Some White River Formation Fossils For ID

[fossilhunter21]

Hello everyone!

 

Earlier this year, in August, I went fossil hunting in the White River Formation. This jaw was one of the first specimens I found. Unfortunately when I found it, it was actually in better shape... When I found it it had obviously been out in the weather for quite some time, and so it was kind of fragile. I was not thinking, and just took it out of the ground, hoping I could put most of the pieces together later. I know it was a dumb decision, and I won't do it again (hopefully...). Along the way, I lost some parts, and so now it is not near as complete as it was. 

 

I am thinking it looks like Archaeotherium, but just thought I would ask for some other opinions. I don't know if it is possible to ID it down to species, because it is not super complete, but I would at least like to know what genus it is from.

 

Specimen Length: About 3 Inches

Location Where Specimen Was Found: Crawford, NE

 

 

More specimens to come!

 

Thanks,

 

-Micah

[fossilhunter21]

I am thinking maybe partial Titanothere horn for this one?

 

Length Of Specimen At Longest Point: About 2 And 3/4 Of An Inch

Location Where Specimen Was Found: Crawford, NE

 

-Micah

Edited October 28, 2022 by fossilhunter21

[fossilhunter21]

This one is obviously Merycoidodon, but not sure about the species. I am not great with identifying teeth down to species.

 

Length Of Specimen At Longest Point: About 2 Inches

Location Where Specimen Was Found: Crawford, NE

 

-Micah

Edited October 28, 2022 by fossilhunter21

[jpc]

archaeotherium is a good guess for the first one.  The second one is definitely the edge of a very large turtle.  They do get huge in the White River.  See that groove in the bottom left corner in your second picture... that is pretty typical of turtle shell material.  As for oreodont species... I am usually happy going to the genus level with jaw fragments.  

[PaleoNoel]

I second JP's opinons. Archaeotherium seems to be a good candidate for the first jaw section, as it appears to exhibit bunodont dentition seen in Entelodonts.

[fossilhunter21]

Thanks, @jpc and, @PaleoNoel! Glad to know that I am at least not horrible at identifying fossils...

 

I never would have guessed tortoise on the second one, but it does make sense based on the shape.

 

Ok, yeah I was wondering if people usually ID there oreo jaw sections down to species... At least for me, it is just almost impossible to tell what species jaw sections are from.

[fossilhunter21]

Hi everyone!

 

So, a friend recently gave me this partial tooth, and I have been trying to ID it, but I have not gotten that far... All I can say is that it is for sure a carnivore tooth. 

 

Sorry for the quality of the images, my good camera has been having issues.

 

 

Thanks!  

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

[ParkerPaleo]

Any scale on that?  Difficult to tell size.

[fossilhunter21]

Thanks for your reply, Parker! 

 

It is about 3/4 of an inch long. 

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Mivah

[ParkerPaleo]

Lot of guesswork here as its less than half a tooth, but I think its the posterior cusps from a Dinictis lower molar.  Seems pretty cattish to me in any event.

[fossilhunter21]

Thank you for your response, Parker. I actually wondered if it might be a cat tooth. It would be really cool if it is! But really any carnivore fossil is cool.  

 

Thanks! 

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

[jpc]

HI Micah... nice to meet you over the weekend... look at that carnassial notch in your last tooth.   If possible, it is better to get a closer up photo... think of it as a photo of the tooth, rather than a photo of apiece of paper with a tooth in the middle.   

[fossilhunter21]

Hi, JP! 

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Nice to meet you too. 

 

I just took some close-ups of the tooth. I guess my camera is working (at least for now). Are these good enough? 

 

 

Thanks! 

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

Edited January 17, 2023 by fossilhunter21

[jpc]

Excellent photos.  Double carnassial notches... from a quick google images search, it seems the dogs have this.  Maybe Daphaenus. 

[fossilhunter21]

Thanks for your response, JP! 

 

I did not think about counting carnassial notches... I just did quick a search, and I would have to agree with you about it being dog.

 

While it may not be cat, it is still way cooler than oreo! 

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

[ParkerPaleo]

Maybe this is helpful?

 

 

Published here for full article:  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.160518

[fossilhunter21]

Thank you for that, Parker.  I think it is pretty helpful.

 

So could it be Hespercyon gregarius? I can't tell if it matches the size, but they sure look very similar.

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

Edited January 18, 2023 by fossilhunter21

[jpc]

the photo PaleoParker showed is the same one I found online.  Daphaenus is considerably bigger than Hesperocyon.  It looks like a good match but I would look into the size of these things and of your tooth.

[fossilhunter21]

Thanks for your reply, JP! 

 

I will definitely do dome more research, however for now I think I will just label it as canid. Right now we are in the middle of moving to, Crawford, so probably won't be doing much research until then, but who knows. 

 

I almost feel like Hesperocyon is too small, however it is kind of hard to tell from just images.

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

[jpc]

when you get settled in in Crawford, go visit the library at Chadron State University.  I bet they have a copy of the series of Scott and Jepsen monographs from 1940's on the mammals of the White River. 

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C51&q=white+river+mammals+scott+and+jepsen&btnG=

 

[fossilhunter21]

Hi, JP!

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

If I can't find some other resource, then I will definitely try to find that series. I am guessing it contains quite a bit of information?

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

[jpc]

They are big books... very useful, lots of great illustrations.  

[ParkerPaleo]

There are other canids that are larger than Hesperocyon and similar in size to Daphoenus.  Most common (but still very rare) would probably be Mesocyon.

 

Wang did some great research on this in the early 90's.  Here's a good reference for the other canids.

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267156681_Phylogenetic_systematics_of_the_Hesperocyoninae_Carnivora_Canidae

[fossilhunter21]

Thank you for your reply, Parker! 

 

That article has a lot of information! I could not find anything that for sure matched my tooth, unfortunately. 

 

I just noticed that the tooth has some serrations, could this help with the ID? 

 

Thanks!

 

Cheers and Shalom,

 

-Micah

Edited January 22, 2023 by fossilhunter21

[ParkerPaleo]

I believe some juvenile teeth can exhibit serrations but I'm not sure which ones, Archaeotherium for sure but this doesn't appear to be an entelodont.