Cretaceous shark teeth IDs #1

[bthemoose]

I recently acquired the Cretaceous shark teeth below from the estate of a Dallas, TX, collector. They were most likely collected in the North Texas area, but didn't come with specific location info. I'm hoping folks here can help confirm my IDs. The scale in the photos is in centimeters.

 

#1 - Leptostyrax macrorhiza - The tooth on its own in the second photo was in a separate batch from the same collector. It may be from the same place as the others or collected elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

#2 - Cretoxyrhina mantelli - I'm more confident on this ID for the top tooth in the first picture than for the other two. The third tooth on its own seems like the crown may be too narrow for C. mantelli.

 

 

 

 

 

#3 Paraisurus macrorhiza

 

 

 

#4 Serratolamna serrata

 

 

I also have a bunch of Squalicorax sp. teeth that I'll post in a separate thread. Thanks for looking!

[ThePhysicist]

I agree with all the id's. The third ginsu is indeed ginsu, I don't think it's too narrow. That Paraisurus is pretty rare. Nice pickups!

[Anomotodon]

#4 is not Serratolamna serrata, it is a Maastrichtian species. I believe these teeth are either Haimirichia amonensis or Odontaspididae indet.

[siteseer]

1 hour ago, Anomotodon said:

#4 is not Serratolamna serrata, it is a Maastrichtian species. I believe these teeth are either Haimirichia amonensis or Odontaspididae indet.

 

I agree with you.  When I saw the teeth identified as "Serratolamna serrata," I thought it was the species amonensis, which was once assigned to Carcharias and then to Serratolamna by some.

 

The last Leptostyrax tooth looks like it could be an intermediate in a dentition with anteriors more the size of the first tooth.  I also wonder if that's a Cretodus.

 

The Leptostyrax and Paraisurus teeth could have come from the same deposit.  That's a decent Paraisurus too, and yes, quite rare.  The teeth are most often found, when found at all, as just a crown and root with just the bases of the lobes - the lobes long since snapped off. 

 

The Cretoxyrhina teeth look too advanced and may be as young as Turonian in age.  The first tooth looks like it might be from a different site. 

 

The "Serratolamna" have the color and preservation of teeth I've seen from the old Amon Carter Field locality (Cenomanian age). 

 

Jess

[bthemoose]

3 hours ago, ThePhysicist said:

I agree with all the id's. The third ginsu is indeed ginsu, I don't think it's too narrow. That Paraisurus is pretty rare. Nice pickups!

Thanks! Good to know re: the C. mantelli. I just got a copy of The Collector's Guide to Fossil Sharks and Rays From the Cretaceous of Texas and the dentition image in that doesn't show anything as narrow (though obviously there's variation), so I wasn't sure. When I bought these I wasn't sure from the photos exactly what I was getting, but I saw a few interesting things and they were fairly inexpensive, so I went for it. The Paraisurus was a surprise!

 

2 hours ago, Anomotodon said:

#4 is not Serratolamna serrata, it is a Maastrichtian species. I believe these teeth are either Haimirichia amonensis or Odontaspididae indet.

Thank you! Here are some other smaller teeth from the collection that appear to be from the same area. Any idea what species these might be?

 

 

52 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

I agree with you.  When I saw the teeth identified as "Serratolamna serrata," I thought it was the species amonensis, which was once assigned to Carcharias and then to Serratolamna by some.

 

The last Leptostyrax tooth looks like it could be an intermediate in a dentition with anteriors more the size of the first tooth.  I also wonder if that's a Cretodus.

 

The Leptostyrax and Paraisurus teeth could have come from the same deposit.  That's a decent Paraisurus too, and yes, quite rare.  The teeth are most often found, when found at all, as just a crown and root with just the bases of the lobes - the lobes long since snapped off. 

 

The Cretoxyrhina teeth look too advanced and may be as young as Turonian in age.  The first tooth looks like it might be from a different site. 

 

The "Serratolamna" have the color and preservation of teeth I've seen from the old Amon Carter Field locality (Cenomanian age). 

 

Jess

Great info, thanks! Are there characteristics I might look for to resolve whether the last Leptostyrax is actually a Cretodus?

 

Really appreciate all the details on potential ages and possible localities. 

 

Here are a couple of photos of most of the teeth I acquired--they were in two separate groups/listings, but from the same collector and could very well include overlap in where they were found. Between this thread, this one, and this one, I've posted better photos of most of these for ID. The few I hadn't yet posted are teeth that I've identified (hopefully correctly) as Cretalamna appendiculata -- in the first photo surrounding the Squalicorax pristodontus and the bleached tooth just above the scale cube, and in the second photo along the bottom center/center-right -- as well as a few of the Squalicorax (though most are posted here) and the teeth in matrix in the second photo.

 

[siteseer]

Hi Bthemoose,

 

You need to give us a close-up of the both sides and a profile shot so we can see what's there.  I can't tell if it needs a little cleaning on the labial face or if it's just weathered.  Leptostyrax tends to have longer, more slender lateral cusplets.  It also has short, raised wrinkles (= folds) at the base of the crown on the labial face and sometimes on the lingual face.  As a rule, Cretodus has folds on both faces.  With a lot of teeth you have to weight combinations of characters to come to a most likely ID.  Thinking about it now, the tooth resembles one I've seen ID'ed as a Cretoxyrhina parasymphyseal though it seems big for that (unless it's from a larger-than-usual individual).

 

We would want a profile shot to see the size of the lingual protuberance of the root.

 

Jess

[bthemoose]

3 hours ago, siteseer said:

Hi Bthemoose,

 

You need to give us a close-up of the both sides and a profile shot so we can see what's there.  I can't tell if it needs a little cleaning on the labial face or if it's just weathered.  Leptostyrax tends to have longer, more slender lateral cusplets.  It also has short, raised wrinkles (= folds) at the base of the crown on the labial face and sometimes on the lingual face.  As a rule, Cretodus has folds on both faces.  With a lot of teeth you have to weight combinations of characters to come to a most likely ID.  Thinking about it now, the tooth resembles one I've seen ID'ed as a Cretoxyrhina parasymphyseal though it seems big for that (unless it's from a larger-than-usual individual).

 

We would want a profile shot to see the size of the lingual protuberance of the root.

 

Jess

Here are some additional views. It turned out there was some old adhesive stuck to the labial face, which I was able to peel off, so it looks a bit cleaner now! There are clear lingual folds. On the labial face, there are folds as well, which are more easily seen on the cusplets than on the main cusp. The lingual protuberance isn't particularly tall.

 

[siteseer]

That extra cusp is unusual.  I think it is a Cretodus and from the intermediate position.  It seems too big to be a symphyseal.

 

Jess