Small Florida Whale teeth

[Shellseeker]

Last Thursday, I was hunting the Peace River watershed with a friend. When we returned to his home (close to the Peace River),  he pulled out 2 small teeth.  One he had found during out hunt that day and the other a couple of months back. He asked me to identify them and leverage the TFF community if possible.

To me , this was obvious.  While I can not explain the size and I have no idea what the species is, horizontal "banding" on a canine shaped tooth means one ID and one ID only:  Whale.

I underline that statement because I want to be challenged if my assumption is incorrect. In the experience of TFF members, have they ever found a tooth, other than whale, that shows  this telltale banding?

 

Here is a marine mammal tooth I found 8 years ago in Horse Creek, a tributary of the Peace River. Horizontal banding and an enamel tip!!

 

I know better than to ask for an ID below the level of "whale" on these teeth. As far as I can tell , no one has done a scientific study in the state of Florida on fossil whale material.

 

I was fortunate, almost exactly a year ago to host a TFF member and fossil hunter to a couple of Florida fossil hunting trips. @JBMugu found some really nice Florida fossils but he gifted me something I valued much more. STH Whale teeth See the telltale banding close to the root? Maybe these small Peace River whale teeth are in the same family as Aulophyster.  Maybe not...

 

I would love to have Bobby comment on this, but I think he is busy with his day job. Next best thing is an old Bobby comment on the same topic of Small whale teeth.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/95733-sharktooth-hill-teeth/

 

What I read from this is that Bobby thinks  "small kogiid sperm whale" is an option!!!!

 

Harry has a great picture_photo of Kogiopsis .sp Whale teeth, and I myself have found many at the 3-5 inch size.

 

So,  what is this thread about beyond small Florida whale teeth that can not be identified by anyone?

 

There are numerous TFF members who hunt in Florida, hunt on the east coast of the US, find whale teeth while hunting worldwide. Please attach photos of any whale teeth under the length of 50 mm and around a diameter of 10 mm.

I am trolling for whale teeth that look like these, and the names of whales like Aulophyster who had small teeth. Thanks for any contributions ,   Jack

[Shellseeker]

I have noted that @Boesse has more frequently shared comments lately and ask if Kogiid Sperm Whales could account for these very small whale teeth in the Peace River or should I think there might be another small tooth whale like Aulophyster present on the east coast of the US.

[Boesse]

Me from last June was right - long, skinny teeth like that with banding - on the east coast - are going to represent primitive physeterids or kogiids.

[Shellseeker]

Thanks , Bobby

My reason for trying to better understand the 2 teeth in the top photo is that these small, straight , very narrow,  whale teeth are very unusual.  As I indicated above,  I myself only ever found 1 (or noted others found similar) over the last 10 years of focusing on the Peace River.

 

At first, I was trying to "troll" TFF members who hunt Florida to show similar examples. Then I decided to also troll any of our east coast members, not seeing similar sized teeth from Aurora , Calvert Cliffs, Georgia, S Carolina, etc.

 

Also, I have considered whether these teeth are just small versions of the 3-5 inch teeth shown above.

All remain Physeteridae indet., just a question of  into which "bucket" I place a tooth.

 

 

[Docweldon]

Recently found this in a coastal creek is So Georgia 

 

[Shellseeker]

5 hours ago, Docweldon said:

Recently found this in a coastal creek is So Georgia 

I lightened your tooth slightly,  just t show the latitudinal growth bands better.... Definitely whale.  centum wrapped around dentine. It is not really small. It is broken in half, I would think.

I think it is more likely kogiopsis .sp rather than aulophyster .sp