Help me correctly identify this archaeocete tooth

[Macrophyseter]

So my archaeocete tooth arrived early. Now that I actually got my hands on it, I want to see exactly what species it is. The seller simply said that it was a basilosaurus tooth, which was said to be found simply in Morocco (I unfortunately cannot recheck exactly where since the item's info closed once I bought it, but I know for sure it's somewhere in Morocco.

 

Front

 

Back

 

Scale

 

The tooth is pretty small, about 2 1/4 inches, and is probably a front premolar (according to my understandings based on some basilosaurid jaws). I've heard somewhere in these forums that usually if there is a chance for a tooth to be Basilosaurus isis if it was 10+cm and found in Morocco, but he might be applying this only to incisors and canines, and this is a premolar/molar. Juvenile isis? Zygorhiza? Dorudon?

 

[Troodon]

From a previous post I learned that Basilosaurus is only found in the Jackson Group of Mississippi-Alabama. Here is a publication of archaeocete whales from Morocco

 

@Boesse can provide you some guidance

 

New fauna of archaeocete whales (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Bartonian middle Eocene of southern Morocco

Article (PDF Available) in Journal of African Earth Sciences 111 · August 2015 with 437 Reads

DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.08.006

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281029864_New_fauna_of_archaeocete_whales_Mammalia_Cetacea_from_the_Bartonian_middle_Eocene_of_southern_Morocco

[abyssunder]

Yep, it was posted by Troodon... so no comments by my side.

(It's a good document!)

[Macrophyseter]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

From a previous post I learned that Basilosaurus is only found in the Jackson Group of Mississippi-Alabama. Here is a publication of archaeocete whales from Morocco

 

@Boesse can provide you some guidance

 

New fauna of archaeocete whales (Mammalia, Cetacea) from the Bartonian middle Eocene of southern Morocco

Article (PDF Available) in Journal of African Earth Sciences 111 · August 2015 with 437 Reads

DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2015.08.006

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281029864_New_fauna_of_archaeocete_whales_Mammalia_Cetacea_from_the_Bartonian_middle_Eocene_of_southern_Morocco

Reading the papers (I may have missed something out, just correct me if I did), Im not sure if this has anything to do with basilosaurus only being restricted to the jackson area, it just talks about the discovery of numerous transitionals. Did I miss out a mention that all previous basilosaurus finds in africa are invalid? Sorry if i bursted ur bubble there, I just cant really understand unlesd Im stupid.

 

Plus, if it isnt basilosaurus, then what is it? Its still possible that the new species arnt it. Zygorhiza? Dorudon? Maybe one of those new species?

[Troodon]

Basilosaurus is only found in the Jackson Group of Miss and Alabama and like I said it came from a previous post not this paper.  That genus is only found in that fauna and misidentified by all sellers as being from Morocco.  The paper identifies several Moroccan archaeocete that your tooth may be from.  Not sure Boesse will be able to identify it to which one.  The two you mention I don't believe are from Morocco's eocene deposits but I'm not an expert on early whales 

[Macrophyseter]

ok

[doushantuo]

Call me an idiot ,but it might be a dorudontine

PS: I'm very bad at determinations

[ynot]

Maybe @Boesse can shed some light on this.

[doushantuo]

also from the Uhen thesis:

[Harry Pristis]

For comparison:

 

 

 

[doushantuo]

carpzygo

outtake:

[Boesse]

Basilosauridae indet., lower P2. Owing to the lack of provenance it won't really be possible to identify past Basilosauridae.

 

Otherwise, it doesn't say anywhere in the Gingerich and Zouhri (2015) article that Basilosaurus is restricted to the Jackson Group of Mississippi. Basilosaurus isis is known from Egypt and postcrania were reported in an earlier paper by Zouhri et al. (2014) from the upper Eocene of Morocco at Ad-Dakhla out on the coast. The whale-bearing rocks at Gueran are middle Eocene. Basilosaurus drazindai is reported from the Eocene of Pakistan, and Basilosaurus cetoides is known from multiple states in the southeastern USA: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, and Arkansas (Uhen 2013).

 

Furthermore, Dorudon has also been reported from Dakhla (Gingerich and Zouhri, 2015). Zygorhiza thus far is only known from the Jackson Group.

 

References:

Uhen, M.D. 2013. A review of North American Basilosauridae. Alabama Museum of Natural History Bulletin 31:2:1-45.

 

Zouhri, S., Gingerich, P.D., Elboudali, N., Sebti, S., Noubhani, A., Rahali, M., Meslouh, S., 2014. New marine mammal faunas (Cetacea and Sirenia) and sea
level change in the Samlat Formation, upper Eocene, near Ad-Dakhla in southwestern Morocco. Comptes Rendus Palevol 13, 599e610. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2014.04.002.

[Troodon]

 I went back to that post I mentioned and reread it and said the Jackson Group of Miss and Alabama is the only place worldwide that  Basilosaurus can be legally collected but cannot be removed from the state, for sorry for the confusion.

 

 

@Boesse   the material being offered for sale comes from Western Sahara of Morocco near Boujdour if that would change your ID with that provenance .

[Boesse]

That's quite a large area and not sufficient provenance for narrowing an identification.

[siteseer]

23 hours ago, Macrophyseter said:

So my archaeocete tooth arrived early. Now that I actually got my hands on it, I want to see exactly what species it is. The seller simply said that it was a basilosaurus tooth, which was said to be found simply in Morocco (I unfortunately cannot recheck exactly where since the item's info closed once I bought it, but I know for sure it's somewhere in Morocco.

 

 

 

You can contact the dealer who should still have the info.  If it was from Ebay, you can sign in and view the auction.