need to acquire some books that will help me identify these more unique pieces but based on my notes, these 3 pieces were found near the turtle plastron shown above.  Could these be from a turtle or are they from something entirely different?  I know that much of the material found at the NSR come from the Mosasaurs but these were completely different than anything else I have found.  Thanks

 

 

   

These are mosasaur.  

[rcranch]

Thanks, appreciate the help with the identification.  There is much to learn.  I did find a copy of the book, "Fossil Collector's Guidebook to the NSR", this should help.  

Edited March 13, 2018 by rcranch

[believerjoe]

Will help a little.  Check out mosasaur scapula and then other paddle assembly bones.  The one on the right could be something else.  Need more pics.  

[rcranch]

Thanks, appears and the first and second one are for sure the scapula.  The third one may be the same but has just had more wear and tear.  I attached a couple more pics showing different views.  

 

 

[TNCollector]

I like the bite marks on it. It tells a story. I have a plastron from the Oligocene that also has scrapes from shark scavenging.