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Sloths and 3Toed


Shellseeker

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Location, Location, Location

I am blessed to have fossil hunting buddies who take me along for the ride. We have discovered a very remote location that is a mix of Pleistocene (Equus, turtle, gator, camel) Marine (Dusky, Bull, Tiger, Mako, Whale) and Blancan (Sloth, 3 toed horse, Holmesina floridanus). If only it could last for years. Pure heaven for a fossil hunter.

Both my buddy and I found a sloth tooth. His more battered than mine (photo below)

post-2220-0-02259800-1452457597_thumb.jpgpost-2220-0-19622500-1452457618_thumb.jpg.

This one almost seems like a Caniform but maybe not; It seems to have enamel at the tip but maybe not. I'll identify this tooth to sloth family given time.

Late in the day, digging in a spot that produced GWs and Equus earlier, up popped a 3Toed:

post-2220-0-22856000-1452457919_thumb.jpgpost-2220-0-68307700-1452457971_thumb.jpg

This one a lower, and I have no idea how to differentiate beyond the very small size (41mm length).

and within 10 minutes an upper just slightly larger. Unbelievable!!! 3Toed horse are RARE!! but not here.

post-2220-0-05800300-1452458261_thumb.jpg

I will be trying to Identify the name of the Sloth and the 2 small horses who gave me these teeth. All assistance greatly appreciated!!! SS

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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Cool finds, you certainly are fortunate to have friends who take you to places with such a rich bounty of fossils!

-Lyall

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Those are some GREAT finds Jack! Congrats: )

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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awesome. I wish mammal stuff was as easily found here as it is down there in Florida.

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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Thanks for the comments..

I have re_read Bruce McFadden's Systematics and phylogeny of Hipparion, Neohipparion, Nannippus, and Cormohipparion (Mammalia, Equidae) from the Miocene and Pliocene of the New World. Bulletin of the AMNH; v. 179, article 1

The horse teeth are Hipparion and most likely Nannippus, but even to be certain of that, I need to email an expert like Richard Hulbert. If you look at the "loop" coming toward the protocone from upper left, I can not find that feature in the photos and drawings of other Nannippus choices. The paper is well worth reading for anyone interested in these small Florida horses from 2-3 million years ago.

Having looked at numerous upper molars of these horses on the internet, I am very pleased with the "crispness" of this latest find.

On the Sloth Tooth, I am thinking Megalonyx and specifically Jefferson's Ground Sloth. Specifically the foremost tooth in this jaw. Once again just not certain. Looking for confirmation. SS

post-2220-0-13687400-1452478149_thumb.jpg

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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The lower horse tooth appears to be one of the early eqqus species (could be mid Pleistocene), the upper tooth with isolated protocone possibly one of the Pliocene horses referred to as "three toed", possibly hipparion.

Edited by jpevahouse
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Jack, you seem to be well along in the race while most of the rest of us are stuck with our toes firmly planted at the starting line waiting for the starting gun to signal that the Peace River has dropped enough so that we can break out our sifting screen and try to play catch-up. Now I need to go out and mow the grass when I'd rather be digging up sloth remains with you--oh well, at least I got to pick through a bit of Rattlesnake Creek micro-matrix this morning and locate a nice Nurse Shark tooth. Ah, the anticipation of Peace River fossil hunts in the future...hopefully, the not too distant future.

Cheers.

-Ken

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I'm not an expert in teeth, but the lower molar looks similar to one of the Calippus species. Finally I found a good reference: post-17588-0-88742300-1452548321_thumb.jpg
Nice finds, Jack!

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" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm not an expert in teeth, but the lower molar looks similar to one of the Calippus species. Finally I found a good reference: attachicon.gifmed_gallery_42_6_40469.jpg

Nice finds, Jack!

These are VERY hard to differentiate. I did find Calippus a couple of years back. for the possible ID,http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/46940-three-toed/

I sent both teeth to Richard Hulbert

You must have found a region that is producing Blancan (very early Pleistocene) fossils, as these are from the Blancan species Nannippus peninsulatus (formerly Nannippus phlegon).

Dr. Richard C. Hulbert Jr.

Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager

Florida Museum of Natural History

I am pretty excited.. Blancan is 4,75-1,8 MYA in Florida -- Mid-Pliocene to early Pleistocene..

Edited by Shellseeker
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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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Way cool--Nannipus is a cool genus to find. No slight to Equus, but as that genus is still extant, it is cool to find fossils from higher taxa that no longer roam the globe.

I've only got a few earlier horse teeth but one's a real beauty with nice color collected from a collecting trip to Mosaic phosphate quarry (about the only interesting piece I found).

Cheers.

-Ken

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:) ...then,maybe this one is better. post-17588-0-60933000-1453674600_thumb.jpg

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" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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  • 5 years later...

The lower horse tooth is from the small three toed horse Nannippus peninsulatus, an m1 or m2 .The upper tooth pictured below the lower molar is also an N. peninsulatus also an M1 or M2.

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20 minutes ago, fossillarry said:

The lower horse tooth is from the small three toed horse Nannippus peninsulatus, an m1 or m2 .The upper tooth pictured below the lower molar is also an N. pininsulatus also an M1 or M2.

Thank you, I love the details on tooth positions.  Jack

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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