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Skull fragment ?


rebu

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20190114_120036.thumb.jpg.ba105c548eb33329fb2897abb1c1f259.jpgHi everyone, I was given this fragment of a bone by my friend which he got from Morocco. He was told that it is part of a skull from spinosaurus but I am sceptical about it. I don't have any experience in identifying fossils but done some research on the net and it looks to me like a part of a skull from crocodile. Like I said I am a newbie so it might be something completely different. Can anyone help me,  is it even possible from these photos?

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I do not know what kind of bone this is, but I can give you more location information on the piece (if you don't have it yet). 

The piece is from the Kem Kem beds (based on the color and preservation). It's either from the Aoufous (upper part) or the Ifezouane (lower part) formation. 

The Kem Kem beds are from the Cenomanian (Early Late Cretaceous) between 100.5 and 93.9 years old. 

The fossil was found in the Kem Kem Beds - a geological formation along the border between Morocco and Algeria in southeastern Morocco, that dates back to the Late Cretaceous period

Good luck with finding the answers on your question.

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7 minutes ago, gigantoraptor said:

I do not know what kind of bone this is, but I can give you more location information on the piece (if you don't have it yet). 

The piece is from the Kem Kem beds (based on the color and preservation). It's either from the Aoufous (upper part) or the Ifezouane (lower part) formation. 

The Kem Kem beds are from the Cenomanian (Early Late Cretaceous) between 100.5 and 93.9 years old. 

The fossil was found in the Kem Kem Beds - a geological formation along the border between Morocco and Algeria in southeastern Morocco, that dates back to the Late Cretaceous period

Good luck with finding the answers on your question.

Thank you gigantoraptor for the info. It makes sense he did mention this location to me a couple of times, lots of stuff in his collection is from Kem Kem beds. Thanks for help, very informative and interesting. Must visit Morocco soon :)

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It's not Spinosaur. Spinosaurs have smooth snouts.

 

But this is definitely part of the snout of a big reptile. Croc does seem highly likely due to the pitting on the outer surface. Especially the first and last photos are quite informative. The first shows us the pitting structure on the outside that tells us it's likely from the skull of a big croc. And the last photo shows us the suture on the inside of the skull where this bone attached to the next bone. The suture is the ribbed structure with all the lines going through in the last photo. That suture likely runs along the midline of the the snout. So that gives us a rough width of the snout since part of the outer edge is also visible.

There is a little indent on the side on the outside of the snout piece. With this we might even be able to place the fragment in the skull. There's one particularly large and also common crocodile in the Kem Kem beds. Elosuchus. And as it happens it has quite a narrow snout that matches this fragment. Specifically near the very tip of the snout just behind the bulbous end looks quite similar.

 

So to make a long story short, I think this is likely a fragment of the snout tip of a large Elosuchus.

DRqijYIV4AA1iHx.jpg.9a153e72ca59625f7b72a3f28ff3c076.jpg

 

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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1 minute ago, LordTrilobite said:

It's not Spinosaur. Spinosaurs have smooth snouts.

 

But this is definitely part of the snout of a big reptile. Croc does seem highly likely due to the pitting on the outer surface. Especially the first and last photos are quite informative. The first shows us the pitting structure on the outside that tells us it's likely from the skull of a big croc. And the last photo shows us the suture on the inside of the skull where this bone attached to the next bone. The suture is the ribbed structure with all the lines going through in the last photo. That suture likely runs along the midline of the the snout. So that gives us a rough width of the snout since part of the outer edge is also visible.

There is a little indent on the side on the outside of the snout piece. With this we might even be able to place the fragment in the skull. There's one particularly large and also common crocodile in the Kem Kem beds. Elosuchus. And as it happens it has quite a narrow snout that matches this fragment. Specifically near the very tip of the snout just behind the bulbous end looks quite similar.

 

So to make a long story short, I think this is likely a fragment of the snout tip of a large Elosuchus.

DRqijYIV4AA1iHx.jpg.9a153e72ca59625f7b72a3f28ff3c076.jpg

 

Thank you Sir for the precise and fast analysis :1-SlapHands_zpsbb015b76: !

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Nice piece! :)

Kem Kem for sure and I also think crocodile is the most likely candidate. 

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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32 minutes ago, LordTrilobite said:

It's not Spinosaur. Spinosaurs have smooth snouts.

 

But this is definitely part of the snout of a big reptile. Croc does seem highly likely due to the pitting on the outer surface. Especially the first and last photos are quite informative. The first shows us the pitting structure on the outside that tells us it's likely from the skull of a big croc. And the last photo shows us the suture on the inside of the skull where this bone attached to the next bone. The suture is the ribbed structure with all the lines going through in the last photo. That suture likely runs along the midline of the the snout. So that gives us a rough width of the snout since part of the outer edge is also visible.

There is a little indent on the side on the outside of the snout piece. With this we might even be able to place the fragment in the skull. There's one particularly large and also common crocodile in the Kem Kem beds. Elosuchus. And as it happens it has quite a narrow snout that matches this fragment. Specifically near the very tip of the snout just behind the bulbous end looks quite similar.

 

So to make a long story short, I think this is likely a fragment of the snout tip of a large Elosuchus.

DRqijYIV4AA1iHx.jpg.9a153e72ca59625f7b72a3f28ff3c076.jpg

 

Wow, that's all I can say. Thank you so much for your info. It's amazing what you can get from small fragment like this if you have the knowledge and experience. I agree with all you said, it makes sense. On the third photo you can see two indents, small on the left and bigger one about 2,5cm diameter on the right. What is that? Not sure if you can see it, maybe I should take a better photo. But anyway thank you again I think I joined the right forum :dinothumb:

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Those two endents might be part of the tooth sockets where the roots would sit.

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Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite

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Very late to the party of identification as in Morocco currently funny enough but I agree whole heartedly with It's a analysis.

 

Thanks Matt

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