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Very strange Permian tooth... synapsid?


ThePhysicist

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Hi y'all, I found this strange micro Permian tooth. I haven't seen anything like it. It's from Waurika, OK (Wellington Fm.?, Early Permian), has textured enamel, has a broad crown but is VERY thin/compressed, and shows slight crenelations/serrations? on the edges. It's about 2 mm in height.

 

It's not a fish tooth or scale (otherwise there'd be enameloid on only one side were it a scale), not Orthacanthid "shark" (textured enamel, broad, compressed crown), not amphibian (not conical or labyrinthodont), which leaves reptile or synapsid. Any help to narrow it down further would be very much appreciated. @jdp@dinodigger

 

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Side profile:

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Basal view:

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"Argumentation cannot suffice for the discovery of new work, since the subtlety of Nature is greater many times than the subtlety of argument." - Carl Sagan

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." - Richard Feynman

 

Collections: Hell Creek Microsite | Hell Creek/Lance | Dinosaurs | Sharks | SquamatesPost Oak Creek | North Sulphur RiverLee Creek | Aguja | Permian | Devonian | Triassic | Harding Sandstone

Instagram: @thephysicist_tff

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1 hour ago, jdp said:

Are you sure this is a tooth and not a flake of bone?

I'm fairly confident. There appears to be a shiny enameloid layer that coats all unbroken surfaces. I highly doubt that the shine is due to weathering as it doesn't match the preservation of the other bones in the same matrix, and given the otherwise sharp unbroken features. 

 

If it helps I can show it side-by-side with other bones. If you also need another view, say the word.

 

Chipped "enamel" at the "apex":

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Broken base of the tooth showing a darker outer layer (presumably enamel):

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Sharp edges - not broken.

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"Argumentation cannot suffice for the discovery of new work, since the subtlety of Nature is greater many times than the subtlety of argument." - Carl Sagan

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." - Richard Feynman

 

Collections: Hell Creek Microsite | Hell Creek/Lance | Dinosaurs | Sharks | SquamatesPost Oak Creek | North Sulphur RiverLee Creek | Aguja | Permian | Devonian | Triassic | Harding Sandstone

Instagram: @thephysicist_tff

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