Mosasaur? Dinosaur? Croc? East of Waco find.

[Lone_Wolf]

Found this in a creek on my dad's land while arrow head hunting. Place is located east of Waco. Please help identify.

 

 

  

[ynot]

Welcome to TFF!

We will need other views and a scale for this one.

[Carl]

I'm seeing mosasaur, but more pictures would be nice.

[Troodon]

Agreed looking like Mosasaur

[Lone_Wolf]

I’ll post better pics of different angles this evening. When you say “scale” are you talking about mass/weight? I have a certified scale at home, it’s pretty heavy. Or are you talking about measurement?

[Lone_Wolf]

The fossil is heavy, not the scale.

[Fossildude19]

Measurement.  Ruler, tape measure, or yard/meter stick are best.

Everyone has different sized hands, so they don't make a good comparison.  

[Carl]

We are looking for the measurement. You can include a ruler in the photo.

[LordTrilobite]

And photos from straight angles are best to get a good idea of the shape.

[Lone_Wolf]

Gotcha. I’ll get it posted up this evening thanks.

[KimTexan]

Very cool find. I didn’t realize they were found in that region. 

I believe it looks mososaurish as well. Cretaceous reptiles can have one of two types of vertebra. One both sides of the vertebra are concave. Plesiosaurs are like the first being convex on both sides. The other type is concave in the front and convex in the back. Mosasaurs are the 2nd type mentioned I believe.

 

Just a little info on how to identify what family of animals a vertebra comes from. 

This below is a brief outline of how vertebra differ between animal families. It is a general rule. There are some exceptions. I’ve gone back to the URL many times when trying to identify something. I get salamanders and reptiles confused since they are opposite of each other.

• Amphicelous
  • concave at both ends
  • most fish, a few salamanders (Necturus), & caecilia
• Opisthocoelous
  • convex in front & concave in back
  • most salamanders
• Procelous
  • concave in front & convex in back
  • anurans & present-day reptiles
• Acelous
  • flat-ended
  • mammals
• Heterocelous
  • saddle-shaped centrum at both ends
  • birds

The above is taken from this URL: 

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/342notes2.htm

 

 

It is always helpful to know the formation it was found in.

This is a link to the geological survey map for Texas. It is usually pretty close to accurate, but when in waterways it shouldn’t be relied upon.

https://txpub.usgs.gov/DSS/texasgeology/

This is a snapshot from the area you mentioned. If you go to the link above you can zoom in on the location and click on it and the the Identify tab and it will help with the determination of the formation. Each color represents a different formation. I think there are about 8 or so formations West of Waco.

[Lone_Wolf]

Pic

Edited April 16, 2018 by Lone_Wolf
Too big

[Lone_Wolf]

4 hours ago, Lone_Wolf said:

Gotcha. I’ll get it posted up this evening thanks.

 

[Lone_Wolf]

Well it’s says I can only upload 3.95 mg

[Lone_Wolf]

Thanks for the info. This was found about 22 miles east of Waco in Hill County. Black Land Prairie. 

[Fossildude19]

There is a 4 mb limit per post. 

If you refresh your browser, you should be able to put another picture in a new post.  

 

[Lone_Wolf]

[Lone_Wolf]

Cool, thanks for the info. Posting from a phone.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice Mosasaur vert! 

Welcome to the Forum from Morocco! 

[bone2stone]

1 hour ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Nice Mosasaur vert! 

Welcome to the Forum from Morocco! 

I agree, Mosasaur.

From another Texan in Dallas Co.

East of Waco.... that has to be a very narrow exposure.

I know the area fairly well from Hillsboro, Waco down through Temple.

Lots of exposures but most are rather tight/thin or small.

The small exposures are sometimes your best bet because they get passed by, because they are small.

Get back out there, may be more.

 

[Lone_Wolf]

Yup going to have to do some more looking. The soil is black land, but in the creek there are areas of yellow clay and this back clay like material that is brittle.

[Lone_Wolf]

A lot of the creek is silted in from the rich farmland soil.