Show Your Smallest Megalodon Teeth

[MarcoSr]

17 hours ago, fossilselachian said:

Here is a small meg from Sharktooth Hill along with a small Parotodus

 

Wow, I've never seen a Parotodus that small before.  Thank you for posting it.

 

Marco Sr.

[Gareth_]

My smallest Megalodon tooth is a giant compared to some in this thread but it's still small enough to be worthy of a post here

 

 

 

 

[Meganeura]

Resurrecting this thread cause I wanted to share my own I found yesterday, at a slant height of 0.5” - and based on what I know about Megs and tooth position, was from close to the front of the mouth where the biggest teeth usually are (Though correct me if I’m wrong on that!)

[Rock Hound]

I honestly opened this thread, thinking I'd post pics of a nice 3" Meg I just purchased.

 

Clearly, by small you didn't mean 3" teeth.

 

Some nice pics, are in this thread.

[Gareth_]

On 8/1/2022 at 10:33 PM, Meganeura said:

Resurrecting this thread cause I wanted to share my own I found yesterday, at a slant height of 0.5” - and based on what I know about Megs and tooth position, was from close to the front of the mouth where the biggest teeth usually are (Though correct me if I’m wrong on that!)

 

 

 

Really cool find!! 
I'd call that an upper jaw posterior tooth (right at the back) which is cooler than an anterior tooth as they're rarer 

 

[Meganeura]

1 minute ago, Gareth_ said:

 

 

Really cool find!! 
I'd call that an upper jaw posterior tooth (right at the back) which is cooler than an anterior tooth as they're rarer 

 

huh, that's awesome to know! I always thought the posteriors were the curved ones - are those the lower posterior teeth?

[Gareth_]

11 hours ago, Meganeura said:

huh, that's awesome to know! I always thought the posteriors were the curved ones - are those the lower posterior teeth?

 

This is all based on the info I've gathered over the years, I may be wrong but it's the best I've got
 

This is an oversimplification....

Upper jaw anterior - wide and tall crown, the serrated edges stay wide (as opposed to lower anterior) until they abruptly curve in to make the tip

Upper jaw lateral - a noticeable hook in the crown, crown height reduces

Upper jaw posterior - similar to the lateral but a very short crown height vs root width

 

Lower jaw anterior - narrower than the upper anterior teeth, very tall crown with blades that are a straight line from the root to the tip - classic dagger shape

Lower jaw lateral - crown with at the root stays wide, crown height shortens, about 1/3 the way up the crown the blades start to pinch in

Lower jaw posterior - very wide root vs crown height, very pinched crown 

Lower jaw teeth are much more symmetrical too

 

On your tooth, one blade is straight, one is curved - indicating it's upper jaw.  The height of the crown vs the height of the root points to it being posterior (very deep root for the size of the crown)

 

Some teeth just don't "fit" in the above description.... there are nuances as obviously reconstructed tooth sets is not an exact science for an extinct genus. I have a number of different theories as to why but that's another topic haha

 

 

 

Just some examples I own or have owned... 

 

Upper jaw anterior - 125mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper jaw lateral - 96mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper jaw posterior - 43mm slant height 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw anterior - 100mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw lateral (probably one of the first lateral teeth - the crown is starting to pinch in). 123mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw lateral - 114mm slant height, 96mm wide!  One of the last lateral teeth

 

 

 

 

 

If you're still reading this post.... sorry, I haven't had a lower jaw posterior (yet!) 

 

 

[Meganeura]

14 minutes ago, Gareth_ said:

 

This is all based on the info I've gathered over the years, I may be wrong but it's the best I've got
 

This is an oversimplification....

Upper jaw anterior - wide and tall crown, the serrated edges stay wide (as opposed to lower anterior) until they abruptly curve in to make the tip

Upper jaw lateral - a noticeable hook in the crown, crown height reduces

Upper jaw posterior - similar to the lateral but a very short crown height vs root width

 

Lower jaw anterior - narrower than the upper anterior teeth, very tall crown with blades that are a straight line from the root to the tip - classic dagger shape

Lower jaw lateral - crown with at the root stays wide, crown height shortens, about 1/3 the way up the crown the blades start to pinch in

Lower jaw posterior - very wide root vs crown height, very pinched crown 

Lower jaw teeth are much more symmetrical too

 

On your tooth, one blade is straight, one is curved - indicating it's upper jaw.  The height of the crown vs the height of the root points to it being posterior (very deep root for the size of the crown)

 

Some teeth just don't "fit" in the above description.... there are nuances as obviously reconstructed tooth sets is not an exact science for an extinct genus. I have a number of different theories as to why but that's another topic haha

 

 

 

Just some examples I own or have owned... 

 

Upper jaw anterior - 125mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper jaw lateral - 96mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper jaw posterior - 43mm slant height 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw anterior - 100mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw lateral (probably one of the first lateral teeth - the crown is starting to pinch in). 123mm slant height

 

 

 

 

 

Lower jaw lateral - 114mm slant height, 96mm wide!  One of the last lateral teeth

 

 

 

 

 

If you're still reading this post.... sorry, I haven't had a lower jaw posterior (yet!) 

 

 

Thank you so much, this actually helped and explained a lot! Also I didn't even realize that my tooth had the slight curve on the right side of the blade until you pointed it out - it had looked straight to me - but I had been looking for a much more pronounced curve like the many other lower posteriors I have. They're all I've been finding lately!

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Meganeura