LordWampa Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) Hello, I bought a Mosasaur Jaw fragment from Morocco at a local expo, at first sight I thought that maybe it's prognathodon sp. but I would like to know your opinion. The jaw has 3 teeth that I could check that belong 100% to the jaw and the other at least seemed to have the same morphology but it's not possible to know if the belogned to the jaw or not. Any way, knowing this I thought the price was fair so I bought it. I have marked with red the teeth that for sure belong to the jaw so it can help with the ID. If it helps with the ID, the teeth have 2 edges, one on each side. On the other hand, do you think that the other teeth has the same morphology and can belong to the same species or even to this specimen? I know that I will never be able to know 100% sure if that's the case. Here is a close up of the 2 big teeth that belong to the jaw: Edited March 8, 2023 by LordWampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordWampa Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 (edited) @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon @Praefectus Sorry for tagging you guys, but I think you are the mosasaur experts here and would really appreciate your help. Edited March 9, 2023 by LordWampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 Hi. Thanks for the tag. Sorry I didn't get around to responding right away. Classes have been keeping me busy and away from the forum. The jawbone is a real mosasaur dentary. Unfortunately, the teeth have been all composited in. The tooth crowns are various from various jaw positions of the mosasaur Thalassotitan atrox. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordWampa Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 24 minutes ago, Praefectus said: Hi. Thanks for the tag. Sorry I didn't get around to responding right away. Classes have been keeping me busy and away from the forum. The jawbone is a real mosasaur dentary. Unfortunately, the teeth have been all composited in. The tooth crowns are various from various jaw positions of the mosasaur Thalassotitan atrox. Thanks for the answer, are you sure the teeth marked in red are composited? Because with the other teeth, I can see the plaster, but the ones marked in red, I can follow the bone and theres no plaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 27 minutes ago, Praefectus said: Hi. Thanks for the tag. Sorry I didn't get around to responding right away. Classes have been keeping me busy and away from the forum. The jawbone is a real mosasaur dentary. Unfortunately, the teeth have been all composited in. The tooth crowns are various from various jaw positions of the mosasaur Thalassotitan atrox. Fully agree with Trevor '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...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 2 minutes ago, LordWampa said: Thanks for the answer, are you sure the teeth marked in red are composited? Because with the other teeth, I can see the plaster, but the ones marked in red, I can follow the bone and theres no plaster. Assuming those are the teeth of which you included separate photographs, then, yes, I'm sure, because the transition between root and crown doesn't look organic. The curvature of the root should flow smoothly into the crown, and this is not the case with those teeth in the photographs. Instead, you double carination and platforming, which is something you wouldn't see if the teeth were actually natural to the jaw. '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...
LordWampa Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 (edited) 20 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said: Assuming those are the teeth of which you included separate photographs, then, yes, I'm sure, because the transition between root and crown doesn't look organic. The curvature of the root should flow smoothly into the crown, and this is not the case with those teeth in the photographs. Instead, you double carination and platforming, which is something you wouldn't see if the teeth were actually natural to the jaw. The thing is that in the mosasaur jaws with composited teeth that I normally see, you can clearly see the plaster like I have marked in red in this picture, but in the other teeth, I have followed the bone structure and I don't see anywhere where the "cut" between the jaw and the teeth can be seen. This is why it feels weird to me that all teeth including those have been composited. I don't want to sound like I don¡t believe in you, just want to learn the tips and tricks, because this teeth really tricked me. Edited March 9, 2023 by LordWampa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 this is one for the CT machine. Take it your local hospital and ask radiology if they can scan it for you pro bono. Tell them why. You should be able to see inside it and esp see the tooth/bone joints to see if they look fishy. CT folks really like to scan none human things. If one hospital won't do it, go to the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordWampa Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 1 minute ago, jpc said: this is one for the CT machine. Take it your local hospital and ask radiology if they can scan it for you pro bono. Tell them why. You should be able to see inside it and esp see the tooth/bone joints to see if they look fishy. CT folks really like to scan none human things. If one hospital won't do it, go to the next one. If i really wanted to go deep on that, CT scan I am not sure if I could find someone to do it for free. A normal X-ray wouldn't work? That seems more feasable, because I know a vet clinic that have an X-ray machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 try the X ray... it might tell you what you want to know. As for doing free CT scans...it can't hurt to ask. Ihave dealt with a few hospitals for fossil CT scans and have never been turned down. Walk in there with the specimen a eye candy. Don't go hospital admin, go directly to the Radiology Dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phos_01 Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 Have you tried to light it up with an UV light? it might help, it shows parts that should not be there, usually dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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