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Hell Creek Anthill Find - Tooth - Possibly Avian?


GeschWhat

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This was found on an anthill in the Hell Creek Formation, SD. A few years ago, a paleontologist at the South Dakota School of Mines looked at it and thought it could be avian. Can anyone out there confirm this? If so, any ideas as to species?

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

Avian-tooth-anthill-hell-creek-formation-SD.jpg

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I've not seen anything similiar from the HC.  The only enantiornithine bird tooth I can recognize is Avisaurus and it's not that.   If it was bird would expect it to be more recurved and compressed but I'm far an expert.   My first impression was a mammal premolar tooth.

 

See if anything rings a bell with  @jpc

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I don't think it is mammalian, but I will say the same thing troodon said... I have never seen anything like this in the Hell Creek or Lance fm. It does not look lije a burd tooth to me either.  Final answer: I have no idea.

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I can't tell from the photos if the enamel actually ends where it appears or if it was worn away to that point.  If it has been worn away, it looks like what a gar tooth might look like.  I would need look at a couple of teeth when I get home but that's my quick reflex opinion.

 

Jess 

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2 hours ago, siteseer said:

I can't tell from the photos if the enamel actually ends where it appears or if it was worn away to that point.  If it has been worn away, it looks like what a gar tooth might look like.  I would need look at a couple of teeth when I get home but that's my quick reflex opinion.

 

Jess 

I have some gar teeth from the same anthills, I will double check to see if there is any similarities.

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A friend suggested I contact Mike Everhart (Oceans of Kansas) as well as a couple others. I heard back from Mike, and he is thinking reptile, maybe a small lizard. He said: "The two cutting edges (carinae) on your tooth do suggest a reptile origin.. and the worn tip, along with the hollow base would indicate that it was a shed tooth... with a portion of the root dissolved by the emerging tooth." 
 

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  • 5 months later...

Hi Lori. I would disagree with reptile. Compare your tooth with that of the Bowfin (Amiid)...I believe what you have is small Melvius tooth. It is not often you find them with the root intact...very cool find (ants are such good excavators of tiny treasure!).

 

post-10935-0-48391900-1442330071.jpg

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

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PFOOLEY might be on to something.

K is Melvius

Screenshot_2017-11-08-06-55-48.thumb.jpg.ac8b55b6ca678c2330b25198e07d698b.jpg

 

From The book:  The HC Formation and the Cretaceous Boundary issue 361 

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From http://www.rhyniechert.com...

melvius.JPG

 

Image 172 - Melvius thomasi
Bowfin fish teeth, Hell Creek Formation, 
Upper Cretaceous, South Dakota

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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3 hours ago, PFOOLEY said:

Hi Lori. I would disagree with reptile. Compare your tooth with that of the Bowfin (Amiid)...I believe what you have is small Melvius tooth. It is not often you find them with the root intact...very cool find (ants are such good excavators of tiny treasure!).

Wow, you guys are awesome!

 

I had given up on this one. I had been referred to another paleontologist who thought it was from a fish as well, but he had suggested an aspidorhynchid as a possibility (which didn't seem quite right either). After being given avian, reptile and fish as possibilities from different paleontologists, I decided to stick to the stuff I find in poop and gave it to the Forest Service paleontologist that I work with. I will pass this info on to her. Mystery solved - thank you so much!

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1 hour ago, doushantuo said:

bomfl00-14410696788_thumb.jpg

:fistbump:...this is fantastic!...where would one find such a publication of these figures?

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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2 hours ago, doushantuo said:

How about a reasonably long ,systematically thorough monograph?B)

Grande and Bemis, 1998 ?

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

My Library

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5 hours ago, GeschWhat said:

Are you all confident enough in this id that I can add it to the forum Collections?

Yes.

"I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"  ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) 

 

New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins    

 

point.thumb.jpg.e8c20b9cd1882c9813380ade830e1f32.jpg research.jpg.932a4c776c9696d3cf6133084c2d9a84.jpg  RPV.jpg.d17a6f3deca931bfdce34e2a5f29511d.jpg  SJB.jpg.f032e0b315b0e335acf103408a762803.jpg  butterfly.jpg.71c7cc456dfbbae76f15995f00b221ff.jpg  Htoad.jpg.3d40423ae4f226cfcc7e0aba3b331565.jpg  library.jpg.56c23fbd183a19af79384c4b8c431757.jpg  OIP.jpg.163d5efffd320f70f956e9a53f9cd7db.jpg

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