Taxonomic Shark Displays- a work in progress

[fossilsonwheels]

The Pristiophorus display is done in the sense that all of our fossils are in a display case and it’s labeled. I’m not done with the Sawsharks yet though. I will eventually get this into a 12” Riker. It may take a long time but I will accomplish that goal. 

 

One of the strangest sharks and one and one of the most unique sharks. It’s an educational dream but a great challenge as a collector. The only extant order of sharks not living in at least a 12” display (unless you count Echinorhinus as being it’s own order). The most difficult extant order for me as a collector, by far. Also the only extant order of shark for which we don’t actually have teeth. Just rostral spines, no oral teeth. 

 

Even though I plan on continuing the search for fossils, I am also very happy with what we do have. @siteseer helped us out with California specimens. The Old Church and Aussie fossils came from @Untitled. Add in a few Chilean examples and we have a decent display that will allow us to tell people about these remarkable animals. 

Edited February 10, 2022 by fossilsonwheels

[ThePhysicist]

1 hour ago, fossilsonwheels said:

I redid the labels for the Ginsu display and we can call this done. The Mako of the Cretaceous lol My favorite Cretaceous shark and one that is great for educational reasons.

Looks great  the ginsu is one of my favorites as well. The alternating sizes in the sawshark display is a nice touch!

Edited February 10, 2022 by ThePhysicist

[fossilsonwheels]

5 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

Looks great  the ginsu is one of my favorites as well. The alternating sizes in the sawshark display is a nice touch!

Thank you ! I like how that looks in the Sawshark display too. 

[fossilsonwheels]

I had both Carcharias and Odontaspis in the same display but wanted to split them. It looked too crowded and they are different sharks. 

 

I haven’t gotten to Carcharias yet but I’ve got Odontaspis pretty much done. I’d like to eventually add more to fill it out but we did ok I think. I love their teeth. I like the locations we have. 

 

@siteseer, @sharkdoctor, @will stevenson and @Anomotodon helped provide some of these super cool teeth. 

[fossilsonwheels]

I removed the Rhincodon tooth from the Filter Feeding Shark display as I split the Orectolobiformes into 2 displays. This display is now the Filter Feeding Lamniformes. 

 

@Troodon and @siteseer helped us out immensely with the Megamouth teeth. 

 

Though small, this is a cool display. Bizarre sharks with fantastic adaptations. 

[fossilsonwheels]

The Eel Shark display is another we can call done. It contains both Xenacanthiformes and Bransonelliformes. 

 

The Bransonella tooth came from @Untitled. Much of the rest of the material came from micro matrix searches. 

 

A solid Paleozoic shark display and a fun group to discuss. Weird Freshwater sharks. 

[fossilsonwheels]

Haven’t added a finished display in awhile so here’s Galeocerdo. 

[fossilsonwheels]

The Synechodiformes display was quite challenging to complete. I had not really planned on working on trying to finish this one until I got lucky with micro matrix I got from @will stevenson. I found a Paraorthacodus tooth and an even rarer Synechodus from Hallencourt France. If not for those finds I would have delayed finishing this. 

 

We needed some additional luck to actually finish it though and our friend @siteseer came through again with a couple of rare North American Paraorthacodus teeth. We also had a good bit of help earlier on from @Anomotodon too. 

 

The Paraorthacodus teeth range from the Jurassic to the Paleocene. The locations include the United Kingdom, Russia, Kazakhstan, France, Montana, and Maryland. 

 

The Sphenodus teeth are from the Jurassic of Russia. 

 

Synechodus teeth range from Triassic to Cretaceous. Locations include two different UK locations, two Russian sites, Ukraine, France and Kazakhstan. 

 

The Rhompiaodon teeth come from England and Luxembourg. The Nemacanthus fin spine is from the UK. 

 

There were challenges to this display. Outside of Kazakhstan, Paraorthacodus seemed uncommon everywhere they occurred. Cretaceous Synechodus aren’t difficult to find from Kazakhstan and Russia but it wasn’t easy to fill in other locations. Sphenodus teeth aren’t easy to find period. I am really happy how it turned out and appreciative of the help we got. 

 

 

[fossilsonwheels]

Echinorhiniformes are done. I may eventually move it to a larger display but for now I’m quite happy with it. 

 

We added the Lee Creek Bramble a few months ago and the Hornby Island tooth a week or so ago. Good temporal range and some classic locations. 

[fossilsonwheels]

We added to the Cretoxyrhina display and moved some stuff around. Finally got an Alabama Ginsu and a few teeth from the Carlile Formation. One of my favorites. 

[fossilsonwheels]

The non nurse Shark Orectolobiformes display got a boost from a couple of TFF members. @JamieLynn helped us out with two awesome Jurassic teeth from the Oxford Clay ! Definitely a Palaeobrachaelurus and possibly an anterior Akaimia. Great additions. We also got a little help from @siteseer with a great tooth from the Judith River Formation. 

[fossilsonwheels]

The next three to get finished with be Carcharias, Triakidae and Ptychodus. This is currently the state of the Ptychodus teeth. At least they’re labeled lol 

[fossilsonwheels]

The Hexanchus had a few additions and got rearranged. Thanks to @Woopaul5 for a couple of additional Moroccan teeth. We added the Chilean symphyseal too. I also got a collection of California teeth that included a few Pliocene Six Gill teeth. Steady progress. I believe this one may grow enough to get into the biggest Riker this year or next. 

[fossilsonwheels]

I got a pleasant surprise recently in the collection of California teeth I acquired. A good number of Pristiophorus rostral teeth from the Santa Margarita Formation. That unexpected find gives this display a really nice California tilt for sure. I also found one to pair with a single rostral from the Old Church Formation. 

 

I’ve set a goal to get this one moved into a larger Riker this year. I’m still searching for an oral tooth and there are a number of locations I’d love to add. I believe there are also two genera of Six Gill Sawsharks in the fossil record but it seems unlikely I could track those down.  It’ll be fun trying to add on to this for sure !!!

Edited January 21, 2023 by fossilsonwheels

[fossilsonwheels]

We finally completed the Megatooth display. Took quite awhile to piece it together primarily because I got stuck on one item. It took forever to track down a North American Otodus obliquus. @sharkdoctor came through for us via a trade which also got us the Old Church Angie. 

 

It stretches back to Albian with the Paw Paw Cretalamna and ends in the Pliocene of Peru. I think we did a reasonably good job of showing the evolutionary path, we included as many Chronospecies as we could and we have a decent diversity of locations from around the world. I’m happy with it and it’ll be a good educational display. 

[fossilsonwheels]

I missed one label but outside of that, the Great White display is pretty much complete. We added a pair of Hastalis teeth from Peru and another 2” GW from Sacaco to fill out the top row. We also picked up three additional California GW teeth to the middle row. It ended up being a really solid display I think. 

[fossilsonwheels]

Between the Old Church Formation stuff we got from @sharkdoctor and the small collection of California teeth we got, there are a few new teeth in the Thresher display. 

Still some work to do on this. I’ve toyed with the notion of adding the Paranomotodon teeth to this. There are no European teeth and we can fill out the Giant Thresher teeth quite a bit. I’ll eventually revisit some of the species ID’s too. It’s a decent display though and we could take it into a classroom tomorrow. 

[fossilsonwheels]

Heterodontus display. Added a few new teeth and relabeled it. It’s a favorite shark of mine and I like the display. I got the Ozan and Kemp Clay labels mixed up though. 
 

Jurassic Paracestracion and Heterodontus teeth from Ringstead Bay UK

 

Cretaceous teeth from Russia, Ukraine, France, Colorado, 3 Texas formations. 
 

Paleocene Aquia teeth

 

Eocene teeth from Ukraine, Belgium, and two UK formations. 
 

Miocene teeth from formations in California, one Australian and one Tasmanian formation. 
 

Pliocene tooth from Chile. 

[fossilsonwheels]

Finally got the Ptychodus display put together. Tried to concentrate on some diversity in species and locations in the Western Interior Seaway. 
 

P. anonymous from Greenhorn Limestone in Kansas, Kamp Ranch & Arcadia Park Formations in Texas

 

P. atcoensis  Atco Formation Texas

 

P. decurrens Lake Waco Formation Texas

 

P. lattissimus  Niobrara Chalk Kansas

 

P. mammilaris Carlile Shale Kansas

 

P. marginalis  Fort Hayes Limestone Kansas

 

P. marginalis Inovokava Formation Russia

 

P. mortoni from Eutaw Formation ( AL and MS), Point Lookout New Mexico, Eagle Ford TX, Niobrara Chalk Kansas

 

P. occidentalis  Greenhorn Limestone South Dakota 

 

P. sp  Ukraine and Colorado 

 

P. whipplei Eagle Ford Texas and Greenhorn Limestone Kansas

 

I would like to thank @Troodon, @Anomotodon, @Ramo for contributing teeth to the display and @LSCHNELLE for ID help. 

[digit]

Very nice! These crushing teeth have always intrigued me with their fingerprint textures. Too old to have these in Florida but maybe one day I'll make it to some place like Texas where they can be found (with luck).

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[fossilsonwheels]

Finally got the Triakidae display into a bigger riker and properly labeled. Quite a few of these teeth came from micro matrix searches. I think it’s a good representation. Decent variety of genera and locations. 
 

Galeorhinus

Cretaceous - North Carolina 

Paleocene- Morocco

Eocene- Belgium, Virginia 

Oligocene- Virginia 

Miocene- Australia, California (3 formations) 

Pleistocene- California 

 

Triakis

Eocene- Belgium, Virginia 

Miocene- California (2 formations) 

 

Mustelus

Eocene- UK

Miocene- Virginia, California (2 formations) 

 

Palaeogaleus

Cretaceous- Texas, the Netherlands 

Paleocene- Maryland 

 

Pachygaleus

Paleocene- Maryland 

 

Khouribgaleus

Eocene- Morocco

 

Palaeotriakis

Cretaceous- France 

 

Paratriakis

Cretaceous- France

 

Gomphogaleus

Eocene- Belgium 

 

A few TFF members contributed teeth to this display @Troodon, @siteseer, @Untitled, @sharkdoctor who also contributed matrix that put teeth in this display. We got the Hallencourt matrix from @Notidanodon

[LSCHNELLE]

Your welcome! I love those Ptychodus teeth. Quite a diverse collection from many different formations. Very cosmopolitan! I'd love to see a close up of your P. occidentalis and P. marginalis - two of my most favorite teeth from the Cenomanian and Turonian, respectively. From the Coniacian my fave is P. latissimus. But, I think I have already seen that one of yours up close. My Ptychodus finds are limited to Texas (ten species), Wyoming (P. anonymous and P. whipplei), and South Dakota (P. marginalis).

[Notidanodon]

Great stuff! Love  the triakidae display, very diverse  

[siteseer]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:38 PM, fossilsonwheels said:

Heterodontus display. Added a few new teeth and relabeled it. It’s a favorite shark of mine and I like the display. I got the Ozan and Kemp Clay labels mixed up though. 
 

Jurassic Paracestracion and Heterodontus teeth from Ringstead Bay UK

 

Cretaceous teeth from Russia, Ukraine, France, Colorado, 3 Texas formations. 
 

Paleocene Aquia teeth

 

Eocene teeth from Ukraine, Belgium, and two UK formations. 
 

Miocene teeth from formations in California, one Australian and one Tasmanian formation. 
 

Pliocene tooth from Chile. 

 

 

Just seeing this now...wow, interesting range of localities.  Always good to get a fin spine - tough find anywhere.  Nice display, Kurt.

 

Jess

[siteseer]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:24 PM, fossilsonwheels said:

Finally got the Ptychodus display put together. Tried to concentrate on some diversity in species and locations in the Western Interior Seaway. 
 

P. anonymous from Greenhorn Limestone in Kansas, Kamp Ranch & Arcadia Park Formations in Texas

 

P. atcoensis  Atco Formation Texas

 

P. decurrens Lake Waco Formation Texas

 

P. lattissimus  Niobrara Chalk Kansas

 

P. mammilaris Carlile Shale Kansas

 

P. marginalis  Fort Hayes Limestone Kansas

 

P. marginalis Inovokava Formation Russia

 

P. mortoni from Eutaw Formation ( AL and MS), Point Lookout New Mexico, Eagle Ford TX, Niobrara Chalk Kansas

 

P. occidentalis  Greenhorn Limestone South Dakota 

 

P. sp  Ukraine and Colorado 

 

P. whipplei Eagle Ford Texas and Greenhorn Limestone Kansas

 

I would like to thank @Troodon, @Anomotodon, @Ramo for contributing teeth to the display and @LSCHNELLE for ID help. 

 

Another great display but maybe take another shot of it because the labels are hard for me to read (or is it my eyes?).  Also, maybe in another thread, or this one, you might show some photos of individual teeth especially anything unusual.  I assume the P. decurrens teeth the oldest ones in the display.