Apateodus in the New Jersey Cretaceous

[frankh8147]

Hello everyone,

 

For years I've been showing around three problematic teeth which I found in the New Jersey Cretaceous and we all have finally come to a consensus. We now believe these to be Apateodus palatine teeth.

 

These teeth are heavily fluted (like Xiphactinus) and have a deep, hollow base. The bases flares out towards the bottom and ha a wrinkly appearance. Mine measure from .6 - .8 inches long. They do resemble the more common Enchodus teeth besides the differences stated above.

 

I was NOT aware of these being in New Jersey so I just figured i would let everyone know what we came up with. Thanks to Dr. Earl Manning, Carl Mehling, Wayne Callahan, Steve B, MAPS, and everyone else who helped me to finally identify these! @non-remanié @Carl @Jeffrey P @Trevor

[hokietech96]

Very cool finds!  Great information.

[Trevor]

I have ~6 of those teeth. The classification of Apateodus palatine teeth is very interesting. I had previously classified them as Pachyrhizodus sp.

[Bob-ay]

Niice! very cool finds, love the NJ Cretaceous teeth

[frankh8147]

59 minutes ago, Trevor said:

I have ~6 of those teeth. The classification of Apateodus palatine teeth is very interesting. I had previously classified them as Pachyrhizodus sp.

 

Yeah, I have some Pachyrhizodus too that I need to re-classify (along with close to 1,000 enchodus teeth in a bin I need to go through to in hopes of coming up with another).

 

Most of my Pachyrhizodus teeth still look good for the species though. As for the others in the bins - I'll get them sorted out - someday! I'll be the first to say, this is a pretty inconvenient identification haha! I'm willing to bet there are more of these labeled as Enchodus in New Jersey collections.

[The Jersey Devil]

Thanks for the work Frank!

 

I actually ran into the same problem with a tooth I posted a while back (on the thread below). Apparently I even gave a description of Enchodus vs Xiphactinus and not surprisingly thought it was something odd or pathological. I think I’ve seen that tooth form somewhere before in my collection.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/94713-several-nj-cretaceous-non-shark-pathologies/

[frankh8147]

Yep! On your third tooth down you can see the fluting on it. That's one.

[frankh8147]

Also, as with @The Jersey Devil tooth, we do think there are probably more of these in New Jersey collections so feel free to send pictures if you think you might have one.

 

I'd personally be very interested to see how wide-spread these are in New Jersey.

 

Cheers!

Frank H.

[Carl]

Ahhhh... At last!