Capybara or giant beaver?

[jikohr]

Hi Everyone!

 

This came from the Peace River of Florida, I'm torn between Casteroides and Neochoerus.

Measurements:

18 mm tall

13 mm wide

10 mm thick

thoughts?

[Shellseeker]

Congratulations,  an uncommon find.... Any Casteroides fossil is a trip maker.. Beaver normally has "3 loops" on molar surface. 

 

Capybara has many "tighter" loops.

[Bone Daddy]

Wow, just learned something. I didn't know we had Capybara teeth around here. I think I may have found a few broken pieces of these and didn't know what they were. Now I need to go look through my oddballs again.

 

[jikohr]

6 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Congratulations,  an uncommon find.... Any Casteroides fossil is a trip maker.. Beaver normally has "3 loops" on molar surface. 

 

Capybara has many "tighter" loops.

 

4 hours ago, Bone Daddy said:

Wow, just learned something. I didn't know we had Capybara teeth around here. I think I may have found a few broken pieces of these and didn't know what they were. Now I need to go look through my oddballs again.

 

Awesome, thanks man!

So funny story, I actually acquired this in a wholesale lot of 4 peace river beaver molars. 2 were typical Caster, the other two were this one and another one like it. I ID it as Casteroides and was of course very excited but then learned about Neochoerus about a week ago and had a "I knew it was to good to be true" moment but still held out hope. Turns out sometimes it is true!

 

I'll be going to the Peace River for my first dig there in a month, wish me luck fellas!

[Shellseeker]

57 minutes ago, jikohr said:

 

Awesome, thanks man!

So funny story, I actually acquired this in a wholesale lot of 4 peace river beaver molars. 2 were typical Caster, the other two were this one and another one like it. I ID it as Casteroides and was of course very excited but then learned about Neochoerus about a week ago and had a "I knew it was to good to be true" moment but still held out hope. Turns out sometimes it is true!

 

I'll be going to the Peace River for my first dig there in a month, wish me luck fellas!

I certainly wish you the best of luck in hunting any of the areas of Bone Valley... For a second, let me assume you are very interested in Florida Beaver fossils: 

A year ago,  I had the very good fortune to find a Beaver molar in a site where I mostly found Pliocene fossils.  Magically enough, a good friend was hunting a Miocene site the following day and found .... a Beaver molar !!!!  So, I stopped and made some invalid assumptions.. like these molars might be from beavers who lived in the Miocene or Pliocene.. The 2 molars certainly looked different.

I decided to ask , Richard Hulbert, Director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at the University of Florida.

Quote

Richard,

I just downloaded your 2014 Bullitan on Castoroides dilophidus.  I have only read the abstract.

Some coincidence, In my Blancan site, I found the 1st beaver molar , ever found there (photos 1,2,3 with measurements) on March 2nd.

and then at 10:30 this evening, a friend who hunts a late Miocene Location sent me a slightly larger,  that he found yesterday, Beaver tooth for identification.  I have asked him for measurements in the morning.

 

I understand mixing of layers, but for a early/late Pleistocene tooth, it seems odd to have shown up in both my Blancan and Miocene sites.

 

I am thinking if there was only one Beaver species in Florida fossil record, not much to say here. Both must be cheek teeth of Castoroides dilophidus.  Does the different shape (rectangle versus oval) signify anything?

 

Thanks Jack

Richard's response to my email: Short and sweet.. The 2 beavers left teeth in a Pliocene and a Miocene locations  during the Pleistocene and that Beaver and all Florida Beavers (including your 4 molars) are Castoroides dilophidus.

Quote

Different tooth positions is causing the differences in the shape of the occlusal surface. This species cannot be late Miocene—must be Pleistocene.

Richard