Very odd tyrannosaur tooth?

[MedicineHat]

Hello Everyone, I have a very strange looking tooth from an area where I sometimes find tyrannosaurid teeth (daspletosaurus from the oldman formation I think). I have posted a lot of angles to try to capture it's oddness.

 

Basically, the shiny side has a weird valley going down lengthwise, near the front carina. The weathered side has a shallow valley running lengthwise closer to the back carina. These features make the tooth appear to have a twist almost like a drill bit when you look at it from the tip down.

[MedicineHat]

[MedicineHat]

[MedicineHat]

Any help to identify would be much appreciated. I have come across many teeth and browsed countless online but this is strangely different. At first I thought it was the outer layer of the tooth that was worn off and the shiny side was the inner tooth but after careful examination, it appears to be the enamel and another layer of enamel over top would not appear to fit in any way that I can make sense of. 

I'm puzzled. 

[MedicineHat]

Not to mention that the weathered side is not a usual convex either but would be more characteristic of a smaller raptor tooth with the lengthwise ripples.

[caldigger]

Does the tooth look like that on its own and is still whole or did you have to do an extensive glue job?

Sorry I am of no help when it comes to dino material. Nice find though.

[Runner64]

The colorful side has the enamel, in some of the side photos, I notice that the enamel is quite worn. I have a tyrannosaur tooth with this sort of preservation as well. To me, it looks like weathering from the sun or wind erosion. That is why the other side appears in better condition (enamel is glossy and serrations crisper). The color is very unique and gives it a lot of character!

 

As for species, Daspletosaurus is the only tyrannosaur from the formation. However, Gorgosaurus/Albertosaurus typically coexist with Daspletosaurus. I think the safest ID would be Tyrannosaur indet. But Daspletosaurus cf. works just as well.

[MedicineHat]

11 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Does the tooth look like that on its own and is still whole or did you have to do an extensive glue job?

Sorry I am of no help when it comes to dino material. Nice find though.

It came in a few pieces that I glued. It actually fit together pretty easily and lined up nicely 

[MedicineHat]

8 minutes ago, Runner64 said:

The colorful side has the enamel, in some of the side photos, I notice that the enamel is quite worn. I have a tyrannosaur tooth with this sort of preservation as well. To me, it looks like weathering from the sun or wind erosion. That is why the other side appears in better condition (enamel is glossy and serrations crisper). The color is very unique and gives it a lot of character!

 

As for species, Daspletosaurus is the only tyrannosaur from the formation. However, Gorgosaurus/Albertosaurus typically coexist with Daspletosaurus. I think the safest ID would be Tyrannosaur indet. But Daspletosaurus cf. works just as well.

It's hard to show but in photos 3 4 6 and 7 there is a significant "valley". It creates a very disjointed and abrupt duvet that travels vertically up the tooth from the bottom till the half way point.  This is the most puzzling part to me.

Thanks for the id though. I'm not 100% that this site is absent from a DPP layer mixed in here and there. It definitely has some foremost formation present. More confidently it's tyrannosaurid indet. I guess 

[MedicineHat]

9 hours ago, MedicineHat said:

It's hard to show but in photos 3 4 6 and 7 there is a significant "valley". It creates a very disjointed and abrupt duvet that travels vertically up the tooth from the bottom till the half way point.  This is the most puzzling part to me.

Thanks for the id though. I'm not 100% that this site is absent from a DPP layer mixed in here and there. It definitely has some foremost formation present. More confidently it's tyrannosaurid indet. I guess 

 

[MedicineHat]

[MedicineHat]

This shows the contour in the weathered side.

If I'm not mistaken, these are odd features. 

The only thing I can think of is the tooth maybe collapsed? Or a morphology?

[Runner64]

14 hours ago, MedicineHat said:

This shows the contour in the weathered side.

If I'm not mistaken, these are odd features. 

The only thing I can think of is the tooth maybe collapsed? Or a morphology?

Okay I see what you are talking about now.  That is a bit odd but I think the tooth is just preserved in shards.  Reason I think this is because the "grain" of the tooth is consistent when you do line the shards up next to each other.  I do also believe that some of the fragments from this tooth are missing which is giving it that odd contour.  Hope this helps  

[MedicineHat]

23 hours ago, Runner64 said:

Okay I see what you are talking about now.  That is a bit odd but I think the tooth is just preserved in shards.  Reason I think this is because the "grain" of the tooth is consistent when you do line the shards up next to each other.  I do also believe that some of the fragments from this tooth are missing which is giving it that odd contour.  Hope this helps  

Yes, normally I would concur with your assumption. This specimen might be collapsed due to the disintegration of the inner tooth. However, I have doubts about the tooth feature in question due to being just broken. The shiny side appears so uniform. Its not actually broken anywhere in that valley. Maybe however it had fossilized after it was damaged/waŕped?

 

The weathered side on the other hand looks like the broken and missing pieces have contributed to the lateral compression. 

The details are impossible to photograph. 

Thanks for offering your advice and your ideas. I'm going to have to examine the details and hopefully a more convincing clue will pop out at me. I might have to take this one to the RTM and update later.