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I have done this periodically on the forum with quite a bit of success so I thought we would try it again. I am working on going deeper into shark evolution in our programs and expanding the range of sharks we cover by a few million years. We are set with our Cenozoic and Mesozoic sharks but we are still tinkering with the Paleozoic sharks. Currently the goal is extending the timeline backward and covering the very early sharks. Our earliest shark fossils were 340 million years old but we have been able to find a few that are older and really help us but I am wondering if we can find more. We recently acquired some Chondrichthyes scales from the Harding Sandstone. While likely not "true" shark scales, they are a link in the chain which is what we need. I think this was a good starting point. We also picked up a Diplacanthus fossil from Scotland which gives us a nice example of what the ancestors of sharks were and again provides us with another link in the chain. Carter and I both thought these were fossils we needed to add to really show the kids shark evolution through the fossils. We also picked up some micro fossils from the Genudewa Limestone of New York which should provide some interesting shark material. This formation is the same age (Givetian) and same general location (New York) as the formation that Wellerodus is described from. There are teeth and denticles that are at least superficially pretty close to those of Wellerodus. This is probably our best shot at finding shark fossils that could potentially be from Antarticlamnidae. I know there are also teeth found in these micros that look Cladodont in nature as well. Outside of these micro fossils, I am coming up blank on Devonian shark fossils. I have been researching the heck out of Paleozoic sharks and I know the Devonian stuff is rare but I have seen a little bit in collections so in my mind it might be possible to add a tooth or some denticles from other formations. Obviously we are not looking for a full shark fossil from the Cleveland Shale or anything like that but I believe we can scrounge up some additional fossils from the Devonian. None of my usual sources have turned up any material at all so we need a push start here lol So TFF friends, share your knowledge with us if you can. What, if any, options are there as far as Devonian shark teeth or denticles that appear on the market ? Are there formations that we should look into that people collect from? Basically any information that we can get might be helpful. The goal is filling in that timeline of sharks and we have a bunch of shark programs this winter and spring so this is the collecting priority for us. Thank you in advance for any and all replies !
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- devonian sharks
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the final results of our first two Paleozoic micro shark hunts
fossilsonwheels posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
We started working on two early forays into micro fossils over a year ago when we cracked open the vile of Permian matrix from Kansas. Those tiny Neva Formation formation fossils and the even older and smaller Genundewa Limestone fossils proved to be extremely challenging, sometimes very frustrating and all kinds of fun. The results were few shark fossils that made it from matrix to the safety of the display cases lol There were several lost or broken shark teeth and one pulverized to dust by a millimeter worth of thumb slippage. If we judged this by volume, one could say this wasn’t successful. I would call it an overwhelming victory for us. We didn’t find a lot but we nailed our three target morphologies plus we found an unexpected gem. The goal with the Neva material was simple Oceans of Kansas website provided the examples of a small unnamed Ctenacanthiformes/Cladodont tooth from this formation. That was it. I only needed one and we found 3. Unfortunately the first got crushed. The second found by our friend @Tay Francis but I lost it. It was on our third and final complete search that yielded one last Cladodont. This one survived and made to it’s final home in our display. Our youngest tooth in this order. Victory after a few defeats is no less a victory lol The Devonian Genudewa from New York yielded a half dozen partial Phoebodus type teeth. We also found 4 partial Omalodus teeth.Omalodus is also a relative of Doliodus. For me, this is so cool. We found a connection to a transitional shark ! The biggest surprise was a tooth that seemed a very close match to teeth I’ve seen described as Wellerodus, a relative of Antarticlamna. Devonian era New York does have some descriptions of these tooth morphologies and my tentative ID’s are based on publications so Im fairly confident in saying we found a couple of teeth from important early shark families. I’ll be starting another round of Paleozoic micro shark hunts including a return to both of these formations with new matrix. We will be better prepared with micro fossil slides and better handling. We are going to try a few different matrix samples including Maple Mill. I will get better pictures when I can but I’m just glad to have finally finished sorting and separating these tiny delicate teeth. First pic is the Kansas Cladodont Second pic on the left are Phoebodus, the right holds Omalodus and possible Wellerodus teeth.- 4 replies
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From the album: Devonian Shark Fossils
Forgive the photo but I wanted to include this. This dermal denticle is an excellent match to Antarcticlamniformes denticles from several world wide locations and extremely similar to Wellerodus denticles from Givetian aged sharks from Cairo New York. I am completely comfortable calling this Wellerodus. We found a single tooth that appeared to be Wellerodus as well but have not photographed it. Wellerodus is classified as Antarticlamniformes.-
- devonian
- genundewa limestone
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