Sharktooth Hill Namesake For Id ?

[ynot]

Hey-lo Y'all,

I got some of My new batch of Sharktooth hill micros cleaned, and in the first scoop (1/4 cup) of searching I found this!! I have two species that I think it could belong too, but am not sure it fits in either of them...would You please help Me to clarify the ID of this tooth....

scale is in millimeters

Close-ups of the serrations.

As always any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Tony

[sixgill pete]

I think the tooth is either Carcharhinus cf. limbatus (Blacktip Shark) or C. falciformis (Silky Shark). But so many of the Carcharhinus species teeth are so similar it can be very very hard to assign them to a species.

[ynot]

I think the tooth is either Carcharhinus cf. limbatus (Blacktip Shark) or C. falciformis (Silky Shark). But so many of the Carcharhinus species teeth are so similar it can be very very hard to assign them to a species.

Thank You Pete.

Tony

[siteseer]

Identifying Sharktooth Hill Carcharhinus teeth to species is particularly difficult because those sharks lived long enough ago that most modern species probably had not evolved yet or at least they had not arrived at the forms we recognize today. An example would be when you look at modern Carcharhinus limbatus uppers. They tend to be straight and rather tall - a Carcharhinus form you do not see in the STH Bonebed. However, some Carcharhinus lower teeth from there are similar to those of C. limbatus in that they bear fine serrations on the cutting edges of the cusp and the heels. It's conceivable that the ancestor or early form of limbatus had shorter teeth and may have even been closely related to C. falciformis. Fifteen million years is a long time for a single shark species to survive without a noticeable change in the teeth especially when you consider that climates and environments have changed a lot since then.

I think the tooth is either Carcharhinus cf. limbatus (Blacktip Shark) or C. falciformis (Silky Shark). But so many of the Carcharhinus species teeth are so similar it can be very very hard to assign them to a species.

Edited May 25, 2015 by siteseer

[ynot]

Identifying Sharktooth Hill Carcharhinus teeth to species is particularly difficult because those sharks lived long enough ago that most modern species probably had not evolved yet or at least they had not arrived at the forms we recognize today. An example would be when you look at modern Carcharhinus limbatus uppers. They tend to be straight and rather tall - a Carcharhinus form you do not see in the STH Bonebed. However, some Carcharhinus lower teeth from there are similar to those of C. limbatus in that they bear fine serrations on the cutting edges of the cusp and the heels. It's conceivable that the ancestor or early form of limbatus had shorter teeth and may have even been closely related to C. falciformis. Fifteen million years is a long time for a single shark species to survive without a noticeable change in the teeth especially when you consider that climates and environments have changed a lot since then.

Thanks Jess