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Teeth Id


Plainsman

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Someone gave me this tooth and told me it was a dinosaur tooth. I did alittle bit of research and it appears to me to be a mastodon molar too me. The tooth was dug up here in oklahoma in the plains.

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Someone gave me this tooth and told me it was a dinosaur tooth. I did alittle bit of research and it appears to me to be a mastodon molar too me. The tooth was dug up here in oklahoma in the plains.

It appears to be a nice example from an elephant of the Family GOMPHOTHERIIDAE -- a different family from the mastodonts (Family MAMMUTIDAE).

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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That's a plaster cast on the bottem.

What's the indentify factor that would change the family? And what does the darker color mean, if in means anything at all.

Thanks for the help.

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Yes, plaster base. Whe you ask about the darker color, are you wondering about the color of the tooth? Most fossil teeth have a darker color than the white of modern teeth. They have minerals deposited in them making them rock-like. So the color is form minerals.

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That's a plaster cast on the bottem.

What's the indentify factor that would change the family? And what does the darker color mean, if in means anything at all.

Thanks for the help.

Yes, many of us recognized that the tooth is resting on a pillow mount (I hope the tooth is not embedded in the plaster!).

The distinction between the two families is the conformation of the cusps. In worn gomphothere teeth, the cusps (lophs) tends to take on a trefoil (cloverleaf) pattern.

In mastodont teeth the worn cusps look like an exclamation mark which gets wider with wear. (That's the best comparison I could think of quickly.)

post-42-0-06938800-1298340894_thumb.jpgpost-42-0-69441500-1298340924_thumb.jpg

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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Yes, many of us recognized that the tooth is resting on a pillow mount (I hope the tooth is not embedded in the plaster!).

The distinction between the two families is the conformation of the cusps. In worn gomphothere teeth, the cusps (lophs) tends to take on a trefoil (cloverleaf) pattern.

In mastodont teeth the worn cusps look like an exclamation mark which gets wider with wear. (That's the best comparison I could think of quickly.)

post-42-0-06938800-1298340894_thumb.jpgpost-42-0-69441500-1298340924_thumb.jpg

I can definately see the simularities between the tooth i have and the gompho picture.The reason I was in doubt of its mastodonity<- :D Was because the direction of some the later teeth on the molar had turned almost inward to a point; making the symmitries alittle diffrent. Now to find out which species this tooth belonged too. Does anyone recommend going to a university to allow them to classify this tooth further?

Thank you for the all the help and yes it's a pillow mount it's very porris, I'm just not very savy.

Also, I've been looking around and most of the teeth that look like mine are about 4 or so inches long and mine has a length of 8-8.5. Anyone know the average length for a molar on this familia, or the largest molar?

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Yes, many of us recognized that the tooth is resting on a pillow mount (I hope the tooth is not embedded in the plaster!).

The distinction between the two families is the conformation of the cusps. In worn gomphothere teeth, the cusps (lophs) tends to take on a trefoil (cloverleaf) pattern.

In mastodont teeth the worn cusps look like an exclamation mark which gets wider with wear. (That's the best comparison I could think of quickly.)

post-42-0-06938800-1298340894_thumb.jpgpost-42-0-69441500-1298340924_thumb.jpg

:) Correct! :D

Bear-dog.

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This thread made me Think of a 1.5 inch tooth fragment I found a couple of weeks ago. (photos below).

Is it clearly a Mastodon crown tip? What dos the lack of wear on the tip imply? Young animal?

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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Is it clearly a Mastodon crown tip? What dos the lack of wear on the tip imply? Young animal?

well, now that you mention it, if gomphs stomped the area you found it, then it might well be from one of their chompers. gomphs aren't always my first thought in that they didn't tend to hang out where i hang out. but at any rate, the relative wear on teeth from hose-nosers seems to be more indicative of how old the tooth was than how old the beast was, so best bet on a full-size tooth is to think unerupted or newly erupted tooth as the explanation for no wear. much smaller than normal would get me thinking young animal...

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Thanks Tracer, Found at the Fort Green Phosphate mine, Hardee County, Florida. I believe it is both Mastodon and Gomph territory. I was comparing my fragment against the 2 JPGs added by Harry and thought :wacko: the brown color more closely resembled the Mastodon photo.

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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my reconsiderations were based on the eye-calculus of the slope/curves of the morphologicalicities. i never go by color. and i'm not afraid of heights, just widths.

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