Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'marine reptiles'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
    Tags should be keywords or key phrases. e.g. otodus, megalodon, shark tooth, miocene, bone valley formation, usa, florida.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Fossil Discussion
    • Fossil ID
    • Fossil Hunting Trips
    • General Fossil Discussion
    • Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
    • Fossil of the Month
    • Questions & Answers
    • Member Collections
    • A Trip to the Museum
    • Paleo Re-creations
    • Collecting Gear
    • Fossil Preparation
    • Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
    • Member-to-Member Fossil Trades
    • Fossil News
  • Community News
    • Member Introductions
    • Member of the Month
    • Members' News & Diversions
  • General Category
    • Rocks & Minerals
    • Geology

Categories

  • Annelids
  • Arthropods
    • Crustaceans
    • Insects
    • Trilobites
    • Other Arthropods
  • Brachiopods
  • Cnidarians (Corals, Jellyfish, Conulariids )
    • Corals
    • Jellyfish, Conulariids, etc.
  • Echinoderms
    • Crinoids & Blastoids
    • Echinoids
    • Other Echinoderms
    • Starfish and Brittlestars
  • Forams
  • Graptolites
  • Molluscs
    • Bivalves
    • Cephalopods (Ammonites, Belemnites, Nautiloids)
    • Gastropods
    • Other Molluscs
  • Sponges
  • Bryozoans
  • Other Invertebrates
  • Ichnofossils
  • Plants
  • Chordata
    • Amphibians & Reptiles
    • Birds
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fishes
    • Mammals
    • Sharks & Rays
    • Other Chordates
  • *Pseudofossils ( Inorganic objects , markings, or impressions that resemble fossils.)

Blogs

  • Anson's Blog
  • Mudding Around
  • Nicholas' Blog
  • dinosaur50's Blog
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • Seldom's Blog
  • tracer's tidbits
  • Sacredsin's Blog
  • fossilfacetheprospector's Blog
  • jax world
  • echinoman's Blog
  • Ammonoidea
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • Adventures with a Paddle
  • Caveat emptor
  • -------
  • Fig Rocks' Blog
  • placoderms
  • mosasaurs
  • ozzyrules244's Blog
  • Terry Dactyll's Blog
  • Sir Knightia's Blog
  • MaHa's Blog
  • shakinchevy2008's Blog
  • Stratio's Blog
  • ROOKMANDON's Blog
  • Phoenixflood's Blog
  • Brett Breakin' Rocks' Blog
  • Seattleguy's Blog
  • jkfoam's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • marksfossils' Blog
  • ibanda89's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Lindsey's Blog
  • Back of Beyond
  • Ameenah's Blog
  • St. Johns River Shark Teeth/Florida
  • gordon's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • Pennsylvania Perspectives
  • michigantim's Blog
  • michigantim's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • GPeach129's Blog
  • Olenellus' Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • bear-dog's Blog
  • javidal's Blog
  • Digging America
  • John Sun's Blog
  • John Sun's Blog
  • Ravsiden's Blog
  • Jurassic park
  • The Hunt for Fossils
  • The Fury's Grand Blog
  • julie's ??
  • Hunt'n 'odonts!
  • falcondob's Blog
  • Monkeyfuss' Blog
  • cyndy's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • nola's Blog
  • mercyrcfans88's Blog
  • Emily's PRI Adventure
  • trilobite guy's Blog
  • barnes' Blog
  • xenacanthus' Blog
  • myfossiltrips.blogspot.com
  • HeritageFossils' Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • maybe a nest fossil?
  • farfarawy's Blog
  • Microfossil Mania!
  • blogs_blog_99
  • Southern Comfort
  • Emily's MotE Adventure
  • Eli's Blog
  • andreas' Blog
  • Recent Collecting Trips
  • retired blog
  • andreas' Blog test
  • fossilman7's Blog
  • Piranha Blog
  • xonenine's blog
  • xonenine's Blog
  • Fossil collecting and SAFETY
  • Detrius
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Kehbe's Kwips
  • RomanK's Blog
  • Prehistoric Planet Trilogy
  • mikeymig's Blog
  • Western NY Explorer's Blog
  • Regg Cato's Blog
  • VisionXray23's Blog
  • Carcharodontosaurus' Blog
  • What is the largest dragonfly fossil? What are the top contenders?
  • Test Blog
  • jsnrice's blog
  • Lise MacFadden's Poetry Blog
  • BluffCountryFossils Adventure Blog
  • meadow's Blog
  • Makeing The Unlikley Happen
  • KansasFossilHunter's Blog
  • DarrenElliot's Blog
  • Hihimanu Hale
  • jesus' Blog
  • A Mesozoic Mosaic
  • Dinosaur comic
  • Zookeeperfossils
  • Cameronballislife31's Blog
  • My Blog
  • TomKoss' Blog
  • A guide to calcanea and astragali
  • Group Blog Test
  • Paleo Rantings of a Blockhead
  • Dead Dino is Art
  • The Amber Blog
  • Stocksdale's Blog
  • PaleoWilliam's Blog
  • TyrannosaurusRex's Facts
  • The Community Post
  • The Paleo-Tourist
  • Lyndon D Agate Johnson's Blog
  • BRobinson7's Blog
  • Eastern NC Trip Reports
  • Toofuntahh's Blog
  • Pterodactyl's Blog
  • A Beginner's Foray into Fossiling
  • Micropaleontology blog
  • Pondering on Dinosaurs
  • Fossil Preparation Blog
  • On Dinosaurs and Media
  • cheney416's fossil story
  • jpc
  • A Novice Geologist
  • Red-Headed Red-Neck Rock-Hound w/ My Trusty HellHound Cerberus
  • Red Headed
  • Paleo-Profiles
  • Walt's Blog
  • Between A Rock And A Hard Place
  • Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
  • Prognathodon saturator 101
  • Books I have enjoyed
  • Ladonia Texas Fossil Park
  • Trip Reports
  • Glendive Montana dinosaur bone Hell’s Creek
  • Test
  • Stratigraphic Succession of Chesapecten

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Found 24 results

  1. To pass some time I've been recently researching early Paleocene life and I keep coming back to researching (in my view) the two strangest and controversial Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene Formations I know of. These are the Hornerstown Formation dating 66.5-65.5 Million Years ago in what is now New Jersey, U.S. And the Takatika Grit Formation dating 66.5-60.0 Million Years ago in what is now the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=0b3baee9ab1afc7973337f5047495b723fcfa4f2 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315461615_The_age_of_the_Takatika_Grit_Chatham_Islands_New_Zealand https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667109000184?via%3Dihub I've read many reports about these formations and the pretty controversial stuff that's been found in both these areas (Paleocene ammonites and reports of archaic marine reptiles like Paleocene Mosasaurs). I'm really not 100% sure what to make of this as I've heard conflicting hypotheses on whether these more archaic marine reptile fossils were reworked from older formations while others say it's not too too likely? https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/maastrichtian-ammonites-from-the-hornerstown-formation-in-new-jersey/4F051D07668B7B893EEFECF0506E2F1B https://bioone.org/journals/acta-palaeontologica-polonica/volume-57/issue-4/app.2011.0068/Short-Term-Survival-of-Ammonites-in-New-Jersey-After-the/10.4202/app.2011.0068.full For most of these "controversial" specimens, I would say reworking is likely while some I'll admit I'm not sure? For the Mosasaurs, it's clear that the astroid impact 66 Million Years ago caused their total extinction, but I'm still not 100% convinced that none emerged from the event alive (at least barely) and swam the seas in the very first days of the Danian Paleocene but not too long after. Unlike the mostly terrestrial Non-Avian Dinosaurs, which could only hide in so many places and it's very unlike more than a tiny amount of individuals (not enough to support a population) made it into the Paleocene, the Oceans have slightly more areas to hide and more even for endothermic air breathing animals like Mosasaurs (though as an endotherm, food does become a major issue especially when the ocean food chain nearly collapsed completely). What I'm wondering is how valid are at least "some" of these supposed archaic marine reptile and ammonite fossils from the earliest Paleocene sections of the Hornerstown Formation and the Takatika Grit? Also, of all the Maastrichtian Mosasaurs known so far, which ones would have been the mostly likely to have (at least briefly) survived the Cretaceous-Paleocene Extinction Event of 66 Million Years ago (would it have been generalist feeders, ones that specialized in deep sea hunting, ones with cosmopolitan distributions, ones small by mosasaur standards but still around the same size of the few confirmed large reptiles that survived the event like the 8 meter (26 feet) in length Thoracosaurus, or ones with all these traits and advantages)?
  2. pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

    Where are all the British mosasaurs?

    Hi all, While I'm aware that current Cretaceous exposures in Britain are largely restricted to the south and east coasts of the islands (see geological map below; source), significant marine deposition is said to have taken place across much of Great Britain from the Aptian onward (source). As such - and especially considering the richness of the record of the marine ecosystem during the Jurassic- one would expect an abundance of marine reptile remains to be known from British Late Cretaceous sediments as well, the epitome of which, of course, would be the mosasaurs. However, whereas finds of remains of ichthyosaurs and pliosaurs have been reported (see, for instance, Fischer et al. 2014 or Madzia 2016) - albeit from somewhat older strata than from which one might expect mosasaur remains to show up - very little information actually seems to be available as concerns this highly diverse group of marine squamates. When browsing the literature, for example, I've only found limited references to mosasaurs in Britain, most notably in Benton and Spencer's (1995) "Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain", in which the authors (p. 221) observe that Some further mentions of mosasaurs are made in this work on pages 264-265, which include lists of marine reptile finds at various locations across the country, as well as page 270, which describes St. James's Pit in Norwich, Norfolk, purportedly "Britain's best mosasaur locality" (ibid.). The pages have been reproduced below for ease of reference: Some material is also illustrated and described by Milner in "Fossils of the Chalk, second edition" (Smith and Batten, eds., 2002), but again minimally so: Plate 64 3) Leiodon anceps, Campanian, Norwich, Norfolk; 4) Clidastes sp., ?Upper Turonian, Dorking, Surrey; 5, plioplatecarpinae incertae sedis, Upper Chalk, Sussex Plate 65 1) Clidastes sp., Upper Chalk, Sussex; 5) cf. Tylosaurus, Santonian, Forness Point, east of Margate, Kent Outside of that, over the past couple of years I've only bumped into some loose specimens here and there being offered at auction sites, such as the below batch of alleged mosasaur teeth from Worcestershire, purportedly once part of the prominent Gregory, Bottley and Lloyd collection (at the resolution provided and in their state of preservation it's hard to make out whether they are indeed mosasaurian, however); or the mosasaur lumbar vertebra of unknown origin. It was actually these specimens that first attracted my attention to the existence of British mosasaurs, since so little has been reported on them elsewhere: an internet search doesn't result in anything fruitful, for example, nor have I come across any mosasaur material listed in museum collections. I would therefore be very interested in hearing what you all make of the above specimens, as well as the apparent paucity of British mosasaur material either in museums or published literature. Is this just the outcome of a collection/research bias, lack of suitable accessible exposures, or could there be another reason... @Praefectus @JohnJ @caterpillar @Welsh Wizard @paulgdls @DE&i and others
  3. pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

    Looking for info on Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus

    Probably one of the most enigmatic species of Temnodontosaurus is Temnodontosaurus eurycephalus, owing to only one skull ever having been found. This particular species is often described as a snub-nosed temnodontosaur with massive teeth and heavy jaw muscles that it probably used to hunt other ichthyosaurs (and other marine reptiles). Its holotype is currently held by the Natural History Museum in London, with the below being some images of it, taken off of Wikipedia: My interest with it, at present, lies with its dentition, with the morphology of its teeth. For I've seen some truly massive teeth and equally massive roots come out of Lyme Regis that I currently consider to belong to T. platyodon based on specimens labelled as such in the NHM collections (see images below for illustration, but please note that Ichthyosaurus platyodon is an old synonym for T. platyodon). And while these teeth seem morphologically similar to the teeth of Mary, Tony Gill's T. platyodon specimen (image below; source), I find myself wondering how these teeth compare to those of T. eurycephalus. Unfortunately, however, I've been able to find very little information or quality photographs on this particular species. I'd therefore like to ask if anybody here has any photographs - in particular crisp/detailed ones of the dentition - or articles (regrettably, I can't access pay-walled) that they'd be willing to share. Thanks in advance!
  4. Hello to all forum users! Glad to join you. I would like to share photos of some of my findings. Now there is an opportunity to post only a small part - the topic will be gradually supplemented. So, the finds of marine reptiles from the Cenomanian of the Cretaceous period of Ukraine. Several photos of the crown of the Ichthyosaurus tooth.
  5. pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

    Vaches Noires: plesiosaur tooth or fish tooth after all?

    Hi all, Last summer, while out hunting at the Vaches Noires on the Normandy coast of France, we found the below tooth in the Marnes de Dives (upper Callovian) . I extracted it from its matrix in order to be able to tell with confidence whether carinae are present or not and thus whether the tooth could be metriorhynchid - which I thought, at the time, to be the only other major contender. Carinae are not present. As such, I then arrived at the conclusion that the tooth is plesiosaurian, and in absence of striations - anastomosing or other - that it probably belonged to Cryptoclidus sp.. This is the state in which it has remained since then. From left to right: Muraenosaurus leedsi, Cryptoclidus oxoniensis and Tricleidus seeleyi (Noè, Taylor and Gómez-Pérez, 2017) However, I keep occasionally bumping into Hypsocormus sp., a pachycormiform fish with a temporal range from the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic all the way through the Late Jurassic up to the Cretaceous - most recently today with the jaw below. And I must certainly say that I see some semblances... Specimen from the Oxford Clay at Peterborough An unidentified pachycormiform fish tooth from the Oxfordian levels of Vaches Noires (source) that I, here, suggest may, in fact, represent Hypsocormus sp.. Two specimens of Hypsocormus sp. from further up north on the French coast, in the Boulonnais, dating to the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian (source). Given sizes are 6.45mm and 13.1mm respectively. Two Hypsocormus sp. specimens from the Lower Oxford Clay, UK (specific locality unknown; source). Hypsocormus sp. from the Callovian of the Tournus-region of Saône et Loire in France (source). One thing that stands out from all the specimens that I've been able to identify online is that most have an notable acrodin cap, which clearly marks them as fish teeth. It's based on this that I've identified the below tooth from a vendor site as Hypsocormus sp. (or a pachycormiform, at least) tooth, although the seller had listed it as plesiosaur. Thus it seems that confusion surrounding this topic is not uncommon. Unfortunately, however, my specimen is lacking its very apex (though, could this fact in itself be an indication of there once having been an acrodin tip that more easily got damaged or eroded away?)... Pachycormiform tooth mislabelled as plesiosaur, from Fletton, Peterborough Size cannot be used as a distinguishing feature either, as, while my tooth's total length is 1'' or 2.54cm exactly, the enamelled part is only about 1.5cm, which seems to be close to the upper limit of what Hypsocormus sp. teeth were able to grow to, from what I've been able to find out. Ornamentation/striations then? This feature can't be used either, since not all positively identified pachycormiform teeth in my sample have these. How about an in-filled hollow root? Both have these. Though it seems that the pachycormiform teeth actually often lack the enamel-free part you'd identify as the root, with them apparently having broken off close to the enamelled crown, as is the case with most fish teeth. In fact, this was my main argument to reject my specimen being fish before. However, looking at the jaw posted above, you'll notice that the largest tooth lying next to the jaw does have an enamel-free, irregularly broken-off base as well. I thus find myself wondering what the exact features are that define these pachycormiform teeth, and how to distinguish them from reptile teeth. Anybody have any ideas on this or on the argued identification of my tooth? I'll start by tagging @PointyKnight, @RuMert, @caterpillar, @Carl and @taj, but please don't hesitate to join the discussion!
  6. Hello, Since all those covid restrictions I haven't got the opportunity to go look for fossils outside of Belgium. So most of our trips from the last year are almost exclusively in the devonian. To get a little change of this I was hoping to find some unprepped vertebrate material, it dousn't have to be complete and I am not afraid of some puzzel work, but the pieces need to be recognisable. I can offer a multitude of different fossils for trade. ( Ammonites, spiriferids, shark teeth, sea-urchins,...) Natalie
  7. pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

    Marine reptiles of Madagascar

    Hi all, I recently became aware that Madagascar appears to have a fully developed and interesting Mesozoic marine reptile record, yet am not particularly able to find any information on them. The only article I have come across is Bardet and Termier, 1990, "Première description de restes de Plésiosaure provenant de Madagascar (gisement de Berere, Campanien)". However, I've been unable to track this article down. As such, I was wondering whether anybody on TFF might have any information on them. Basically, I'm starting from scratch, so would be very interested in the clades of marine reptile that are known from the region, if not recognized genera or even species. What formations have remains been found in, to what stages in earth geological history do these date, and where geographically are these located? Ideally, there'd be some open-access articles I could refer to, yet any bit of information is welcome. Thanks in advance!
  8. Hi all, First off, this is not my fossil (though I own a large crow of similar morphology), but one I recently bumped into and found particularly curious. Why? Because it's morphology seems to contradict itself. Described as a Polyptychodon interuptus (no longer considered a valid genus; Madzia [2016]) from the Late Jurassic Volga Beds (?) of Stary Oskol, the tooth appears to have enamel folds consistent with what one might expect from an ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur, such as Platypterygius sp.. The root, however, is smooth and round, with a hollow base, which, unlike the rectangular and "fibrous" roots more typical of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurs, is more indicative of pliosaur. Here are some pictures of the tooth. Unfortunately, as it was sold off by auction back in 2017, there's no chance of getting any better quality photographs: I know the seller is quite familiar with pliosaur teeth, so would be surprised if they identified the tooth wrongly. The ornamentation on the tooth, however, bugs me as not matching what I would expect for pliosaur, especially a brachauchenine species. Below are a schematics illustrating various tooth crown ornamentations amongst marine reptiles (figure 2 from McCurry et al. [2019]) and some examples of British brachauchenine pliosaur teeth (figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 from Madzia [2016]) for comparison. Tooth ornamentation in marine reptiles: A. Deinosuchus rugosus; B. Spinosaurus; C. Ichthyosaurus; D. Pliosauridae indet.; E. Globidens alabamensis; F. Hydrurga leptonyx; G. Mammalodontidae indet. Here's the only confirmed Stary Oskol pliosaur tooth I've been able to find as a reference for how the above translates to that location (source): And, finally, for completeness, some Stary Oskol platypterygiine ichthyosaur teeth: My questions to you are: Does this look like an ichthyosaur or pliosaur tooth to you, and why? I've heard, by word of mouth (i.e., got from a source that's not academic), that certain late ophthalmosaurid species developed root tooth roots. Can anybody confirm or deny this, if possible with academic reference? Thanks for your help! @RuMert @Anomotodon @paulgdls @PointyKnight @Mike from North Queensland @-Andy-
  9. I've spent a fair amount of time now combing the beaches around Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England, and thought i would put together a topic that presents all of my marine reptile bone finds (so far) in one place. The fossils here are Early Jurassic in age, approx. 195-190 million years old and come predominantly from the Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone formations. I first visited this area in 2013 with the simple goal of finding at least one ichthyosaur vertebra, and now after three subsequent trips in 2014, 2017 and 2019, i've put together a far better assortment of finds than i could have possibly hoped for! I think i have been quite lucky along this coastline, although it has taken many hours to amass this collection. Across all four of my England trips i have spent a total of 18 days looking for bones in the Lyme Regis area, most often on the stretch of beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth but sometimes at Monmouth Beach as well. This coastline also produces a large quantity and diversity of ammonites, belemnites, crinoids, bivalves, brachiopods, gastropods, and even rare insects. However i've always been most interested in fossil vertebrates, and so the ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that are found here have been my primary target for collecting. There are also some impressive articulated fish to be found, but as yet i have had no luck in finding any! Ichthyosaur bones are the most common type of vertebrate fossil in the area, particularly their bi-concave vertebrae. Less commonly you can also find pieces of the jaw, sometimes with teeth. If you are extra lucky though you may also find plesiosaur bones, which for whatever reason are much rarer than those of ichthyosaurs. The best way to find any type of marine reptile bone around Lyme Regis is to closely examine the shingle on the beach, and i've spent seemingly countless hours bent over and slowly walking along the shore looking for them. If you have a bad back it's even more difficult! I've learnt that bones can be found pretty much anywhere on the beach: in the slumping clays, at the top of the beach in the 'high and dry' shingle, along the middle of the beach, at the low tide line, and also underwater amongst the rocky pools and ledges. And just when i start to think that the beach has already been heavily searched and there isn't much left to find, there always seems to be another bone that turns up, often lying in plain sight. The truth is that most people who visit here to collect are not experts and will probably walk past a lot of these bones, as the texture is the most important thing that gives them away and learning to recognise it takes a bit of time. For the sorts of articulated skeletons that sometimes make news headlines and are beautifully intact, searching the shingle is not the way to go, but for a short term visitor like me i think it is the best way of maximising the chances of finding any sort of reptile bone in the shortest amount of time (and something i can take back with me on the plane too!). Without further ado, here are the pics (spread across multiple posts due to file size limits). I've also included as-found pictures for some of these finds to provide a sense of what they look like and how they are found when they are on the beach. The collection so far. Starting first with my favourite Lyme Regis fossil, this is a very nice plesiosaur vertebra that is in great condition! A very rare find! I have been very fortunate to find two plesiosaur vertebrae at Lyme Regis so far, although this one is smaller and more beach-worn than the previous example. Continued below.
  10. pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

    Marine reptile teeth from Nancy

    Hi everyone, I got offered this pair of marine reptile teeth as those of ichthyosaurs, but am having a hard time making my mind up about their identification. I'd therefore like to ask for your opinions. The teeth were found during works around Nancy back in 2004, and, based on other ichthyosaur finds from the region, likely dates the Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic (though, from what I can tell, Oxfordian marine deposits are also accessible in the area). This makes them roughly the same age as material from the Posidonia Shale/Holzmaden and Whitby, but slightly younger than that of the Lyme Bay area. The above photograph is the only one I have, with the seller being on fieldwork and unable to provide much further information for the next couple of weeks. Although we can safely eliminate marine crocodile as contenders for the original owners of these teeth, and I think they are too big to have belonged to fish, I'm undecided on whether these are just highly worn ichthyosaur teeth or plesiosaur teeth. There's something to be said for both. The tall, slender shape of the teeth and their slight curvature, for instance, would seem to fit plesiosaurian teeth, as would, most significantly, the round root of the bigger tooth. In that case, however, the smaller tooth does seem a bit stubby, and the traces of ornamentation along the midsection of the larger tooth surprisingly equidistantly spaced. Generally, the morphology of the smaller tooth to me suggests ichthyosaur rather than plesiosaur. But if that were the case, I'd expect either enamel folds on the crowns themselves, folds on the root, or both (even when ichthyosaur teeth have smooth enamel, I find they still have folds on their roots). I'd also expect the root to be more polygonal in shape, somewhere in the range of triangular to (rounded) square. This is not the case. Now there seems to be some ornamentation midway up the larger specimen which equidistant spacing correlates well with patterns of the folds found on ichthyosaur teeth, thus may indicate the tooth is ophthalmosaurid and therefore Oxfordian rather than Torcian in age. The below image I drew up makes the comparison: As you can see, the match is less then ideal, as the top part of the French tooth is completely devoid of enamel folds, whereas in an ophthalmosaurid tooth the plicidentine folds actually taper out until the enamel is clear. @belemniten, however, posted images of a couple of his ichthyosaur teeth from Holzmaden, one of which appears to show a similar pattern as visible in the middle of the French tooth under consideration here, including what appears to be a round root: However, when looking at other images of the same tooth, it turns out that the root does have folds, as you'd expect from ichthyosaur teeth: Similarly, the below tooth seems to have a superficially similar appearance to the French tooth for the hairline cracking of the enamel, and the fact that enamel appears to be missing from the crown immediately above the root proper (which, again, exhibits folds, however). Still, if the "smooth round root" on the French tooth would've been covered by enamel as well, this would make for a very tall tooth as far as ichthyosaurs go. As illustrated by the specimen below (source), though, ichthyosaur teeth do occasionally have round roots: Moreover, the folds on the root don't always run the full height of it (image source): Lastly, as the specimen below demonstrates (source), the entire root can look completely smooth, presumably from wear: As such, I'm wondering whether the French tooth specimen might not be a very worn ichthyosaur tooth, with its parts being composed as such: This doesn't particularly make too much sense to me either, as the part of the root with folds is rather long and has a very abrupt transition into the remainder of the root. In addition, it raises the question of how the tooth would've gotten so worn. Though I understand there are fluvially exposed sites around Nancy, could this have caused the wear we're seeing. Or would the wear rather be peridepositional? So, I guess I can summarize my questions as: Do these look like plesiosaur or ichthyosaur teeth? If plesiosaurian, what would the equidistant striations on the midsection of the tooth be? If ichthyosaurian, do these teeth look more ophthalmosaurid or pre-ophthalmosaur? How might the wear I think I'm seeing be explained? Thanks for the help! cc @paulgdls @PointyKnight @DE&i @Welsh Wizard @RuMert @FF7_Yuffie
  11. Hi all, I visited Aust Cliff in South Gloucestershire, UK for a couple of hours last week. I wasn't expecting much as I know how heavily collected it is, but got a few bits of interest which I was happy with under the circumstances. I'd be interested in educated takes on a couple of bits of bone bed I found there at least, especially this first piece that contains what I believe to be multiple bone fragments as well as coprolite pieces and lots of small black fragments - not sure if scales, teeth or what. Here's a view showing what I imagine is one end of a reptile limb bone - could this be Pachystropheus? And on the other side are a couple of embedded chunks that have the honeycomb texture of bone but without the outer coating (not sure of the technical terms here!) No chance of identifying such things I presume, beyond 'yes it's bone'?
  12. Newly discovered Triassic lizardcould float underwater to pick off preyBy Amy Woodyatt, CNN, October 28, 2020 240 Million-Year-Old Marine Predator Species With Fang-Like Teeth Uncovered in China, Science Tech Daily, October 28, 2020 Ancient marine predator had a built-in float, PhysOrg. Yours, Paul H.
  13. We Finally Know How This Ancient Reptile Lived With Such an Absurdly Long Neck By Mike McRae, Field Museum press release link Aquatic Habits and Niche Partitioning in the Extraordinarily Long-Necked TriassicReptile Tanystropheus Spiekman et al., Aquatic Habits and Niche Partitioning  in the Extraordinarily Long-Necked Triassic Reptile, Tanystropheus, Current Biology (2020) PDF Yours, Paul H.
  14. Hey everyone - hope you're all doing all right For the past few days, I was for a short holiday in South England - and while I was in Oxford, I had the chance to see at the Natural History Museum a new, amazing exhibit called Out of the Deep. The display consisted of two remarkable, nearly complete skeletons of marine reptiles - both of them from the ~165-million-year-old Oxford Clay Formation of southern England. One of the skeletons was of a pliosaur (otherwise known as a short-necked plesiosaur) called Peloneustes, which had been discovered in 1994 in Yarnton (Oxfordshire). The other skeleton (nicknamed "Eve"), discovered in Peterborough (Cambridgeshire) in 2014, was of a longer-necked plesiosaur. According to Roger Benson, the skeleton might represent a new species. Both skeletons are really beautiful - and I'd recommend all of you to check them out The Out of the Deep display, with its two plesiosaur skeletons in all their glory Photo credit Oxford University Museum of Natural History Well-preserved mandible from the Peloneustes skeleton The nearly complete skull of "Eve" the long-necked plesiosaur... The Out of the Deep exhibit is truly a must-see!! -Christian
  15. We had two really great Dinosaur programs this week. We have two more Dino programs and a shark program next week too so things are rolling along very nicely for us. I did notice this week that we are missing out on an opportunity to give a broader picture of the paleoecology of the dinosaur era. The kids yesterday wanted to see Pterosaur and marine reptile fossils. We had a chance to really explain the difference between those reptiles and dinosaurs because we have yet to acquire those fossils. I wanted to open this topic to TFF members because I respect the knowledge of fossils and the animals that left the fossils behind that our friends have. We need to round out our programs and I need to begin learning more about dinosaur age animals that were not dinosaurs. We do have croc teeth that will start going with us and I am putting together a display of dinosaur era shark teeth to keep in the dino program bin. Now that I have a better handle on how much material we can fit into an hour long program, I can tighten up the program and find a few minutes to cover non dinosaurs. This is where we need your help. I want to know what critters from the age of dinosaurs you think we should be touching on. What animals do I need to start looking into getting fossil representatives from and what critters do i need to study ? I thought it might be really fun to get the opinions of our friends and have the great minds here contribute to the material cover. This is open to all forum members so give us your thoughts and knowledge. Help us further our education goals by creating a more well rounded program !
  16. Paleoworld-101

    Ichthyosaur Caudal Vertebra (found 2014)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  17. Paleoworld-101

    Ichthyosaur Caudal Vertebra (found 2017)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  18. Paleoworld-101

    Ichthyosaur Caudal Vertebra (found 2017)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  19. Paleoworld-101

    Rolled Marine Reptile Bone (found 2017)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  20. Paleoworld-101

    Rolled Marine Reptile Bone (found 2017)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  21. From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  22. Paleoworld-101

    Mystery Marine Reptile Bone (found 2014)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  23. Paleoworld-101

    Partial Ichthyosaur Vertebra (found 2014)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
  24. Paleoworld-101

    Ichthyosaur Jaw Fragment (found 2014)

    From the album: Fossils From Lyme Regis And Charmouth

    Collected between Lyme Regis and Charmouth in Dorset, England. Charmouth Mudstone Formation. About 195-190 Ma.
×
×
  • Create New...