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Odd Mammal Tooth


PaleoNoel

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This was the first tooth I found on the day I spent on the white river formation in eastern Wyoming this past summer. I found a number of other small teeth and jaw sections from Leptomeryx, and small oreodonts along with what I believe to be a piece of canid jaw. However the identity of this tooth's owner has eluded me thus far. Any input would be appreciated.

IMG_E3371.thumb.JPG.8834bb39c868235665813db55d22f14a.JPG IMG_E3372.thumb.JPG.4195750a968ee5580a0fd68c205ede6b.JPG

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17 minutes ago, jpc said:

I'll just say this much... I don't know.  

It seems to be a real oddity. Do you think it's carnivore or herbivore?

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1 hour ago, PaleoNoel said:

It seems to be a real oddity. Do you think it's carnivore or herbivore?

 

What's the size?  It looks like a piece of a tooth which makes it more difficult to identify.  If you don't have much in the way of mammal references, you can try running known genera from the Oligocene of Wyoming as searches on this site (or googling) to see if you can get a match.  To me it looks more herbivore than carnivore.

 

Maybe @fossillarry can help.  He speciallizes in fossil ungulates of North America with a lot of experience with Oligocene forms (collected with the late Dave Jones in WY and NE for decades).

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1 hour ago, siteseer said:

 

What's the size?  It looks like a piece of a tooth which makes it more difficult to identify.  If you don't have much in the way of mammal references, you can try running known genera from the Oligocene of Wyoming as searches on this site (or googling) to see if you can get a match.  To me it looks more herbivore than carnivore.

 

Maybe @fossillarry can help.  He speciallizes in fossil ungulates of North America with a lot of experience with Oligocene forms (collected with the late Dave Jones in WY and NE for decades).

Thanks, it's about a centimeter long.

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I think herbivore.  It also looks like half of it is missing... is it broken along what is to us the right edge?  

Pig family might be good, with all those little cusplets.  

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This Wyoming find is out-of-area for me.  My general impression is that those 'spikey' molars are a characteristic of insectivores and mustelids, but I don't suppose that is exclusive.  The tooth at 10 mm is too large for a typical insectivore.  It appears to be quite distinctive with its shearing and piercing cusps.  I would be researching the dentition of mustelids of the era, starting with Megalictis.

 

 

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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15 minutes ago, rfarrar said:

Is this an incomplete crown? I suspect that this is half of an unerupted, unworn lower crown from a Mesohippus/Miohippus.

 

Bob

 I completely agree with this. It looks like half of a lower molar of an unerupted mesohippus.

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4 hours ago, jpc said:

I think herbivore.  It also looks like half of it is missing... is it broken along what is to us the right edge?  

Pig family might be good, with all those little cusplets.  

 

2 hours ago, rfarrar said:

Is this an incomplete crown? I suspect that this is half of an unerupted, unworn lower crown from a Mesohippus/Miohippus.

 

Bob

Yes I believe the crown is incomplete but I'm not sure what extent of the tooth is missing. The identity seems like it could go any direction with the input I'm getting, this is certainly a difficult one to place. 

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39 minutes ago, PaleoNoel said:

 

Yes I believe the crown is incomplete but I'm not sure what extent of the tooth is missing. The identity seems like it could go any direction with the input I'm getting, this is certainly a difficult one to place. 

 

The crown is incomplete?!  Didn't it occur to you that this information might be important?  

 

 

http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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1 hour ago, PaleoNoel said:

 

Yes I believe the crown is incomplete but I'm not sure what extent of the tooth is missing. The identity seems like it could go any direction with the input I'm getting, this is certainly a difficult one to place. 

Knowing that I would go with what rfarrarr says.  He has a lot of experience with these things.  I do too, but he has actually stopped to ID them. 

 

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1 hour ago, Harry Pristis said:

 

The crown is incomplete?!  Didn't it occur to you that this information might be important?  

 

 

I didn't realize it at first, only believing there to be a small piece broken off. After forum members asked, I looked at the tooth more thoroughly and it occurred to me that it was likely incomplete. 

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4 hours ago, rfarrar said:

Is this an incomplete crown? I suspect that this is half of an unerupted, unworn lower crown from a Mesohippus/Miohippus.

 

Bob

After looking online I couldn't find any pictures of an unerupted mesohippus tooth but I did see a similarity between mine and the already exposed ones and can understand how wear and tear could change its appearance. Thank you!

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