Arizona Bone Fossil

[pok8herc]

I have what appears to be a fossilized bone found in the Arizona desert. I'm trying to identify what kind of bone and what animal it may have belonged to. Can anyone help with any ideas, or how to find out?

 

[Jason in Enid]

My amateur eye says its a phalange (finger/toe bone) but it has some crystal contamination. As for the animal it came from, that would take a skilled paleontologist familiar with the vertebrates in your area.

 

[pok8herc]

I was thinking it may be a phalange myself. All I know about the fossil is that it is from the Tucson area. I don't know much about fossils so this is all new to me. This is a project I have taken under my wing to get as much information as possible. Do you have any suggestions on how to track down and find a skilled paleontologist that would be able to help?

 

[Jason in Enid]

best bet would be to find a natural history museum with a paleontology dept, or one of the bigger universities you have.

 

[pok8herc]

Sounds good. Thank you. I will have to look into it. I've been trying to do some research on it to get a general idea, there is a possibility this fossil came from the St. Johns - Arizona area. There seems to be a good amount of fossils of Placerias - a Dicynodont, roughly pig to ox sized animal found in the area. The person I got this from is from the St. Johns area. I'll look into some of the university and history museums to see if they can help identify.