small dinosaur teeth from Morocco

[Monica]

Hi again!

 

I was the lucky winner of Lot A in the Grand Christmas Auction, and it included four teeth from Morocco.  I know pretty much nothing about dinosaurs and Morocco material, so I was hoping to get your input:

 

Specimen #1: serrations are present

 

Specimen #2: serrations are not present

continued in next post...

[Monica]

Specimen #3: serrations are not present, and it seems to be worn down on one side

 

Specimen #4: serrations are not present, and it seems to be worn down on both sides

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Monica

[Troodon]

The first one looks like an Abelsaurid tooth (a theropod) and the second is a Spinosaurid tooth.  The next group are Sauropod indet type teeth, that worn down portion at the tip is a wear facet.  These come from the Kem Kem beds of Morocco 

[Runner64]

Agree with Frank, the first one appears to be an Abelisaurid tooth.  The second one is a Spinosaurid tooth.  Either a Spinosaurus and there is also a second spinosaur, Sigilmassasaurus and I don't believe there is a way to distinguish them yet.  Your last two are sauropod (long-neck dinosaur) teeth and one possibility is Rebbachisaurus but I'm not too knowledgeable about this.

[LordTrilobite]

Yup, I agree with everything Troodon said.

 

First does indeed look like an Abelisaurid tooth. It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but it seems like the tip might be a little fatter, which could indicate that the tooth is from a more forward position in the jaw. Here is an example of a premaxillary tooth of an Abelisaurid. Towards the back the teeth are more shaped like the top half of a D with a straight back edge. So that might give you a rough idea where the tooth might have sat in the jaw.

 

That second tooth is indeed from a Spinosaurid. Unfortunately, right now there is no way to ID Spinosaurid teeth from Morocco at a genus level. It seems like Spinosaurus is present in the Kem Kem beds of Morocco, but so is Sigilmassasaurus. No complete skulls have been found and as such we don't know what the differences are between these animals in terms of teeth.

 

And those pencil-like teeth are indeed from Sauropods. Runner64 said, one possible candidate would be Rebbachisaurus, but it seems there might be other Sauropods in the same region as well. And again no skull has been found. So Sauropoda indet. is about as accurate as an ID can get right now.

 

The Kem Kem beds has deposits from the early Cenomanian, the first part of the Late Cretaceous. It had a really bizarre fauna, loads of huge fish, some the size of cars. Lots of crocodiles and turtles. Some Pterosaurs, a few Sauropod dinosaurs. But otherwise no herbivorous dinosaurs. But the deposits are dominated by Theropod remains, with some of the largest predators that ever lived, like Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus.

[-Andy-]

Specimen #1 - Abelisaur

Specimen #2 - Spinosaur

Specimen #3 - Sauropod (sold as Rebbachisaurus)

Specimen #4 - Sauropod (sold as Rebbachisaurus)

[Tidgy's Dad]

Agree with the others! 

Nice teeth from Santa! 

[oldtimer]

Thanks for asking for some ID on these.  I took it as a quiz.  Got them right. And I learned something too about the wear facets. Thanks to @Troodon.