Dromaeosaurid claw from oldman formation of Alberta?

[MedicineHat]

Me and my 7 year old boy went looking for fossils many times. We found a claw tip and a claw mid section from two separate expeditions in two different areas within the river valley a kilometer apart.

 

I believe we have a sickle claw tip from one hand of a dromaeosaur and a sickle claw mid section from the opposite hand.

 

I would appreciate any additional id that could be made from these photos.

[MedicineHat]

[MedicineHat]

I put the separate specimens together for fun to try to conceptualize what it might look like in a more complete form.

 

I'm curious if this is a common failure point for these claws as they may more commonly break at the weakest structural location...?

 

However, we are looking at 1" for the big peice and 1/4" for the tip. How much is missing I wonder? Perhaps 1/2" or more?

 

Perhaps @hxmendoza and @Troodon might be familiar?

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Already, congrats to both of you on finding that claw material It's well known among Albertan badlands prospectors that the Oldman Fm. is defs less fossiliferous than the DP Formation - and also that deinonychosaurian claw material is not very common there, either.

My guess is that the fossil in the last picture represents the (not sure whether pedal or manual) ungual of a small dromaeosaurid theropod (maybe Saurornitholestes?)

Hope this helped!

-Christian

[mburkett]

The bigger claw almost looks like a digit II-3 dromaeosaurid killing claw. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but does the bottom of the claw come down to a point, like a “V”?  The blood grooves look significantly offset from one another, which is another killing claw feature.

 

Here’s the bottom of a killing claw. See how it comes to a point? Hand claws tend to be more rounded on the bottom

[MedicineHat]

Yes it comes to a V. Hxmendoza figured the small tip fragment was digit 2 also. Blood grooves on both are offset and almost match perfectly, coincidentally, as they are opposite side killing claws.

 

Cool!

[MedicineHat]

5 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Already, congrats to both of you on finding that claw material It's well known among Albertan badlands prospectors that the Oldman Fm. is defs less fossiliferous than the DP Formation - and also that deinonychosaurian claw material is not very common there, either.

My guess is that the fossil in the last picture represents the (not sure whether pedal or manual) ungual of a small dromaeosaurid theropod (maybe Saurornitholestes?)

Hope this helped!

-Christian

I think it's oldman fm. The reason I'm not sure is that there is limited information on this locale. My location is close to medicine hat in the south Saskatchewan river valley. Best guess is oldman fm. Based on my research but I'm open to be corrected.

[mburkett]

34 minutes ago, MedicineHat said:

Yes it comes to a V. Hxmendoza figured the small tip fragment was digit 2 also. Blood grooves on both are offset and almost match perfectly, coincidentally, as they are opposite side killing claws.

 

Cool!

Great finds!  Congrats!  And I agree with the amateur paleontologist that they’re likely saurornitholestine, as dromaeosaurus killing claw blood grooves typically aren’t as offset

[MedicineHat]

4 hours ago, mburkett said:

The bigger claw almost looks like a digit II-3 dromaeosaurid killing claw. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but does the bottom of the claw come down to a point, like a “V”?  The blood grooves look significantly offset from one another, which is another killing claw feature.

 

Here’s the bottom of a killing claw. See how it comes to a point? Hand claws tend to be more rounded on the bottom

And that is a beautiful claw! 

[mburkett]

24 minutes ago, MedicineHat said:

And that is a beautiful claw! 

 

Thank you