LordTrilobite Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 About two weeks ago I bought this bunch of Kem Kem chunkosaur pieces in the hope that something interesting might be in there among the nondiscript bone fragments. There were some things that were identifiable. But this one piece completely baffled me when I looked at it more closely. I hadn't noticed it at first because it still had a bunch of matrix on it. But I soon saw some weird square shapes. These remind me of of the shapes some reptiles have under their scales on their skull. The bone piece already had a weird straight shape with a hollow in the middle. At first I assumed the hollow on the inside of the bone that was just exposed due to breakage. But I then cleaned it some more and a pattern emerged on the inside of the fold that I can only describe as a toothplate. I'm almost positive this must be some kind of jaw piece with a strange tooth plate. I know Kem Kem is still very much a mystery. But I've never seen anything quite this thoroughly bizarre before. Has anyone ever seen anything similar to this? Side with the "toothplate" visible as well as clear square shapes on the outside of the bone. It's still not completely clean, but the toothplate seems to extend futher into the fold. Flat outside edge. The square shapes end in half circles on this side. The other side of the edge also has similar patterns but on a different scale and not as clear. Other side with more subtle square shapes on a smaller scale. Both broken sides to show the cross section. It's also slightly asymmetrical. Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoast Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 What a strange piece. Can't wait to see what others have to say. Those small tubercles wouldn't look out of place on a placoderm! I'm obviously not going to be any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 it's calcified cartilage, possibly from a sawfish rostrum such as onchopristis 1 ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Interesting. Looks like chondrichthyan cartilage to me as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeschWhat Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 What a fun interesting piece! Lori www.areallycrappystory.com/fossils www.facebook.com/fossilpoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguy Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Hybodont, stingray caudal spine piece? see: http://vertebresfossiles.free.fr/maroc/hybodonte_kemkem_maroc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I agree with non-remanie, most likely part of a sawfish rostrum. Onchopristis is the common Kem Kem sawfish. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordTrilobite Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 Thanks guys. Upon looking for Onchopristis rostrum on the internet it does indeed seem to be a close match. Though that structure on the inside still seems really weird. 1 Olof Moleman AKA Lord Trilobite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 pristidevol 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 mustseebelgsel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 infraxyl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doushantuo Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 onch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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