Tiny Tooth

[jbstedman]

This is a Miocene marine fossil. It turned up in some Pungo River formation material from Aurora, NC. Might it be porpoise? It's smaller than any porpoise tooth I've found. Beyond size, it has other unfamiliar (to me) characteristics. In particular, I'm puzzled by the barrel-shaped bottom third of the tooth.

[Guest bmorefossil]

great tooth my guess would be fish tooth if not that than porpoise

[Boesse]

Thats not all that small for an odontocete tooth. Its not a porpoise (true porpoises, i.e. Phocoenidae) don't have a fossil record in the Atlantic (they are restricted to the Pacific, and invaded the atlantic during the Pleistocene.

Its not a ziphiid (beaked whale), or a physeterid (sperm whale) or kogiid (pygmy sperm whale). Its also way too early to be from a delphinid (true dolphin).

My best guess, if it is in fact cetacean, is a small kentriodontid (archaic dolphin), or a pontoporiid (river dolphin). It does look like pontoporiid teeth I've seen.

Otherwise, the semi-hollow root sorta reminds me of fish teeth, which may well be possible.

Bobby

[jbstedman]

Thats not all that small for an odontocete tooth. Its not a porpoise (true porpoises, i.e. Phocoenidae) don't have a fossil record in the Atlantic (they are restricted to the Pacific, and invaded the atlantic during the Pleistocene.

Its not a ziphiid (beaked whale), or a physeterid (sperm whale) or kogiid (pygmy sperm whale). Its also way too early to be from a delphinid (true dolphin).

My best guess, if it is in fact cetacean, is a small kentriodontid (archaic dolphin), or a pontoporiid (river dolphin). It does look like pontoporiid teeth I've seen.

Otherwise, the semi-hollow root sorta reminds me of fish teeth, which may well be possible.

Bobby

I appreciate the information re: porpoise and dolphin fossils. So, are the Miocene teeth I often see identified as porpoise (e.g., in Burn's book Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States) most likely actually dolphin teeth?

[obsessed1]

When we were in Aurora this spring we also found a tooth identical to yours. The guides at PCS said it was a fish tooth but couldn't say the exact fish it came from.

[Boesse]

Ya, I think fish tooth is probably the best guess.

As far as the porpoise info goes... people most often use the term porpoise as sort of a collective term for small toothed cetaceans. Porpoises are an actual family of cetaceans (Phocoenidae), like harbor, burmeister's, Dall's, finless, etc. Porpoises have a very short rostrum, and have spatulate teeth - in fact, their teeth sometimes look like those of small ornithopod dinosaur teeth.

Phocoenids, however, only have a fossil record in the North Pacific and Peru - they are pretty much reserved to Peru, Japan, and Alta/Baja California.

Technically, Pungo sediments will yield Ziphiid (beaked whale) teeth, Kentriodontid teeth (archaic dolphins, or basal Delphinoidea), platanistid (river dolphin) teeth, squalodontid teeth (shark-toothed whale, but related to platanistid river dolphins), and some others. Yorktown sediments will yield true dolphin (delphinid) teeth (and that includes pilot whales and false killer whale), beluga (Monodontid), pygmy sperm whale (Aprixokogia, Physeteridae, Kogiinae) as well as large sperm whale (Physterinae), more Ziphiids, and small river dolphins (Pontoporiidae). If I'm forgetting anything, I'll (hopefully) remember it later.

Bobby

[Hogtownfossil]

Definately a fish tooth, the bottom is typical for fish; the black color tends to indicate the Miocene Pungo, maybe a drumfish front tooth.

[MB]

Definately a fish tooth, the bottom is typical for fish; the black color tends to indicate the Miocene Pungo, maybe a drumfish front tooth.

Dentex sp.

[brsr0131]

I also think its a fish tooth. Here is a couple of of pics from elasmo.com

The thing that made me think it was this it the very tip of the tooth has the same black tip.

Merluccius cf bilinearis (Mitchill, 1814)

Silver hake — lwr jaw

Lee Creek fauna, Aurora, NC

[jbstedman]

Dentex sp.

Thanks for all of the assistance. There's a growing agreement that it's fish. I see references on the web to Dentex sp. but haven't found any pictures to compare. (Admittedly, I haven't searched all that hard.)

JB

[MB]

Thanks for all of the assistance. There's a growing agreement that it's fish. I see references on the web to Dentex sp. but haven't found any pictures to compare. (Admittedly, I haven't searched all that hard.)

JB

I'll post some pics for you.

[MB]

Hi,

here are some pics of the Dentex fossilis I have, from the miocene of Catalonia, and they are common in all the Mediterranean miocene.

[jbstedman]

Hi,

here are some pics of the Dentex fossilis I have, from the miocene of Catalonia, and they are common in all the Mediterranean miocene.

Great pictures. I'd say they confirm the identification as Dentex. Thank you.

JB