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Fossil Cretodus Shark Teeth


fossilselachian

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I see few/any postings re fossil Cretodus shark teeth. I know some of you Texas members must have some nice examples "salted away".

So please post what you have available. Over the years I've seen some very large (>2 1/4")examples from Texas and a few nice examples

from other locations. I've posted some of ones I have representative of the localities in my collection.

So post em up guys :D

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very nice Cretodus of different areas , I do not have any in my collection -_-

I don't have an example either :(

If anyone has a nice one they'd be willing to part with....................

There's no limit to what you can accomplish when you're supposed to be doing something else

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1st Tooth I've ever seen or heard of from Minnesota.

Paleoc:

There may be other areas but the two I know about are:

(1)Keewatin, MN in the iron ore areas

(2)Bellingham, MN in the granite quarry areas.

A somewhat typical Cretaceous fossil shark fauna including Paranomotodon, Cretalamna, Squalicorax, Scapanorhyncus, Cretoxyrhina(?), Ptychodus, etc. are found in these sites. Many (all?) of the teeth found in the MN granite quarries is also found just across the MN

state border in SD where the granite is also mined.

I've not seen much material from MN for quite a few years. My material was obtained from a MN collector years ago.

There is a brief paper describing the shark teeth in the Keewatin area which I recall is from the Coleraine fm. However, at

the moment I can't locate the paper for a more definitive description.

hope this helps

FS

FS

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Alopias,

Check out this article:

http://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app52-099.html

It provides localities where Cretodus can be found. Perhaps you can find one of your own. I have one from a site at Lussant (Cenomanian age). I will try to get a photo of it this weekend.

Jess

very nice Cretodus of different areas , I do not have any in my collection -_-

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Here are two additional Cretodus teeth in the original matrix. Unfortunately, both teeth have experienced some damage to the

lateral cusps.

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Nice Ellis County teeth fossilselachian. From what I've found Cretodus aren't that rare here in Texas, but ones in as good of shape as you have posted truly are rare.

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Nice Ellis County teeth fossilselachian. From what I've found Cretodus aren't that rare here in Texas, but ones in as good of shape as you have posted truly are rare.

Tony: Your comments re the availability of Cretodus teeth in Texas (and all the ones you have found) would be in line with the fact

that Welton & Farish list both C. crassidens and C. semiplicatus as "Common" from Texas.

FS

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FS,

Did you get those at a MAPS EXPO back in the mid-90's? I went in '94 and '95 and think it was you who let me know someone (the late Ken Smith, I think) was selling some nice Texas teeth at another table. I have some Ptychodus from the Ellis County site where the teeth and matrix are black.

Here are two additional Cretodus teeth in the original matrix. Unfortunately, both teeth have experienced some damage to the

lateral cusps.

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FS,

Did you get those at a MAPS EXPO back in the mid-90's? I went in '94 and '95 and think it was you who let me know someone (the late Ken Smith, I think) was selling some nice Texas teeth at another table. I have some Ptychodus from the Ellis County site where the teeth and matrix are black.

Hey Siteseer:

You may be 15-16 years older and not as good looking but there is nothing wrong with your memory. Ken always had excellent quality shark

teeth from Texas. So very unfortunate that he is no longer with us. I too, have a few of those black Ptychodus teeth in matrix.

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Yeah, and you're 15-16 years older than me.

Yes, Ken was a good guy. Even with all the sharp and knowledgeable Texas collectors here, he could've added something substantial to the forum.

Our mutual friend in Virginia traded me a Cretodus from the Ellis County site. I'll have to get a photo of that too.

Hey Siteseer:

You may be 15-16 years older and not as good looking but there is nothing wrong with your memory. Ken always had excellent quality shark

teeth from Texas. So very unfortunate that he is no longer with us. I too, have a few of those black Ptychodus teeth in matrix.

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  • 3 weeks later...

FS and Paleoc,

I looked for that Keewatin reference but no luck so far. I did see a citation for a Gerard Case article (one of his earliest) on a sawfish specimen from an MN site and then found two articles (Sloan, 1964: p. 25; Setterholm and Heine, 1992) on a site different fron any mentioned: the Springfield Clay Pit, Ochs Brick and Tile Quarry near Springfield, MN. A provided faunal list reports the presence of Odontaspis sp., Squatirhina sp., Synechodus sp., Myledaphus sp., a couple of fishes, and a piece of crocodile.

Sloan, R.E. 1964.

The Cretaceous System in Minnesota. Report of Investigations 5. Minnesota Geological Survey.

Case, G.R. 1965.

An occurrence of the Sawfish Onchopristis dunklei in the Upper Cretaceous of Minnesota: Jour. Minn. Acad. Sci., 32: 183.

Setterholm, D.R. 1992.

Kaolinitic Clays of the Minnesota River Valley and southwestern Minnesota. Guidebook Series No. 19. 29th Annual Meeting of the Clay Minerals Society and the Soil Science Society of America. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota Geological Society.

Jess

Paleoc:

There may be other areas but the two I know about are:

(1)Keewatin, MN in the iron ore areas

(2)Bellingham, MN in the granite quarry areas.

There is a brief paper describing the shark teeth in the Keewatin area which I recall is from the Coleraine fm. However, at

the moment I can't locate the paper for a more definitive description.

hope this helps

FS

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  • 1 month later...

Hey Guys. I love reviving old posts. I added what I think is a Cretodus to my collection but would like to know which it is (C. crassidens and C. semiplicatus)? It is from Texas and is about 1 3/8" on the slant. Or, if it isn't one of these, what do you think it is? Thanks for the help!

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C. crassidens, South Bosque fm, Central TX

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Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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DelioVarden, I think that's probably C. crassidens. There has been some scholarly debate if two species should even be designated.

Dan, nice tooth! :=)

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Every now and then even a blind hog finds an acorn....

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Man, there are some really nice teeth shown in this thread. Cretodus teeth have been a nemesis of mine. I have only found a very few complete or near complete ones. I always seem to be a step slow. I remember going with Dan out to a shark tooth site a few years ago, one that I had visited probably a dozen times. Within a few minutes of our arrival he nails a nice example. Oh, well! Nice job to those of you that have successfully collected these.

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DelioVarden, I think that's probably C. crassidens. There has been some scholarly debate if two species should even be designated.

Dan, nice tooth! :=)

Thanks for the id help!

Edited by DeloiVarden
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One trick with Cretodus, if you find a broken one weathering out of the clay take the time to try to find the other pieces. I've found a few good ones that way in the Arcadia Park formation. And then there is P.O.C. where it is altogether tempting to glue together unrelated pieces ;-)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tony,

There is an article (Schwimmer et al., 2002) that provides evidence that crassidens is a junior synonym of semiplicatus (the latter has priority by seven years). The three teeth figured in the article show combinations of characters that are supposed to distinguish the species. Also, it had been proposed by previous researchers that each had a preferred environment (one nearshore; one offshore) but different workers came to opposite conclusions.

The article is interesting because it documents the occurrence of Cretodus in the Santonian of Georgia and Alabama, extending both the chronologic and geographic range of the species.

Jess

Schwimmer, D.R., G.E. Hooks III, and B. Johnson. 2002.

Revised Taxonomy, Age, and Geographic Range of the Large Lamniform Shark Cretodus semiplicatus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22(3):704-707.

DelioVarden, I think that's probably C. crassidens. There has been some scholarly debate if two species should even be designated.

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Alright Fossilselachian, here is one oddball tooth that I think is a Cretodus. It has additional lateral cusplets but they are small. It is easily the largest Cretaceous tooth in my collection.

The info that came with this tooth is as follows:

Late Cretaceous

Woodbine Formation

near Grand Prairie, Dallas County, Texas.

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