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'Megalodon' tooth, possibly Carcharocles chubutensis or Otodus augustidens


JohnBurrows

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While this tooth is obviously damaged, the cusplet sticks out to me. It is a decent sized tooth around 3 and 3/8" (84MM) long. Serrations are evident, although have been eroded. 

 

This tooth came from the James River, South Carolina. 

 

I cannot decide whether it looks more like auriculatus, chubutensis, augustidens, or megalodon. Carcharocles/Otodus... take your pick. 

 

I'd appreciate any input - thank you. 

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To me it looks like O. Angustidens definitely doesn't look like a meg and don't think its a chub however I am not entirely sure, is there a photo of the back?

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I think that the provenance may be a bit off. I am not aware of a James River in South Carolina. There is a James River in Virginia. Although if the river cuts through more than one formation that contains fossils from the Otodus lineage it becomes difficult or impossible to identify this tooth to the species. Without knowing the approximate age of this tooth, it could be angustidens, chubutensis, megaladon or a number of other chronospecies that are within the Otodus lineage. The presence of cusps are not diagnostic to a particular species in this lineage.

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21 minutes ago, Rustdee said:

I think that the provenance may be a bit off. I am not aware of a James River in South Carolina. There is a James River in Virginia. Although if the river cuts through more than one formation that contains fossils from the Otodus lineage it becomes difficult or impossible to identify this tooth to the species. Without knowing the approximate age of this tooth, it could be angustidens, chubutensis, megaladon or a number of other chronospecies that are within the Otodus lineage. The presence of cusps are not diagnostic to a particular species in this lineage.

 

Certainly possible the provenance is gibberish or mistaken. This tooth is listed for sale and I just got curious - it's not something I've found, or bought. 

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6 minutes ago, JohnBurrows said:

 

Certainly possible the provenance is gibberish or mistaken. This tooth is listed for sale and I just got curious - it's not something I've found, or bought. 

Got it! I would personally stay away from purchasing because I like to know the formation that any fossil I purchase is from. However, if that does not matter to you, then it is a nice Otodus tooth from the South Eastern/ Mid-Atlantic US.

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4 minutes ago, Rustdee said:

Got it! I would personally stay away from purchasing because I like to know the formation that any fossil I purchase is from. However, if that does not matter to you, then it is a nice Otodus tooth from the South Eastern/ Mid-Atlantic US.

 

To be honest it was more idle curiosity. I'm reasonably familiar with megalodon, and obliquus but hadn't actually seen a cusped tooth similar to megalodon before now. From further reading it seems that some juvenile megalodon teeth would have had cusplets too. 

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