• Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 6 months ago

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    Hope the start of the school year has been as smooth as it could be, Molly! For those of us still here, we’re in Bruce and Jon’s vert paleo class Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9:30-11:30. Another time would likely work better for us, if you can make it work.

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  • Jacob Q. M. Polzin and Profile picture of Sean MoranSean Moran are now friends 3 years, 6 months ago

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  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 6 months ago

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    Hi @amber-monroe! I had to do some research on the geology around Whitmore Lake before replying. It looks like all of the rocks are Mississippian in age, so ~360-325 million years ago. The specimen certainly looks peculiar, but I don’t see any identifiable features to definitively say it’s fossil. That certainly doesn’t mean that it’s not, but I…[Read more]

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 6 months ago

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    Looks like you have a bovid tooth, @jacob-polzin! It can be pretty difficult to distinguish bison from cow, but primarily we look to see if there is a column (style on upper teeth, stylid on lowers) present and if so how strong it is. It looks like there’s a pretty strong style on this tooth, so I’d lean towards this being a fossil bison tooth, as…[Read more]

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 6 months ago

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    Hi @jack-parker-tyreman, I hate to walk this back a little bit, but I’m skeptical that this is fossil. Typically footprints are found in clayey environments that end up lithifying as shale (or, in some more uncommon incidences, sandy environments that lithify as sandstone). It’s hard to tell from the photo what exactly the rock type is, but it…[Read more]

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 6 months ago

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    Hi @ashley-winborne looks like you found an upper premolar (bottom of the photo) and a lower molar (top of the photo) of a bovid, either cow or bison. If you add some more views, particularly of the chewing surfaces of the tooth, I should be able to tell you which.

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Here’s a link to the artiodactyl volume: http://www.myfossil.org/files/file/scott-and-jepsen-1936_white-river-artiodactyla/

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    There are certainly some views that made me think that it is tortoise, but a few others had me leaning towards a mammalian long bone.

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Is there any named lithostratigraphic unit from this locality @antony-avrithis?

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    This one I’m struggling with @matthew-gramling. I’m just not seeing any diagnostic features in the photos that would allow me to narrow it down. If I were looking at it in person, I could probably hazard a guess, but I think it’s a little too fragmentary to say much of anything from the photos. Sorry about that!

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Hi @matthew-gramling, based on the size my best guess is that it is the distal humerus from a traguline (either Hypertragulus or Leptomeryx, though it could also be something like the small oreodont Miniochoerus gracilis). We can rule out any of the small carnivores as it lacks a entepicondylar foramen. I’m not around my comparative specimens now,…[Read more]

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Those should work. Thanks @thijs-verbeke!

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Unfortunately, I don’t have deep familiarity with marine mammals, particularly those from units I don’t know well. Perhaps @rboessenecker could lend a hand here?

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Thanks @antony-avrithis! It looks like the unit is unnamed so I put that in the lithostratigraphy for clarification.

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Same with this one @gwen-kilian! Missed these comments. I think the safest thing we can do here is put a ? after Yorktown and in the notes indicate it’s possible it had originated from an unnamed Pleistocene unit. Thanks!

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Sorry this took me so long to reply to @gwen-kilian! I guess it got lost in the shuffle with all the specimens uploaded. If you tag us @username, it makes it easier for us to find these comments. It’s hard to say for sure if it’s Nothrotheriops or Paramylodon since it’s a vertebra, which can be notoriously difficult to distinguish taxonomically…[Read more]

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    @thijs-verbeke the one photo is just a little blurry. Because we only have the photos to confirm the occurrence data for these specimens, we just need photos that absolutely confirm the ID in the associated data. Thanks!

  • Sean Moran posted a new activity comment 3 years, 7 months ago

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    Hi @jim-barkley. Just wanted to clarify the location so we can ensure it’s accurate before marking this as research grade. It looks to me , based on the location of Antelope Springs, that the site would be 69 miles north, not west, of Delta. Is that correct?

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