Vertebra with fused armor plate ID?

[Daze]

Saw this indet. vertebra with fused armor plate for sale and would like to know what it's from, is it crocodile or maybe turtle? Never seen anything like this before, is this common? 

 

Location: Kem Kem, Morocco 

Size: 7,5 cm (2.95")

 

 

[jdp]

this is the back end of a crocodile skull. Compare with this:

 

 

Basically the section between the points marked 11 and 13.

[Harry Pristis]

1 hour ago, Daze said:

... Never seen anything like this before, is this common? 

 

Basicranium -- one per customer.  Here's a pathological (serious bone infection) example from a 'gator.  You can see the armor-like dimpling on the dorsal view.

 

[Daze]

@jdp Wow never thought of that, thanks!

[digit]

5 minutes ago, Daze said:

Wow never thought of that, thanks!

You wouldn't till you've seen your share of crocodilian skulls (and fragments).

 

The pair of holes--the upper temporal (or supratemporal) fenestrae--at the top back of the skull, behind the eye orbits, and just in front and either side of the tiny brain box is a very distinctive feature of the crocodilian skull. The word "fenestra" is Latin for a small opening or window so that may help this nomenclature make sense.

 

It's such a distinctive anatomical feature of the top back of the crocodilian skull that it was enough to let me know that there was a gator skull hiding in all this matrix at the Montbrook site in Florida.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

 

[Daze]

@digit Impressive!  And thanks, that was very informative.

[digit]

Things like this are a mystery till you have some experience with them and then they are (hopefully) locked in so that you recognize them in the future.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[jpc]

darn... I knew the answer to this one and someone beat me to it.  Nice piece.