Red Flags on Dinosaur Material

[Troodon]

The internet is full of improperly identified dinosaur material, not only on auction sites but from very trusted dealers.  Remind everyone that the best way to avoid being disappointed is do not assume what is written is accurate, educate yourself in what your interest are or post items here on the forum for feedback.   Most of the discrepancies I see are not intentional just lack of knowledge on the part of the seller/dealer or believing what the digger told him.

 

Lets start with the Hell Creek Formation- again Dromaeosaurus is not a species you find in this or the Lance formation, they are all over the web.  Dromaeosaurus come from an older deposits, Campanian.  Most all the teeth I see sold appear to be Nanotyrannus.   The only two Dromaeosaurid teeth in this age are Acheroraptor and Dakotaraptor.

A tiny example of what I currently see sold, these look like Nano teeth

 

This individual is selling a Troodon claw.  Troodon or now properly called Stenonychosaurus look nothing like this claw and I've provided images of what they should like.  This is a reptile claw.

 

The real deal foot claws

 

These vertebra are described from Dinosaur raptors.  They are from Crocks or other reptiles, definitely not dinosaur

 

Kem Kem material - I could fill up this site with all the improperly identified material.  Please post your interests here before you buy.  

 

Reminder we do not know what Rugops or Deltadromeus teeth look like and Rugops is not a species that is described from the Kem Kem deposits its known from Niger.  The same is true for Dromaeosaurus that species does not exist in the fauna.   Most believe a Dromaeosaurid like dinosaur exist but identifying its teeth is still uncertain.

 

Most of the teeth sold that look like this with the distal edge perpendicular to the base are Abelsaurid indet. not Dromaeosaurid or Rugops etc

 

 

I saw this tooth being sold, its a huge Carcharodontosaurus tooth 16cm.  Please use caution, the seller just talks about slight glue and dirt in some areas but to me there appears to be lots of work done on that crown.  Hard to tell whats going on but its more than slight glue and dirt.  Just be cautious there is more there than meets the eye and it can get very expensive.

 

 

[BadlandTraveller]

Hey Troodon I really appreciate you posting these here, its very informative and helps the less knowledgeable  collectors like myself avoid being scammed.

[FossilDAWG]

Now that's what I call an informative post!

 

Don

[Bobby Rico]

Great post and very helpful to forum members and visitors looking to buy dinosaurs material.

very informative