Late Miocene Tooth

[Shellseeker]

I was sorting thru a box of old fossils that came from a site rich in late Miocene fossils.  In Florida that means miocene fauna, and everything that comes later. That is not a guarantee, more of a likelihood. I did not initially pay a lot of attention to this find because it did not seem to be one of my favorites.

Let me explain.  I like the small horse teeth from the late Miocene.  One of the smallest is Nannippus peninsulatus, like this lower jaw m3. It has a Hypsodont (long crown) type of tooth.

 

Here is my find for Identification. Ignore the "Sm Horse" designation, that was my initial guess. This tooth is a Brachydont form, more common for Artiodactyls ( Artiodactyla, or cloven-hooved mammals, include such familiar animals as sheep, goats, camels, pigs, cows, deer, giraffes, and antelopes). 

This is a very small tooth, but the surface is well worn so I start off thinking adult. This tooth size is in the range of small horse, but the crown and roots are wrong.

All suggestions, comments, and input are greatly appreciated. 

 

 

 

[Shellseeker]

Whenever I post a fossil for identification, I usually work on the internet to find the answer.  My search was "Florida Artiodactyl premolar fossil"  and I found this TFF link:

Thank @Harry Pristis for his fantastic pictures... Not the 1st time that Harry has identified one of my finds, by his valuable posting in TFF gallerys. Here is my fossil, again, an Odocoileus virginianus p4.

[digit]

That is one of the indirect powers of the conversations built-up over the years here on the forum.

 

Not only do active conversations disseminate fossil knowledge to those reading the topic but those conversations (and imagery) are archived here on TFF and indexed by the major search engines. I have often done a search trying to pull up an example image to demonstrate a point while posting a reply here on the forum only to be led straight back to the forum's archives. It seems the forum has grown large enough to have developed its own gravitational field.

 

We see a steady stream of new (often short term) members visiting the forum to understand an interesting rock they've found. Many go away having had their question quickly answered and their curiosity satisfied. Some get hooked and stick around to learn more while some refuse to believe that their concretions are not dinosaur eggs or their pointy rocks are not T-Rex teeth despite logic and reasoning and have to go elsewhere to seek confirmation for their preconceived notions. Even conversations about the identification of "non fossils" can be informative which is why (as a group) we seek to enlighten those who are new to fossils with some useful information. We'll probably never know how many novice questions are answered "passively" by folks doing internet searches and seeing similar questions answered here.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken