minnbuckeye Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 The colder days of late has allowed me to work on the Burlington matrix that I brought home this summer. It has revealed some real treasures, at least for me. But I am stymied on a few finds and look for some opinions of forum members. 1. A few questions on the first piece. My goal was to clean up a large piece of ??? Shark spine? While cleaning, two teeth were uncovered. Here is the "backside" tooth. Now the "front side" tooth Initially just the tip of the tooth was showing, but as I progressed with cleaning, this "moustache" was exposed with the tooth at the very tip. I am very curious to understand this as well as what the long linear specimen is above it. 2. Looks like a trilobite eye but I will venture some type of shark tooth?? 3. The matrix where these specimens were found is white. So any time a dark spot is seen, a fossil exists, at least most of the time. Here is a dark item I assumed when I started its exposure was a tooth of some kind. But I concluded, just a "rock". After seeing it sit on the workbench for a few days, I kept thinking about the LACK of any matrix that wasn't white. So my thoughts went to the possibility of a coprolite. I will tag @GeschWhat for her opinion too. 4. Open to suggestions on this SMALL tubular structure. 5. I couldn't find a confident ID on this tooth. 6. Again, I have no clue on this one. It looks like Mickey Mouse ears, but I can't believe it since this was no where near Disneyland! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misha Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 I am not sure about any of the IDs but those are some very nice finds! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidgy's Dad Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Life's Good! Tortoise Friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daves64 Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 +1 Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 I have no experience with any of these teeth, but a little browsing keeps bringing me to the Mississippian shark Helodus, especially for tooth #2. A couple of relevant forum posts are here and here. 3 Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elasmohunter Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Your friendly neighborhood Mississippian shark nerd here. Here are my assessments! 1. This looks to me like a Cladodus sp. tooth because of the prominent central cusp and its continuous curve backwards. If the cusp were S-shaped, or sigmoidal, then it would probably be Stethacanthus sp. The long, linear specimen is probably a chondrichthyan spine. The moustache-shaped tooth is another Cladodus sp. tooth on account of its lateral cusplets and strong indentation at the base of the central cusp. The central cusp (if intact) is currently buried within the matrix and may be able to be revealed if you continue prepping it. That's an *excellent* find. 2. This little guy is likely Helodus sp. 3. I agree that it's probably a coprolite. 4. No idea; the image is too small for me to ID it. 5. Venustodus sp. 6. The image isn't focused enough for me to ID it. Nice finds! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted December 15, 2020 Author Share Posted December 15, 2020 @Elasmohunter, THANKS for responding. I thought you either developed covid or fell off the edge of the earth!! Glad neither happened. Reality is, I hated to bother you. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elasmohunter Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Glad to help! And no worries. I started a new job recently and have been a little busier than normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 On 12/15/2020 at 9:51 AM, minnbuckeye said: 3. The matrix where these specimens were found is white. So any time a dark spot is seen, a fossil exists, at least most of the time. Here is a dark item I assumed when I started its exposure was a tooth of some kind. But I concluded, just a "rock". After seeing it sit on the workbench for a few days, I kept thinking about the LACK of any matrix that wasn't white. So my thoughts went to the possibility of a coprolite. I will tag @GeschWhat for her opinion too. Photo is too small to tell for sure, but the shape is right. I'm not familiar with poop from that formation. 1 Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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