Saurichthys(?) Teeth And Jawbone (Dogger - Callovian)

[Climber]

Dear Experts,

Allow me to introduce myself as a layman fossil digger hailing from South-western Germany. I’m a little bit specialized on (Swabian) Jurassic outcrops as well as adjacent areas like the Molasse basin.

I found the attached teeth and jawbone two years ago in the upper Dogger (Callovian or “Ornatenton”) of Siblingen (Switzerland, Canton Schaffhausen).

Unfortunately I smashed the brittle material a little bit with my hammer before I recognized that it’s something special (at least for me); however following some tinkering at home I was able to do a partial reconstruction of the teeth and the jawbone which obviously shows roots of small teeth on the ‘outside’, followed by medium and large ones (the scale is in cm).

During my attempts to clarify in a German forum what species it could be I got feedback like Saurhynchus / Saurichthys AGASSIZ / Chondrostei.

I wonder whether you could help me to make some further progress with this query.

Thanks a lot,

Ulrich (climber)

[Vordigern]

very nice find and welcome to the forum

[Fossildude19]

Welcome to the Forum, Ulrich, from Connecticut, USA!

Beautiful finds, but, I am unable to help.

By commenting, though, I am bumping the thread up, to get some more eyes on this.

I will be watching to see if anyone can help to provide an ID.

Regards,

[Dave pom Allen]

wellcome to the forum you have a lovely find there. looks to me like an elasmosaur type marine reptile jaw section and teeth similar to what i have seen here in nz ,from the jurassic.very nice.

[Mike from North Queensland]

I agree they look like elasmosaur type teeth at first appearance except they appear to have no root structure and lots of small ones are erupting from the sides.

I would be tempted to look for some animal that has some type of external defensive or decorative element. A couple of end photos of the structure of the bone or shell may help. From what I can see of the bone I would tend to go with fish.

I is a very nice specimen and I would love to have one.

Mike

Edited March 30, 2012 by Mike from North Queensland

[Ludwigia]

Looking good!

[eboe101]

Nice find!