Odd shark tooth from STH

[ynot]

Hey hi Folks,

I was cleaning this Galeocerdo sp.  in matrix piece from Sharktooth hill (area)...

 

And found this little thing on the other side of the bone fragment...

 

It is just over 1/4 inch. The damage was pre burial. I think it had a cusp on both sides. I can not see any serrations at x10 magnification.

Any ideas of what it is?

 

Thanks Y'All,

Tony

[FossilDudeCO]

it appears to be a lump of matrix with a shark tooth in it.

Better send it to my house for a closer look

 

Very interesting, that it has no serrations, that has got to be unique. Shark teeth are not my expertise by ANY means, I can ID a great white, or a mako and that's about it.

 

But these is a cute little guy. I will be awaiting an answer as well.

[digit]

Don't you just love stumpers like this? Googling for mako teeth with cusps you get a couple hits with images that have faint extended bases to the blade but not a sharp cusp-like point as shown in your specimen. Even looking at other species like Otodus obliquus which has distinctive side cusps, your tooth looks odd. Instead of the side cusps coming up from the root like miniature copies of the main tooth blade, your "cusp" is emanating directly from the side of the main blade like a single huge aberrant serration instead of a cusp. I have little experience with these types of shark teeth so I'm speaking from a complete lack of foundational knowledge here but I would probably lean toward this being some sort of abnormal tooth. Will be interesting to hear opinions from the shark tooth collectors who have more experience with these.

 

Looks like you've made another trip down to Shark Tooth Hill again--addictive, isn't it?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[ynot]

On 1/3/2017 at 9:35 PM, FossilDudeCO said:

 

it appears to be a lump of matrix with a shark tooth in it.

Better send it to my house for a closer look

 

HA HA HO HO HE HE

 

On 1/4/2017 at 6:37 AM, digit said:

Looks like you've made another trip down to Shark Tooth Hill again--addictive, isn't it?

No new trip, just trying to catch up on cleaning the multitude of finds from previous trips. It is addictive and I am wanting to go back.

So where are @siteseer, @MarcoSr and @Al Dente

 

Tony

[Al Dente]

15 minutes ago, ynot said:

HA HA HO HO HE HE

 

No new trip, just trying to catch up on cleaning the multitude of finds from previous trips. It is addictive and I an wanting to go back.

So where are @siteseer, @MarcoSr and @Al Dente

 

Tony

 

I took a look at the tooth and don't know what it is. Odd that there is a cusp or large serration coming out of the side of the crown. If you decide to free it from the matrix it might be easier to identify.

[ynot]

1 minute ago, Al Dente said:

 

I took a look at the tooth and don't know what it is. Odd that there is a cusp or large serration coming out of the side of the crown. If you decide to free it from the matrix it might be easier to identify.

I thought about that, but the root is not well preserved (came from the slow curve area) and I think it would not hold together if I remove it from the matrix.

Thanks for looking!

Tony

[MarcoSr]

Tony

 

Are you sure that "cusplet" is part of that tooth and not a small piece of something else resting on it?  If a cusplet, it really looks out of place.  Juvenile C. hastalis can have cusplets but not coming out of the side of the crown like that tooth.

 

Marco Sr.

[ynot]

15 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

Are you sure that "cusplet" is part of that tooth and not a small piece of something else resting on it? 

Thanks for looking!

The cusp is most definitely part of the tooth and does project from the base of the crown.

Tony

[MarcoSr]

3 hours ago, ynot said:

Thanks for looking!

The cusp is most definitely part of the tooth and does project from the base of the crown.

Tony

 

Tony

 

If so, I don't know what it is.

 

Marco Sr.

[ynot]

5 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Tony

 

If so, I don't know what it is.

 

Marco Sr.

OK, Thank You!

The search goes on....

Tony

[ynot]

Doing some searching and I wonder if it is a upper dogfish tooth.

See here... http://naka.na.coocan.jp/Squaloidsf.html

 

Or a zebra shark.

see here... http://naka.na.coocan.jp/JAWorectrobiformes.html

 

What do Y'All think?

 

Thanks,

Tony

PS I am leaning towards the dogfish shark upper because there are a lot of the lowers found in the micro matrix.

[MarcoSr]

12 hours ago, ynot said:

Doing some searching and I wonder if it is a upper dogfish tooth.

See here... http://naka.na.coocan.jp/Squaloidsf.html

 

Or a zebra shark.

see here... http://naka.na.coocan.jp/JAWorectrobiformes.html

 

What do Y'All think?

 

Thanks,

Tony

PS I am leaning towards the dogfish shark upper because there are a lot of the lowers found in the micro matrix.

 

Tony

Definitely no and definitely no.  Both dogfish and zebra shark teeth features are very different from your tooth.

 

Also you are looking at the wrong dogfish genera on J-elasmo.  The common dogfish teeth from STH are from the genus Squalus whose uppers and lowers are very similar.  There are a lot of both uppers and lowers in the micro matrix.

 

Marco Sr.

[ynot]

6 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

Definitely no and definitely no. 

Oh well-- back to the drawing board.

 

Tony

[ynot]

@siteseer

Hey Hi Jess,

I was wondering what Your opinion of this tooth is?

Tony

[Northern Sharks]

Just throwing it out there, but could this be one cusp+part of a second from a cow shark???

[ynot]

23 minutes ago, Northern Sharks said:

Just throwing it out there, but could this be one cusp+part of a second from a cow shark???

I had thought about that but it is too small and does not have the correct shape for a cow shark.

Thanks for the thought.

Tony

 

Anybody else have any ideas?

[Boesse]

There's all sorts of other bizarre squaliform sharks this could belong to; it's not a perfect match, but look up Scymnodon, for example.

[siteseer]

On 1/6/2017 at 7:04 AM, ynot said:

@siteseer

Hey Hi Jess,

I was wondering what Your opinion of this tooth is?

Tony

 

Hi Tony,

 

I think it could be just a juvenile C. hastalis with minor pathology of the crown and maybe the root.  With the many thousands of teeth that come out of Morocco every year, you will see many more pathologic teeth from there than from anywhere else.  I've seen maybe 20 clearly pathologic shark teeth from the STH Bonebed and most of those show just "ripples" along a cutting edge.  Some Moroccan teeth bear weird spur-like outgrowths of enameloid on the faces of the crown and this might be an example of that.

 

Jess

[ynot]

10 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

Hi Tony,

 

I think it could be just a juvenile C. hastalis with minor pathology of the crown and maybe the root.  With the many thousands of teeth that come out of Morocco every year, you will see many more pathologic teeth from there than from anywhere else.  I've seen maybe 20 clearly pathologic shark teeth from the STH Bonebed and most of those show just "ripples" along a cutting edge.  Some Moroccan teeth bear weird spur-like outgrowths of enameloid on the faces of the crown and this might be an example of that.

 

Jess

Thank You Sir!

Tony