Smilodon gracilis find

[History Hunter02]

In January 2019, I found this Smilodon gracilis partial left dentary in coastal South Carolina.  I am finally uploading it because it was finally positively identified by a paleontologist last week.  The m1 is complete, and the p4 is broken off, but the roots are still in the jaw fragment.  This was the smaller relative of Smilodon fatalis which only had a p4 and a m1 instead of a p3, p4, and m1 on the lower dentary.  Page 216 of The Fossil Vertebrates of Florida has a picture that is a perfect match.  This is definitely the best find in my collection (outdoing the Dire Wolf K9 from last December).

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Cool find.  My toothless Smilodon jaw for comparison, Texas PF.

[digit]

Very cool! Top level predators as always (by necessity) less common in ecosystems--and rarer to find in fossil form. Even the somewhat common megalodon teeth in Florida are way outnumbered by those of smaller sharks (and dugong bones). Other than the couple thousand saber-tooth cats that have been pulled from their sticky ends at the La Brea site, I know of no other place where fossils of large toothy cats occur in a frequency that could be called anything but very rare.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[jcbshark]

Incredible find and on many bucket lists for sure  congrats 

[siteseer]

Wow, I think that is actually a rarer find than S. fatalis.  S. gracilis existed only in the Early Pleistocene with S. fatalis as its likely descendant.  I would say a lot more specimens of the latter have been found than the former even if you don't count stuff from the tar pits.

[digit]

And going back to the early Pliocene epoch (late Hemphillian stage) or about 4.5 to 5 Ma, you have the proto saber-tooth cat (Rhizosmilodon fiteae) presently only known from Florida but expected elsewhere. The fact that these are rare finds means it will be some time before its range is expanded.

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/rhizosmilodon-fiteae

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[History Hunter02]

37 minutes ago, digit said:

And going back to the early Pliocene epoch (late Hemphillian stage) or about 4.5 to 5 Ma, you have the proto saber-tooth cat (Rhizosmilodon fiteae) presently only known from Florida but expected elsewhere. The fact that these are rare finds means it will be some time before its range is expanded.

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-vertebrate-fossils/species/rhizosmilodon-fiteae

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

It does look very similar, but the deposit does not date back that far.  It is only Pleistocene (at least of what we know.)

[digit]

Yup. Your find would be of an intermediate species--assuming these are all in the same lineage.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

Gotta love the predators.