This piece has a very special position within our dinosaur bones collection. It is the metatarsal of the toe of a theropod dinosaur very probably related to the Dromaeosauridae family. This piece is extremely rare and unique. It is worth of study, comparison with literature and publication. It is nicely preserved, only has glued fracture. It is almost full, from its proximal part until the distal epiphysis. We have uploaded a picture with an anatomical reconstruction, indicating in orange the position of the phalanx and metatarsal bones.
The exact taxonomic classification is complex given that there are very few published studies that refer to the rests of the Dromaeosauridae family in the North African Upper Cretaceous. However, the morphology of this bone corresponds with some type of medium-sized raptor, related to the Dromaeosauridae family. Still nowadays the Dromaeosauridae family has not been officially described in the dinosaur assemblage of the Upper Cretaceous of this sector. However, it is known that both the Abelisauridae and the Dromaeosauridae are present there. Most of the teeth rests are isolated, and rarely we can see a claw like the one we are displaying here. In the following link you could find an article that deals with the study of a population of isolated teeth that come from this sector. They do a morphometric study of the pieces and compare them with other teeth previously described in the literature. They are able to identify three different morphotypes with a serrated edge: Carcharodontosaurid, Dromaeosaurid and Abelisaurid. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-012-0153-1
The rarity of discovering a specimen such amazing as this one, makes it worth considering it in the investment class.
The bone rests from the sites in the south of Morocco are very scarce and valuable because of many reasons. One of them is the very same nature of the geological formation that contains them. The sediments were formed in delta and fluvial environments, where the transportation energy was relatively high. Because of this, any possibility of finding articulated rests is very rare, since the rests of dead animals where transported and deteriorated. That is why only the most robust bones or the most stable parts are usually preserved. Another reason for the lack of complete dinosaur bones in this region is the destructive methodology normally employed by the local miners in their excavations, which in the search of teeth, usually destroy many interesting bone rests.
Still nowadays the Dromaeosauridae family has not been officially described in the dinosaur assemblage of the Upper Cretaceous of this sector. However, it is known that both the Abelisauridae and the Dromaeosauridae are present there. Most of the teeth rests are isolated, and rarely we can see a claw like the one we are displaying here. In the following link you could find an article that deals with the study of a population of isolated teeth that come from this sector. They do a morphometric study of the pieces and compare them with other teeth previously described in the literature. They are able to identify three different morphotypes with a serrated edge: Carcharodontosaurid, Dromaeosaurid and Abelisaurid.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-012-0153-1
It is common to find sellers that offer raptor claws at relatively low prices. However, we must be very careful because many of those claws do not belong to a dinosaur, but to a reptile such as a crocodile or a turtle, which were very common in this quarries. This piece belongs with absolute certainty to a great raptor, very likely of the Dromaeosauridae family.
The rarity of discovering a specimen such amazing as this one, makes it worth considering it in the investment class.
The different Geological Formations that make up the orography of the Cretaceous in the South East of Morocco have been mostly treated in an undifferentiated and not too accurate way by collectors, by Paleontology aficionados and by fossil dealers.
Historically, fossils dealers from all around the world have identified the dinosaur pieces from this sector as belonging to the Tegana Formation. However, in a formal way, most of the last published studies refer to other nomenclature in the description of the units and formations of the Lower and Upper Cretaceous.
That's why next we include an interesting link where the Aoufous Formation and the Ifezouane Formation are described, making reference to their age, geological history, sedimentology, stratigraphy and vertebrate assemblage. It includes a brief explanation of the stratigraphic concepts that have been established formally until today in the studies of this sector of Morocco.
This way, the precise stratigraphic understanding of the origin of the rests, as well as the sedimentological analysis, enables a better paleoecologic characterization of the environments where this amazing dinosaur assemblage lived.
Link: Aoufous Formation
