FredFossil Posted May 28, 2022 Share Posted May 28, 2022 Hello, I made a run the the North Sulphur River yesterday and there are a couple of finds that I’d like help identifying. The first looks like a coprolite to me but I’ve never ID’d one. Please confirm or deny. If it is one any ideas on what animal made it? It reminds me of a small dog poo. I’ve found this vertebrae but I don’t know what it belongs to. I doesn’t look like the mosasaur vertebrae I’ve found in the past. Can anyone help with this? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 (Patience, Fred...it is a holiday weekend.) Can you add a Reply of more photos of the bone (not in your hand). The other piece does look like a piece of coprolite. A look under a microscope for parts of other critters would confirm. Thanks. 1 The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredFossil Posted May 31, 2022 Author Share Posted May 31, 2022 Ha! Thanks for the reply. I thought I screwed something in my posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared C Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 Reminds me of a mosasaur neck vert with the processes broken off, I could be wrong though 2 “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossil_lover_2277 Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 (edited) It looks like a reptilian vertebra of some sort, but that’s not my area of expertise so take that with a grain of salt Edited May 31, 2022 by fossil_lover_2277 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted May 31, 2022 Share Posted May 31, 2022 (edited) The first item does vaguely remind of a coprolite. But since the exact style/mode of preservation of these differs per find location, and this one does not have a shape I clearly recognize, I'll just go with @JohnJ's experience with the area and say that that's probably indeed a coprolite. @GeschWhat may be able to confirm, although she hasn't been online for quite a while already... As to the second specimen: while this doesn't look like a vertebral body to me by far, it is part of a vertebra, namely the superstructure or spinous process of an anterior mosasaur vertebra, whether it be cervical or thoracic. (source) For comparison: Really cool find! Edited May 31, 2022 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon 1 2 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredFossil Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 Thanks everyone for the feedback and for the diagram. That’s really helpful. After comparing the fossil with the drawing, it looks like mine is the spinal process in the lumbar area with the top process broken off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted June 27, 2022 Share Posted June 27, 2022 Sorry chiming in late. I haven't been on for ages. I've been busy making sure coprolites don't form in the grandbabies diapers. I'm pretty sure that is a coprolite segment. I haven't been keeping up with the latest research, but it could be from a mosasaur. Adrian Hunt wrote an interesting paper on mosasaur coprolites from the Bearpaw Formation. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredFossil Posted June 28, 2022 Author Share Posted June 28, 2022 Thanks for the reply! I'll be reading the article tonight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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