Show us your rarest sharks tooth

[fossilsonwheels]

Scymnodon sp

Miocene

Greta Formation 

New Zealand 

 

I researched this tooth quite a bit and feel fairly confident in the ID but I’m no expert. The best match I could find was the upper anterior teeth from extant Scymnodon species. Pretty rare in the fossil record I think. 

[siteseer]

On 7/27/2021 at 10:35 PM, ThePhysicist said:

Welton and Farish say that Paraisurus does not have cusplets. This looks like a symphyseal from Cretolamna or maybe Cretoxyrhina - still a nice tooth!

 

I think it might be too big to be a symphyseal and it's with it missing the tip.  It may be that third upper anterior of the early Cretoxyrhina which is a smaller tooth relative to the anteriors in front of it.  In the Albian, Cretoxyrhina teeth still had lateral cusplets and with some variation in size.

 

Jess 

[ThePhysicist]

2 hours ago, siteseer said:

 

I think it might be too big to be a symphyseal and it's with it missing the tip.  It may be that third upper anterior of the early Cretoxyrhina which is a smaller tooth relative to the anteriors in front of it.  In the Albian, Cretoxyrhina teeth still had lateral cusplets and with some variation in size.

 

Jess 

I've seen some similarly-sized ginsu symphyseals:

^Shimada (1997)

^http://oceansofkansas.com/sharks/Kansas/cr-man8.jpg

^my collection

 

I looked at a couple of dentitions, and I think I lean towards spymphyseal rather than the smaller "intermediate" tooth based on the strong asymmetry of the root.  

[siteseer]

11 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

I've seen some similarly-sized ginsu symphyseals:

^Shimada (1997)

^http://oceansofkansas.com/sharks/Kansas/cr-man8.jpg

^my collection

 

I looked at a couple of dentitions, and I think I lean towards symphyseal rather than the smaller "intermediate" tooth based on the strong asymmetry of the root.  

 

I'm still leaning more third anterior because the root lobes seem too spread out to be a symphyseal.  That specimen A in the Shimada figure is quite large and wide for a symphyseal.  The shape is variable, though - tough to be sure.

 

Jess

[Notidanodon]

On 8/1/2021 at 8:37 PM, fossilsonwheels said:

Scymnodon sp

Miocene

Greta Formation 

New Zealand 

 

I researched this tooth quite a bit and feel fairly confident in the ID but I’m no expert. The best match I could find was the upper anterior teeth from extant Scymnodon species. Pretty rare in the fossil record I think. 

glad you could figure out an ID on that one!  ill label my one the same then

[randyrn72]

Ok guys.... don't laugh!    This is rare to me, even though it's not in that great of condition  (an not very rare to most).  I have several megladon teeth, but this is the largest.

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by randyrn72

[siteseer]

Here's a very rare juvenile C. megalodon from the Sharktooth Hill Bonebed, Bakersfield, California.  It was collected in the 70's or 80's by legendary collector/preparator, Bill Hawes.  It measures 1 1/2 inches or about 37mm.

 

 

[eddie]

Huge Chilean P. Benedeni.   Would have been very close to 3" without the tip wear.  From what I've been told, these Chilean benedeni's are very rare.

[Notidanodon]

Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Piacenzian  3,6mya

Castelnuovo Berardenga Scalo, Asciano, Siena, Italy 

[fossilsonwheels]

22 minutes ago, will stevenson said:

Dalatias licha (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Piacenzian  3,6mya

Castelnuovo Berardenga Scalo, Asciano, Siena, Italy 

Fantastic tooth Will. Great location as well. Congrats!!!

[Notidanodon]

13 minutes ago, fossilsonwheels said:

Fantastic tooth Will. Great location as well. Congrats!!!

Thanks so much  I love the serrations and the blue tint, it’s not complete but I love it 

[siteseer]

Maybe 20-25 years ago, Fossilselachian sent me a sample of some teeth he obtained from the late Cretaceous of South Dakota (maybe Cenomanian or Turonian).  Among them was this one which was considered Cretolamna at the time but looks more like a Cardabiodon to 21st century eyes.  It's right at or a hair under 1 1/16 inches (27mm).  It might be from one of the members of the Carlile Shale.  One odd thing about its preservation is that there's a light pyrite coating on it.

 

Don't tell Fossilselachian I think it's a Cardabiodon.  He might want it back.  Keep it quiet.

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by siteseer

[ThePhysicist]

On 1/16/2021 at 6:18 PM, ThePhysicist said:

I'll throw one more in. It's one of very few that I've seen, even rarer in the Western hemisphere. 

 

Cardabiodontid shark

Dwardius woodwardi

Late Cretaceous

Post Oak Creek, Sherman, TX

Lower (?) anterior

33 mm

I had suspicions about this tooth, and after communications with Dr. Siversson (who erected the genus), he confirmed it to be a large Cretalamna anterior. The Welton and Farish "Cretolamna woodwardi" teeth are discussed in Siversson et al. (2015), and are Cretalamna as well. 

[Mike from North Queensland]

I will throw another Johnlongia sp tooth in from Richmond central Queensland Australia Toolebuc Formation.

This site is from memory the oldest occurrence know for this species.

Awaiting a publication for a full name and scientific description but hopefully soon.

 

[MikaelS]

On 3/4/2022 at 10:01 AM, siteseer said:

Maybe 20-25 years ago, Fossilselachian sent me a sample of some teeth he obtained from the late Cretaceous of South Dakota (maybe Cenomanian or Turonian).  Among them was this one which was considered Cretolamna at the time but looks more like a Cardabiodon to 21st century eyes.  It's right at or a hair under 1 1/16 inches (27mm).  It might be from one of the members of the Carlile Shale.  One odd thing about its preservation is that there's a light pyrite coating on it.

 

Don't tell Fossilselachian I think it's a Cardabiodon.  He might want it back.  Keep it quiet.

 

Cardabiodon and most likely C. venator.

[Styles]

From a global perspective this is not rare at all, but in the western interior seaway it’s my understanding that only 33 single specimens have been documented according to Shawn Hamms paper (and i’ve seen 1 or 2 additional in the facebook groups). The condition on this is also spectacular. Ptychodus Latissimus found just north of Dallas near the eagle ford / austin chalk contact. 

[siteseer]

On 3/25/2022 at 1:56 AM, MikaelS said:

Cardabiodon and most likely C. venator.

 

Thank you.

[jcbshark]

Not particularly rare from some locales but I'm the only guy I know from Southwest  Florida who has found a Benedini

 

[SawTooth]

This P. Benedini was found in south Carolina. It's not very large compared to others I've seen,only about 2 cm long, but besides the corner damage the condition is fantastic!

[siteseer]

Here's a species I wanted for years and then found a collector who had one to trade.  It's Sphenodus lundgreni, one of the largest sharks of the Early Paleocene (the first few million years after the end-Cretaceous extinction that negatively affected many groups of organisms, sharks included).  Sphenodus is a genus (extinct order, Synechodontiformes) that appeared during the Jurassic and died out by the end of the Paleocene.  At a glance a Sphenodus tooth looks sort of like a modern lemon shark tooth but the crown doesn't extend laterally to the root extremities and the root lobes curve basally rather than perpendicularly to the crown and there's more of a flattened basal attachment surface so it's weird looking at it from a basal or profile view if you're used to collecting Neogene shark teeth.  You can see folds of the crown on the labial face extend into grooves in the root so that's weird too.

 

This tooth was collected at an Early Paleocene site near Volgograd, Russia.  It has a crown height of 25mm and a slant height oaf 36mm.  The root seems more fragile than many other sharks so it is usually damaged.  You try waiting for a perfect one of these especially at this size for years if you want to.  I thought this was a great specimen and didn't hesitate to make the deal.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by siteseer

[Notidanodon]

On 4/26/2022 at 7:59 AM, siteseer said:

Here's a species I wanted for years and then found a collector who had one to trade.  It's Sphenodus lundgreni, one of the largest sharks of the Early Paleocene (the first few million years after the end-Cretaceous extinction that negatively affected many groups of organisms, sharks included).  Sphenodus is a genus (extinct order, Synechodontiformes) that appeared during the Jurassic and died out by the end of the Paleocene.  At a glance a Sphenodus tooth looks sort of like a modern lemon shark tooth but the crown doesn't extend laterally to the root extremities and the root lobes curve basally rather than perpendicularly to the crown and there's more of a flattened basal attachment surface so it's weird looking at it from a basal or profile view if you're used to collecting Neogene shark teeth.  You can see folds of the crown on the labial face extend into grooves in the root so that's weird too.

 

This tooth was collected at an Early Paleocene site near Volgograd, Russia.  It has a crown height of 25mm and a slant height oaf 36mm.  The root seems more fragile than many other sharks so it is usually damaged.  You try waiting for a perfect one of these especially at this size for years if you want to.  I thought this was a great specimen and didn't hesitate to make the deal.

 

 

Great specimen! I’d never seen a palaeocene one before,

here is my sphenodus longidens from buttenheim

[siteseer]

Hi Will,

 

That's a beautiful specimen.  I know how rare that is in that condition.  I have a few broken ones from trades long ago and I'm happy to have those.

 

Jess

[fossilselachian]

A mini bene and a mini meg. A very active member on this forum should recognize the meg!

[Notidanodon]

4 hours ago, siteseer said:

Hi Will,

 

That's a beautiful specimen.  I know how rare that is in that condition.  I have a few broken ones from trades long ago and I'm happy to have those.

 

Jess

Thanks Jess! I was really lucky to acquire it about a year ago, it certainly is a great specimen  

[siteseer]

On 3/28/2022 at 4:53 AM, Styles said:

From a global perspective this is not rare at all, but in the western interior seaway it’s my understanding that only 33 single specimens have been documented according to Shawn Hamms paper (and i’ve seen 1 or 2 additional in the facebook groups). The condition on this is also spectacular. Ptychodus Latissimus found just north of Dallas near the eagle ford / austin chalk contact. 

 

I'm not sure about that.  Welton and Farish (1993) noted that P. latissimus is common in Texas.  I saw a number of specimens at the 1994 or 1995 MAPS EXPO found by the late Ken Smith.

 

Welton, B. and R. Farish.  1993.

The Collector's Guide to Fossil Sharks and Rays from the Cretaceous of Texas. Before Time, Texas. 204 pp.