Very tiny dinosaur tooth

[Al Dente]

I was sorting some North Carolina Cretaceous matrix this week when I saw a shape that reminded me of a Theropod tooth. I really didn't think it was because of the tiny size but when I stuck it under the microscope I saw a few serrations on the distal side. Now I'm convinced it is a Theropod tooth. I've looked up some Cretaceous lizards (Teiids and Varanids) but their teeth are different but varanids can be somewhat similar. The matrix is from a late Campanian lag deposit and most of the fossils in it are heavily abraded. This is the first theropod tooth I've found. No sign of serrations on the mesial side but they could have been worn off if they ever existed. I tried a crude count of serrations by extrapolating the number of serrations per millimeter. The count is somewhere around 8 serrations per millimeter.

 

 

[Troodon]

Sure looks like a theropod tooth, nice find.  The mesial edge looks like it could be a wear facet which makes it even better.  No way to determine what you have given size and state of preservation.  Shape of the tooth and denticles have that Tyrannosaurid look but who knows

[Al Dente]

13 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Sure looks like a theropod tooth, nice find.  The mesial edge looks like it could be a wear facet which makes it even better.  No way to determine what you have given size and state of preservation.  Shape of the tooth and denticles have that Tyrannosaurid look but who knows

Do you think this could be an adult tooth from a small theropod or is it from a very young individual?

[old bones]

This very exciting, Al Dente!

[Troodon]

27 minutes ago, Al Dente said:

Do you think this could be an adult tooth from a small theropod or is it from a very young individual?

I have a few rex teeth around 4 to 5 mm but it's hard to say for sure.  My gut says young individual because of what I think it is.

[PFOOLEY]

Very cool dinosaur tooth...so tiny!

 

Not sure if this is of any help but here is a comparison of teeth...

...from Multivariate Analyses of Small Theropod Dinosaur Teeth and Implications for Paleoecological Turnover through Time.

[Tidgy's Dad]

That's an amazing find! 

Lovely! 

[Troodon]

Here are denticle images of a campanian Tyrannosaurid.  Not saying it is but you can see the affinities to yours. 

 

 

 

[Al Dente]

4 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Here are denticle images of a campanian Tyrannosaurid.  Not saying it is but you can see the affinities to yours. 

Thank you for the information. 

[Plax]

Good eyes! Did you ever get your copy of the SC Dino book? Was going to suggest the micro vert book put out by the Alberta Paleontological Society but it appears that our eastern dinos would only fit generally.

[digit]

Pretty cool surprise! That's one of the things I like about sorting through micro-matrix, you never know what might pop up.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Carl]

Here's a tiny theropod tooth I found in the equivalent sediments in NJ (Mount Laurel Fm., Ramanessin Brook) in 2008. Looks a lot like yours. I was told it was either tyrannosaurid or velociraptorine, but that ID could've come from a knowledge that those are the toothed theropods that have been found in the east rather than anything morphological.

 

[Al Dente]

21 hours ago, Plax said:

Good eyes! Did you ever get your copy of the SC Dino book? Was going to suggest the micro vert book put out by the Alberta Paleontological Society but it appears that our eastern dinos would only fit generally.

Yes, I finally got my copy. I was a little disappointed in the book but not much can be said about abraded scraps found in lag deposits. I'm convinced one of the dinosaur teeth illustrated in the book is a deformed Squalicorax.

 

edit: I dug out the SC dinosaur book again last night and it is better than I described above. Not a bad reference for the reptiles found in these formations. I wanted more detail which isn't possible with some of these fossils. The tooth I said looks like a Squalicorax still looks like a  Squalicorax to me but there is only one view of the tooth so can't be sure but the authors know their stuff so I will have to believe them when they say it is a dinosaur tooth.

[Plax]

that's not good news...

there's this one on elasm.com

http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=paleo/nc/donoho/donoho.html&menu=bin/menu_fauna-alt.html

[Troodon]

6 hours ago, Carl said:

Here's a tiny theropod tooth I found in the equivalent sediments in NJ (Mount Laurel Fm., Ramanessin Brook) in 2008. Looks a lot like yours. I was told it was either tyrannosaurid or velociraptorine, but that ID could've come from a knowledge that those are the toothed theropods that have been found in the east rather than anything morphological.

 

Looks like a Tyrannosaurid to me based on denticle and tip shape.

[westcoast]

I love these downsized Tyrannosaurids. Any idea what size the little terrors attached to the teeth would have been?

[Bobby Rico]

Fantastic tooth I love it and very interesting post.

 

Cheers Bobby 

 

[Chase B.]

Dear all,

 

I can confirm that this is a theropod tooth, specifically that of a small "saurornitholestine"-morphotype dromaeosaurid. This assignment is based on the tooth being labiolingually compressed (ziphodont), heavily recurved, having larger distal than mesial denticles, and having apically oriented, "peg-like" denticles that are interspaced with large interdenticular sulci. I currently am working on eastern North American theropod tooth faunas, and I will say that very little material resembles Laramidian forms in morphology. Thus, the best dinosaur remains with which to compare eastern North American fossils are those from the Cenomanian-Turonian and earlier from North America. 

 

Regards, 

 

Chase

[Al Dente]

10 hours ago, Chase B. said:

Dear all,

 

I can confirm that this is a theropod tooth, specifically that of a small "saurornitholestine"-morphotype dromaeosaurid. This assignment is based on the tooth being labiolingually compressed (ziphodont), heavily recurved, having larger distal than mesial denticles, and having apically oriented, "peg-like" denticles that are interspaced with large interdenticular sulci. I currently am working on eastern North American theropod tooth faunas, and I will say that very little material resembles Laramidian forms in morphology. Thus, the best dinosaur remains with which to compare eastern North American fossils are those from the Cenomanian-Turonian and earlier from North America. 

 

Regards, 

 

Chase

Thanks for this information. When you say you are working on eastern North American theropod tooth faunas, does that mean a paper will be the result of this study? If so, let us know when it is available.

[masonboro37]

Amazing find! As a dear friend told me several years ago, "look small and find big".