Castle Hayne quarry tooth

[greel]

This tooth came from the Castle Hayne quarry.  Not sure if it's a Cretaceous or Eocene tooth.  Can anyone identify?  Ruler measuring centimeters/millimeters, so tooth measures 2.5 centimeters.

Edited October 19, 2016 by greel
ruler shows metric not inches

[jhw]

Looks like Otodus, (mackerel shark) Forced to guess I'd say Eocene.

[Fossildude19]

Can't help with ID, but it sure is pretty.  

Thanks for posting it. 

Regards,

[greel]

Is it possibly Carcharias koerti?

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here are some Late Eocene C. koerti:

 

 

[greel]

It would seem my blade is much like that in Harry's photo of the tooth 2nd from the left, although the cusps are much more pronounced in his examples.  Thanks Harry.  Your examples are much better than I could find with an image search.

[siteseer]

3 hours ago, greel said:

Is it possibly Carcharias koerti?

 

 

Yes, I think it is a lower anterior of Serratolamna koerti (once assigned to Carcharias).  The lower anteriors of that species have kind of nub-like lateral cusplets close to the crown and a nutrient pore (as in your tooth) rather than a groove.  It sort of looks like Striatolamia but this genus bears a nutrient groove and striations on the labial face of the crown (root doesn't look right for it either - shortness and shape of the lobes relative to the shape and height of the crown)

 

P.S.  I have been trying to reply to your post for a few minutes but the site kicked me out.

 

  

[siteseer]

7 minutes ago, greel said:

It would seem my blade is much like that in Harry's photo of the tooth 2nd from the left, although the cusps are much more pronounced in his examples.  Thanks Harry.  Your examples are much better than I could find with an image search.

 

Right.  I'm not sure if Harry's teeth are the same species or simply have the more exaggerated cusplets.  His teeth might be what have been called Serratolamna twiggsensis.  I think they could be the same species - hard to say.

 

Jess

 

[greel]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Jess.  The different sand tiger teeth from the Castle Hayne quarry give me fits, especially when some of those back hills have a good mix of Cretaceous material.  The non-serrated long bladed teeth with cusps can be tricky - much easier to ID a big old serrated ric.

[siteseer]

13 hours ago, greel said:

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Jess.  The different sand tiger teeth from the Castle Hayne quarry give me fits, especially when some of those back hills have a good mix of Cretaceous material.  The non-serrated long bladed teeth with cusps can be tricky - much easier to ID a big old serrated ric.

 

Hi Greel,

 

Yes, and from the Early Paleocene to the Middle Eocene there were several sand tiger species plus forms once considered sand tigers but were renamed over the past twenty years and deemed as more like sand tiger relatives.  In fact the Early Paleocene to Middle Eocene was the interval of their greatest diversity - part of the recovery and radiation of numerous fish taxa after the K/T extinction.  The Castle Hayne Limestone is Middle Eocene so it represents a time right before many of those forms disappeared.  Most sand tigers have frequented warm, shallow seas but climates worldwide slipped into a clear cooling trend during the Middle-Late Eocene so that is seen as the cause of their decline.

 

Jess