Pennsylvanian LaSalle Limestone Unknown

[connorp]

Unfortunately the tooth popped off the matrix and split in half while I was finishing cleaning it up. Should be able to repair it. But I can confirm that there is nothing more buried, so this is just a really tiny tooth.

[Archie]

Teeth have a habit of doing that! I agree with an Orodus sp. its a really good match for O. greggi,  nice find! 

[connorp]

6 minutes ago, Archie said:

Teeth have a habit of doing that! I agree with an Orodus sp. its a really good match for O. greggi,  nice find! 

Awesome thanks. Fortunately I was able to patch it up and since it’s so small you can’t even tell it broke in the first place.

[Archie]

Good save 

[deutscheben]

That's good to hear! I have had a few fragile teeth crumble as I was trying to prep them and it's always a heartbreaker. 

[connorp]

Alright here's one more. I believe it is a poorly preserved specimen of the inarticulate brachiopod Orbiculoidea. From what I've read, they are common in Pennsylvanian black shales but I have not seen them reported from limestone.

 

 

[jdp]

That tooth might be a Lissodus-type hybodontiform rather than Orodus. I've found Hamiltonichthys teeth that look pretty similar.

[deutscheben]

Yes, I have found Orbiculoidea from this site as well- here is the most complete example I have:

 

 

 

[Elasmohunter]

On 7/21/2019 at 9:18 PM, connorp said:

I found these bits in the LaSalle Limestone member of the Bond Formation (Pennsylvanian). They were in a huge boulder and I could not remove them unfortunately. No clue what they could be.

 

 

Any thoughts?

This is probably not trilobite bits, but rather a cladodont shark tooth. I have outlined its general shape for reference below.

The large, triangular area in the center is the central cusp. One lateral cusp (on the left) is visible; there would likely have been another cusp on the other side (blue outline), but it's either worn away or covered. You can see some vertical striations called cristae (circled in green) on the lateral cusp that are commonly found on shark teeth like this. The tooth root is probably more or less where the orange scribbles are.

As far as the species goes, I would suspect that it's a member of Cladodus. I need to double-check to make sure that they were alive during the Pennsylvanian, but they were certainly alive during the Mississippian. Members of this genus can get quite large, which is one of the reasons for my guess; in addition, the central cusp also appears to me to be more Cladodus-like than Stethacanthus-like due to its triangular outline and squat base. I can't tell if the enamel is continuous between the lateral and central cusps or not, but if it is, then that's further evidence that this is Cladodus. I would simply be guessing if I were to assign a species to it, however.

Nice find!

[Elasmohunter]

On 8/7/2019 at 2:16 AM, connorp said:

Here's another one I find this Monday. I apologize for the not great photos, I was having a hard time getting close enough since it's so small, around a half centimeter. I'm guessing (hoping) some kind of shark tooth? Not really sure since it's so small. I'm trying to see if there's more underneath but limestone is not easy to prep with a pin vice.

 

 

 

I agree that this is likely an Orodus sp. It may be Orodus elongatus, but I don't have the Handbook of Paleoichthyology handy at the moment to confirm.

Nice find!

[connorp]

Thanks for the help @Elasmohunter. I won't be able to make it to the site again this year, so the cladodont shark tooth is still out there in a big boulder for whomever can find it.

[Elasmohunter]

13 hours ago, connorp said:

Thanks for the help @Elasmohunter. I won't be able to make it to the site again this year, so the cladodont shark tooth is still out there in a big boulder for whomever can find it.

Sure thing! Glad to be of assistance.

[connorp]

Here’s one more thing I found while going through my summer finds. Maybe a bryozoan?

 

 

I lost my scale cube, but it’s about 1cm in width.