shel67 Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Hi all! I was down in the North Sulphur River bottom (Ladonia, Texas) this evening and found this small, but nice tooth. Any ideas what this tooth may have belonged to? I found a few other nice picks that I’ll post later, but I was eager to learn about this one. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heteromorph Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Looks like a very small and very complete mosasaur tooth of the genus Tylosaurus sp. Nice find! While not a croc, mosasaurs were marine reptiles that went extinct with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous. They are not dinosaurs but are marine reptiles more closely related to snakes than to dinosaurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 I agree with Heteromorph. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Heteromorph said: Looks like a very small and very complete mosasaur tooth of the genus Tylosaurus sp. With few exceptions (e.g. Globidens), assigning a genera to unassociated mosasaur teeth is highly speculative. Research, soon to be published, will show that many similar mosasaur tooth shapes are present in multiple mosasaur genera. Without specific, distinguishing described characteristics, identification can only be narrowed down to a probable handful of genera at best. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heteromorph Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 1 minute ago, JohnJ said: With few exceptions (e.g. Globidens), assigning a genera to unassociated mosasaur teeth is highly speculative. Research, soon to be published, will show that many similar mosasaur tooth shapes are present in multiple mosasaur genera. Without specific, distinguishing described characteristics, identification can only be narrowed down to a probable handful of genera at best. Good to know. I was using Tylosaurus as a paleo-bucket without meaning to, like some people use Hemiaster as a paleo-bucket for echinoids. I will avoid making such claims without clear evidence in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shel67 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 46 minutes ago, JohnJ said: With few exceptions (e.g. Globidens), assigning a genera to unassociated mosasaur teeth is highly speculative. Research, soon to be published, will show that many similar mosasaur tooth shapes are present in multiple mosasaur genera. Without specific, distinguishing described characteristics, identification can only be narrowed down to a probable handful of genera at best. Thank you all for the helpful information! Am I to assume this is from a smaller type of Mosasaur or a juvenile? Or is it not possible to determine that? Sorry, I’m still new to all of this, but I’m learning!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 3 minutes ago, shel67 said: Thank you all for the helpful information! Am I to assume this is from a smaller type of Mosasaur or a juvenile? Or is it not possible to determine that? Sorry, I’m still new to all of this, but I’m learning!! I don't think it's possible to do via a visual examination. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 6 minutes ago, shel67 said: a smaller type of Mosasaur or a juvenile? Mosasaur replace teeth a regular basis, so even an adult can have small teeth. Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Nice mosasaur tooth. Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shel67 Posted July 31, 2018 Author Share Posted July 31, 2018 Thank you @JarrodB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.