Small dinosaur ID

[JohnBrewer]

10 hours ago, Crazyhen said:

I read that if the number of serrations per cm is less than 20, it is a tyrannosaurid tooth.  Is it true?

I don’t believe so but @Troodon counts serrations rather than sheep while he goes to sleep so he will know....

[Troodon]

11 hours ago, Crazyhen said:

I read that if the number of serrations per cm is less than 20, it is a tyrannosaurid tooth.  Is it true?

 

No John is correct, You have to look at the species of tyrannosaurid and serration density is just one characteristic to aid in identification of a tooth.  Tyranno's from Uzbekistan for example are very fine. 

Alioramus teeth serration count is 16/5mm on Mesial Edge and 14/5mm on distal edge.

Can you remove some of the matrix at the bottom of the tooth to expose the root line and see the base

26 minutes ago, JohnBrewer said:

I don’t believe so but @Troodon counts serrations rather than sheep while he goes to sleep so he will know....

John you have to get it right its Goats not Sheep  

[Crazyhen]

47 minutes ago, Troodon said:

No John is correct, You have to look at the species of tyrannosaurid and serration density is just one characteristic to aid in identification of a tooth.  Tyranno's from Uzbekistan for example are very fine. 

Alioramus teeth serration count is 16/5mm on Mesial Edge and 14/5mm on distal edge.

Can you remove some of the matrix at the bottom of the tooth to expose the root line and see the base

John you have to get it right its Goats not Sheep  

Thank you for your advice.  Unfortunately the fossil is not mine and I could not ask the owner to remove some of the matrix at the bottom.  I am puzzled as to whether this tooth is a sabre-toothed tiger or a dinosaur's.   It does look a bit like sabre-toothed tiger's tooth but the place of discovery is Ganzhou, Jiangxi in which no sabre-toothed tiger but dinosaurs existed.

[doushantuo]

Farlow,Abler & Currie et al(1991/ModernGeology/(defunct publication)) have commented on the morphology of serrated dentitions(nowhere to be found on the net,BTW.I have it on paper(Much,much cited).

In short: serrated more or less coniform teeth are extremely hard to discriminate.

 

[JohnBrewer]

17 hours ago, doushantuo said:

Farlow,Abler & Currie et al(1991/ModernGeology/(defunct publication)) have commented on the morphology of serrated dentitions(nowhere to be found on the net,BTW.I have it on paper(Much,much cited).

In short: serrated more or less coniform teeth are extremely hard to discriminate.

 

Tease. 

[abyssunder]

J. O. Farlow et al. tried to obtain data from measurements of 500 individual theropod teeth from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous formations of U.S. . It is an excellent resource of knowledge in this particular domain, but I'm afraid It has not to much in common with the Chinese theropods. 

[Down under fossil hunter]

On 1/24/2018 at 8:45 PM, steelhead9 said:

I have never seen a white theropod tooth from China. I have prepped many machairodus and will bet the farm this is an upper canine from this species. The horizontal cracks are both repaired breaks. The claim that these two fossils were found in the same deposit casts doubt on the whole story. 

 

I am more familiar than most with this type of fossil and I am certain that @steelhead9 is correct. While the tooth may look superficially like a dinosaur tooth it is certainly a Machairodus I have spoken to diggers and sellers alike and seen where they have "placed/set" these back into matrix and without the root they could pass as dino. I have even had them offered to me as Chinese dinosaur teeth and it wasn't until I called them on it that they admitted it was a mix up and that the teeth were "cat sabres".

 

I find it interesting that many people jumped straight on board with this being dino...