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I’m posting the nicer Phyllodus pharyngeal plate specimens that I’ve collected over the years from the Eocene Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia because many collectors really never get to see Phyllodus specimens. These mouth plates come from bony fish. I only find a nice specimen every 7 or 8 trips to the Nanjemoy Formation so they are not common. There is a wide variation in the tooth morphologies of these mouth plates. No two mouth plates are identical. The mouth plates are comprised of individual varying sized and shaped teeth and can have up to six layers of replacement teeth. However, White (1931) demonstrated that these variations were merely variants among a broad range of possible intergradational morphologies and Estes (1969) synonymized the previous named species with P. toliapicus. Some specimens still have formation matrix and other debris on them because I don’t clean them in my ultrasonic cleaners like other specimens because individual teeth can dislodge very easily. The below specimens range in size from 7 mm to 22 mm in the longest dimension. Continued in next reply Marco Sr.