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Peace River Ids


TourmalineGuy

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Okay, so these I found a few weeks ago before water levels rose at the Peace River, making digging difficult. Please take a shot at them, they've left me stumped.

Miocene Marine and Pleistocene-->Present Terrestial

#1: This fossil is hollow in the interior and appears to have wrapped around another bone. Of particular interest is that on both ends are some distinct scratch, bite, or chew marks. The closeup shows that the scrapes from the chewing left ridges. The marks cover both ends profusely, but not the center, which made me think they may be from a small animal scavenging this unfortunate fellow.

post-2423-12615220181921_thumb.jpg

#2: This is a small bone!

post-2423-12615222568928_thumb.jpg

#3: At first I thought it was just a tiny alligator tooth, but for the flattened end. Maybe a fish or a different reptile? Anyone seen a tooth quite like this?

post-2423-12615223324846_thumb.jpg

#4: I'm pretty sure this is reptile. It has a leaf-life, widening at the tip which is quite interesting.

post-2423-12615224564497_thumb.jpg

#5: Here's an unknown sharks tooth, Carcharhinus. The compound serrations are the best I have on any of my teeth and I wondered if that was a clue to its identification.

post-2423-12615225572309_thumb.jpg

#6: No clue on this one, strange curled shape to it. Its definitely bone.

post-2423-12615226286865_thumb.jpg

Thanks so much, in advance for the help identifying all these crazy things.

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#4 looks like a sawfish rostral tooth?

#5 has serrations that remind me of Paleocarcharodon.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Thanks guys for the leads!

I can definitely see a resemblance of #4 to a rostral tooth from a sawfish.

Edit: Paleocarcharodon is eocene (at least from what I can find) which doesn't fit.

I think you're right, brock, about the arti astragalus. It really looks like a fragment of one to me. I didn't even think along those lines for some reason. Thanks!

Thanks again! Anyone know what might have chewed on #1?

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i dont think #1 is fossilized...and i think it has rodent bite marks on it.

" We're all puppets, I'm just a puppet who can see the strings. "

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Guest Smilodon

Oh, just call me crazy, but I'm guessing #1 might be a partial frog radioulna. Google image that phrase, and look at the first image that comes up. :geek:

My best guess, however, is "I don't know."

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Okay, so these I found a few weeks ago before water levels rose at the Peace River, making digging difficult. Please take a shot at them, they've left me stumped.

Miocene Marine and Pleistocene-->Present Terrestial

#4: I'm pretty sure this is reptile. It has a leaf-life, widening at the tip which is quite interesting.

post-2423-12615224564497_thumb.jpg

#5: Here's an unknown sharks tooth, Carcharhinus. The compound serrations are the best I have on any of my teeth and I wondered if that was a clue to its identification.

post-2423-12615225572309_thumb.jpg

I think #4 is some kind of bony fish. It looks like it was broken at or near its base. It's not a sawfish rostral. It superficially resembles Cretaceous sawfish rostral but those forms did not survive into the Cenozoic.

Specimen #5 looks like a Carcharhinus leucas (modern bull shark) upper tooth. I vaguely recall someone saying that bulls can bear compound serrations but it is not a diagnostic character of the species. Compound serrations tend to occur in sharks with teeth that are large enough to have large serrations (large enough to have serrations of their own), but even then, not many shark species have been seen with them (not a character of Carcharocles megalodon, for instance). The modern tiger shark has compound serrations.

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i dont think #1 is fossilized...and i think it has rodent bite marks on it.

Edd,

I'm not 100% sure its fossilized either, so it probably isn't. It does have a somewhat glassy sound when knocked...

Thanks for the advice with rodent bite marks. I found a similar image: 2863076367_2490267acd_o.jpg

These bite marks are nearly identical, so thanks again.

Oh, just call me crazy, but I'm guessing #1 might be a partial frog radioulna. Google image that phrase, and look at the first image that comes up. :geek:

My best guess, however, is "I don't know."

Smilodon,

Isn't it rather large for a frog radioulna? Not that I've ever seen a frog radioulna and recognized it as such :blush:.

I think #4 is some kind of bony fish. It looks like it was broken at or near its base. It's not a sawfish rostral. It superficially resembles Cretaceous sawfish rostral but those forms did not survive into the Cenozoic.

Specimen #5 looks like a Carcharhinus leucas (modern bull shark) upper tooth. I vaguely recall someone saying that bulls can bear compound serrations but it is not a diagnostic character of the species. Compound serrations tend to occur in sharks with teeth that are large enough to have large serrations (large enough to have serrations of their own), but even then, not many shark species have been seen with them (not a character of Carcharocles megalodon, for instance). The modern tiger shark has compound serrations.

siteseer,

I'll take a look at some bony fish teeth :D .

As for the shark tooth, I originally thought it was C. Leucas, but the serrations were what stopped me short from labeling it. Thanks for the information about compound serrations, my attempts to research them with the internet have mostly turned up blank.

Thanks again everyone!

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Those are really nice finds, great job!

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory.

Alfred North Whithead

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!'

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Okay, so these I found a few weeks ago before water levels rose at the Peace River, making digging difficult. Please take a shot at them, they've left me stumped.

Miocene Marine and Pleistocene-->Present Terrestial

#1: This fossil is hollow in the interior and appears to have wrapped around another bone. Of particular interest is that on both ends are some distinct scratch, bite, or chew marks. The closeup shows that the scrapes from the chewing left ridges. The marks cover both ends profusely, but not the center, which made me think they may be from a small animal scavenging this unfortunate fellow.

post-2423-12615220181921_thumb.jpg

#2: This is a small bone!

post-2423-12615222568928_thumb.jpg

#3: At first I thought it was just a tiny alligator tooth, but for the flattened end. Maybe a fish or a different reptile? Anyone seen a tooth quite like this?

post-2423-12615223324846_thumb.jpg

#4: I'm pretty sure this is reptile. It has a leaf-life, widening at the tip which is quite interesting.

post-2423-12615224564497_thumb.jpg

#5: Here's an unknown sharks tooth, Carcharhinus. The compound serrations are the best I have on any of my teeth and I wondered if that was a clue to its identification.

post-2423-12615225572309_thumb.jpg

#6: No clue on this one, strange curled shape to it. Its definitely bone.

post-2423-12615226286865_thumb.jpg

Thanks so much, in advance for the help identifying all these crazy things.

Can you give us a shot of the base of number4 it would help

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Albert Einstein

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Thanks tracer,

I'll try to do some comparisons on some turtle ulnae.

ozzy,

I'll get some pictures...in a couple days.

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