Doctor Mud Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I found this bone in the same pile of processed limestone that I found the penguin humerus (See post on penguin flipper bone in this forum). The sediment is the Otekaike Limestone and is Late Oligocene. I had a very good look for the rest of the penguin humerus. No luck but I did find this interesting bone fragment. Possibly too fragmentary to identify - could it be cetacean (whale or dolphin)? Upon closer inspection I noticed several grooves and striations on the bone. My immediate interpretation was that these could be damage due to the lime processing. After carefully cleaning the bone I'm not so sure that these grooves are damage caused during mining. Some were still filled with hard limestone (so it most likely didn't cake on after mining). Could these be bite marks? The grooves in the image below certainly remind me of Carcharocles angustidens teeth (image on the right) which would have been swimming around in these waters at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AeroMike Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Those very well could be bite marks. I have a couple of pieces of bone with bite marks on them and yours looks like one of mine. " This comment brought to you by the semi-famous AeroMike" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfin1974 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 hmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Sure look like bite marks from a serrated tooth to me. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yup, correctly identified. Marine vertebrate bones from the Kokoamu-Otekaike sequence are frequently bioeroded and preserve a wide range of traces including shark and bony fish tooth marks, echinoid rasping marks, gastropod grazing traces, and others. I have a dissertation chapter on this topic, as it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yup, correctly identified. Marine vertebrate bones from the Kokoamu-Otekaike sequence are frequently bioeroded and preserve a wide range of traces including shark and bony fish tooth marks, echinoid rasping marks, gastropod grazing traces, and others. I have a dissertation chapter on this topic, as it happens. Thanks Bobby, Is this going to be published in a paper (or will it be)? I'd love to read this ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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