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Jaw Bone With A Few Broken Teeth


sward

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Steve, is it stable enough to do some additional cleaning on the distal end? Maybe a stiff toothbrush and alcohol or water while using magnification could better reveal the cross section of the bone.

It's an interesting find. ;)

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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A suggestion has been made via email and here is another suggestion..

Perhaps the specimen is a predentary of the Aspidorhynchifrom fish Belonostomus. This is a genus that ranges from Neocomian to Maastrichtian with species found in both freshwater and marine. Remains have been identified in marine Albian deposits Mexico as well freshwater deposits in Maastrichtian of several western states, as well as several places in the Cenomanian of Europe. Some of the predentaires reach up to 25 cms that, I guess is about the same size as this one..

He suggests you contact to Paulo Brito who specialized in these fishes for his doctorate. I do not have an e-mail for him but he works at Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janerio.

Steve, you might want to shoot a PM to Pleecan (Peter) on the forum as I think he may have Paulo's contact information..

Welcome to the forum!

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Roz,

Continued thanks! I've sent Peter a PM to see if I can get Paulo's email address.

I'll keep ya'll posted.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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Steve, is it stable enough to do some additional cleaning on the distal end? Maybe a stiff toothbrush and alcohol or water while using magnification could better reveal the cross section of the bone.

It's an interesting find. ;)

I was able to clean the end a bit better, but not much. I was able to remove some of the "gray" material. Just underneath is a solid black unidentified material. It does not appear to be porous.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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Perhaps the specimen is a predentary of the Aspidorhynchifrom fish Belonostomus...

I found this thread from 2011 from our own member oilshale about Belonstomus while doing a search. http://www.thefossil...lnhofen-fishes/

I also noticed yesterday while doing a search for aspidorhynchid that he has some pics in his gallery. http://www.thefossil...its-a-huge-one/

I've sent him a pm to see if he can possibly get some close-up pics of the jaw bone to see if he can shed any more light.

Edited by sward

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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definitely grayson fm, not pawpaw, and i found a similar jaw there too...will post pics soon...but mine appears to have at least one tooth poking out the opposite side of the jaw....strange

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

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Have you had any updates?

Peter did send me Paulo Brito's email address. I forwarded the photos to him, but I've never heard anything back yet.

I'll keep you posted.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well...I never heard back from Paulo Brito. :(

However, I guess I'm not done messing around with this thing yet. :)

I just received an email from Mr. Mike Polcyn of the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences at SMU. This is from the same email string that I had sent to Dr. Timothy Myers earlier. I'm guessing that Dr. Myers must have forwarded the email to Mr. Polcyn.

Mr. Polcyn has requested that I bring the specimen to him so he can "...look at it under the microscope and compare it with some things...". I'm in the process of making the arrangements with him.

I'll let ya'll know what I find out.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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I am very happy to read that.. Hopefully you will be able to take it in very

soon and you may just get a positive ID! Excellent! :popcorn::D

Welcome to the forum!

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  • 4 months later...

What is the locality and Formation/age of this fossil?

The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".

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What is the locality and Formation/age of this fossil?

sward's 'hillside' is in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Grayson Formation.

"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!

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Thanks! Odd looking jaw, but I'm down with it being fish, which seems to be the consensus. First thing I thought when I saw it was Pelagornithid - but Early Cretaceous is a bit early for that.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence".

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sward's 'hillside' is in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Grayson Formation.

Thanks for covering for me Auspex!

I recently heard back from Paulo Brito. He had been working in the field in Mexico. He identified it as Belonostomus.

I never heard anything back from Mike Polcyn @ SMU.

Edited by sward

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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...First thing I thought when I saw it was Pelagornithid - but Early Cretaceous is a bit early for that.

At a glance, I see the resemblance, as the fact that the teeth are socketed is hard to see. They are round in cross section, though. Compare to this Pelagornithid beak from Morocco:

post-423-0-74542900-1365255717_thumb.jpg

In a Pelagornithid, the "teeth" are just flat extensions of the jaw bone.

"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!

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At a glance, I see the resemblance, as the fact that the teeth are socketed is hard to see. They are round in cross section, though. Compare to this Pelagornithis beak from Morocco:

attachicon.gifpseudodontorn bill tip 2.jpg

In a Pelagornithid, the "teeth" are just flat extensions of the jaw bone.

Thanks Auspex. I find it interesting how the pic you provided appears to show both sides of the jaw (as opposed to mine which is just one side) and how the "teeth" are lined up together on both sides. From pics I googled, I hadn't noticed that.

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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Steven:

I have contact information for Mike Polcyn. If you don't get an answer from him, let me know and we can go down to SMU and sit down with Mike. I'm kind of the golden child at SMU now, since I donated the pterosaur last month.

I'd love to see the jaw in person!

Take Care, Bud!

-Brent

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Steven:

I have contact information for Mike Polcyn. If you don't get an answer from him, let me know and we can go down to SMU and sit down with Mike. I'm kind of the golden child at SMU now, since I donated the pterosaur last month.

I'd love to see the jaw in person!

Take Care, Bud!

-Brent

Hey Brent,

I bet you are a "Golden Child" at SMU these days. I kinda assumed he lost interest after he sent the email to me, sent it to me by mistake, got busy on other things (maybe your pterosaur jaw), etc. I may take you up on your offer. I'll try to contact him to see if he's still interested.

Thanks!

SWard
Southeast Missouri

(formerly Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX)

USA

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Hey Brent,

I bet you are a "Golden Child" at SMU these days. I kinda assumed he lost interest after he sent the email to me, sent it to me by mistake, got busy on other things (maybe your pterosaur jaw), etc. I may take you up on your offer. I'll try to contact him to see if he's still interested.

Thanks!

No problem bud! I LOVE the jaw!

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  • 1 year later...

What is the locality and Formation/age of this fossil?

As Dan and Auspex said Grayson Formation, capped with Woodbine up top. I too have a similar little jaw from that locality.

I guess something like "Belonostomus" (genus cf. Belonostomus) is what it's been decided on? It looks just like the one in Everhart's paper on the Kiowa shale. I actually needed that specific paper Sward attached. :)

Edited by LanceH
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