TNCollector Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 I have not posted here in a while.....not because I haven't been collecting (I have been collectin quite a bit actually), but because I have been too lazy to take photos and write this up. But here we go! I have many new Paleozoic sharks teeth to show. These animals are my primary focus in paleontology and are amazing to me. Who doesn't like the idea of fiding 300 million year old sharks and other shark-like critters? This first trip was another trip to the Bangor Limestone, it was bitterly cold and the ice had just melted, but I had the itch to go out and check on some of the spots I have been working on. This tooth here is an interesting one, it has dentine tubules, indicating a bradyodont-type shark. I am tentatively calling it Lagarodus sp.?, but it is best to ere on the side of caution when ID'ing these bradyodonts as full sets of tooth have rarely been found for most species. Lagarodus sp.? Bangor Limestone Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 2cm I am pretty confident in the ID of this one. Technically I found this one over a year ago, but just now found the time to prep it from its limestone grave. Psephodus sp. Bangor Limestone Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: approximately 2cm This one is a juvenile (think pre-teenage) Petalodus tooth. I covered it in Butvar-76 (good stuff) as it has a lot of precariously positioned cracks, that if left unattended will destroy the tooth. That would be sad. Juvenile Petalodus sp. Bangor Limestone Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 1cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Next up is some more Paleozoic shark-fish teeth from slightly later in time, the uppermost Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous for people in the rest of the world). This site sits just a few meters below the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian contact. In fact, I have found terrestrial Lepidonendron fossils from just above the marine part of the formation. The setting is a shallow marshy lagoon, with frog-like-salamander-like-fish creatures crawling on the land and juvenile marine fish and sharks such as petalodonts, bradyodonts, and cladodonts swimming about in the shallow waters, eating small fish and crunching on crinoids and other invertebrates living in the lagoon. It is an interesting setup to imagine, being over 1000 feet above sea-level in this time. This was a pretty rewarding trip for me, I found a few teeth and a bit of bone. Here is a nice little Cladodus sp. tooth that I found shortly after arriving at the destination. These are always exciting to find because they are one of the only "biters" that you find, as the majority of the teeth found here come from "crushers". Cladodus sp. with feeding wear on the tip Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 1 cm across Next up is a beautiful infant Petalodus sp. tooth in great condition. The ones this small rarely still have the root, so I was joyed to see it when i prepped it last night. This one was a baby, much like many of the teeth I find in this formation. Infant Petalodus sp. Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 0.5cm This next one is a bit larger than the ones I usually find here. Other than it being a petalodont, I am not sure what to think of it. It does not have the blade-like crown that I normally see in petalodont teeth. Possibly Janassa sp., but I don't know. I need to hit the books. I tried to expose as much as I could, but do not feel comfortable messing with it any more than this. Unknown Petalodont-type tooth Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 1.5 to 2cm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 And here is bone fragment from a creature of unknown identity. Perhaps tetrapod? Lungfish? Who knows... I will need to do more research on it. Unknown bone fragment Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) Size: Approximately 1 cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Fantastic finds! As well Janassa your mystery petalodont also resembles a Petalorynchus sp., its a beautiful specimen whatever it is! I came across a very similar tooth in a lower Carboniferous marine deposit recently but sadly it was only very partial Regards, Edit: Another genus it could possibly belong to is Fissodus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Nice report and pics! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Great finds, Jim. Thanks for taking the time to post them. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Nice finds and pictures! Wish I had that around here. Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Might that tooth you IDed as "Unknown Petalodont-type tooth" be a split Orodus-type tooth? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB88 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Good stuff Jim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Got some more updates from the Mississippian! The teeth from this layer are a beautiful red color. They tend to stick to metal tweezers a little bit, so I believe that they are mineralized as iron. Here is the first, a denticle (possible a tiny tooth) of an unidentified chondricthyan (cartilaginous fish). Denticle/Tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Approx. 2mm Next up is a nice chomatodus tooth found about 2 inches away from the denticle. Chomatodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Scale in cm. And here we have another chomatodus tooth, much smaller, belonging to a juvenile. It broke a bit during prep, but I glued it back. Chomatodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Approx. 7mm And now we have a tiny cladodus tooth, not in very good shape. Cladodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Approx. 6mm And here is another tooth in bad shape due to weathering in the Sun for many years. Psephodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Scale in cm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 And of course I save the best for last! The first specimen is a Petalodus sp. tooth that has some brilliant colors! I was very careful prepping this one, as it wants to pop off of the matrix. Petalodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: 2.8 cm across 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Next best is a sandalodus tooth in great condition. It took me over an hour to beat this thing out of a boulder with my hammer and chisel. In the process, I did not realize that I was sitting in a bush of poison ivy the entire time. I certainly did realize a couple of days later... It was completely worth it though! Sandalodus sp. tooth Late Mississippian St. Louis Limestone Cumberland Plateau, USA Size: Scale in cm. The pink indention on the tooth is actually feeding wear from other teeth crunching on it. Here is a better view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Finally, here is a tooth I found at a different locality. I am not yet comfortable with an ID, but I will update it once I figure one out. Unknown tooth Early Mississippian East Kentucky Size: Scale in cm. For those interested, here is a cross-section of the broken end, displaying the complex of dentine tubules radiating from the base of the tooth that give these teeth their characteristic spotted, "bradyodont" characteristic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 And here is a cool conulariid from the same locality! A big one! Conularia sp. Early Mississippian East Kentucky Size: White square is 1cm^2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Amazing finds, Jim! Wow is correct!! Looks like you have the layers figured out. Thanks for the update - I enjoy reading your posts. Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB88 Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Those are awesome Jim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Fantastic Jim! Love the colors on these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 14 hours ago, ynot said: Thanks Tony! 2 hours ago, Carl said: WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! Thanks Carl, that was my reaction when I found them! 2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Amazing finds, Jim! Wow is correct!! Looks like you have the layers figured out. Thanks for the update - I enjoy reading your posts. Thanks! If you find the right layer, you almost certainly will find teeth. I find that the teeth are much more concentrated in phosphate or iron-rich lag deposits. 1 hour ago, JimB88 said: Those are awesome Jim! Thanks Jim, we need to go collecting soon. 32 minutes ago, Archie said: Fantastic Jim! Love the colors on these Thanks Sam, the colors are one of my favorite things about the St. Louis Limestone teeth, since the majority of them occur in iron deposits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvie Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Thank you for taking the time to show us them,we all love the report.Interesting matrix on the infant tooth too. Yvie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 11 minutes ago, Yvie said: Thank you for taking the time to show us them,we all love the report.Interesting matrix on the infant tooth too. Yvie Thanks Yvie! I love it when the teeth are in a piece of matrix with inverts and other fossils. It places the tooth in it's ecological setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvie Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 8 minutes ago, TNCollector said: Thanks Yvie! I love it when the teeth are in a piece of matrix with inverts and other fossils. It places the tooth in it's ecological setting. I was just going to get my microscope out as you inspired me but a terrorist incident has kick off at The House of Parliament Westminster so watching that at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 Got a few more! I have been really busy as of late, but devotes one weekend to fossil hunting. These first ones come from the Pennington Formation, which is known for its small, but generally good quality teeth. Cladodus sp. Tooth Imprint (What it could have been!!!) Late Mississippian Pennington Formation East Tennessee ~1.5 cm Poecilodus sp. Tooth Late Mississippian Pennington Formation East Tennessee ~1.5 cm Cladodus sp. Tooth Late Mississippian Pennington Formation East Tennessee ~1 cm Cladodus sp. Tooth Late Mississippian Pennington Formation East Tennessee ~0.7 cm Fish/Shark/Tetrapod Tooth (still determining what kind, it could be a strangely-mineralized cladodus) Late Mississippian Pennington Formation East Tennessee ~0.8 cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNCollector Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 And here are some not-fossils from this site. I love seeing all of the wildlife out here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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