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Matthew Gramling posted a new specimen in the group
Nebraska Badlands from the myFOSSIL app. 4 years, 6 months ago 4 years, 6 months ago4 years, 6 months agoMatthew Gramling has contributed specimen mFeM 60925 to myFOSSIL!
Matthew Gramling posted a new specimen in the group Nebraska Badlands from the myFOSSIL app. 4 years, 6 months ago
Matthew Gramling has contributed specimen mFeM 60925 to myFOSSIL!
Hi, @matthew-gramling, very cool! @smoran or @jeanette-pirlo might be able to confirm or deny that identification!
Hey @matthew-gramling I cant say for sure what species this is because the features I need to id it are too hard to see in these photos, but it is definitely Leptomeryx sp. and most likely Leptomeryx evansi.
It’s a beautiful specimen!
@smoran @samantha-ocon Thank you for the help in identification!
@smoran What kind of diagnostic features would you need from the specimen to confirm it is a Leptomeryx evansi? I have a friend who is a photographer who has offered to help me digitize my collection, so I can get some better shots of the specimen if that would help.
@matthew-gramling Hopefully my response shows up, because I’m not seeing your reply here for some reason. There is a small fold of enamel called the “Paleomeryx fold” on the lower molars that distinguishes L. evansi from the other species around in the late Eocene/early Oligocene. You can try googling it to see if you can find a photo or figure of it. It can be pretty difficult to see and harder to describe. The paper “Biostratigraphic and paleoclimatology of the Eocene-Oligocene boundary section at Toadstool Park, northwestern Nebraska, USA” by Zanazzi, Kohn, and Terry 2009 has a pretty good figure and photos that should help (if you’re able to access it). The fact the teeth look to be heavily covered in cementum and crenulated is also usually a pretty good, though not definitive, indication that it’s probably L. evansi, as is that you think it’s from the Orellan.
@smoran Thank you for the very informative reply! I will have to check out that paper and those photos. I discovered the specimen at a private ranch during a field season with the commercial paleontology group I collected with during my youth. Hopefully, I can get in touch with one of group leaders to confirm the ranch was definitively on Orellan strata.