Fullux Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 (edited) Howdy all, Just bought this mosasaur tooth from the Pee Dee Formation of North Carolina. Seller has IDed it as Prognathodon and I'm wondering if that is valid or if it could be something like Tylosaurus (I looked at tylosaurus teeth from that area and the patterns in the enamel seem to match). Either way I'm overjoyed to finally have a mosasaur tooth from that region of Appalachia's ancient coast. Edited April 7 by Fullux 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 @Praefectus @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoNoel Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 I generally associate Prognathodon with a robust tooth, but I know there are a multitude of species. The folks I tagged above are quite knowledgeable and I'd imagine they can help shed some light on your tooth. In the meantime, this tooth from the Moroccan Ouled Abdoun Phosphates was labeled as P. currii in Fig. 3 of Bardet et al. (2005) and has some similar rugosity. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27711032_Durophagous_Mosasauridae_Squamata_from_the_Upper_Cretaceous_phosphates_of_Morocco_with_the_description_of_a_new_species_of_Globidens 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 It's always a bit trickier to identify a partial tooth, especially one that seems to be lacking carinae - which are always useful points of reference. However, it does appear that there's some anastomosis going on towards the tooth apex, the enamel is very tick and there are no indications to assume anything but an equal uncompressed cross-section. As such, Prognathodon sp. would indeed be the correct identification for this specimen. 1 1 1 'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Prognathodontin indet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullux Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 On 4/8/2024 at 6:12 AM, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said: It's always a bit trickier to identify a partial tooth, especially one that seems to be lacking carinae - which are always useful points of reference. However, it does appear that there's some anastomosis going on towards the tooth apex, the enamel is very tick and there are no indications to assume anything but an equal uncompressed cross-section. As such, Prognathodon sp. would indeed be the correct identification for this specimen. It finally arrived. It's oddly dense, much denser than some of the other mosasaur teeth I own. The enamel looks like what I've seen in the enamel of other bone/shell crushing predators such as alligatorids. Definitely seems like a prognathodon to me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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