Bones in coprolite

[dinosaur man]

This is from zephyrosaurus.  Here is a photo of it.

 

Thoughts ? 

[Abstraktum]

How would you ID a 2 cm bone fragment anyway?

[Bobby Rico]

On 06/08/2019 at 6:54 AM, Abstraktum said:

How would you ID a 2 cm bone fragment anyway?

I was wondering this too. I thought maybe you can tell the deference in bone between herbivores and carnivores and I suppose you know what critters are assigned to a location. Maybe the tiny piece has unmistakable features but it seams quite a feat with this small fragment  ?

[dinosaur man]

There’s a couple ways one if it’s of a bigger bone the other is carnivore bone fragments are thinner and lighter while herbivore bone fragments are thicker and heavier yeah and also once you’re done that you can checkout all the creatures from that area.

[Fossildude19]

16 hours ago, dinosaur man said:

So paulyb135 would you like to trade for your majungasaurus tooth for my zephyrosaurus fossil? If you still don’t want to trade sorry for bugging you again but so far I have had no luck on the forum or the internet here is a photo of it 

 

I have a hard time making this out as a piece of bone at all, no less being able to identify it down to genus or species.   

I think you need to be very careful of buying things like this, and make sure to do your homework on what things should look like. 

To me, this just looks like some sort of concretion.   

[TyBoy]

Just saw the fragment and unless it was found with larger skeletal remains not sure how anyone could ID it. In addition not sure it's yet been described from the Cloverly of Utah.

[dinosaur man]

I have other pieces too but in that photo it was hard too see because it was bright out but I know what you mean I found these bone fragments in a deinonychus coperlite I found out it was a deinonychus a year after I bought it it’s a small coperlite with pieces of bone in it and the smallest carnivores dinosaur from the formation it came from was a deinonychus an then I started to get the little bone fragments out of the coperlite and then did reaserch on thoes.

[dinosaur man]

And no it came from the cedar mountain formation 

[gigantoraptor]

2 minutes ago, dinosaur man said:

I have other pieces too but in that photo it was hard too see because it was bright out but I know what you mean I found these bone fragments in a deinonychus coperlite I found out it was a deinonychus a year after I bought it it’s a small coperlite with pieces of bone in it and the smallest carnivores dinosaur from the formation it came from was a deinonychus an then I started to get the little bone fragments out of the coperlite and then did reaserch on thoes.

I don't think this is a scientific method. Coprolites normally cannot be assigned to a specific genus. Just guessing the genus by the size of the coprolite is not the way it works. I also don't see bone in the picture you showed. Could you take a bit sharper photo please? Is it the coprolite of the bone you show?

[dinosaur man]

Ok I will

[JohnJ]

How...did you determine a coprolite was from a deinonychus?

[dinosaur man]

Here are some better photos of the other pieces these ones are still in the coperlite 

[gigantoraptor]

Just now, dinosaur man said:

Here are some better photos of the other pieces

 

Okay, this might indeed be pieces of bone. Not sure, though. But even if they are pieces of bone, I still don't see any method to determine this coprolite is from a Deinonychus or to determine these bones belonged to Zephyrosaurus. They are too small and don't seem to have any diagnostic features. If these are indeed pieces of bone in a coprolite it's very cool the way it is. 

[dinosaur man]

I found out there was bone in it so it came from a carnivore and It was a small coperlite and the smallest carnivores dinosaur from the cedar moutain formation is deinonychus that’s how I found out what it is from JohnJ

[Auspex]

2 minutes ago, dinosaur man said:

I found out there was bone in it so it came from a carnivore and I was a small coperlite and the smallest carnivores dinosaur from the cedar moutain formation is deinonychus...

That is quite a chain of speculation. In reality, all that might be possible to say is that it is a bone fragment from a small coprolite from the Cedar Mountain formation.
This does not detract from its coolness, but anything else is unscientific wishful thinking.

[Fossildude19]

The pictures look too blurry to me to identify anything as bone here. 

[JohnJ]

Just now, Fossildude19 said:

The pictures look too blurry to me to identify anything as bone here. 

 

Agreed.  Nothing in these photos can be definitively identified as bone.

[Troodon]

Just some background...the Cedar Mountain Formation is a very diverse fauna with lots of herbivores, theropods (big and small) along with many other meat eating reptiles (croc's).   To try to identify any fragment without diagnostic features is impossible.   Zephyrosaurus may have been described from the Mussentuchit member but I dont see it in Kirtlands latest 2018 poster.

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

6 hours ago, dinosaur man said:

I found out there was bone in it so it came from a carnivore and It was a small coperlite and the smallest carnivores dinosaur from the cedar moutain formation is deinonychus that’s how I found out what it is from JohnJ

Could it be a small coprolite from large animal. Nobody poops the same size each time. You should read this all the way through and Google the words that are new to you so that you can fully understand the process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method

[Randyw]

5 hours ago, Troodon said:

Just some background...the Cedar Mountain Formation is a very diverse fauna with lots of herbivores, theropods (big and small) along with many other meat eating reptiles (croc's).   To try to identify any fragment without diagnostic features is impossible.   Zephyrosaurus may have been described from the Mussentuchit member but I dont see it in Kirtlands latest 2018 poster.

That’s becuase the finds in Utah that were originally listed as Zephyrosarus were found out to be a ceratopsian when it was fully removed from the matrix. I didn’t post that info yesterday becuase I didn’t think his for sale post was the place for the discussion. but now that it’s got its own post I can. There are still only 2 locations known to have Zephyrosarus fossils and all specimens are in museum hands as far as I know.