Jump to content

My Ptychodus is bigger than yours!


Dustinwolfe82

Recommended Posts

So in my few months of collecting, I’ve really found my favorite tooth to collect is the Ptychodus. Not sure if it’s the fact that it’s a shark tooth but not your normal sharp at a razor style, or just because they are all so different. I am really wanting to start just a collection of Ptychodus teeth. In the mean time, I want to live vicariously through everyone else. I really wanted to start this topic just to see who has the biggest one out there in fossil land! So if you all don’t mind, please post!!! 

1FEDA4D7-8C96-4B17-A33D-B6C9FB9D2CEC.jpeg

  • I found this Informative 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lets see the chewing surface, please. :) 

 

By the way, not sure if you've seen the Ptychodus ID Guide under Fossil ID. 

  • I found this Informative 1

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm outgunned in this fight, so I won't draw.  Wait till Tom Newman chimes in...

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My largest Whipplei is a little smaller than your I think.

I have a partial P. mortoni that is wider than any complete Ptychodus teeth I have and would have been a large tooth when whole I think. This is from the Niobrara Chalk, Kansas.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the monster teeth I am sure others have here lol

 

 

20190207_100901-1.jpg

20190206_202612.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, fossilsonwheels said:

My largest Whipplei is a little smaller than your I think.

I have a partial P. mortoni that is wider than any complete Ptychodus teeth I have and would have been a large tooth when whole I think. This is from the Niobrara Chalk, Kansas.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the monster teeth I am sure others have here lol

 

 

20190207_100901-1.jpg

20190206_202612.jpg

 

 

Yeah i I don’t think mine is anywhere near as big as some! I just would love to see how big these teeth actually got. I actually found the one photoed on my first fossil trip. I was on my third screen and bam! I put that thing in my pocket and I bet I pulled it out 5 times before we left just admiring it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, fossilsonwheels said:

My largest Whipplei is a little smaller than your I think.

I have a partial P. mortoni that is wider than any complete Ptychodus teeth I have and would have been a large tooth when whole I think. This is from the Niobrara Chalk, Kansas.

 

I am looking forward to seeing the monster teeth I am sure others have here lol

 

 

Any Ptychodus either an inch high or an inch wide would be considered large-unusually large.  For P. whipplei you're looking at height and to some extent the width as well.  For ones like P. mortoni and P. marginalis or P. polygyrus, you're looking at width.  The biggest P. whipplei teeth I've seen have come from Post Oak Creek, TX.

 

Yes, I've seen and heard about some big teeth.  A friend once went to Japan to attend a conference and he got invited to visit a collector who had all kinds of ammonites and some large Ptychodus teeth approaching the size, if not the size, of a golf ball.  I heard about a couple of Texas teeth that big once and there are giants from the English Chalk as well.  The biggest ones always seem to be compared to golf balls.

 

But yeah, it's the pieces of apparently giant teeth like yours that can really get your attention as well.  How big was it if you have a piece almost an inch wide?  I would say it could have been just under 2 inches wide when complete but I would it was at least just over that.  That's a monster mortoni.

 

Jess

  • I found this Informative 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/7/2019 at 9:06 PM, siteseer said:

 

Any Ptychodus either an inch high or an inch wide would be considered large-unusually large.  For P. whipplei you're looking at height and to some extent the width as well.  For ones like P. mortoni and P. marginalis or P. polygyrus, you're looking at width.  The biggest P. whipplei teeth I've seen have come from Post Oak Creek, TX.

 

Yes, I've seen and heard about some big teeth.  A friend once went to Japan to attend a conference and he got invited to visit a collector who had all kinds of ammonites and some large Ptychodus teeth approaching the size, if not the size, of a golf ball.  I heard about a couple of Texas teeth that big once and there are giants from the English Chalk as well.  The biggest ones always seem to be compared to golf balls.

 

But yeah, it's the pieces of apparently giant teeth like yours that can really get your attention as well.  How big was it if you have a piece almost an inch wide?  I would say it could have been just under 2 inches wide when complete but I would it was at least just over that.  That's a monster mortoni.

 

Jess

Jesse I think two inches a reasonable number. It looks like about 40-50% of the tooth and it also sits pretty high. It has a fair amount of root I think. I agree, it would have been a big shark. It will be fun to mention that to the kids in our education programs.

 

A golf ball sized Ptychodus tooth, that is some visual. I have yet to see one that big though I did see pictures of a full dentition from a mortoni that had some monster teeth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congrats on the find "DustinWolfe82"!  My P. whipplei from Wyoming are just "babies" compared with yours [13 mm tooth width (TW) x 11 mm crown height (CH)].  I haven't really seen any P. whipplei in the Travis County, TX area (maybe one).  There are some huge ~2"(52 mm+) wide P. mortoni teeth that I have seen posted in 2013 that "Kosmosceras" and "barefootgirl" collected from the Blossom Sand.  My largest (26 mm+ teeth) are:  P. marginalis (36 mm TW x 17 mm CH x 26 mm tooth height - including root (TH), 27 mm (TW) x 14mm (CH) P. latissimus (with missing root), 26 mm (TW) x 13 mm (CH) P. mortoni (with missing root), and 26 mm (TW) x 10 mm (CH) P. occidentalis [with crown top (apical) wear].  I really only consider the first tooth to be "large to very large".  It is the closest I have to "golf ball sized" 42 mm diameter.  It cannot even compare to P. mortoni and other species ptychodus finds of 40 to 50+ mm TW that have been made over the years.  The best news about you P. whipplei is that it is in good condition without any apparent heavy damage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, LSCHNELLE said:

Congrats on the find "DustinWolfe82"!  My P. whipplei from Wyoming are just "babies" compared with yours [13 mm tooth width (TW) x 11 mm crown height (CH)].  I haven't really seen any P. whipplei in the Travis County, TX area (maybe one).  There are some huge ~2"(52 mm+) wide P. mortoni teeth that I have seen posted in 2013 that "Kosmosceras" and "barefootgirl" collected from the Blossom Sand.  My largest (26 mm+ teeth) are:  P. marginalis (36 mm TW x 17 mm CH x 26 mm tooth height - including root (TH), 27 mm (TW) x 14mm (CH) P. latissimus (with missing root), 26 mm (TW) x 13 mm (CH) P. mortoni (with missing root), and 26 mm (TW) x 10 mm (CH) P. occidentalis [with crown top (apical) wear].  I really only consider the first tooth to be "large to very large".  It is the closest I have to "golf ball sized" 42 mm diameter.  It cannot even compare to P. mortoni and other species ptychodus finds of 40 to 50+ mm TW that have been made over the years.  The best news about you P. whipplei is that it is in good condition without any apparent heavy damage.

 

Oh yeah,  i think I remember "Barefootgirl" finding a giant one (might have to look for that post).  The late Boneman007 once noted what would be the largest Ptychodus I've ever heard of.  I think he said it was 5 inches wide but he couldn't get a photo.  I would like to have seen what he saw.

 

Jess  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, siteseer said:

 

Oh yeah,  i think I remember "Barefootgirl" finding a giant one (might have to look for that post).  The late Boneman007 once noted what would be the largest Ptychodus I've ever heard of.  I think he said it was 5 inches wide but he couldn't get a photo.  I would like to have seen what he saw.

 

Jess  

I've held Brent's "muffin tooth", but that was years ago, and I'm not sure where it is now, possibly with Shawn Hamm.  If memory serves, it was somewhere between 2 and 3 inches wide.  

Grüße,

Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas

"To the motivated go the spoils."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

That's a nice sized ptychodus. Great find! 

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory.

Alfred North Whithead

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a partial tooth my youngest son found at Trussells Creek, Alabama; I mentioned it earlier.

 

It is 1.75" across at the widest. 

 

The third picture has it next to a complete smaller one he found.

crush 1.jpg

crush 2.jpg

crush 3.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
On 3/27/2019 at 12:34 PM, ynot said:

That is a monster tooth!

 

Hi Tony,

 

That's a monster alright.  It was 2 inches easy at its widest when complete.

 

Jess

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...