fossiladdict Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I found this today (Grayson County, Texas) and have never found anything like it. Someone help me figure out what these are from. Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommcclees Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Maybe Petalodus? I'm prbly wrong tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Very interesting fossil. The teeth are embedded in bone so that will rule out shark or ray. Beyond that I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) The length is about 1 1/8" and the height is a little over 1/2". Added: And each tooth is a little over 1/2" wide. Edited July 10, 2012 by fossiladdict Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foshunter Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 This is a wild looking set of teeth, hope someone can ID them, very interesting---Tom Grow Old Kicking And Screaming !!"Don't Tread On Me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 The only thing these bring to my mind (and only because they are leaf-like, overlapping, chopping "blades"), are Ankylosaur teeth. I don't mean to suggest that this is what they are; only that the critter may have processed food in a similar fashion. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 I'm open to all suggestions because I have no clue at all. Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Edonihce Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) Questions: 1. What formation? 2. What type of environment (e.g. marine or terrestrial, etc) 3. Any associated organisms? Observations & guesses: 1. The crown on these makes me think more 'mid-level-marine-predator' than 'land-based-plant-eater' 2. The close proximity and smoothness of these two teeth seems remeniscent of some kind of 'mouth plate' or 'pavement teeth' 3. Bottom-dwelling scavenger? 4. shell crusher of some sort? Edited July 10, 2012 by Mr. Edonihce . ____________________ scale in avatar is millimeters ____________________ Come visit Sandi, the 'Fossil Journey Cruiser' ____________________ WIPS (the Western Interior Paleontological Society - http://www.westernpaleo.org) ____________________ "Being genetically cursed with an almost inhuman sense of curiosity and wonder, I'm hard-wired to investigate even the most unlikely, uninteresting (to others anyway) and irrelevant details; often asking hypothetical questions from many angles in an attempt to understand something more thoroughly." -- Mr. Edonihce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 ...The teeth are embedded in bone so that will rule out shark or ray... I would like to reinforce that we might want to rule out the whole of class Chondrichthyes; these teeth are set in bone, not cartilage. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Edonihce Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I would like to reinforce that we might want to rule out the whole of class Chondrichthyes; these teeth are set in bone, not cartilage. Doh! Absolutely. Editing my last post now. I noticed that when I first looked at the photos, but then totally forgot by the time I got around to writing some comments.... . ____________________ scale in avatar is millimeters ____________________ Come visit Sandi, the 'Fossil Journey Cruiser' ____________________ WIPS (the Western Interior Paleontological Society - http://www.westernpaleo.org) ____________________ "Being genetically cursed with an almost inhuman sense of curiosity and wonder, I'm hard-wired to investigate even the most unlikely, uninteresting (to others anyway) and irrelevant details; often asking hypothetical questions from many angles in an attempt to understand something more thoroughly." -- Mr. Edonihce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 What formation?- Grayson County consists primarily of Cretaceous material and you can view the geology at http://www.scribd.com/doc/14851927/Geology-of-Grayson-County-Texas-UT-Bulletin-3225. It it hard to say what type of environment, because both marine and land fossils are found in the area. I don't know any associated organisms because the fossils found vary from sharks teeth to bison teeth etc. and I don't know what these are to be able to point it one way or the other. I looked through various books, and cannot find these, unless I'm looking in the wrong place because I've been primarily looking under marine fossils as that is what I find the most of in the general area. I'm at a complete loss. But I will say this....they are pretty darn cool! Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I have been doing online searches of shark, fish, and dinos all morning.. I have had no luck so far.. Whatever they are, just fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (added) So shark and ray are ruled out.. It just sunk in from above.. I am betting on some type of dinosaur then. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I can't wait to see what this ends up being! They are wicked looking teeth. Never seen anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Here's some scans of the geologic map for Grayson county. Look on there and tell us what formation code (3 letters such as Kpd, Kpp, Kw*) it was found in. http://www.northtexasfossils.com/geologygrayson.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewilliamsdigit Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Those are way cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Maybe Petalodus? I'm prbly wrong tho If they were Petalodus, it would be an exceptional piece. They are pretty cool looking, whatever they are. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 (edited) Along with Auspex, my first impression was ankylosaur/nodosaur. Great find, whatever it may be! Edited July 10, 2012 by non-remanié ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Those are some very cool teeth. If they were not in bone, I would wonder if they were some type of Heterodontus. They are exceptional teeth and like the others I am looking forward to finding out what they are. Congratulations!! Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Going back to fish.... http://www.oceansofkansas.com/pycnodont.html http://uam.academia.edu/FranciscoJos%C3%A9PoyatoAriza/Papers/1467723/Pycnodont_fishes_morphologic_variation_ecomorphologic_plasticity_and_a_new_interpretation_of_their_evolutionary_history Do any of them look similar to you? I had a good fossil friend state that it was perhaps a type of pycnodont so I'm looking into those a little more. I have other variations of pycnodont from the same general locations. Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Not having collected the area and having seen only Albian-age (late part of the Early Cretaceous) and Cenomanian-age (early part of the Late Cretaceous) from Grayson County, I am going to start there. If they are teeth, they are unusual in that they are not positioned edge-to-edge along what appears to be their width. They do resemble nurse shark teeth (Ginglymostoma-like forms) but nurse sharks of that form did not appear until several million years later in the Late Cretaceous (and they aren't shark teeth as Auspex noted). It is reasonable to consider that other fishes may have adopted similar teeth before nurse sharks went in that dental direction. This brings me back to the odd alignment of the proposed teeth which does remind me of pterygoidal teeth in mosasaurs (and other reptiles) and leads me toward your pycnodont suggestion, those fishes having born teeth on the vomers (bones on the roof of the mouth). I have probably seen more Eocene pycnodont teeth than Cretaceous ones but the younger ones seem to have about the same shape. I would assume that Early Cretaceous genera had more of a range of tooth shape, so if I were to guess based on these shaky grounds, I would say it's a piece of pycnodont vomer. Without stratigraphic certainty, I would have to offer a terrestrial guess as well. If pressed for one, I would say some weird lizard or other reptile but not a dinosaur. I was wondering if it could be a piece of armor too (unusual bone surface). What formation?- Grayson County consists primarily of Cretaceous material and you can view the geology at http://www.scribd.co...T-Bulletin-3225. It it hard to say what type of environment, because both marine and land fossils are found in the area. I don't know any associated organisms because the fossils found vary from sharks teeth to bison teeth etc. and I don't know what these are to be able to point it one way or the other. I looked through various books, and cannot find these, unless I'm looking in the wrong place because I've been primarily looking under marine fossils as that is what I find the most of in the general area. I'm at a complete loss. But I will say this....they are pretty darn cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Edonihce Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Going back to fish.... http://www.oceansofk.../pycnodont.html http://uam.academia....tionary_history Do any of them look similar to you? I had a good fossil friend state that it was perhaps a type of pycnodont so I'm looking into those a little more. I have other variations of pycnodont from the same general locations. That's what I was hinting at when I mentioned "'mouth plate' or 'pavement teeth'". Though the tooth shapes in the specimen examples I've looked at so far don't appear to include ones with quite the same kind of characteristics as yours, siteseer's point about the likelihood of earlier generations possibly having been more diverse enters in. It may well be that these are from an as yet undocumented pycnodontid.....or at least one that is burried away in a journal somewhere that none of us has come across yet. . ____________________ scale in avatar is millimeters ____________________ Come visit Sandi, the 'Fossil Journey Cruiser' ____________________ WIPS (the Western Interior Paleontological Society - http://www.westernpaleo.org) ____________________ "Being genetically cursed with an almost inhuman sense of curiosity and wonder, I'm hard-wired to investigate even the most unlikely, uninteresting (to others anyway) and irrelevant details; often asking hypothetical questions from many angles in an attempt to understand something more thoroughly." -- Mr. Edonihce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 You might have found a one of a kind find! Can't wait to hear what it is. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Definitely not ankylosaur. They look very much like pycnodont teeth I've seen from the Late Cretaceous Mancos Shale of Utah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 This thing has to be nominated for vertebrate fossil of the month, with or without an ID. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 So this is the closest that I have came to perhaps identifying it as some type of pycnodont. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7057297/18Cumbaaetal18 I'm having a hard time figuring out whether those teeth are actually grinding teeth or not though...thoughts? Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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