FF7_Yuffie Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 Hello, I have been offered a Chinese pterosaur tooth--from Yixian Formation, Liaoning, China. There are a lot of toothed pterosaurs from there, so I guess narrowing down an actual species will be difficult. But I wish to make sure that it looks pterosaur rather than being something else. Unfortunately the matrix was split and reglued, so it has a repair down the middle. It is 2cm long. Seller is in Taiwan, so export of the fossil is ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted May 16, 2021 Share Posted May 16, 2021 I always find this kind of casual hard to confirm (much like very small plesiosaur teeth, actually), as they could easily be fish teeth. Now I believe pterosaur teeth are laterally flattened, but that can see tricky to tell from a piece embedded in matrix, in my opinion - the more if the matrix is broken. The best way to verify such pieces - if you can even call it that - I think would be by comparison with better preserved specimens. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you out in this area. But very interested to hear what more knowledgeable people think of this... '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...
FF7_Yuffie Posted May 16, 2021 Author Share Posted May 16, 2021 37 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said: I always find this kind of casual hard to confirm (much like very small plesiosaur teeth, actually), as they could easily be fish teeth. Now I believe pterosaur teeth are laterally flattened, but that can see tricky to tell from a piece embedded in matrix, in my opinion - the more if the matrix is broken. The best way to verify such pieces - if you can even call it that - I think would be by comparison with better preserved specimens. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help you out in this area. But very interested to hear what more knowledgeable people think of this... I had a browse on facebook, on the off chance some of these had been sold before. A few appeared---which do look similar. But at the same time. there was a discussion on whether they actually were pterosaur or not. The striations at the top of the tooth give me doubts. I can't remember seeing those sort of striations on pterosaur teeth before, not reaching so high up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FF7_Yuffie Posted May 17, 2021 Author Share Posted May 17, 2021 Update, A pterosaur expert from China took a look for me. He concludes it is pterosaur, he ruled out fish because of the bottom. Looks like I will buy this. A China pterosaur will be nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 On 5/16/2021 at 10:36 AM, FF7_Yuffie said: I had a browse on facebook, on the off chance some of these had been sold before. A few appeared---which do look similar. But at the same time. there was a discussion on whether they actually were pterosaur or not. The striations at the top of the tooth give me doubts. I can't remember seeing those sort of striations on pterosaur teeth before, not reaching so high up. They are found on some Ornithocheirids, especially the larger ones. 1 “When you're riding in a time machine way far into the future, don't stick your elbow out the window, or it'll turn into a fossil.” - Jack Handy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FF7_Yuffie Posted May 24, 2022 Author Share Posted May 24, 2022 3 hours ago, John said: They are found on some Ornithocheirids, especially the larger ones. Cheers. Most of my Ornithocheirids are UK, so quite small and often waterworn. I bought a Niger pterosaur tooth--larger one, that had them too. Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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