Shark tooth from late Miocene New Zealand

[mamlambo]

Hi All

 

I found my largest shark tooth this past weekend here in New Zealand. I thought it was a Great White at first but a few people have thought it might be a transitional one. I was wondering if one of the shark tooth experts could have a look and let me know their thought 

Here is a bit of video of it as well: https://youtu.be/U-i8W2aOtLE?t=373

Thanks!
 

 

 

[mamlambo]

Some more pictures. It's from the Greta Siltstone area but could also be from one of the younger layers in the area that washed down to this area. So Late Miocene to Pliocene if I understand it correctly.

 

[Al Dente]

2 hours ago, mamlambo said:

I found my largest shark tooth this past weekend here in New Zealand. I thought it was a Great White at first but a few people have thought it might be a transitional one. I was wondering if one of the shark tooth experts could have a look and let me know their thought 

Nice find. It does look like an early transitional Great White. Here’s a similar one from the Elasmo.com website.

 

 

[mamlambo]

Thanks @Al Dente ! That photo does look very similar to the one I found.

[RuMert]

Very nice, I saw it on your channel. Would leave it in the matrix, looks great as such

[Fossildude19]

I too, saw your video.  

So glad you were able to find this. I know you've been looking for a while. 

I think it's cool how it can still reside in the matrix when you are not looking at it up close. 

I think that was a good choice.  

[siteseer]

10 hours ago, mamlambo said:

Thanks @Al Dente ! That photo does look very similar to the one I found.

 

I agree with Al Dente.  When I first saw your question about whether your tooth could be the transitional form, I figured it was going to be just another worn great white, but no, that tooth does show the weak serrations (or crenulations) that you seen in some Early Pliocene teeth at California and Peru sites.  I don't think I've seen a tooth like that from New Zealand before.

[BellamyBlake]

It looks transitional to me. Congrats!

[mamlambo]

Thanks @siteseer , I emailed the paleontologist that wrote a paper on the hubbelli and he confirmed it is indeed one. The area I found it in has been dated at around 2.5myo, not sure if that is in the time period the C. hubbelli has been found?

[mamlambo]

@Boesse I thought you might have some experience with transitional Carcharadon teeth, does this look like something you have encountered before? 

[mamlambo]

I did a bit more reading on the area I found and it is thought to be about 2.5myo but there are some suggestion that some of the rock could be reworked from older formations.

[Al Dente]

4 hours ago, mamlambo said:

I did a bit more reading on the area I found and it is thought to be about 2.5myo but there are some suggestion that some of the rock could be reworked from older formations.

Older formation is more likely. Here in North Carolina we find Great Whites that look like modern Great Whites in sediment that are considered to be around 3.6 million years old.

[Boesse]

Nice find! Carcharodon hubbelli is entirely latest Miocene, some 7-6 million years - which on the mid-Atlantic coast, is not really represented by rocks: in Calvert Cliffs, this is post-Eastover, and at the Lee Creek Mine, is the erosional surface between the Pungo River Limestone and Yorktown formation. The Yorktown tells us something different from the Pacific: Carcharodon hastalis teeth are found in the lower members, and fully serrated Carcharodon carcharias teeth are found in the upper members dating to the late Pliocene. This suggests that, in the North Atlantic, the erosional gap between members of the Yorktown records three things: 1) the extinction of Carcharodon hastalis; 2) the abrupt appearance of Carcharodon carcharias; and 3) the extinction of C. megalodon (we mention this in the extinction paper). So, in Pliocene rocks on the east coast, we don't have an anatomical intermediate, and all bona fide specimens of C. hubbelli I've ever seen, and all published specimens, are from the Pacific.

 

In the Purisima Formation of California, we have C. hastalis teeth at the base of the unit, some 7 Ma, and I've collected a handful of C. hubbelli teeth from horizons dating from 6.4-5.6 Ma, and teeth of C. carcharias certainly as old as 4.9 Ma and possibly as young as 5.33 (Miocene-Pliocene boundary). Those from the boundary layer itself need to be compared more closely with each, though my hunch is C. carcharias. Attached is an image showing two example teeth - one from a late Pliocene stratum and another from a latest Miocene stratum in the Purisima Formation of California. In the Pisco Formation of Peru, C. hubbelli all date to 6-8 Ma. So, if there's a latest Miocene unit roughly the same age, I would keep that rock that the tooth popped out of and compare the lithology - C. hubbelli hasn't been reported from the western south pacific yet, and what you've found is quite significant.

 

[mamlambo]

Thanks so much @Boesse for all this information! I understand the progression of hastalis to carcharias much better now as well. There has been a few fossils found at this site that have challenged the age estimate of 2.5myo, or at least suggested there is some reworked material, perhaps this will add to that evidence. From the photos in your reply, the tooth I found definitely looks closer to the hubbelli than the carcharias.

I've emailed a few people at Otago and Canterbury Uni, I will see if someone is interested in it. I really appreciate the effort you took with your reply!

[Boesse]

I personally recommend getting a hold of Dr. Marcus Richards at U. Otago - a buddy of mine from when I went there, and nobody else in NZ has really studied fossil sharks in recent years.

[mamlambo]

4 minutes ago, Boesse said:

I personally recommend getting a hold of Dr. Marcus Richards at U. Otago - a buddy of mine from when I went there, and nobody else in NZ has really studied fossil sharks in recent years.

I've messaged him about this tooth, he's been a great help with some of my cetacean finds as well. Thanks @Boesse

[mamlambo]

To bring this full circle, this shark tooth was donated to Te Papa Tongarewa Museum and published this month in a paper written by @Boesse, Dana Ehret, Marcus Richards, and Alan Tennyson. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03036758.2023.2278730?src=exp-la

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Nice! Well done and congratulations, guys!

Edited December 29, 2023 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon