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Hi @danielle-brennan — thanks for posting in this forum. Perhaps @rboessenecker or @lcone could give you a hand with this ID. What do you think, guys?
Well it’s procoelous (or possibly amphicoelous) so the most likely options are mosasaur or crocodilian. I have a hunch it’s the former, but I’m not a reptile guy!
Thank you for your assistance, @rboessenecker. It can’t be mosasaur. I dug it out of a shelf that is middle Eocene. It is part of the Lisbon Tallahatta layer. Any idea of the crocodilian?
Yeah thanks, the age information is pertinent for those of us unfamiliar with local stratigraphy. Again, I’m not a reptile guy, but you should look into comparisons with sea turtles as well. Don’t know anything about Eocene crocs.
Thanks for all your help, Bobby (@rboessenecker)! It is greatly appreciated.
Hey @vperez – Do you know of anyone in the myFOSSIL community who is familiar with Eocene crocs?
I have had quite a few people look at it and besides mosasaur, which is the first always suggested, they keep telling me a HUGE croc of some sort. Do you have anyone, I could contact who specializes in crocodilians?
Eleanor,
I was trying to piece other parts I had to it together last night and I had to matches. After I put them together, I can attach updated pictures. Thank you for all of your help with this.
Danielle
Victor Perez just stopped by my office and said that he forwarded your pictures to Alex Hastings at the Virginia Museum of Natural History and to Dana Ehret at the Alabama Museum of Natural History. They both study reptiles, so hopefully one will have an answer for you soon, @danielle-brennan.
Hi Danielle- Congrats on such a nice find. My guess, like others, was mosasaur, because of the size. It would be a huge crock, if that is in fact what it was from. I wish that I could be more help, but I anticipate a final answer to your specimen. Too cool.
Very cool find! I had a feeling it was crocodylian, but I wasn’t certain what kind. So I shared your post with a couple colleagues and here is what they had to say.
Dana Ehret (Curator at the Alabama Museum of Natural History)
“That’s what it is… Alex would def have more input than I… The Alabama Museum sure would like something that nice ;)”
Alex Hastings (Curator at the Virginia Museum of Natural History that specializes in crocodylians):
“That is a gorgeous cervical vertebra of a nearly adult crocodylian (somewhere between position 3 & 6). Neurocentral suture closure has begun, which for a neck vertebra means growth had almost reached its peak. It’s procoelus, so that does narrow it down a little bit. If I had to pick one thing, I’d guess Eosuchus, but it’s not a lot to go on. As Dana says, fossils like that are pretty rare for Alabama, at least reported ones. Hope this helps!
Best,
Victor
To All who have helped me in identifying the vertebra, I appreciate all of the research, comments and connections. I tried to send a thank you note earlier in the week and for some unknown reason it would not allow me to post. My husband and I will definitely consider donating the vertebra to the Alabama Museum and if we find anything further along these lines, I will be sure to post. I have several other reptile verts from Point A Dam. They are much smaller and most likely snake. If you have anyone good with identifying them, I will be more than happy to post them. Do I need to send in any documentation beyond posting here showing what I found, that way it can be properly documented? I feel it is very important that this is documented as being in Alabama, if it has never been identified there before. Thank you again for everyone’s joint effort!
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