2 Very Small Mammal Teeth

[Shellseeker]

A fossil hunting friend asked me to ID two mammal teeth that he found in the Peace River on Sunday. I was quick to hazard guesses, but was slightly concerned with the small sizes. The first tooth is 3/5ths x 4/5ths inches.

The second tooth is 1/4 x 1/2 inches.

Apologies for the slight fuzziness in some photos, I only had my cellphone at the river and small fossils are hard to photo crisply (at least for me).

Enamels on BOTH teeth are complete, unbroken, missing the roots

Edited January 7, 2015 by Shellseeker

[Shellseeker]

Here is a thread from last summer that focuses on identifying a small mammal tooth.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/47799-some-beat-up-bonesteeth/?hl=peccary#entry515357

Initially I believed the 2nd tooth to be a baby tapir tooth. Now I believe that not to be the case.

Initially I believed the 1st tooth could be Mastodon. Now I think that Dugong may be more likely.

So, Mastodon, dugong, peccary, tapir are all viable initial guesses for newly erupted or juvenile teeth. Currently dugong and peccary are my guesses.

[siteseer]

I'm going to say peccary for both.

Here is a thread from last summer that focuses on identifying a small mammal tooth.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/47799-some-beat-up-bonesteeth/?hl=peccary#entry515357

Initially I believed the 2nd tooth to be a baby tapir tooth. Now I believe that not to be the case.

Initially I believed the 1st tooth could be Mastodon. Now I think that Dugong may be more likely.

So, Mastodon, dugong, peccary, tapir are all viable initial guesses for newly erupted or juvenile teeth. Currently dugong and peccary are my guesses.

[Shellseeker]

These are not easy calls for me -- small molars can be similar. Thanks for the response.

I have been searching and found this TFF thread with an un-erupted dugong molar. It is why I am conflicted on the 1st photo.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/11930-february-2010-vertebrate-find-of-the-month/

siteseer, I finally did some homework and found this photo of a tooth I found 18 months. I had identified it as dugong then, which is why I thought this one was the same. Clearly I could have been wrong back then.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Shellseeker

[siteseer]

Shellseeker,

I can't find an exact match for the first tooth but now I'm leaning toward dugong after looking at a similar one I have. I still think the second is peccary. I don't know what that tooth is from 18 months ago.

Jess

These are not easy calls for me -- small molars can be similar. Thanks for the response.

I have been searching and found this TFF thread with an un-erupted dugong molar. It is why I am conflicted on the 1st photo.

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/11930-february-2010-vertebrate-find-of-the-month/

siteseer, I finally did some homework and found this photo of a tooth I found 18 months. I had identified it as dugong then, which is why I thought this one was the same. Clearly I could have been wrong back then.

DugongMolarTFF.jpg