Turonian jewel in the chalk

[Manticocerasman]

During the first part of our summer holiday we spent a few days at Cap-Blanc-Nez.

The tides and weather weren’t optimal for fossil hunting and lots of tourism at the location didn’t help much either, so our finds were relatively limited.

The last day however we found 1 spectacular piece. A little brown spot was reflecting light on one of the loose boulders on the beach.

It was a ptychodus tooh peeking out. They are very rare there and this one allone was worth the trip. After the prep at home it only got better, the tooth was complete and of considerable size.

Enjoy the pictures :

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Manticocerasman

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very pretty tooth! 

Nice find.

[Fossildude19]

Sweet!

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

I shouldn't really be surprised. With the amount of experience you share between the two of you, you'd be able to make a spectacular find even after years without erosion and continuous picking over 

 

What a beauty! 

[Manticocerasman]

12 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

I shouldn't really be surprised. With the amount of experience you share between the two of you, you'd be able to make a spectacular find even after years without erosion and continuous picking over 

 

What a beauty! 

don't worry , there is plenty of erosion there, but it happens more during the winter. even with lots of people prospecting, there will always be new stuff to find. but it has been a while since a good storm, spring tide and some cliff falls.

[ziggycardon]

A nice one indeed!  

[Jared C]

Smoking!!

[Ludwigia]

Luverly!

[LSCHNELLE]

Really  beautiful tooth! Nice prep job. @Manticocerasman

 

Looks like a Ptychodus marginalis to me. Great find! 

[Manticocerasman]

3 hours ago, LSCHNELLE said:

Really  beautiful tooth! Nice prep job. @Manticocerasman

 

Looks like a Ptychodus marginalis to me. Great find! 

Thx, I was told Ptychodus decurrens by an other collector, but I have no clue on determinations on ptychodus teeth. I dont know what to look for to see the difference between species, is there a way to tell them appart?

The only thing I know for sure is that it is lower turoninan from the Mammites nodosoides zone.

[rocket]

great! I digged there many times in the 80th and beginning 90th but never found a so beautyful marginalis like yours.

Congretulations!

[LSCHNELLE]

8 hours ago, Manticocerasman said:

Thx, I was told Ptychodus decurrens by an other collector, but I have no clue on determinations on ptychodus teeth. I dont know what to look for to see the difference between species, is there a way to tell them appart?

The only thing I know for sure is that it is lower turoninan from the Mammites nodosoides zone.

Ptychodus decurrens has similar form (low crown and 10 to 14 parallel ridges). But, at the marginal boundaries on P. decurrens, the ridges branch out from the parallel ridges to the edge of the tooth. Whereas, in P. marginalis they usually circle back somewhat and don't branch out. Sometimes P. decurrens has this circling back effect, but only on one side of the tooth. It would branch out on the other side. I didn't see any evidence of the branching.

[Everhardus]

Wow, well done !