This week I have a mysterious lump of bone for you to have a go at identifying:
Any idea what this might be? You can leave your thoughts below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
This week I have a mysterious lump of bone for you to have a go at identifying:
Any idea what this might be? You can leave your thoughts below and I’ll do my best to respond. Good luck!
Zygoma 
It looks like lots of things, but most like a br***c*** of something big that lives in the sea.
On the ball as usual!
temporal bone
.. and some 😉
I think it is a b_ _ _ _ c_ _ _.
Any idea what from?
Something beginning with M?
Bisected C_ _ _ _m? If its aquatic and large maybe of the family P..idae, that nodule bottom right seems reminscent.
I think you may have it. Possibly P.p?
I worked out the angle by comparing with one of my HNSP skulls. In the second picture, the sticky out bit at top left is the z.a., and the notch is where the either by the e. or where the l.m. hinges. which makes the right hand side the back, and the half-rounded thing is the ball at the side of the hole where the s. c. goes in.
It is too big to be a HNSP and it is a different shape, but I still think it is a m****l, so that leaves d*****n and p******e or w***e, but I think w***e would be too big so one of the other two.
Great reasoning Jake – you’ve pretty much got it!
What’s an HNSP skull Jake? (it sounds useful)
I think its from some form of c******n based mainly on its size. I doubt its a w***e unless its very small. It could be a juvenille, but its hard to tell (I’m not sure whether the sutures are separating because of weathering or youth). The bone looks like part of the cr****m. The top picture is the inside of the br*** c*** and the bottom shows the lateral view. The projection facing left looks to be the z******** p****** of the sq******* bone. The rest of the z******** ar** is missing. The caudal part of the bone (on the right) shows the right o******** c******, so I’m confident with identifying the structure. Less confident with the animal it belongs to.