Pterygotus Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Could someone please ID this tooth and jaw section from Aust Cliff? The tooth is 2cm and Aust is triassic for those who don’t know. positive and negative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pterygotus Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 And also this rib (I think). It was found in a bone bed. Ichthyosaur I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pterygotus Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 And these strange things found in the same bone bed. The rib length was 5cm and these are about 2.5cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Some of your pictures are quite blurry. Try backing up off of the subject, a bit. 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER 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 More sharing options...
belemniten Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 Some nice finds I think the tooth is an Ichthyosaur tooth although I don't really see the jaw section you see. .. The pictures are indeed a bit blurry. My best guess for the rib is Ichthyosaur too but it would help if you could take some better pictures. 1 Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils Regards Sebastian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pterygotus Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 2 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Some of your pictures are quite blurry. Try backing up off of the subject, a bit. 2 hours ago, belemniten said: Some nice finds I think the tooth is an Ichthyosaur tooth although I don't really see the jaw section you see. .. The pictures are indeed a bit blurry. My best guess for the rib is Ichthyosaur too but it would help if you could take some better pictures. Better pics and the jaw section is circled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Impressive find! Yet while I do see what you mean with the bone at the base of the tooth continuing on the other side of the split rock, I think there's a good chance this may be part of the tooth's root, rather than jaw. Especially if this were an ichthyosaur tooth this seems very likely: the bone is neither thick nor deep enough to slit teeth into, yet ichthyosaur teeth have comparatively robust roots (owing to the fact that the shape and size of the roots appears to be what keeps the teeth in place in their trench). As to the identity of the tooth and bones: I don't think enough can be made it out of the bones to determine what they belonged to (to me the rib doesn't look flat enough to be ichthyosaurian), nor do I believe that in context of a bonebed it'd be possible to assign them an identity based on association. I've seen multiple blocks from Aust Clif contain isolated remains of disparate species right next to each other... As to the tooth, candidates for this would be Pachystropheus, plesiosaur, ichthyosaur, fish or varied land-based animals, including dinosaurs. I think, however, that we can safely disregard the latter and plesiosaur teeth as options, however, based on morphological dissimilarity. The tooth also looks too big for Pachystropheus, so we can drop that too, and while the teeth of Severnichthys can become quite sizeable, the tooth neither matches this species nor looks particularly ichthyan (not that I know much about fish and fish teeth, but I believe fish teeth are generally not as robust). Together with the presumed root, then, I think @belemniten is right in this being an ichthyosaur tooth. It an odd type, however, as I believe most Upper Triassic and Early Jurassic ichthyosaur teeth - Ichthyosaurus, Leptonectes (although I must admit I've never actually seen teeth that could be attributed to this species with absolute certainty) - actually exhibit plicidentine (that is, enamel folds), which this specimen does not show. Certain species of Temnodontosaurus, however, have teeth that lack ornamentation but have carinae or are otherwise polygonal. As I believe I can observe some angularity in the very first picture of the tooth, I think this therefore what you've got: Temnodontosaurus cf. platyodon. Not a very common find for Aust Cliff, I believe. Well done! 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now