Cgrooms11 Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 I am new to collecting meg teeth so I hope my question is not “dumb.” Are the tooth cusps on a C. chubutensis vestigial structures from the earlier three pronged tooth like on O. obliquus? I read a physics article about how the megs tooth serration evolves from the smaller prong teeth getting sharks caught on larger prey causing them damage. Did the improved serration as the sharks evolved to be larger lead adult C. megladon adults not having cusps at all? I hope the question makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Most certainly not "dumb". Any question asked in the task of obtaining knowledge about something you are interested in is a great question by definition (my definition, anyway). Here's a link to a story (containing a link to the paper) that a friend of mine authored recently that should be right up your alley. Let me know if this helps clear things up and (hopefully) spawns additional questions. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/megalodons-teeth-evolved-into-the-ultimate-cutting-tools/ Cheers. -Ken 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgrooms11 Posted December 6, 2019 Author Share Posted December 6, 2019 Thank you, that helped. I just purchased a 4 1/6 C. chubutensis (my first) and wanted to understand the difference between it and a meg. It has cusps, and is 4+ inches, which I believe Is too large be a juvenile meg, so I am confident it is a chub. I also found an image that shows the tooth progression which kind of confirms that cusps were teeth, evolutionarily speaking. Thank you again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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