Unidentified Early Creataceous (Wealden) archosaur jaw bone with tooth

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

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

Edited August 3, 2023 by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

[caterpillar]

No croc for me

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

4 hours ago, caterpillar said:

No croc for me

 

No, the vendor and I didn't think so either...

 

Could you quantify why it doesn't look like crocodile to you? Which particular characteristics make you think it's something else?

[caterpillar]

As you point out, the attachment of the tooth and also the shape of the tooth, less conical, the absence of a longitudinal hull.

[Praefectus]

Hmm. Can't say I know enough about Agialosaurus to identify it. Looks like an interesting piece, though.