Oddball Moroccan dinosaur tooth

[PaleoRon]

A Spinosaur and a Carcharodontosaur walk into a bar . . . . . .

 

I don’t have large numbers of dinosaur teeth, and most of the teeth I have are from Morocco. I have a couple from Montana and two or three I found in North Carolina, but my dino knowledge is limited. I haven’t bought any Moroccan dinosaur teeth for several years. I was pretty satisfied with the specimens I already had. This year at the Tucson show I found one interesting enough to buy. I think it is a Spinosaur tooth but the shape is not what I am used to seeing. Even though I don’t own a lot of dinosaur teeth I have seen many thousands over the years and Spino teeth don’t seem to have a lot of variation in shape.  This one is flattened but not crushed to any degree.

This tooth has an atypical shape. It looks sort of like a cross between a Spinosaur and a Carcharodontosaur. I am not in any way suggesting it is from a hybrid animal, just describing the shape of the tooth. It is possible that it is just a pathological tooth, or maybe it is a type that I have not seen before.

I have included pics of two “regular” Spino teeth from my collection.

Any input would be appreciated.

[Troodon]

Your top two teeth are Spinosaurid no way to determine what species in the Kem Kem they are from.

As far as your new addition, Carcharodontosaur teeth are serrated and very compressed so they dont fit that morphology.   To me it looks like a slightly different morphology of Spinosaurid tooth.  Teeth of this family come in different forms ones that displays strong enamel ornamentation of apicobasal ridges and a cutting  edge, carinae, on each side, like your new tooth.  Your other two teeth lack or have some ornimatation which is typical of other types Spino teeth.  We don't know if these different types of teeth belong to different Spinosaurids or are just jaw to jaw variations.

 

I mention that these are Spinosaurid teeth and not Spinosaurus.  The Kem Kem is full of unknowns and one of them is how many Spinosaurids exist in this fauna and its currently highly debated among paleontologists.  Two are currently described Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis and Spinosaurus aegyptiacus and currently we do not know if you distinguish teeth between them.

[LordTrilobite]

I agree with Troodon. But I'd like to add that there was a study that found that there were three distinct morphotypes of Spinosaurid teeth. Two types with longitudinal ridges, and one without. But it's currently unknown if these differences are due to difference in species or just ontogenetic.

[PaleoRon]

Thanks!