Livyatan melvillei (Supposed Meg-Killer)

[BellamyBlake]

I stumbled across Livyatan melvillei, a species of sperm whale I've never heard of or seen discussion about. It's surprising to me because it co-existed with Megalodon and some have argued that it preyed on the shark.

 

It had teeth of around a foot-long, with some accounts of even larger. Here's one found on an Australian beach:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/12/science/foot-long-ancient-tooth-discovered-on-australian-beach.html

 

I've never seen one of these for sale, presumably because they're rare or important to paleontology, perhaps both. Has anybody held one of these? What an absolutely impressive tooth!

[Ludwigia]

I've never heard of this before, let alone held one of its teeth. Thanks for posting. Sounds very interesting.

[Top Trilo]

I've briefly heard of it but never knew it had such large teeth. And I read its the largest extinct whale and commonly called leviathan. Must be absolutely incredible to see it in person (the tooth not the whale although seeing it would be cool too)

[fossilsonwheels]

My guess would be @Boesse is the best qualified person to give more information. One of the reasons I would think you don’t see these on the market is scientific relevance but location also probably is a reason. They are known from Peru, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Australia I believe. Export laws would be a factor. Rarity is probably another factor as well. 

[siteseer]

Some big teeth of that form came out of Chile in the late 90's before fossil exports were banned.  That tooth looks at least a little bigger than any I saw.