Something different this time! Is this a steg tooth???

[Birdman]

New discovery! Something different this time....very different! I was quite stunned when I first set my eyes upon this one. It's another dino tooth, but it doesn't look Iguanodontian. Look at those long ridges! It has a prominent primary ridge and is coarsely serrated. Around 6 mm across the crown.  I have compared it to Iguanodontians including Barilium and hypselospinus and dryosaurids, but it doesn't match any of those. For a start the serrations are course on my dino tooth and on Iguanodontians the denticles go all the way over the tip of the crown and they are much finer in iguanodontians anyway, and the known Wealden ones lack ridges running down from EACH denticle - Iguanodon has quite a fine serrated edge and only one or two ridges, but many denticles. So next I compared my tooth with Hypsilophodon thinking I had a good chance of a match here, but I couldn't find any that compared, when you look closely, with hypsylophodontids either! So next I looked at thyreophorans. Known Wealden teeth of ankylosauria group are known but again I couldn't find a close match. So I looked at stegosauria next and I found some similarities. But still not certain. It's an extremely interesting find for the Wealden whatever it is as it's a bit different! Any ideas anyone?  

[fossils-uk]

Ankylosaur?

[Jaimin013]

Very nice discovery! Agreed with @fossils-uk perhaps this. Please can you provide the exact location the tooth was found in?

[Bobby Rico]

It is a wonderful find and I hope it is a stegosaurus tooth. I think our friend may like to see this post. @Troodon 

[Birdman]

2 hours ago, fossils-uk said:

Ankylosaur?

Well I haven't ruled out ankylosaur. It could be. I think it's thyreophoran more than anything else, so either steg or anky, but it's different to known Wealden anky teeth. 

[Birdman]

Thanks Bobby Rico. 

 

Jaimin013: It originates from from the Hastings Beds Group. Pieces of bone bed are found ex situ scattered along the Sussex Hastings coastline and researchers see this as a problem when it comes down to pinning the exact horizon as they don't favour ex situ finds. They determine either Tunbridge Wells FM or Lower Weald Clay for these finds. 

[Troodon]

 Partial teeth are very difficult to call.  Dont see the characteristics for either an Nodosaurid or Stegosaurid.  Would identify it as an indet Ornithischian 

[Birdman]

I actually think it's a whole crown from the cingulum (which is missing) up. We should be able to determine genus as it is very distinctive, much so than other known Wealden genera. It has affinities with steg - the serrated edge is coarse not fine. Stegs are coarse like this. Can't rule either anky or steg out at the moment. I am with Fossils-UK, I still lean toward thyreophoran - anky/steg.

[Birdman]

Could it be Ceratopsian??? Guys and gals, look at these ceratopsian teeth for comparison!! They both have a prominent central (primary) ridge, and they both have the vertical ridges as well! Could my tooth be the holy grail of Ceratopsian dinosaurs researchers have been looking (expecting/hoping) evidence in the Wealden to turn up one day? Possibly. 

 

https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2018/493-847/2302-arundel-fauna-of-maryland-usa-figures

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craspedodon

[Manticocerasman]

18 minutes ago, Birdman said:

Could it be Ceratopsian??? Guys and gals, look at these ceratopsian teeth for comparison!! They both have a prominent central (primary) ridge, and they both have the vertical ridges as well! Could my tooth be the holy grail of Ceratopsian dinosaurs researchers have been looking (expecting/hoping) evidence in the Wealden to turn up one day? Possibly. 

 

 

 

that would be great, but didn't ceratopsians apear later than the Wealden group? 

[Birdman]

Manticocerasman: Yes they did appear later. But some UK researchers have had discussions about the possibility of ceratopsians in the Wealden. I think this might be based on the odd potential ceratopsian bone, but nothing definite. I have read somewhere that UK researchers are hoping more definitive evidence will turn up one day. 

It is also interesting to note, I think, the similarity of how the sides slope down at roughly the same angle on each side - shallower curve on the left, steeper curve on the right side. 

[Jaimin013]

On 02/09/2019 at 11:24 AM, Birdman said:

Thanks Bobby Rico. 

 

Jaimin013: It originates from from the Hastings Beds Group. Pieces of bone bed are found ex situ scattered along the Sussex Hastings coastline and researchers see this as a problem when it comes down to pinning the exact horizon as they don't favour ex situ finds. They determine either Tunbridge Wells FM or Lower Weald Clay for these finds. 

Really cool tooth!