Cetacean?

[RickNC]

Hi all,

I pulled this specimen from a creek in Eastern NC this weekend. We find fossils ranging from Cretaceous-Pleistocene at this site. I believe it to be a Cetacean tooth but it is unlike any I have seen from this location. We also find land mammal teeth here but I am pretty certain it is a marine mammal. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[Auspex]

It is a whale tooth, I think, but I know not which. If so, it is not Mesozoic.

[Al Dente]

Nice find. It looks a lot like a Pseudorca tooth that is illustrated in "Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, vol. 4.". That tooth is a little under 3 inches long.

[fossilized6s]

Beautiful Whale tooth!

[willy]

may be pilot whale. Not 100% on that; more likely sperm whale due to its size & circular striations. not a 100% on that either. either way, nice tooth/find!

Edited March 22, 2015 by willy

[RickNC]

may be pilot whale. Not 100% on that; more likely sperm whale due to its size & circular striations. not a 100% on that either. either way, nice tooth/find!

I thought it did share similarities with pictures of pilot whale teeth I found online.

[willy]

I have never seen a 3" pilot tooth, nor have I ever seen one with those sperm whale tell - sign rings. However, the enamel looks like that of a pilot whale tooth.

[njfossilhunter]

I think its a sperm whale tooth as well ,,,,the rings give it away ,,plus it looks like some of the sperm whale teeth I have in my collection....Great find.

[RickNC]

I think its a sperm whale tooth as well ,,,,the rings give it away ,,plus it looks like some of the sperm whale teeth I have in my collection....Great find.

Thanks. Other than the rings it doesn't look anything like the sperm whale teeth we typically find at this location.

[Boesse]

That's a big honkin tooth - Pseudorca is probably a reasonable guess, but there's always a fair amount of guesswork with odontocete teeth. Teeth like this are also characteristic of Orcinus, for example (and similar teeth could be expected in Globicephala or even Delphinapterus/Bohaskaia - though perhaps this is too large). It's unlikely to be from a giant kentriodontid (e.g. Hadrodelphis, Macrokentriodon) owing to the straight root (kentriodontids are longirostrine, and generally have roots that are curved to fit in the mandible/maxilla). Does the tooth have an oval cross-section? Physeteroids generally don't have curved crowns - though sperm whale is a reasonable guess because of the large size. Physeteroids also have teeth that generally have a circular cross section. If, however, the tooth is oval or near flattened with a quasi-rectangular cross-section, then it is undoubtedly a delphinid. I wouldn't recommend identifying the tooth past Globicephalinae indet., however.

[RickNC]

That's a big honkin tooth - Pseudorca is probably a reasonable guess, but there's always a fair amount of guesswork with odontocete teeth. Teeth like this are also characteristic of Orcinus, for example (and similar teeth could be expected in Globicephala or even Delphinapterus/Bohaskaia - though perhaps this is too large). It's unlikely to be from a giant kentriodontid (e.g. Hadrodelphis, Macrokentriodon) owing to the straight root (kentriodontids are longirostrine, and generally have roots that are curved to fit in the mandible/maxilla). Does the tooth have an oval cross-section? Physeteroids generally don't have curved crowns - though sperm whale is a reasonable guess because of the large size. Physeteroids also have teeth that generally have a circular cross section. If, however, the tooth is oval or near flattened with a quasi-rectangular cross-section, then it is undoubtedly a delphinid. I wouldn't recommend identifying the tooth past Globicephalinae indet., however.

Hi and thanks for the reply. I was hoping you would see the thread. This tooth does indeed have an oval cross-section. I would describe it as near flattened as well. One of the first things that struck me was how flat it was.

[sixgill pete]

Really nice tooth Rick.

[RickNC]

Really nice tooth Rick.

Thanks Don. I was surprised to see it in the screen.

[masonboro37]

Excellent tooth Rick!

[Shellseeker]

Nice Rick. The rings always catch my eye. I love finding whale. I found a couple of pieces two weeks back close together. They might have fit together in an alternate reality.

Yours however is really unique. I also have never seen anything like it.

[cowsharks]

Rick, I have two associated teeth from Calvert Cliffs that Dave Bohaska ID'd as "Sperm whale" teeth some years ago. Mine are similar to yours except for the crown.

Daryl.

[jcbshark]

Wow, that is a great tooth Rick! Congrats