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Dpaul7

Merycoidodontoidea (Oreodont) Fossil Jaw Bone with Teeth
 
SITE LOCATION: Badlands of South Dakota, USA
TIME PERIOD: Eocene age (40-53 million years ago)
Data: Weight: .9 Ounces, Dimensions: 1.9 Inches Long & 1.2 Inches Wide. Merycoidodontoidea, sometimes called "oreodonts," or "ruminating hogs", is an extinct superfamily of prehistoric cud-chewing artiodactyls with short faces and fang-like canine teeth. As their name implies, some of the better known forms were generally hog-like, and the group was once thought to be a member of Suina, the pigs, peccaries and their ancestors, though recent work indicates they were more closely related to camels. Oreodonts are extinct Artiodactylids most closely related to camels and pigs, with no close relatives living today. All are herbivorous, browsing on a diet of leaves and young shoots. Oreodonts fed on different types of vegetation than many modern artiodactyls do and therefore occupied an ecologically different niche than many living ungulates. Found only in North America, oreodonts would eventually rival the large and diverse extant populations of modern bovid artiodactyls in Africa (antelopes, wildebeest, and buffalo) or the equally diverse populations of deer and goats of Asia.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: †Merycoidodontidae

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MY FOSSIL Collection - Dpaul7

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Miocene_Mason

Posted

I’d guess merycoidodon (most likely Culbertsoni) on the bottom jaw.

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Interesting!  Why do you say that?  I really have no idea... but would like to learn a bit!

 

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Miocene_Mason

Posted

11 hours ago, Dpaul7 said:

Interesting!  Why do you say that?  I really have no idea... but would like to learn a bit!

 

Tooth shape and structure, this denotes merycoidodon (which is more common than most other Oreodonts). The concave shape suggest lower (top jaw on these is convex). Size and statistics support Culbertsoni (they seem to be common from what I see on the market, went through the same thing with my little section which is top jaw but similar in all other respects. I got other people on the forum to help me with that one)

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Wonderful!  And many thanks!  I am happy to know more about this fossil!  I am waiting for Spring - so I can go fossil hunting here! I've been rounding up sites to look!

I did find a great bok to help re learn (and re-learn) more about fossils!  And I am enjoying it a lot!

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Also... just on a personal note:  I am SO HAPPY that you have an interest in fossils... and hopefully science in general!  Me and my friends ALL had it.  We looked for minerals, fossils, watched the stars and planets.... and more!  We learned to love nature and its wonders.  Sadly, too many young people today are only interested in their phones and video games.  I am always happy when I see interest in things other than that!

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Miocene_Mason

Posted

@Dpaul7 everything about fossils I know has mostly been learned here in the past half year or so, so I’m happy to pass it on:D

I do love ALL science (despite my physics teacher trying his very best to change this)as well as history, and have since I was very young. I share this with my friends, though they have moved to such modern sciences as coding (as I, somewhat ironically, have taken a step back in time). Nice to take some time away from the rush of normal life and walk down a beach or a rock face (or wherever else fossils are found) and look for fossils. I’m glad I can share and gain knowledge here, and I hope to evangelize  my friends into it. Boy, I do rant don’t I?:wacko:

I’m happy to know more around here are into what lay beneath their feet!

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