Contribution to the Smithsonian / myFossil Project and to The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston.

[sixgill pete]

Yesterday at he Aurora Fossil Festival I had the opportunity to hopefully make a difference in our understanding of the fossil past of the Oligocene of North Carolina not once but twice, and what a great and humbling experience it was.

With the contribution to the Mace Brown Museum, I also had the honor to meet our own Boesse. Bobby was just as I expected him to be, a plethora of fossil knowledge. in Sept of 2012 I found a "whale" tooth in the Martin Marietta Belgrade Quarry (which Bobby got to visit on Friday); this quarry is late Oligocene Belgrade Formation. I posted it here when I found it as a squalodon tooth, but Bobby quickly corrected me that squalodon was not present in the Oligocene. He went on to say that because there was so little know about Oligocene Odontocetes that it could only be identified as Odondocete indet. So now, finally this tooth is in the hands of an institution and a person who can make good use of it to further our knowledge. On a side note, when he looked at the tooth yesterday, he compared it to a species of large dolphin from S.C. which also has similar serrated teeth though they are about twice the size.

Sarah, Bobby's wife took a photo of me giving the tooth to Bobby, hopefully he will post it on this thread.

That was round one. I also had intentions of donating a tooth to Bruce MacFadden of the University of Florida Museum of Natural History. They have started an interaction between amateur fossil collectors and professionals called the myFossil Project. They are currently doing a study on land mammals from the Belgrade quarry as there is very little record of Oligocene land mammals from North Carolina. A link to their board .... http://community.myfossil.org/

In May of 2013 I found a tooth that was I.d.'d as peccary in Oligocene deposits of the Belgrade quarry. Upon him seeing the tooth and realizing the importance of it, he suggested I donate it to the Smithsonian. He and others from the myFossil project would have access to it there. We went to Dave Bohaska ( who is also a part of the myFossil Project) from the Smithsonian and the second contribution of the day was made. I found out from Dave ( he showed me a picture of the others) that this was only the seventh (7th) land mammal tooth in their collection from the North Carolina Oligocene, quite an honor.

me giving the tooth to Dave Bohaska with Bruce MacFadden between us.

Edited May 29, 2016 by sixgill pete

[squali]

Wow! Great job on sharing your unique fossils with the rest of the world!

Thanks for telling us about it. It helps others understand the importance of donating

their special finds so that a greater understanding can be had by all.

[JohnJ]

This just makes me smile, Don. It's great to expand the 'pro-am' network when all benefit.

[Auspex]

I'm proud to know you, Pete!

[FossilDAWG]

Great job! That myFossil site looks like a great way to foster amateur/professional collaboration.

Don C

Edited May 29, 2016 by FossilDAWG

[Ramo]

Good job.

[fossilized6s]

Thank you, Don! Very cool news.

Edited May 29, 2016 by fossilized6s

[sixgill pete]

Wow! Great job on sharing your unique fossils with the rest of the world!

Thanks for telling us about it. It helps others understand the importance of donating

their special finds so that a greater understanding can be had by all.

Thank you, squali. It is important for everyone to understand that any find could be of great significance. Also that when one is, the importance of it getting into the proper hands.

[sixgill pete]

This just makes me smile, Don. It's great to expand the 'pro-am' network when all benefit.

Thank You John.

[sixgill pete]

I'm proud to know you, Pete!

Thanks Chas.

[sixgill pete]

Great job! That myFossil site looks like a great way to foster amateur/professional collaboration.

The guy on the right sure looks unhappy about something.

Don C

Thank you Don. Curious, did you sign up on myFossil?

[sixgill pete]

Good job.

Thanks Ramo.

[sixgill pete]

Thank you, Don! Very cool news.

Thank you Charlie. Hope all is well with you.

[JohnBrewer]

Fantastic!

[sixgill pete]

Fantastic!

Thank You John.

[Fossildude19]

Excellent stewardship of the fossil, Don.

We're proud of you - showing others the way to contribute to science.

Well done, sir. Well done.

[sixgill pete]

Thank you Tim. Just the chance of something new being learned or the possibility of someone else being swayed to contribute something from seeing this, makes it very worthwhile.

[snolly50]

Will you post a picture of the Odontocete tooth?

Congratulations on your contributions.

[sixgill pete]

Will you post a picture of the Odontocete tooth?

Congratulations on your contributions.

Snolly, photos are posted in the pinned photo gallery in this forum. I also have them in my gallery. . http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/gallery/album/1517-jonesonslow-county-nc-belgrade-quarry-finds/

[Boesse]

Thanks a million for your donation, Sixgill Pete! It's a great little tooth, and is a miniature version of a giant Squalodon-like dolphin we have here in Charleston called "Genus Y" - the teeth of Genus Y are occasionally serrated, with fluted enamel as in your specimen - but are about twice the size. PM me your address, and I'll send along a cast ASAP!

[Boesse]

Thanks for the donation, Don! I've got a whole exhibit written already to highlight amateur donations such as this to our museum, we only need to get the labels printed - and this specimen will most certainly be in there.

[Plantguy]

Awesome! Congrats. Regards, Chris

[sixgill pete]

Bobby, it was my pleasure to put the tooth and yours and the museums hands. As far as the display, that will be awesome. If you will let me know when it happens, I will make a trip down there to see it and the rest of the museum. (and do some fossiling). It was great to meet you and I am looking forward to the next time.

Chris, thanks for the compliment.It truly was an honor and a pleasure for me to do both of these donations.

[Boesse]

Hi Pete - I just compared your tooth side-by-side with our specimens on display, and lo and behold, your initial identification as " Squalodon " was more accurate than I anticipated - your tooth is identical with the possible canine and anterior cheek teeth of Eosqualodon from the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation - and I'm reidentifying your tooth as Eosqualodon sp. Your tooth is more strongly serrated than the teeth in Eosqualodon , but I had never noticed the serrations before this morning until I ran my thumbnail along the edges of the tooth.

So: your contribution 1) represents the first occurrence of Eosqualodon in North Carolina and 2) made me realize that Eosqualodon has serrated teeth! Squalodon spp. from the Miocene have smooth cutting edges along all their teeth with the exception of accessory cusps.

[sixgill pete]

Wow. That is so interestingly cool Bobby. Makes me extremely glad I made the contribution.