daveinoxford Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 (edited) Complete newbie. This may not even be a tooth. But there’s been some building work near us (Oxford, UK) and diggers have unearthed lots of unusual rocks. We’ve found plenty of belemnites and now this. Any ideas? Edited December 11, 2020 by daveinoxford Added size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Icthyosaur tooth! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 Yes, I would say ichthyosaur as well. Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinoxford Posted December 11, 2020 Author Share Posted December 11, 2020 Thanks for the quick replies. That’s pretty exciting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulgdls Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 I say tip of a pliosaur tooth. Some of the images show a couple of ridges reaching the apex. Was this from the Oxford Clay? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 I concur with @paulgdls. The enamel on this looks much more like that or a pliosaur than that of an ichthyosaur. The conservation reminds me of the teeth typically assigned to Liopleurodon sp. found at Wicklesham Pit in Faringdon, though those finds derive from the Kimmeridge Clay from which they have been reworked into Albian (Cretaceous) deposits... All the same, compare with the tooth in this thread: 2 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GABRIEL.P Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 It seems to be a croc tooth. Maybe Dakosaurus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Just to add that for an ichthyosaur tooth I'd either expect the tooth to be entirely smooth as in a minority of species, or observe at least some remnants of the enamel folds that so typical for this clade of marine reptiles. If the tooth were from a crocodile, on the other hand, I would expect to see carinae - at least one, considering the size of the fragment - and either a lot of very fine striations, or an entirely smooth surface. Instead, I'm seeing a rugose enamel without folds, but with a couple of fine striations, which is a much closer match for plesiosaurian teeth, and pliosaurs in particular. Though Madzia's 2016 article "A reappraisal of Polyptychodon (Plesiosauria) from the Cretaceous of England" declares that genus a waste-bucket taxon, the figures provided should prove very informative for comparative purposes: Figure 7 from Madzia 2016. Note the vermicular striae between the adjacent apicobasal ridges. Enlarged and colour-enhanced version of OP's tooth. 2 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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