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Shown below is a tooth, identified by the seller as that of a Squalicorax pristodontus, from the Demopolis Chalk. However, given the shape of the tooth, I wondered whether it could have instead come from a Squalicorax kaupi. I've tried altering the saturation and contrast on the image to make the tooth clearer, but I fear it hasn't done much. Come to think of it I should probably also have included a scale and an image of the other side of the tooth. The tooth is 1.2 centimetres wide and 1.3 centimetres tall. Should an image of the other side of the tooth prove necessary, I'll upload one. Thanks in advance for any suggestions Othniel

During a recent trip back to W.M Browning Cretaceous Fossil Park in Northern Mississippi (Demopolis Formation, Late Campanian) I collected another mosasaur tooth. While incomplete the condition is still very nice. I am aware of the difficulties in identifying isolated mosasaur teeth but have been attempting it nevertheless. If nothing else I've learned more along the way. Two questions for this tooth. The first is the general question if anyone has an idea about the identification. The second pertains to what qualifies as serrations on mosasaur teeth. There are "crenulations" present on this tooth as I would call them but do these qualify as serrations? Among the mosasaurs reported from the Demopolis (Clidastes propython, Halisaurus sp., Mosasaurus conodon, Mosasaurus cf. missouriensis, Platecarpus cf. somenensis, Plioplatecarpus sp., and Tylosaurus sp.) serrations are a characteristic that reportedly separates the majority of them. However, the lack of all facets on the tooth is somewhat unusual in conjunction with the serrations. Am I exaggerating these crenulations as serrations? I posted this tooth once before but thought I'd post it again since it it is from the same site as the new one. I have some reason to believe it may be Mosasaurus missouriensis based on the general shape, number of facets, and cross section, but I've also had difficulty finding reference material for M. missouriensis. Any thoughts? Does anyone have reference photos or material for M. missouriensis?

I was recently reorganizing my fossil collection and thought I would share some pieces I collected during Paleontology field trips in undergrad at Alabama. I'm glad I took thorough notes at the time! The demopolis chalk is a popular formation for finding Exogyra/ostrea/pycnodonte shells and shark teeth. We visited a site in Tupelo, MS many times for surface collecting. Some of the cool pieces I found were many fragments of a mosasaur jaw (top pic, top 2 slots), a Squalicorax kaupi tooth, a scyliorhinus(?) tooth, bony fish vertebrae, and bony fish teeth. I was told the dark fossils at the right of the third picture might be ray plates, but I'm not sure. Turritella in pic 1 are from a different formation.

Ancient sea turtle fossil found in Alabama named new genus, species AlabamaCom, January 7, 2019 https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2020/01/ancient-sea-turtle-fossil-found-in-alabama-named-new-genus-species.html Gentry, A.D., Ebersole, J.A. and Kiernan, C.R., 2019. Asmodochelys parhami, a new fossil marine turtle from the Campanian Demopolis Chalk and the stratigraphic congruence of competing marine turtle phylogenies. Royal Society Open Science, 6(12), p.191950. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsos.191950 Yours, Paul H.

Here's one more photo from the Sumter County field trip. This specimen was still in the chalk, perpendicular to the plane of the bed. Sorry I didn't snap an in situ photo. If this one is man-made, you can put the dunce cap sticker by my name for a week