Is this metacarpal from Ursus arctos?

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  • #12676
    Lance Comfort
    Participant

    This metacarpal appears to be to large for for Black Bear (Ursus americanus) and thought it might be Brown Bear (Ursus arctos). Found on Myrtle Beach SC. I don’t believe it is large enough to be one of the giant bears. Help please….Lance

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    #12697

    Hey Lance @lance-comfort, we are at the GSA conference in Dallas at the moment and a bit packed, but will get back to you as soon as possible.

    best

    Ronny

    #13642
    Eleanor Gardner
    Moderator

    Lance hasn’t received input on this fossil yet.  @smoran, @dmitchell, @rnarducci – any ideas?  Thanks for any help you can provide!

    #13675
    Sean Moran
    Keymaster

    @lance-comfort This is another ID I’m going to struggle with. I can say with almost 100% certainty that it is a proximal phalanx, and not a metacarpal. That said, it take us into a similar vein of issues as the rib fragment…phalanges can also be tricky to identify. My first thought is that it sort of looks like it’s from an artiodactyl. A few more photos of other angles might help us to get closer, though!

    #13676
    Lance Comfort
    Participant

    Hi Sean.  Thanks for your response.  I had thought it was a Metatarsal based on the attached photo I found on the web that looked identical to my very untrained eye.  What angle of pictures will help you.  Thanks again….Lance

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    #13685
    Lance Comfort
    Participant

    Hi again Sean….after reading your response and looking on the web, artiodactyl proximal phalanx, I see what you mean.  I will try to take some better pictures today and post them later along with better measurements.  I greatly appreciate your help and knowledge.  Thanks…..Lance

    #13894
    Lance Comfort
    Participant

    @smoran    Here are some additional pictures of the proximal phalanx.  Let me know what you think..Thanks….Lance

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    #13899
    Lance Comfort
    Participant

    @smoran  A few more pics…

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    #14274
    Sean Moran
    Keymaster

    @lance-comfort  I think it’s going to be tricky to identify much further with the bone being sheared and worn. From what I’ve seen in the photos I’m still sticking with an artiodactyl proximal phalanx, but I’m my no mean convinced. It might help to go to our collections website database (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/vertpaleo-search) check the “Only results with images” box at the top, enter “Mammalia” into the Class field, and “phalanx” into the nature of specimen field (while also changing equals to contains in the drop down). That should give you some more images to compare to. I took a quick glance, but it’s hard to compare the images of your fossil without having the bone in my hand. Hope that helps!

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