Florida Dolphins

[Shellseeker]

You are probably aware that @DirtyHippie came to Brownsville,  found an extremely productive likely Miocene location and promptly invited a number of TFF members to join in the excitement.  You can read about it and see many of the finds here..

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/129917-peace-river-tributaries-part-ii-hemi-heaven-continued/

I joined last Sunday and managed to find a dolphin Bulla that @Boesse identified as Eurhinodelphis.

 

In his trip report, Brian had 9 Dolphin and I am interested in seeing if I can track down,  possible IDs... In this case, I am asking TFF experts familiar with Dolphin fossils in Calvert Cliffs or Lee Creek to comment on finding or not finding similar looking teeth.

I'm using Brian's group shot posted in the thread above

 

 

 

 

 

 

So , the first...

I found something similar,  not as pretty...

 

#2

 

#3

 

#4

 

#5

 

#6

 

#7

 

#8

 

#9

 

These teeth are all approximately the same size  30 to 50 mm.

 

I realize that I am reaching with somewhat minimal info.  I am looking for leads... If you can ID a tooth,  GREAT,  but if not tell me if anything similar occurs in your hunting areas... I am looking for Genus rather than species on a few or many. 

None of us are sure that #4 is a tooth...

 

@hemipristis @siteseer @sixgill pete @Harry Pristis @Al Dente

[Meganeura]

Gonna add mine into the mix too - same location. Similarities to #7.

 

[sixgill pete]

While I cannot help with any I.D.'s, I will say most of these teeth look similar to what we find in the Miocene / Pliocene layers at Lee Creek. 

 

Tooth #4? To my eyes I am not so sure it is actually a tooth. I see no obvious enamel or root. But my old eyes could be wrong.

[Shellseeker]

57 minutes ago, sixgill pete said:

While I cannot help with any I.D.'s, I will say most of these teeth look similar to what we find in the Miocene / Pliocene layers at Lee Creek. 

 

Tooth #4? To my eyes I am not so sure it is actually a tooth. I see no obvious enamel or root. But my old eyes could be wrong.

Thanks for the response.  It is useful for the theory that many of the small dolphins present in the Miocene record of Lee Creek and Calvert Cliffs were also present in Bone Valley Florida... So, even though a dolphin like Eurhinodelphis has not been researched or documented,  I might be able to find teeth in Florida that are similar to some common dolphins in Lee Creek.

I'm looking at tooth #1 which might be from a Kentriodontidae Dolphin,  and asking if it is rare or common in known Miocene regions in other East Coast States... 

 

[Al Dente]

Here are a couple frames of odontocete teeth from Lee Creek for your comparison.

 

 

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, Al Dente said:

Here are a couple frames of odontocete teeth from Lee Creek for your comparison.

 

Thank you,

There certainly will be some similar teeth in both form, size and shape...

 

Once I have similar teeth,  I can look for a name,  a research paper at the location.  Booby gave me a name of a Cetacean Bulla I found last week,  which took me to Fossil Guy's website on Eurhinodelphis .sp... 

Quote

Eurhinodelphids, the long-snouted dolphins, were a common sight in the ancient mid to late Miocene seas. In fact, the species Xiphiacetus bossi, which reaches 6 to 7 feet in length, is the most common cetacean found in the Miocene Calvert formation.

and also provided a photo of the teeth, jaw, earbone of Eurhinodelphids...

 

 I certainly can not say whether Xiphiacetus bossi, swam over Bone Valley,  but it is pretty likely that an Eurhinodelphis did... since I have been finding similar teeth an jaw fragments for a decade... It feels good to have a genus name...

[hemipristis]

9 hours ago, sixgill pete said:

While I cannot help with any I.D.'s, I will say most of these teeth look similar to what we find in the Miocene / Pliocene layers at Lee Creek. 

 

Tooth #4? To my eyes I am not so sure it is actually a tooth. I see no obvious enamel or root. But my old eyes could be wrong.

Agree with SGP  on all counts, including the "old eyes' haha.  

[Done Drillin]

Interesting thread ! Pulled this periotic out of the same site and thought it might be of some interest.

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, Done Drillin said:

Interesting thread ! Pulled this periotic out of the same site and thought it might be of some interest.

It is of great interest to me...

So, last Sunday this Bulla came from the same site.

Bobby IDed as Eurhinodelphis .indet... I looked up Eurhinodelphis and found a research paper with this photo of a left periotic:  Does it match your find?

 

You have to be kind of careful because many Whale/Dolphin periodics look similar,  such as

and here is  Pomatodelphis,  a river dolphin which has a periotic larger than the one above...

 

So more photos from different angles, plus measurements and most important, which if any of these is most similar. Having the fossil in hand adds weight to your view..  Thanks Jack

[Done Drillin]

My pleasure -I would have to say it more closely matches the one from the diagram. It is 32 mm at its longest point and 19 mm at its widest.

[Boesse]

Hey all - nice squalodelphinid (or platanistid) periotic. Here are my tentative tooth IDs:

 

O = Odontoceti indet.

D = Delphinoidea indet.

E = Eurhinodelphinidae

Pl = Platanistidae (the little white tooth with the short triangular crown very much looks like a posterior tooth of Platanista or a platanistine, though some pomatodelphines have these)

Ph? = possible Physeteroidea