Plant Eater Teeth. Judith River Montana. Triceratops, Hadrosaur, Ankylosaurus maybe?

[CEP]

I found a bunch of these teeth on the Judith River Formation yesterday and not sure of the identification. Based on google searches they appear to be (from left to right) triceratops, ankylosaurus, and Hadrosaur. The one on the left is about 3/4" as a reference. Any direction would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

 

 

[jpc]

the first one is a gar scale... Lepisosteus.  I think you got the other two, though.   

[CEP]

22 minutes ago, jpc said:

the first one is a gar scale... Lepisosteus.  I think you got the other two, though.   

yeah, never thought of that. looked so much like tooth enamel. Thanks. 

[BellamyBlake]

Agreed on the middle and right. No idea on the first; @jpc may well be on the money

[Huntonia]

Nice finds! Dinosaurs aren't my area but I'd agree with ankylosaurus and hadrosaur. 66% correct isn't bad for Google search IDs  

I would suggest you pick up some literature on the local fauna, it could be very useful and informative. Be sure to post what else you find out there!

[RuMert]

Great finds for one trip

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

5 hours ago, jpc said:

the first one is a gar scale... Lepisosteus.  I think you got the other two, though.   

I fully agree with jpc on this, though must admit that I hadn't originally spotted the "impersonator in their midst" - mostly because the details come out a bit dark on my screen. However, after jpc's comment, I took a better look, and indeed, a gar scale it is. The last one is clearly a hardosaur tooth, while the middle one can potentially be a bit tricky, seeing as both Thyreophora and pachycephalosaurids have rather similar leaf-shaped teeth with striations. The specific morphology of this specimen, however, as well as the apparent absence of Stegosauria and Pachycephalosauria in the Judith River Formation would point towards ankylosaur

[Troodon]

Ankylosaurus is a species only known from the Hell Creek Fm not JRF.  Can you post a brighter photo of the middle tooth

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

According to Wikipedia Zuul crurivastator and the dubious ankylosaur Paleoscincus costatus are both from the JRF. Then again, that's Wikipedia, as well as me applying the term "ankylosaurus" in sensu lato, i.e. as meaning ankylosaurid. Which is how I interpret OP's identifications - seeing as I'm not quite sure whether you can pin a ceratopsian tooth to Triceratops sp. specifically. Nor do I think "Hadrosaur" was a miss-spelling of Hadrosaurus.

 

But I think it's good to point out that care should be taken in whether a clause or genus is referred to, and that both have different ways to distinguish them...

[CEP]

@troodon, it could be a pachy, this was found within a half mile of where my friend @patrickhudson found that pachy dome you helped identify earlier this year. 

 

[Troodon]

Its definitely a Nodosaurid tooth.   None are described from the JRF

[CEP]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

Its definitely a Nodosaurid tooth.   None are described from the JRF

The Zuul cruivastator that was found about 40 miles down river from where we were looking.  That area is still considered in the Judith River Formation. Nodosaur and Ankylosaur, that would all be the same family correct and probably have the same teeth or can they be defined from one another?

[Troodon]

No Zuul is an Ankylosauridae they both are part of the clad or order Ankylosauria.   Nodosaurs belong to the Nodosauridae family.  Their teeth are very different 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

1 hour ago, CEP said:

The Zuul cruivastator that was found about 40 miles down river from where we were looking.  That area is still considered in the Judith River Formation. Nodosaur and Ankylosaur, that would all be the same family correct and probably have the same teeth or can they be defined from one another?

Though both are part of the Ankylosauria-clade, Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridea are different families within the grouping. Still, there is a certain affiliation between the two, and seeing as the high degree of similarity in dental morphology within Thyreophora in general, I suspect they might indeed be very similar for the non-initiated. I, too, wonder how this can be declared with such certainty to be a nodosaurid, rather than ankylosaurid, tooth. I mean, if this is indeed a nodosaur tooth, then I'd say this would be a pretty significant find for the formation...

[Troodon]

 

[CEP]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

No Zuul is an Ankylosauridae they both are part of the clad or order Ankylosauria.   Nodosaurs belong to the Nodosauridae family.  Their teeth are very different 

Thanks for that, I will read up on it. So if Nodosaur were never found in Judith River how would it have ended up here? I found it in a dense shell layer maybe from a tsunami or something. is it possible it came from another formation and was deposited here? I have no idea. 

[Troodon]

Nodosaurid exist in the JRF but they have not been described 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

35 minutes ago, CEP said:

Thanks for that, I will read up on it. So if Nodosaur were never found in Judith River how would it have ended up here? I found it in a dense shell layer maybe from a tsunami or something. is it possible it came from another formation and was deposited here? I have no idea. 

Well, I'd say the simplest solution is the most likely: nobody has found a nodosaur there up till now, but now you have. That's the great thing about science. New things keep being discovered all the time...!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Sounds like an interesting thread, @Troodon, but unfortunately I'm getting an error telling me that the page can either not be found or doesn't exist... Any idea why this might be happening? Can't find tbe post when searching either...

[Troodon]

4 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Sounds like an interesting thread, @Troodon, but unfortunately I'm getting an error telling me that the page can either not be found or doesn't exist... Any idea why this might be happening? Can't find tbe post when searching either...

No idea  @Fossildude19  Tim might help

[Troodon]

I have a number of Nodosaur teeth from the JRF they are common and can be identified as an "indeterminate Nodosaurid" or

"cf Edmontonia"   The later means the teeth are similar to those of the genus Edmontonia and wait till we have enough scientific material for it to be scientifically described 

[CEP]

20 minutes ago, Troodon said:

No idea  @Fossildude19  Tim might help

I did too, I just searched the topic title and found it. 

[Fossildude19]

Wow. You guys are quick. 

@Troodon -  the link was to the topic, but the edit page.   

 

Here is the correct link, for posterity. Changed it in original post, as well. 

 

 

[Troodon]

22 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Wow. You guys are quick. 

@Troodon -  the link was to the topic, but the edit page.   

 

Here is the correct link, for posterity. Changed it in original post, as well. 

Oops Thanks