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Where in the US can one find shark teeth that predate the cretaceous?


TRexEliot

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I'd really like to put together a collection of shark teeth of my own finds from as many geological periods as possible. It seems that it is pretty hard to find older teeth, however, so I am hoping people here might be able to point me towards some locations where I might be able to find jurassic, triassic, permian, or even carboniferous shark teeth. Not asking for anyone's secret spot, but general areas/formations would be great to know about. Thanks in advance!

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3 hours ago, TRexEliot said:

I'd really like to put together a collection of shark teeth of my own finds from as many geological periods as possible. It seems that it is pretty hard to find older teeth, however, so I am hoping people here might be able to point me towards some locations where I might be able to find jurassic, triassic, permian, or even carboniferous shark teeth. Not asking for anyone's secret spot, but general areas/formations would be great to know about. Thanks in advance!

The Jurassic Sundance Formation in Wyoming contains shark's teeth, but they are rare.  

 

The Red Hill site (Devonian) in Pennsylvania produces some very nice, but very small shark teeth--amongst the earliest known.

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There have been shark teeth (Middle Devonian) found in western NY, along 18 mile creek. Many different Carboniferous age shark tooth locations. If you consider Orthocanthus a shark, then Permian Waurika micro matrix has shark teeth. 

Do a Google or Forum search for Paleozoic Shark teeth. 

 

Also, the Catskill Fm. shark teeth mentioned by hemipristis are fairly hard to find. 

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7 hours ago, TRexEliot said:

I'd really like to put together a collection of shark teeth of my own finds from as many geological periods as possible. It seems that it is pretty hard to find older teeth, however, so I am hoping people here might be able to point me towards some locations where I might be able to find jurassic, triassic, permian, or even carboniferous shark teeth. Not asking for anyone's secret spot, but general areas/formations would be great to know about. Thanks in advance!

In northern TX there are many places with Pennsylvanian and Permian shark teeth. Southern OK also has great Permian shark teeth.

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Northern OK has Permian shark teeth, but I think theyre pretty hard to find.  I have 1 Orthocansus tooth found so far.

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11 hours ago, hemipristis said:

The Jurassic Sundance Formation in Wyoming contains shark's teeth, but they are rare.  

 

 

Indeed... I have collected a lot in the Sundance and have only seen a few fish tooth, one of which might have been a shark tooth.  

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There are a lot of posts on the Forum of carboniferous shark teeth found in marine sediments of Pennsylvania,, the Ohio Valley, Tennessee, Mississippi Valley., Texas etc. I have a couple Pennsylvanian age ones I found in Texas as well as a few dozen Permian age ones from Oklahoma. 

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As mentioned above, shark teeth can be common to rare throughout the Pennsylvanian. Teeth from Petalodus seemed to fall out often, as nobody has recovered an articulated jaw assortment or any sort of body remains from the genus. Beyond that genus, there are several others. Personally, I’ve recovered teeth from two genus within the Kasimovian (Late Pennsylvanian)

 

https://fossil.15656.com/catalog/search-for/Chondrichthyes

Fossils of Parks Township - ResearchCatalog | How-to Make High-Contrast Photos

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I’ll just chip in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri as three other states where Carboniferous chondrichthyan teeth can be found with some regularity- you will be able to find many reports and collections posted on this site by me and others about them.

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I will add SE Iowa. 

 Chondrichthyan remains occur in abundance within a thin layer of limestone at the top of the Burlington Limestone at the point of the contact with the overlying Keokuk Limestone. This layer of rock, the “Burlington-Keokuk Fish Bed,” by MMJ Hoenig · 2019. 

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Regarding the previously mentioned Devonian shark teeth from 18 mile creek (and the surrounding area), one particular layer, the North Evans Limestone, contains a lag deposit rich in conodonts and fish teeth.  However you have to dissolve the limestone in weak acid such as buffered formic or acetic acid to release the phosphatic fossils, which are mostly microscopic.  Make sure you know what you are doing before attempting this, as acids are potentially dangerous and also the wrong acid (such as muriatic/hydrochloric acid) will dissolve the teeth.

 

Don

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I think someone reported a Triassic shark tooth in Nevada (Lovelock area) where ammonites are more common.  Teeth would be rare in the Early Triassic partly because sharks were nearly wiped out by the end-Permian mass extinction but they rebounded in the Early-Mid Triassic (mostly hybodonts).  The genus Palaeobates is known from the Triassic of Nevada and northern California.

 

Yeah, you don't see Jurassic shark teeth because there are few fossiliferous marine deposits exposed on the surface in the U.S. 

 

Early Cretaceous teeth are not easy to find either.  There are sites in Kansas and Texas but you don't see a lot of stuff for sale or trade.

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@siteseer I’ll have some pictures of Palaeobates teeth from that Northern California site soon. A few were found with the Ichthyosaur at CSU Chico. 

 

I would add Bull Canyon in New Mexico as a sight for Triassic shark teeth. Plenty of Reticulodus teeth in that matrix. 

 

You can also find Permian shark teeth at a few sites in Kansas. I have three or four. 

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2 hours ago, siteseer said:

you don't see Jurassic shark teeth because there are few fossiliferous marine deposits exposed on the surface in the U.S. 

They are also MUCH rarer universally. Less fish and in general, cephalopods occupied their niches. Also smaller in size

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23 hours ago, fossilsonwheels said:

@siteseer I’ll have some pictures of Palaeobates teeth from that Northern California site soon. A few were found with the Ichthyosaur at CSU Chico. 

 

I would add Bull Canyon in New Mexico as a sight for Triassic shark teeth. Plenty of Reticulodus teeth in that matrix. 

 

You can also find Permian shark teeth at a few sites in Kansas. I have three or four. 

 

Hi Kurt,

 

Yes, please post any photos you get.

 

Right.  A friend once gave me a sandwich bag of matrix from the Bull Canyon Formation and I found 4-5 Reticulodus teeth including a complete one.

 

I remembered that late Triassic Xenacanthus teeth (X. moorei) have been found in Texas. 

 

Jess

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On 7/20/2021 at 11:17 AM, siteseer said:

 

Hi Kurt,

 

Yes, please post any photos you get.

 

Right.  A friend once gave me a sandwich bag of matrix from the Bull Canyon Formation and I found 4-5 Reticulodus teeth including a complete one.

 

I remembered that late Triassic Xenacanthus teeth (X. moorei) have been found in Texas. 

 

Jess

Xenacanthus moorei was renamed Mooreodontus by Ginter et al. (2010) along with other Triassic species previously assigned to Xenacanthus. Teeth of Mooreodontus moorei have been found in northern Arizona, along with a Phoebodus-like jalodontid tooth (Irmis 2005). Given that records of Phoebodus from the Late Triassic have been renamed Keuperodus (Ivanov et al. 2021), the tooth assigned to Phoebodus by Irmis (2005) could belong to Keuperodus.

 

Ginter, M., O. Hampe, & C. Duffin. 2010. Paleozoic Elasmobranchii. In: Schultze, H.-P. (ed.), Handbook of Paleoichthyology Vol. 3D. Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil, München: 168 pp.

 

Irmis, R. B. 2005. The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in northern Arizona. p. 63-88. in S.J. Nesbitt, W.G. Parker, and R.B. Irmis (eds.) 2005. Guidebook to the Triassic formations of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona: Geology, Paleontology, and History. Mesa Southwest Museum Bulletin 9.

 

Ivanov, A. O.; Duffin, C. J.; Richter, M. (2021). Youngest jalodontid shark from the Triassic of Europe and a revision of the Jalodontidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Online edition: e1931259. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1931259.

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Fossils of the hybodont shark Lonchidion humblei have been found in the Late Triassic of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, while indeterminate hybodont shark fossils have been found in the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation in Arizona (Curtis and Padian 1999; Irmis 2005; Paleobiology Database). 

 

K. Curtis and K. Padian. 1999. An Early Jurassic microvertebrate fauna from the Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona: microfaunal change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. PaleoBios 19(2):19-37. 

 

 

Irmis, R. B. 2005. The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in northern Arizona. p. 63-88. in S.J. Nesbitt, W.G. Parker, and R.B. Irmis (eds.) 2005. Guidebook to the Triassic formations of the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona: Geology, Paleontology, and History. Mesa Southwest Museum Bulletin 9.

 

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Could make at least one personal recommendation but you don't have a specific region in mind? For instance if you are in the NE USA (a large area) would West Virginia be somewhere you would collect?

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10 hours ago, Plax said:

Could make at least one personal recommendation but you don't have a specific region in mind? For instance if you are in the NE USA (a large area) would West Virginia be somewhere you would collect?

Diplodoselachid teeth and fossils of the xenacanthiform Barbclabornia luedersensis have been recorded from the Permo-Carboniferous of West Virginia.

 

W. Caldwell and C. Wellstead. 2007. Additions to the Middle Pennsylvanian Ash Branch fossil vertebrate fauna. Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science 79(1):25.

 

G. D. Johnson. 2003. Dentitions of Barbclabornia (new genus, Chondrichthyes: Xenacanthiformes) from the Upper Palaeozoic of North America. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe 6:125-160,

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