Fossil Goal Achieved! Plesiosaur Tooth! Ash Grove Quarry Field Trip

[JamieLynn]

Well, you have probably already seen a few posts about the Dallas Paleontological Society's field trip to Ash Grove Quarry in Midlothian Texas. And Here's ANOTHER ONE! As it turns out, quite a few of us went on the same field trip but DIDN'T REALIZE WE WERE ALL ON THE SAME FIELD TRIP. That's what happens when you are mostly online friends and havn't actually met in real life! That and there were 50 people on the field trip....but it's a big quarry!  Sorry I missed connecting in real life with @EPIKLULSXDDDDD, @PaleoPastels and @ClearLake!

 

This actually was my first field trip with DPS and first time to this quarry so I wasn't very sure how things would play out, but we had a beautiful mostly cloudy day with a very nice breeze. As many of you know...quarrys in Texas can be brutal. We've been having surprisingly rainy and coolish weather, so it truly was a great day for hunting. Nice big rain the night before but not super muddy. 

Driving into the Quarry:

I told you, there were a BUNCH of us

 

The guy leading the trip, Francisco was really nice, made sure we were all geared up in our very very fashionable vests.  He led us down to the bottom of the quarry where they had just placed a big pile of the strata we were looking for, so we didn't have to wander very far to find the right geology. Roger Farish, the DPS trip leader showed us what we were looking for...greyish rocks with lots of phosphate nodules. Most of the fossils are phosphatized, so the black was somewhat easy to see against the dryer grey, but in areas where it was still wet....that black was a bit tricky to see against the background. 

 

My first nice find was a good size Scapanorhynchus (goblin shark) about 3/4 inch long. 

 

And then a bit later in some of the pools of water, a lovely vertebra, also 3/4 inchish

 

And there were some very nice big spiders. Don't worry. They were friendly.

 

But.....what made my day, my month, my year was the next find. I found a Plesiosaur tooth.  Yep.  It was just sitting all nice and pretty on top of a small bank of mud and rocks off to the side, just sitting there waiting for me. It's kinda scrappy, but I don't care. I love it. I literally was shaking when I took it over to Roger F for confirmation it was indeed what I thought it was. 

 

So thank you Mother Nature! 

Here's some cleaned up and better pictures. It is one inch long

 

So after that, I was just happy to wander around, maybe find something else...kind of wanting a Ptychodus tooth but content if I didn't find one and lo and behold....I see a tiny edge sticking out of a big chunk of rock and thought that sure looks like a ptychodus. I chipped it out and yep, a nice, if slightly broken, Ptychodus atcoenses. Not quite as nice as the one @ClearLake found, but I'm pleased with it. 

 

 

So a 3 1/2 hour drive up, a few hours of hunting and then drive back home again turned out to be totally worth it and an epic day for me. I found a plesiosaur tooth!!!!

 

[Fin Lover]

Congratulations!  Nice finds!

[FossilNerd]

43 minutes ago, JamieLynn said:

I found a plesiosaur tooth!!!!

Epic find! Congratulations ! 
 

Your other finds ain’t so bad either. 

 

 

[JohnJ]

Congratulations, Jamie!

[Tidgy's Dad]

[Ludwigia]

[Bobby Rico]

Congratulations 

[ClearLake]

Very nice!  I heard a rumbling during the trip that a Plesiosaur had been found, now I know it for sure.  Way to go!

[Family Fun]

Way to go!

[JamieLynn]

19 minutes ago, ClearLake said:

Very nice!  I heard a rumbling during the trip that a Plesiosaur had been found, now I know it for sure.  Way to go!

heheheh...yep  Thank you!

[old bones]

Congratulations on your plesiosaur tooth find, JamieLynn! That must have felt great!

[Mikrogeophagus]

Awesome finds! You had a great hunt!

 

Not trying to argue with the ID on the plesiosaur, but if I had found it I totally would've thought it was Xiphactinus. How exactly do people tell the two apart?

[Mark Kmiecik]

Congratulations! Next challenge -- Mazon Creek Tullymonster. That should keep you hunting for a few years/decades. It'll keep ya busy. 

[JamieLynn]

@EPIKLULSXDDDDD  from my understanding, xiphactinus teeth have a "football" shaped cross section...having slightly tapered edge carina while  plesiosaur are rounded with out that edge.  But I am not an expert on this. Perhaps it is.....

[fifbrindacier]

Congratulations Jamie

[Fin Lover]

12 minutes ago, Coco said:

Hi,

 

Your 6 first pics don't work !

 

Cpcp

I can see all of the pictures 

[Al Dente]

11 hours ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

Not trying to argue with the ID on the plesiosaur, but if I had found it I totally would've thought it was Xiphactinus. How exactly do people tell the two apart?

 

9 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

from my understanding, xiphactinus teeth have a "football" shaped cross section...having slightly tapered edge carina while  plesiosaur are rounded with out that edge. 

 

Xiphactinus vetus teeth are football shaped in cross section (have carinae). Xiphactinus audax teeth are round in cross section. X. vetus is an eastern species while X. audax occur more to the west, including Texas.

[JamieLynn]

So @Al Dente as much as I don't want to hear that what I think is plesiosaur might be actually be xiphactinus..... what is your opinion on this tooth then. Fish or exciting find? 

[frankh8147]

7 minutes ago, JamieLynn said:

So @Al Dente as much as I don't want to hear that what I think is plesiosaur might be actually be xiphactinus..... what is your opinion on this tooth then. Fish or exciting find? 

Does it have cutting edges? If not, it's Plesiosaur.

[JamieLynn]

@Coco  Let me know if you can now see the pictures. I had originally just copied and pasted the pics but now I have uploaded them. I hope that works. 

[JamieLynn]

Just now, frankh8147 said:

Does it have cutting edges? If not, it's Plesiosaur.

no, no cutting edge. Just fully round.  So if so...YAY!!!!!!!!!!

[Al Dente]

56 minutes ago, frankh8147 said:

Does it have cutting edges? If not, it's Plesiosaur.

 

Or Xiphactinus audax which also lacks cutting edges.

 

 

[Al Dente]

1 hour ago, JamieLynn said:

what is your opinion on this tooth then. Fish or exciting find?

 

I don't have any experience with Texas plesiosaur teeth. I'm used to seeing some type of striations on plesiosaur teeth. Xiphactinus teeth are usually smooth and glossy. Maybe @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon can take a look and give his opinion.

[frankh8147]

1 hour ago, Al Dente said:

 

Or Xiphactinus audax which also lacks cutting edges.

 

 

 

Really? Well I just learned something new! 

 

Agreed that most Plesiosaurs have striations but not all. Here is a two-inch Plesiosaur I found in New Jersey which is actually pretty smooth (but does still show striations).

 

That said, my confidence in my 'Plesiosaur' ID on the specimen in question has definitely taken a hit... I think I'm starting to agree with Xiphactinus. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by frankh8147

[frankh8147]

And by the way, even if it's Xiphactinus, it's still a great find! Xiphactinus was one of the fiercest fish of all time!