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Unusual Vert & Tooth


sward

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I spent some time on my favorite hillside this afternoon. My previous posts had listed this site as Kgm (Mainstreet & Grayson). However, after meeting with Richard (vertman) to review the fish I had found on this hillside, I have since learned that I am "probably" in the Pawpaw formation. Like I previously said, I learned alot during my meeting with Richard.

Besides finding my usual variety of shark/bony fish verts and shark teeth, I found a couple of new things to add to my collection. I have collected pycnodont teeth before, but this was the first time to find pycnodont dentition.

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The vert on the left is unusual for what I normally find. Normally, just fish and shark verts. I'm not sure what it may be from.

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The tooth (I believe it's a tooth) on the right is unusual, too. It seems to be quite weathered. I'm not sure what it may be from either.

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SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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I am not too familiar with the Pawpaw formation however I am going to take a guess and suggest that your bottom pic is a claw of some description possibly a turtle?

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Steven, your site gets more and more interesting! Could you please show a few more angles of that vert, perhaps from both ends and all sides? And...we are still making an educated guess as to the formation, based mostly on the images I saw and some of the fossil remains present. Someone better than I could tell you more definitely. I do know it is absolutely one of the most interesting local sites I have heard of in the last dozen years or so. I have never seen the variety of fish, shark, and other vertebrate material you are finding coming out of either the Main Street/Grayson or Pawpaw.

The last time I heard of/saw a site this interesting was about a dozen years ago when a rancher asked me to come take a look at his neighbor's fossils. I did. It was extreme Lower Cretaceous sediments, lower than the Goodland Limestone or the Walnut Clay. It was in one of the unconsolidated sands...Antlers maybe? Anyway, the neighbor had all kinds of gar scales, crocodilian scutes, teeth, and verts, etc. It looked like some sort of fresh water deposit from within the Lower Cretaceous. They ended up asking me not to tell anyone about it because they did not want their land invaded. I am not saying that is what your site is, but its uniqueness reminds me a bit of that experience.

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...Could you please show a few more angles of that vert, perhaps from both ends and all sides?...

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SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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I'm wondering if that specimen could a dinosaur tail vertebra. That claw-like specimen might be a claw but I'm wondering if it is a piece of armor from a turtle, croc, or dinosaur.

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Steven, would you say the vert is slightly concave on both ends?

Yes, each end is slightly concaved.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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I've had two suggestions that the "tooth" may be a claw, possilby from a turtle. Thanks "Down under fossil hunter" and "siteseer" for the feedback.

If I recall, I remember reading previous posts that turtle bone is very pourous (almost sponge-like) on the inside. Am I remembering this correctly?

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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Yes, reptile bones are less ossified, less solid with more cartilage, than mammal bone. The bone ends do not fit as well together because they are covered in cartilage. As fossils, reptile bones can be crumbly on the ends with any fine matrix filling the spaces.

I've had two suggestions that the "tooth" may be a claw, possilby from a turtle. Thanks "Down under fossil hunter" and "siteseer" for the feedback.

If I recall, I remember reading previous posts that turtle bone is very pourous (almost sponge-like) on the inside. Am I remembering this correctly?

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I'm wondering if that specimen could a dinosaur tail vertebra. That claw-like specimen might be a claw but I'm wondering if it is a piece of armor from a turtle, croc, or dinosaur.

Hey! I was thinking about dino vert, but also considered croc. It is concave on both ends and has the same general shape to it as most of the croc verts I have.

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