JBMugu Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 Here is a find that I have been wondering about, it's about 7". First glance it looks like a average rib bone. Thing is I have a lots rib bones but nothing like this. First interesting thing is the weight, it's heavy, at least twice as heavy as the average STH bone. Second it's not fragile, I dropped it on the tile ( by accident) and it bounced. Third is that it is very dense by the outer edges and is hollow in the middle. Any ideas? Thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMugu Posted January 12, 2019 Author Share Posted January 12, 2019 More pics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBMugu Posted January 12, 2019 Author Share Posted January 12, 2019 Ah I figured out how to crop pics on my phone! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 I do not see anything diagnostic left on this bone. Agree that it does not look like a rib. Maybe @Al Dente or @siteseer or @MarcoSr will know. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Hi JB, Sirenian ribs can be very dense and heavy. That looks like a piece of one. Sirenian fossils are very rare in the STH Bonebed. Bob Ernst found a nice tooth, a skull and some rib pieces. When collecting was allowed in the central Florida phosphate mines, you could find teeth plus the occasional skull or skeleton. Rib pieces were all over the place. Jess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrR Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I had heard that desmostylus teeth had been found at STH. I'm not sure if they are considered "Sirenian". Perhaps reading this UCSD study would be of interest, and answer such questions. The study mentions creatures of the California Miocene (Pg.97) . It's now on my reading list for this week (And my forgetting list of the following week.). Cheers. Dugong, Sirenian, Desmostylus, et. al. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 16 minutes ago, MrR said: I had heard that desmostylus teeth had been found at STH. I'm not sure if they are considered "Sirenian". Perhaps reading this UCSD study would be of interest, and answer such questions. The study mentions creatures of the California Miocene (Pg.97) . It's now on my reading list for this week (And my forgetting list of the following week.). Cheers. Dugong, Sirenian, Desmostylus, et. al. No, desmostylians are a separate order of mammals. Yes, Desmostylus teeth have been found there but they are quite rare. I collected the bonebed from 1993 to 2007 and found just one partial tooth of a Desmostylus and not one piece of a sirenian (sea cow - I think the STH form is still considered a species of Metaxytherium). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 (edited) The Sirenian ribs that I find in MD/VA are very dense and heavy. I don't see anything diagnostic in the pictures, so I can't comment any further. Edit: I should have stated that these ribs are always solid, not hollow like the specimen in the pictures. Marco Sr. Edited January 13, 2019 by MarcoSr add comment 1 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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