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The genus Centrophorus sp. represents a very interesting group of sharks within the Centrophoridae (Squaliformes), which can be found up to about 3000m below the sea surface. The largest representatives of this group reach a body length of 170cm. Not only because the sharks of this group are among my favorite sharks, but also because fossil finds of this species are extremely rare, I decided to write about this topic and compare fossil and recent Centrophorus species with each other, as well as collect the known information about them. The modern genus Centrophorus has been repeatedly revised, rewritten, rearranged, species synonymized and added again in recent years, which makes it difficult to keep an overview. According to my count, the genus currently includes a maximum of 17 described species and is distributed in all deep-sea regions worldwide. The 17 known modern Centrophorus species are: C. acus (synonymous with C. granulosus according to White 2013, but still often considered independent), C. atromarginatus, C. granulosus, C. harrissoni, C. isodon, C. lesliei, C. longipinnis, C. lusitanicus (probably a cluster of different species), C. machiquensis (doubtful), C. moluccensis, C. niaukang (synonymous with C. granulosus according to White 2013, but still often considered independent), C. seychellorum, C. squamosus, C. tessellatus , C. uyato, C. westraliensis, C. zeehaani The fossil records are limited to 3 species, Centrophorus granulosus, squamosus and primaevus. They appear from the late Cretaceous (Haumurian) or early Paleocene (Keyes, 1984). It is possible to distinguish different species based on their teeth, but in many cases it is very difficult, especially without locality data and due to the lack of and contradictory information. I would like to show you the teeth of 9 extant Centrophorus species from my collection and the 3 known fossil species. I would particularly like to focus on their teeth, as they are almost the only thing that can be detected as fossils and also what is most likely to get from the recent species. Since my English is unfortunately not good enough to describe the tooth shape perfectly, I will let the pictures do this The tooth formula describes the number of teeth in the upper and lower jaw. I have summarized them myself from the literature for most of the species, since there were often different numbers to be found. Centrophorus squamosus Is one of the largest representatives of this group (up to approx. 170cm) and is distributed worldwide. It can be found down to a depth of 2400m. The fossil record is currently limited to New Zealand (Keyes, 1984). Tooth formula: 30-38 / 24-32 Keyes, 1984 (fossils, found at different localities in New Zealand): Extant teeth/ jaw from my collection (35 / 30; 15x12cm): Centrophorus primaevus Extinct representative of this group (lived in the Late Cretaceous, Santonian). It is a relatively small representative with a body length of approx. 0.5m (previously known). Tooth formula: Unknown The fossils shown are from Lebanon (Kriwet & Klug, 2009): Centrophorus granulosus Also a large representative of this group (up to 170cm). The species is distributed worldwide, but not in the Mediterranean where it is replaced by C. uyato. It occurs to a depth of about 1500m. The fossil records are currently limited to France (Ledoux, 1972). Tooth formula: 36-43 / 28-32 Ledoux, 1972 (fossils from France): Ebert & Dando, 2021: My collection (39 / 30; 9x8cm): However, most fossil Centrophorus teeth found in publications are not assigned to a specific species, but only as Centrophorus sp.. Here are a few sample images from various publications: Mannering & Hiller, 2008 / Schutter & Wijnker, 2012: Below I would like to post pictures of the remaining extant Centrophorus species. Unfortunately, for some species the information is very scarce and, as I said, often contradictory.

Hello, saw this for sale and was wondering whether it was croc or spinosaurid, it’s from Morocco, Africa. I’m leaning towards spinosaurid, but I’m not an expert. Please also let me know if there is any repairs/restro. Thanks a lot!

Hi there found this walking on a beach, I’m pretty sure it’s a fossil this time although I’ve been proven wrong many many times before thanks

I found two fossilized jaw segments yesterday that I need help IDing, please. I believe the first is either barracuda or wahoo, but I've done a little research and am still not sure how to tell them apart. My guess is wahoo, based on the tooth thickness increasing as it gets closer to the root, but some descriptions I've seen of wahoo teeth describe them as "needle-like", which these are not. Jaw section is 50mm long. Tooth goes from about 1 mm thick at the point to about 5mm at the base. Found in an area that is heavily Oligocene but with a small amount of Miocene (coming from an overlying Pleistocene lag deposit). Jaw #2 I believe is cetacean... something like an echoventator. I previously found a similar one in the same creek, but the spacing between those teeth were greater (both have the double-root teeth). This creek is also Oligocene with some Miocene from overlying lag deposits. 62mm long and 32mm tall. Wet to show the double-root tooth sockets better: New jaw on left, other from same location on right: I hate to @ people if I don't have to but, from reading old posts, I think @Al Dente and @MarcoSr can probably ID wahoo vs. barracuda. Thanks so much!

Hi I recently bought a pallet of white river fm fossils and this can with it. The box said mammal fossils and at first I thought maybe hell creek but I don’t have any information on where it’s from. Much appreciated! -Daniel.B

This is the best find for me to date! I believe it is an equus and I found it in the Platte River in central Nebraska. I found a single tooth first and it looks like it came from the jaws. One question I have....is there anything I should do with this when it dries out? I want to be able to display it in my home. Thank you!

I recently purchased an odd little archosaur jaw from the Wealden at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, UK. It's 14.88mm in length and 4.03mm tall, with a single remaining tooth of approximately 1mm in height. The seller told me he thought it would be Aigialosaurus, something I thought odd due to that genus only being known from Hvar in Croatia, and being much younger (Cenomanian) than this specimen (Valanginian). However, it turns out that a jaw was found at this locality at some point that has since been moved to the Bexhill Museum and was identified as Aigialosaurus (though, based on what, I don't know): While I'm working on figuring out whether the jaw in the other thread can indeed by attributed to an early mosasauroid (Aigialosaurus?), I wanted to ask people in this thread what they make of my particular section of jaw. Ventral Terminus (end of jaw) 1 Terminus (end of jaw) 2 Observe the tooth attachment with raised sockets, not unlike in mosasauroids. Details of tooth attachment. Here are the photograph of the jaw from Bexhill that was identified as Aigialosaurus again, for ease of reference (source): So, what do you guys think? Reptile or fish? Crocodile, lizard? Do you think my jaw compares well to the one identified as British Aigialosaurus? @caterpillar @Praefectus @ThePhysicist

Hi all, I was recently told about supposed Aigialosaurus/aigialosaurid (mosasaurus) material from the Wealden at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, and was wondering whether anybody knows anything more about this. Because, as far as I'm aware (Wikipedia), Aigialosaurus is described from Hvar in Croatia and, moreover, temporarily restricted to the Cenomanian, whereas these remains, stemming from the Wealden, would be Early Cretaceous in age (Berriasian through Aptian) - most likely Valanginian, as they were recovered from Bexhill-on-Sea. (Image source) I must say these remains do look rather mosasauroid, although I've been unsuccessful in finding further information on the specimen, which is supposed to be housed in the Bexhill Museum. The person who first told me about them remembers having seen a newspaper article, believes the British Natural History Museum was involved with the specimen back then, and had heard about a paper being written about it. That's about all I have to go on for now. So my questions right now are: does anyone have more information on this specimen; know of the publication; and what do people here generally make of this piece: is it mosasauroid, or could it be something else? @paulgdls @DE&i @Praefectus @caterpillar @The Amateur Paleontologist @Kosmoceras @ThePhysicist @Welsh Wizard @DanJeavs

couple of smalls pieces found sifting and really not sure what that is??

What I believe is a fragment of a horse tooth if anyone has any ideas? have no idea about the jaw piece. whats that?

I’m new to fossil hunting and I was out on the Brazos river. I found this giant chunk of bone and I was hoping someone could help me identify what it could be.

Hello everyone! This is a partial mosasaur jaw with other associated bones i found in the Early-Mid Campanian Woodbury Formation of New Jersey over the summer. One of my best finds to date.

Hello, I am trying to ID the parts of this mosasaur jaw. As it has the exploded look, in the posterior part of the jaw I have different hypothesis that I wanted to share with you. So this is the jaw: It comes from Oued Zem and it measures 135cm across and with the morphology of the teeth it's a thalassotitan atrox. I will be comparing this with the figure of the Thalassotitan atrox paper from Longrich et al. This is the figure of the lower jaws: So, this is the IDs that I am pretty sure about: Now let's focus on the posterior part: Here I have various Hypothesis. Hypothesis 1: Ok, from what I can see, the break line between the surangular part and the articular/angular part, I think it's natural and not exploded, so this is why I think that the surangular might end there. The part where I am not sure, is the articular if it ends before what I have marked here (you will see this in other hypothesis). Because the last part of the bone has this hole that I can't be sure what is it. Hypothesis 2: The angular and articular are completely lost and everything is surangular. I am not convinced about his because As I said before, the separation between the potential angular/articular and surangular is natural. Hypothesis 3: Same as the first one but the last chunk is a different bone. I am debating between the first and the third. Here you have some closeups about this weird bone with a hole. Thanks for your time!

Is this jaw fossil a reptile? The seller says　Polycotylus From atco formation

Do you know what kind of Mosasaurus this is? Produced from Morocco. There seems to be no detailed information.

Found both of these jaws in Joshua creek that runs into the peace river. Any ideas on what they can be ?

Found this today... don't think it's deer because it does look thin like those jawbones are. It didn't look like hog either. I'm wondering if there was a spot for a canine? Does anyone recognize? Found on a river gravel bank. 5" in length. Dog?? Coyote?

Here is another set of beach finds I need help pinpointing. The small round one is a shark vertebra I think. The larger black one is a vertebra of some kind but I have no idea what from, I know it is highly weathered. These were both found on the beach in North Carolina, near the Fort Macon area. The one with all the holes I am guessing is a fragment of a dolphin jawbone, but If I am way off here or if you can pinpoint it any further let me know! This piece came from a sample of a tailings pile from the Aurora phosphate mine in NC. Thanks again!

Not quite sure if this piece of fish jaw is X-fish or Pachyrhizodus. What do y'all think? Found in the Ozan formation of Fannin County, Texas.

Hey guys, I found what looks like a tiny fossilized jaw bone but I don’t know what it belongs to. Any ideas?

Hi all! I was recently visiting with another naturalist, helping them to identify some of the donated rocks and fossils in their collection. There were a few that stumped us both, and unfortunately they couldn't tell me where any of the specimens were originally found, or the period anything was from with any certainty. I'll make separate posts for the different pieces. But here's part one to start with. A partial jaw with large molars, certainly from a large herbivore. The other naturalist suggested perhaps from a moose, and I also found similarities in the shape to other cervids, so I think this is the right track, but I'm far from an expert, especially on teeth. the jaw measures 8" long, and 3-4" wide. I didn't think to measure individual teeth, but each is over an inch wide.

This is a merycoidodontid jaw fragment from the Oligocene of South Dakota, but it hasn't been identified to genus/species level. The specimen is 24.5mm long and 32mm across. Thanks in advance for any proposed IDs Othniel Just to clarify you may have seen a fossil ID thread with similar pictures to this, also started by myself. However, as suggested by FossilDude19, I will be splitting them up so as to not restrict answers. If anyone could explain how I get rid of the old thread, that would be much appreciated as well.