Wear Facets On Rebbachisaurus teeth

[Dracorex_hogwartsia]

I've been reading a few papers on Sauropods and the topic of wear facets got me thinking. I own 30 plus Rebbachisaurus teeth and only two of them have labial wear facets. Every other tooth with a wear facet has a lingual wear facet. That doesn't really make any sense to me. For most sauropods with tooth to tooth contact, the upper teeth will have a lingual wear facet and the lower teeth will have labial. It could be that I just happen to own mostly upper teeth but I don't think so. Most every Rebbachisaurus tooth you see has a lingual wear facet. Any thoughts on that.

[Miocene_Mason]

I've done no research, but I do remember learning that some sauropods strip leaves and needles from conifers and ferns. Maybe when they bite the branch and pull back to strip them, this leaves wear on the lingual side. That's just a guess though...

[Troodon]

Have not given this much thought but your premise is correct as seen in this illustration from the paper shown below

 

 

 

Check out this paper on wear facets on Sauropod teeth of Uzbekistan, it's the second one in the link.   Lots of variations appears to exist with comments like this:  

"This wear pattern resembles a distinctive type  of wear present in  Diplodocus  spp., which also has apical wear facets on the labial sides of the upper and lower tooth  crowns"

 

It also discusses the uncertainty in positionally identifying teeth and they appeared to have a bias to upper one.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235806041_Precis_of_the_Cretaceous_paleontology_biostratigraphy_and_sedimentology_at_Dzharakuduk_Turonian-Santonian_Kyzylkum_Desert_Uzbekistan

[Dracorex_hogwartsia]

Thanks Troodon, that was actually one of the papers I was reading today along with another ResearchGate paper, The Skull Of The Titanosaur Tapuiasaurus macedoi that got me thinking about this. I guess if we had a skull of Rebbachisaurus it would answer this question. It just seems odd to me. The other odd thing is that the only two teeth I have with labial wear facets are also the two largest teeth I have at 3 inches. I would think that teeth this large would be teeth in the upper jaw and that they would have the lingual wear facets. 

[zekky]

Nigerasaurus had these types of wear facets. Nigerasaurus was older and from Niger, but a relative could have wandered every so often in Kem Kem. *If* these teeth represent a different species and not just wear facet, it was a far more uncommon species of sauropod. Or didn't shed their teeth as much.

 

https://openi.nlm.nih.gov/detailedresult.php?img=PMC4393826_peerj-03-857-g034&req=4

Now one thing I have noticed with these types of sauropod teeth from Kem Kem is that the top of the tooth is far flatter than most sauropod teeth.

[zekky]

Here is a diplodocid style tooth, without the second worn side.

[zekky]

Here is what I believe to be a titanosaur style tooth. (the back side doesn't have a wear facet. I'd post it but the forum said I hit the MB size limit)

[Troodon]

1 hour ago, Dracorex_hogwartsia said:

Thanks Troodon, that was actually one of the papers I was reading today along with another ResearchGate paper, The Skull Of The Titanosaur Tapuiasaurus macedoi that got me thinking about this. I guess if we had a skull of Rebbachisaurus it would answer this question. It just seems odd to me. The other odd thing is that the only two teeth I have with labial wear facets are also the two largest teeth I have at 3 inches. I would think that teeth this large would be teeth in the upper jaw and that they would have the lingual wear facets. 

 

Yep really need a skull to see how the teeth are positioned in the jaws