Fishinfossil Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Found in NJ Cretaceous stream. The striations stood out to me. Even though its small (about 3/4-inch) could it possibly be a plesiosaur tooth? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 @frankh8147 @Carl Mosasaur pterygoid tooth? 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Not a palatal (=pterygoidal) tooth, but definitely mosasaur. It's very uncommon - though not impossible - for a plesiosaur tooth to take a triangular shape like this. In contrast, this general outline is common in mosasaurs, as is the degree lateral compression exhibited here. As the tooth lacks labiolingual curvature yet has distal curvature in the upper third of the crown, I suspect this may be a tylosaur tooth - but that's just a guess... Really neat find! 4 '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...
Fishinfossil Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 Both interesting replies. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 Not seeing a plesiosaur here. I am also leaning towards mosasaur. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 I also like Mosasaur on this one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishinfossil Posted April 12, 2022 Author Share Posted April 12, 2022 Thanks for the replies. If its mosasaur, its the smallest I've come across. Pretty cool.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 2 minutes ago, Fishinfossil said: Thanks for the replies. If its mosasaur, its the smallest I've come across. Pretty cool.... They indeed get very small some times. In fact, I find that most of them are and that Moroccan teeth from the phosphates, in comparison, are unusually large '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...
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