A very different claw from Merritt Island matrix

[old bones]

I have dozens of claws from The Merritt Island Pleistocene matrix, but none quite like this one. Can anyone ID it? I am hoping that is bird...

[sharko69]

Fish tooth.

[jcbshark]

Sorry, can't help with the ID Julianna but very interesting specimen nonetheless

[old bones]

Fish tooth.

Huh... didn't think of that...

Sorry, can't help with the ID Julianna but very interesting specimen nonetheless

Hey, Thanks for looking Jeff

[Fossildude19]

Looks like a pycnodont branchial tooth.

Regards,

[old bones]

Looks like a pycnodont branchial tooth.

Regards,

Thank you. I will file this one under fish tooth.

[PA Fossil Finder]

Looks like a pycnodont branchial tooth.

Regards,

I thought pycnodonts went extinct at the end of the Eocene? The majority of fossils from the Merritt Island matrix are Pleistocene and Holocene.

[digit]

Yup. Gone by the end of the Eocene. It could still be a fish tooth (Tim only said it "looks" like a pycnodont) or maybe it is a claw--though an odd claw it would be. This one may end up in the mystery pile unless someone on the forum has seen something from the Pleistocene that matches this. Cool find.

Cheers.

-Ken

[Fossildude19]

I thought pycnodonts went extinct at the end of the Eocene? The majority of fossils from the Merritt Island matrix are Pleistocene and Holocene.

I did say "looks like."

Pycnodont was the only type of branchial fish tooth that was similar, that I was familiar with.

More research would need to be done to figure out what kind of fish it was from.

Pretty sure it is a fish tooth - it is extremely similar to a Pycnodont (Hadrodus priscus (prisca?) ) branchial tooth.

Regards,

Edited April 11, 2016 by Fossildude19

[DinoMike]

Looks a bit like the Leuciscus sp. pharyngeal tooth pictured in figure 4 of this paper on "Early Pleistocene freshwater communities and rodents from the Pasinler Basin (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey)"

http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/issues/yer-14-23-3/yer-23-3-4-1307-16.pdf

[RJB]

I don't know my teeth from a hole in the ground, but I think the Genus is Coolus and the species is toothus.

RB

[old bones]

I thought pycnodonts went extinct at the end of the Eocene? The majority of fossils from the Merritt Island matrix are Pleistocene and Holocene.

Thanks for the nudge.

I did say "looks like."

Pycnodont was the only type of branchial fish tooth that was similar, that I was familiar with.

More research would need to be done to figure out what kind of fish it was from.

Pretty sure it is a fish tooth - it is extremely similar to a Pycnodont (Hadrodus priscus (prisca?) ) branchial tooth.

Regards,

Thank you. I will dig deeper.

Looks a bit like the Leuciscus sp. pharyngeal tooth pictured in figure 4 of this paper on "Early Pleistocene freshwater communities and rodents from the Pasinler Basin (Erzurum Province, north-eastern Turkey)"

http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/issues/yer-14-23-3/yer-23-3-4-1307-16.pdf

This is a great resource. Thank you. I will check it out further when I get off work

I don't know my teeth from a hole in the ground, but I think the Genus is Coolus and the species is toothus.

RB

Ha haha ! Thanks for the laugh! I needed that.

[GeschWhat]

This is the one you finally identified as a shrew incisor, correct?

[old bones]

5 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

This is the one you finally identified as a shrew incisor, correct?

Yes! This was such a mystery for me. I'm glad to have this one solved.