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Mike from North Queensland

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I found this little specimen that I assume is a jaw section a while back when sieving through some matrix.

The material that it came from is marine from the toolebuc formation in central Queensland Australia this is cretaceous albian in age.

Any input I would be grateful for.

The specimen is 4mm on the long so quite small

 

Regards 

Mike

 

5c445f33c00bf_afish1.jpg.5951179f6650ef18987d5985f8369b49.jpg

 

a fish 2.jpg

a fish 3.jpg

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Kinda reminds me of an anguimorph/lizard jawbone I saw in a book on Wealden fossils

5c449a121ec47_ScreenShot2019-01-20at16_54_49.png.666f7da9c754f31ac054bed1d9e5dce6.png

 

-Christian

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Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

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Squamates (lizards and amphisbaenians) and amphibians (frogs and salamanders) have very similar jaws and teeth.  Unless you are an expert, you won’t be able to tell the difference.  Fish teeth sit on the top of the jaw.  Most lizards', amphisbaenians', frogs' and salamanders' teeth sit on a ledge that is on the inside of the jaw and the teeth run up along the inside of the jaw.  The teeth are pedicellate with functional tooth crowns.  The teeth on this specimen do look very similar to squamate or amphibian teeth.  However, I can’t see if the teeth are sitting on a ledge from the pictures.

 

I had hundreds of partial lizard jaws (I donated them all) from our Oligocene ranch in Nebraska.  Below are pictures of two partial jaws where you can see the ledge and the teeth running up the inside of the jaw.

 

5c49c76377089_LizardJawFragment8L5mmW1mmH2mm.jpg.b30e57de180c4bbfcba3cd72c46b7544.jpg

 

5c49c765169bd_LizardJawFragment9L3mmW1.5mmH2mm.jpg.41087843cbbe56c8879a491c463daaf3.jpg

 

 

Marco Sr.

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"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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The bone quality looks more fishy than lizardy from here.  And the teeth seem to be perched on the edge pf the jaw (see marco's comments, although varanid teeth sit on the top edge of the jaw as well.)  I think this is fish.  

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Thanks all for the input particularly Marco Sr and Christian for the added information.

On 25/01/2019 at 12:12 AM, MarcoSr said:

ledge and the teeth running up the inside of the jaw.

The specimen does not appear to have a ledge on the inside of the specimen so most likely not lizard.

Tried to get better photos with limited success.

The teeth seem to sit within a groove in the bone section and from the shape of the bone I suspect is part of the upper dentition.

With my USB microscope I cant get a sharp enough focus on the teeth but the front three and second from other end look to be tapered similar to the lizard ones in Marco Sr post.

With the amount and position of teeth with the crowns tapered I suspect this is a functional adaptation.

The rest are broken and it appears they were hollow as I can see evidence of crystal infilling.

This one I will have to get someone to look at.

 

Mike

aa fish 2.jpg

aa fish 3.jpg

aa fish1.jpg

aa fish 4.jpg

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4 hours ago, Mike from North Queensland said:

This one I will have to get someone to look at.

 

Mike

 

Mike

 

It is always best to have an expert look at a specimen.  They may see a definitive feature right away that we wouldn't even notice.  I'm lucky, because I donate a good amount of specimens and often deal with shark, bony fish, reptile, amphibian, bird, and mammal researchers, I know a good number of experts that I can send pictures to for a quick id.  If it is a specimen of scientific value, I then donate it.  This is good in that I usually get a quick ID.  But I would probably learn a lot more if I did more research myself on the internet and read more papers and books.  However I prefer spending my time finding the specimens, than researching them.

 

Marco Sr.

"Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day."

My family fossil website     Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros     My Extant Shark Jaw Collection

image.png.9a941d70fb26446297dbc9dae7bae7ed.png image.png.41c8380882dac648c6131b5bc1377249.png

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