Green mill run mosasaur or crocodile?

[stellabear]

Hi again. I have another one for you. I think I could tell if it wasn't broken! Found in green mill run. It is 1.5 inches or 3.8 cm. There is a definite ridge on one side. I tried to get a good picture of its location, the cavity seems slightly oval. Thank you again! I really appreciate you all teaching and helping me!

[will stevenson]

Can’t really help with this one but if there is a ridge (I think it’s called a carina but please correct me) I would definitely lean towards croc

[stellabear]

@will stevenson I think it is a crocodile also based on what @Al Dente told me the last time when it was determined to be a mosasaur. But with inside the curve part being broken I am doubting myself also I think carina is the correct term! Thanks!

[gigantoraptor]

I think this is Coral and not a tooth.

[will stevenson]

26 minutes ago, gigantoraptor said:

I think this is Coral and not a tooth.

i thought it looked like that from the outside as well but ive never seen corals have a hollow inside and i also havent seen a coral from GMR (not to say there arent)

[digit]

The striations on the outside would potentially suggest a horn coral if it came from a place where these were prevalent but the interior conical surface and the texture through the cracked surface are much more indicative of a tooth. Would be much easier in Florida as you only have gators and crocs to choose from (and then fossil or modern if the former). Our crocodilian teeth from Florida are pretty easy to distinguish as gator teeth have two prominent carina (ridges) on opposite sides of the tooth than make it look as if it was formed in a two-part mold. Crocodile teeth tend to me much more rare (in Florida) and are usually slimmer and more elongate with many ridges along the tooth from the tip to the base.

 

In a location where you have Cretaceous age fossils you have to allow for mosasaurs as well and that is outside my (current) bailiwick so I'll defer to @sixgill pete or @Al Dente on this.  The curvature and ridges do suggest mosasaur over crocodilian in my limited knowledge of mosasaur teeth based on what I've seen here on the forum from places like Texas and Morocco.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ThePhysicist]

I agree with @digit, not coral. The base is definitely reptilian. Man that is a really worn tooth. It looks too round and conical to be mosasaur in my opinion. I don't think the curvature precludes the possibility of it being crocodilian. 

[Troodon]

I dont think its a tooth

[jpc]

The external surface looks like a horn coral.  But hollow like that... I don't know.  I also don't think it is a tooth.  

[Al Dente]

Deinosuchus teeth will break like this leaving a cone intact on the inside. Sometimes you can find just the inner cones. I’m not sure if mosasaur teeth will do that. I’ll have to look through my collection and see.

[Al Dente]

Here are some examples of very worn Deinosuchus teeth that I have collected. The one in the upper right has most of the enamel eroded away showing some septa-like grooves remain after the enamel is gone. The upper left is an internal cone from a Deinosuchus tooth. The lower two have broken in a way that shows an internal cone. I was able to find a mosasaur tooth (Maastrichtian) in my collection that broke in a way that exposed a similar cone.