PaleoNoel Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Hey everybody, prepare for a series of ID requests as I've had a number of fossils from my collection piling up on my desk waiting to be posted. Here's what I believe is an odontocete tooth from the spoil pits across the street from the aurora fossil museum. It appears to be pretty worn and only has a small patch of enamel left on the end. The piece is about 4 cm long from tip to tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macrophyseter Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 I looks awfully similar to a rooted lateroposterior aligator tooth, maybe it could be one? If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 Looks like a whale tooth to me. Maybe @Boesse can help. 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...
PaleoNoel Posted January 13, 2019 Author Share Posted January 13, 2019 5 minutes ago, Macrophyseter said: I looks awfully similar to a rooted lateroposterior aligator tooth, maybe it could be one? It definitely could be, but it's hard to tell when it's missing so much of the enamel. I thought whale tooth because of the ring like markings on the root which I've seen on some people's sperm whale teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 4 hours ago, PaleoNoel said: It definitely could be, but it's hard to tell when it's missing so much of the enamel. I thought whale tooth because of the ring like markings on the root which I've seen on some people's sperm whale teeth. Can you provide a picture of this as this could help confirm the ID Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted January 13, 2019 Author Share Posted January 13, 2019 4 hours ago, sixgill pete said: Can you provide a picture of this as this could help confirm the ID I see this feature pretty frequently when I see sperm whale teeth online and was wondering if it was a result of the outer layers on dentin being worn off. here's one that shellseeker poster a while ago and some more from Brett Breakin' Rocks' gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 13, 2019 Share Posted January 13, 2019 7 hours ago, PaleoNoel said: I see this feature pretty frequently when I see sperm whale teeth online and was wondering if it was a result of the outer layers on dentin being worn off. here's one that shellseeker poster a while ago and some more from Brett Breakin' Rocks' gallery. Yes, this the case. But it's not dentin that wraps the tooth, it's cementum. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted January 13, 2019 Author Share Posted January 13, 2019 30 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said: Yes, this the case. But it's not dentin that wraps the tooth, it's cementum. Do you think my fossil is a previously wrapped odontocete tooth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 3 hours ago, PaleoNoel said: Do you think my fossil is a previously wrapped odontocete tooth? Yes, I do. The root portion of your tooth appears to me to be too substantial to be 'gator. The 'gator tooth roots are most often broken off just below the margin of the exposed enamel (the crown) which usually corresponds to near the top of the pulp cavity. 2 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 How do you keep teeth in a jaw ? Cementum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 13 hours ago, Harry Pristis said: Yes, this the case. But it's not dentin that wraps the tooth, it's cementum. So Harry, a Peace River tooth like this one below is Dentine with the telltale banding wrapped in Cementum? Is the only enamel on whale teeth the caps? The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 8 hours ago, Shellseeker said: So Harry, a Peace River tooth like this one below is Dentine with the telltale banding wrapped in Cementum? Is the only enamel on whale teeth the caps? As I understand it, credit Boesse, primitive sperm whales like Scaldicetus (my image above) still have enamel crowns. Less primitive relatives have no enamel -- the core and crown is dentine only. I think Kogiopsis is one of the latter group. There is a shroud of cementum in either case. 2 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abyssunder Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 1 " We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. " Thomas Mann My Library Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 On 1/13/2019 at 9:57 AM, PaleoNoel said: I see this feature pretty frequently when I see sperm whale teeth online and was wondering if it was a result of the outer layers on dentin being worn off. here's one that shellseeker poster a while ago and some more from Brett Breakin' Rocks' gallery. On 1/14/2019 at 3:43 PM, Harry Pristis said: As I understand it, credit Boesse, primitive sperm whales like Scaldicetus (my image above) still have enamel crowns. Less primitive relatives have no enamel -- the core and crown is dentine only. I think Kogiopsis is one of the latter group. There is a shroud of cementum in either case. I am starting to comprehend some things that I did not quite understand. Here is a Peace River tooth with horizontal banding on the Dentine, so this tooth must be 100% dentine, with all Cementum worn off.. I can not recall ever finding a whale tooth that did NOT have this banding, so I use the banding to recognize whale teeth. Harry's Scaldicetus tooth has the banding on its dentine and not on the cementum plus an enamel cap that identifies it as Scaldicetus. I appreciated @abyssunder post and immediately thought about which types I had found in Bone Valley mines or waterways (Kogiopsis and morphotypes 1 & 3, but not sure about morphotype 2). Here is Morphotype #1 from Peace River @digit, http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/64863-peace-river-whale-tooth/ and one from Bone Valley mines or Morphotype #3 also from BV mines: I really love Whale teeth, Wish I could identify them in a more concise way. 1 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 I'll add this one that I came across on my very last dive to the Meg Ledges off North Carolina last summer. Identified by @Boesse as a sperm whale something like Kogiopsis. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellseeker Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 47 minutes ago, digit said: I'll add this one that I came across on my very last dive to the Meg Ledges off North Carolina last summer. Identified by @Boesse as a sperm whale something like Kogiopsis. Cheers. -Ken Nice tooth, Ken. Agree it has the footprint of Kogiopsis Last March, I got a fantastic deal on BV Phosphate Mine whale teeth. These two were included. This is one from my recent post above. I believe it have an enamel cap (not Kogiopsis) and not the thicker shape of Scaldicetus.. Here is another. Note the relatively thin Cementum layer. No enamel that I can see and shape implies Kogiopsis 1 The White Queen ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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