I purchased this tooth being offered as a Cat Shark, but . . . . .

[PaleoRon]

I recently purchased a tooth being offered as a Cat Shark.

It didn't look like a cat shark in the pics, but it did look interesting.

The info with the tooth is:

Early Miocene Jewett Sand

Pyramid Hill Member

Kern County, California

I didn't get a mega good deal on the tooth, but I didn't have one in my collection and I rarely see this species for sale.

The maximum dimension of the tooth is one centimeter.

[Troodon]

Looks like a Megachasma applegatei, megamouth shark tooth and a nice one

Edited May 26, 2016 by Troodon

[Auspex]

Savvy shopping, Ron!

[Al Dente]

I agree with Troodon. A very good buy for a mislabeled tooth.

[caldigger]

Wow, not a common tooth to find and in awesome shape, congrates!

[fossilselachian]

Agree with Troodon. Quite a few years ago Bruce Welton had a large group of these teeth at the MAPS Expo. This was before the teeth were first described as M. Applegatei and figured/described in the literature.

[ynot]

That is a very nice find!!! Congratulations on the acquisition!!

Tony

[jcbshark]

Beautiful tooth Ron, Nice score!

[sixgill pete]

Great googly moogly. Great find for a"catshark". Very nice Ron.

[Darktooth]

Great score!

[PaleoRon]

I really like how prominent the cusps are. I lucked out on this one.

[digit]

Given that most catsharks (these days anyway) tend to be less than a meter in length, a 1 cm tooth would be quite oversized for a catshark. Megamouth sharks are several orders of magnitude cooler (IMHO) than catsharks so congrats on the score with this purchase.

Cheers.

-Ken

[siteseer]

I have seen a number of these teeth over the years. Some have two well-developed cusplets like that one but others have weaker ones or just one. You can find them with no cusplets as well (and not because they were chipped off - they didn't develop). And yeah, those are not offered for sale very often because access to the main Pyramid Hill site was cut-off at least 35 years ago so the ones that have been for sale have come out of old collections. I have teeth that were collected in the 1960's back when they had no idea what they were - considered oddball sand tiger teeth by some at the time.

I really like how prominent the cusps are. I lucked out on this one.

[siteseer]

Right, the average fossil/mdoern cat shark tooth measures 1-2mm high and tend to be uncommon-rare even when you are screen for teeth that small. Catsharks frequent deeper water today and appear to have done the same in the past.

Given that most catsharks (these days anyway) tend to be less than a meter in length, a 1 cm tooth would be quite oversized for a catshark. Megamouth sharks are several orders of magnitude cooler (IMHO) than catsharks so congrats on the score with this purchase.

Cheers.

-Ken

[fossilselachian]

I have teeth that were collected in the 1960's back when they had no idea what they were - considered oddball sand tiger teeth by some at the time.

An "odd ball" sand tiger is how I identified the one tooth I had from back many years ago. Then the "Siteseer" straightened me out. Jess you likely don't even remember this but I'd sent you the tooth for your opinion with regard to a more positive ID.

[siteseer]

I remember you. You're the guy who taught me a lot about shark teeth when I started collecting fossils.

I don't recall you sending me a tooth, but back in the early 60's, local collectors didn't know what to call it other than "oddball sand tiger" or "Odontaspis sp." That little pamphlet that R.C. Bishop did in 1960 or 1961 was the first publication of any kind to note those teeth. There is at least one publication (an article in Terra, a cool little magazine that LACM used to publish - museum-related articles on art, history, and science) that briefly discusses the teeth but is primarily about the discovery of the first megamouth shark specimen back in 1976. I don't you can find it on the web but go for it.

Jess

An "odd ball" sand tiger is how I identified the one tooth I had from back many years ago. Then the "Siteseer" straightened me out. Jess you likely don't even remember this but I'd sent you the tooth for your opinion with regard to a more positive ID.