Khyssa Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 It's been a couple years since I last posted on this forum. Life got a bit more hectic due to health issues and a work promotion. Recently though I've finally had more time for fossils. I found a shark tooth today on the way home from work that I'm not familiar with. The tooth was found in a pile of limestone large gravel, sand, and chunks of chert that had been brought to the site from an unknown but local mine. I just happened across the pile unexpectedly and decided to stop even though it was drizzling out and I was hearing a bit of thunder. Other fossils I found in the same pile are shell castings, sponges, bryozoan, and a few echinoids. The location is the Ocala area of Marion County, Florida. I believe this part of the Ocala limestone and is eocene in age. While the root is a bit damaged and there's a chip in the blade the cusplets look to be in perfect condition. I'm leaning towards this tooth being a mackerel shark but it's not an exact match. Can anyone correctly identify it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notidanodon Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Odontaspis winkleri? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 The Eocene age and double cusps make me think it is Tethylamna twiggsensis. The narrow crown makes it an anterior tooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Will Stevenson, that doesn't quite match but thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it more. Al Dente, that seems closer but I can't find any reference of it being found this far into Florida and I'm not sure the cusplets are quite right. I'll keep looking for more information. Here are more views. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Could this be serratolamna koerti? The pictures and information I've found online seem the closest so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 1 hour ago, Khyssa said: Could this be serratolamna koerti? The pictures and information I've found online seem the closest so far. I’ve talk to some experts in the past about the confusion over koerti and twiggsensis teeth. koerti teeth were first described from Africa and twiggsensis from the US. Some papers on US teeth confused the two and now you see many US teeth labeled as koerti. My understanding is koerti are more narrow and look like Carcharias where twiggsensis are more broad and the lateral teeth have triangular cusps. Both koerti and twiggsensis can be found in North Africa and surrounding areas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Nice find! I agree that this tooth is not S. koerti (or whatever it is correctly called). Below are some koerti I collected from the Ocala Group Limestone in the Suwannee River. I think this tooth may be Carcharias hopei, an uncommon find in my experience. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemipristis Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 Serratolamna koerti ? 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' George Santayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 17 hours ago, Harry Pristis said: I think this tooth may be Carcharias hopei, an uncommon find in my experience. Harry- your tooth probably isn’t Carcharias hopei, it lacks a well defined nutrient groove that is a feature of Carcharias. It actually is a good example of Tethylamna twiggsensis anterior tooth. I don’t have a good illustration of a T. twiggsensis dentition but here is a very similar one from Tethylamna dunni. Your tooth is probably from the same position as #3 or #4. This is from “A selachian fauna from the middle Eocene of Andalusia, Covington County Alabama.” 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Pristis Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 On 9/1/2019 at 5:46 AM, Al Dente said: Harry- your tooth probably isn’t Carcharias hopei, it lacks a well defined nutrient groove that is a feature of Carcharias. It actually is a good example of Tethylamna twiggsensis anterior tooth. I don’t have a good illustration of a T. twiggsensis dentition but here is a very similar one from Tethylamna dunni. Your tooth is probably from the same position as #3 or #4. This is from “A selachian fauna from the middle Eocene of Andalusia, Covington County Alabama.” Thank you, Al Dente, for the information. The putative C. hopei in my image DOES have a prominent nutrient groove which does not show in the image. The root center is so prominent that the groove is at an acute angle in the image. I suppose I should do a better image, but not tonight. I think I relied on the paper by David J. Ward from 1988 (that would be timely when I was working on such teeth). You have raised another question. If you think that my putative C. hopei is actually T. twiggsensis, what shark do you think contributed the four teeth in my other image, the teeth I've labeled Serratolamna koerti. I relied on the report on the Twiggs Site in Georgia for this ID. Unfortunately, the teeth were not illustrated in the copy I acquired, and the author (I've forgotten his name) did not respond to my inquiry. I value your opinion. 1 http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page What seest thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time? ---Shakespeare, The Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Dente Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 21 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said: what shark do you think contributed the four teeth in my other image, the teeth I've labeled Serratolamna koerti. I believe the two on the right are twiggsensis. The other two might be but I’m not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 Shark teeth can be so hard to definitively identify. I'm still not sure which species my tooth is but at least now I have some directions in which to do more research. Thank you for all the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 Glad your back Kara! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khyssa Posted September 4, 2019 Author Share Posted September 4, 2019 Thank you! The last couple of years have been pretty hectic and I haven't had nearly as much time for my hobbies as I'd like. My health is finally doing better so I hope to have more time to spend on sites like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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