Large Rhaetian bone fragment from Aust Cliff

[Pleuromya]

Hello,

I've had a bit of difficulty getting a possibility of what this bone could have come from. It seems far too large to be from Pachystropheus rhaeticus so could Plesiosaur or Ichthyosaur be a possibility?

The bone is broken off around the back.

 

There's quite a lot of other things aside from the bone, which I think some of include a small tooth from Birgeria acuminatus as well as one from Lissodus minimus and a scale which looks like those of Gyrolepis albertii. 

 

Thank you 

[Welsh Wizard]

Hi @Pleuromya. Always tough to tell with broken bones but it looks like a partial plesiosaur vertebrae.

 

What’s Aust like these days. Not been there for a while.

 

Thanks

[Pleuromya]

11 minutes ago, Welsh Wizard said:

Hi @Pleuromya. Always tough to tell with broken bones but it looks like a partial plesiosaur vertebrae.

 

What’s Aust like these days. Not been there for a while.

 

Thanks

Thank you. Unfortunately I haven't visited for about a year, however last time I visited, I found more pieces of the bone bed than I could possibly carry. 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Pleuromya

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

I agree with Nick that it's hard to say what this piece of bone could be from. The shape suggests this is it likely to be an ichthyosaur vertebra or podial, but rather looks like maybe indeed a plesiosaur vertebra, or maybe part of a plesiosaur propodial (proximal end). Hard to get a proper impression of the specimen's three-dimensional shape... A short video might be informative in this respect.

[Pleuromya]

Just now, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

I agree with Nick that it's hard to say what this piece of bone could be from. The shape suggests this is it likely to be an ichthyosaur vertebra or podial, but rather looks like maybe indeed a plesiosaur vertebra, or maybe part of a plesiosaur propodial (proximal end). Hard to get a proper impression of the specimen's three-dimensional shape... A short video might be informative in this respect.

Thank you. Hopefully this video is okay. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

24 minutes ago, Pleuromya said:

Thank you. Hopefully this video is okay. 

 

That's great, thanks! Yeah, it does look most like a plesiosaur vertebra to me as well, looking at this. I mean, it looks like the specimen is a bit depressed/constricted in the middle, which is something you would expect from a vertebra, but not from a propodial.

[Pleuromya]

2 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

That's great, thanks! Yeah, it does look most like a plesiosaur vertebra to me as well, looking at this. I mean, it looks like the specimen is a bit depressed/constricted in the middle, which is something you would expect from a vertebra, but not from a propodial.

Thank you very much.