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please name this vertebra from the Sulphur River, ne tx


John S.

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Found this morning, looks flat on both ends. thanks

Ozan Formation, late cretaceous

3 miles East of Ladonia

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North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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Nice vertebra. You had better luck than I did this morning/afternoon on the Sulphur River. I started just west of 68 and ended the day at the fossil park. Guess I should have gone East and not West. :)

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Thanks did pretty good out east I'll post pics Tom. The further west I went I saw more and more footprints..

North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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Looks cretaceous age. Turtle?

Looks reptilian.

I would continue to investigate turtle vertebrae. Nice find.

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Thanks I was hoping plesiosaur. Still looking for my first..

North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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It's the really pronounced heart-shape of the centrum that's throwing me off. Maybe I've just been seeing poorly preserved examples, but I'm not finding any photos of Cretaceous marine reptile verts that look like that.

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Not Plesiosaur...Plesiosaurs verts are short and stumpy. This is fairly long. Although plesiosaurs do have flat vertical front and back edges like this one, but so do mammals. Croc verts have a ball and socket front and back edges, notflat. Although there is a group of crocs that do have the flat ends. I think they might be extinct by NSR time. One of you local Texans can correct me on that, if need be. It has a certain reptilian look... small dinosaur was my initial guess. But then the oval heart shaped ends do suggest mammal. In which case it is waaaaaay too big to be Cretaceous; probably Pleistocene. Do NSR Pleistocene fossils come in such a shiny black color?

I keep looking at it and thinking croc.

Edited by jpc
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Looks mammal. Mammals living during the late Cretaceous were tiny. If found in river sand bar desposits its origin and age would be difficult to determine.

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Thanks I was hoping plesiosaur. Still looking for my first..

You and me both buddy lol. I can't seem to find one.

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It is a very interesting find, John. Is the Cretaceous matrix impregnated and attached to it like you see on mosasaur material?

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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It does appear to have the typical matrix found with the cretaceous finds.

  • I found this Informative 1

North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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If it is Cretaceous, it could be dinosaur.

  • I found this Informative 1

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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If the matrix agrees with the Cretaceous, then I would vote dinosaur. I just went to see some of my dinsoaur verts in the basement,and yes, I am going to call this a dinosaur vert. I have small triceratops caudals that have the same shape to the ends. But this has too much of the 'sticky out bits' on it to be a small (end of tail) bone from a large dinosaur. I am going to guess dorsal to a small ornithopod... thescelosaur type thing. This is only a guess, albeit semi-educated.

Nice find.

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Wow great info thanks! I'll try not to get my hopes up yet but this is really cool. Would this be a very rare find for the sulphur river?

North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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If this is NSR dinosaur, it's RARE. To my knowledge, only 3 pieces of dinosaur material have been reported from the North Sulphur. There were 2 unidentifiable pieces reported & photographed in the Dallas Paleo book on the NSR, and I've heard of a hadrosaurid tooth battery section being found there. You might want to take that to the Perot Museum or similar & have them look at it.

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Wow that's awesome, I've emailed a few experts but I'll have to take it in thanks.

North Central Texas

Eagle Ford Group / Ozan Formation

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The black coloration is what's got me curious... I see the same color in fossil bones of terrestrial animals that have been exposed to salt water for a long period of time. Pleistocene stuff from the NSR shouldn't have that color, I would think. A lot of fish stuff I've seen from the NSR has the color, as well as some turtle material. I haven't seen any mosasaur/plesiosaur fossils from there of that color, that I can recall.

Edited by DinoMike
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