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Listed on everybody's favorite auction site as a Dromaeosaur or Tyrannosaur tooth.

 

1/2" long theropod tooth. Hell Creek Frm, I believe it said South Dakota but I will double check that.

 

It was very inexpensive so I went ahead and bought it. If nothing else, seems an excellent candidate for some analysis and it was a good way to test what I have learned without breaking the bank lol So lets see if I have gotten better at this. I believe it is Dromaeosaurid based on the difference in serration size and density. The seller posted good pictures so I could count the denticles. No exact scale in mm but the count was done mid tooth.

 

Distal= 12

Mesial=14/15

 

The mesial serrations look pretty straight. The denticle shape does not look like the Acheroraptor teeth I have and the density difference is less too.I am not seeing ridges. It does seem to be compressed as a Dromaeosaur would be. I know there will be some work to do when it is in hand with measurements and checking out the base. My smartest option is to tag @Troodon and get his opinion lol

For now I will go with Dromaeosaurid indet. I think it could be a DR candidate. Either way, it is a nice tooth with nice serrations and a bargain to boot :)

 

dakota.jpg

dakota1.jpg

dakota2.jpg

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Interesting tooth can you post a photo of the base and any chance you can get a closer shot of the distal serrations, trying to see their shape.   Does the mesial carina have a little twist midline towards the base.

What was your distance for the density count, need density/mm

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4 hours ago, Troodon said:

Interesting tooth can you post a photo of the base and any chance you can get a closer shot of the distal serrations, trying to see their shape.   Does the mesial carina have a little twist midline towards the base.

What was your distance for the density count, need density/mm

It is being shipped today so I can take pictures of the distal serrations and base. I counted mid tooth. I had to estimate as there was no scale provided from the pictures. I was primarily interested in checking to make sure there was a difference. When it arrives I put it under the mico eye and count per mm. I thought they looked straight to me but I could be wrong.

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Okay, well here is a case where comparing density numbers may be contrary to common understanding of what defines a Dakotaraptor or Dromaeosaurid and you need to look at other features to get to an ID.  This tooth may be a Nanotyrannus why I need the additional info. 

 

With the similarity between DR and Nanotyrannus crowns I recently did a qualitative analysis of 17 smaller Nano teeth in my collection most under 30 mm and the results were very surprising....

Average Distal Density 2.6/mm

Mesial Density 2.9/mm 

70% of the teeth have a more dense mesial edge.   In fact several teeth had a DSID (Ratio of both edges) of over 1.2  with a range of .92 to 1.3,  1 means they are the same density.  I doubt anyone has analyzed these smaller teeth and Im not aware of any publication to do so and this might be a first.  So this means that DSID alone cannot be used to determine if a tooth is a DR and one needs to look at other characteristics like absolute density count, shape of denticle and base.  Nothing is easy when it comes to identifying isolated teeth but when your tooth arrives we will have a better look.

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52 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Okay, well here is a case where comparing density numbers may be contrary to common understanding of what defines a Dakotaraptor Dromaeosaurid and you need to look at other features to get to an ID.  This tooth may be a Nanotyrannus why I need the additional info. 

 

With the similarity between DR and Nanotyrannus crowns I recently did a qualitative analysis of 17 smaller Nano teeth in my collection most under 30 mm and the results were very surprising....

Average Distal Density 2.6/mm

Mesial Density 2.9/mm 

70% of the teeth have a more dense mesial edge.   In fact several teeth had a DSID (Ratio of both edges) of over 1.2  with a range of .92 to 1.3,  1 means they are the same density.  I doubt anyone has analyzed these smaller teeth and Im not aware of any publication to do so and this might be a first.  So this means that DSID alone cannot be used to determine if a tooth is a DR and one needs to look at other characteristics like absolute density count, shape of denticle and base.  When your tooth arrives we will have a better look.

I will provide all the information I can. Sounds like is a great bit of research and we would love to help. It seemed like a great candidate for analysis, especially at the price I paid lol, and I think the kids will like learning about that process.

Even if it ends up being a Nano, it can serve as a place holder in the programs until we get a confirmed Dakotaraptor too. I really wanted to start talking giant raptors and this tooth can fill in and serve that purpose while it goes through the analysis.

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8 hours ago, Scylla said:

Nice tooth :)

Thank you. It is pretty nice.

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Hmm that's one where I don't think we can quite determine it between Dakotaraptor and Nano. A close up of the serration shape would help. 

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2 hours ago, zekky said:

Hmm that's one where I don't think we can quite determine it between Dakotaraptor and Nano. A close up of the serration shape would help. 

When it arrives, I will get some pictures of the base, serrations and some measurements. We can put it to the analysis that @Troodon has suggested. It also makes a lot of sense for us to just call it a potential Dakotaraptor in our education programs. Having an analysis done helps gather information that will help others so we will for sure do it. There is some value in not knowing for us too. Our fossils are purely educational. No resale or trading of fossils so do we really NEED to know ? It is an interesting question.

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