Purse State Park Microfossils.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, my friends, and a jolly warm welcome to one and all.

Many moons ago, my friend, the exceedingly kind and generous Brett @Elmo sent me nearly 6 lbs of micromatrix from the Purse State Park in Maryland, USA.

The tiny fossils found in this gravel are from the Piscataway Member of the Aquia Formation which is Late Palaeocene in age and about 60 million years old, give or take. 

I have been trying to sort through a little every day and am about two-thirds of the way through and have found lots and lots of goodies.

Now, this is well out of my comfort zone as there is not a brachiopod to be seen, but lots of teethies from sharks, rays, skates, and bony fish.

I have no idea what I am doing at all, and so Brett, who is also seeking some IDs, and I decided it might be useful and fun to start a thread to show off our finds, hopefully get some help with identification, encourage others to post their own finds and have a fun time, really.

I don't have any Palaeocene material at all, except a couple of larger sharks' teeth from this location. 

 

So, please feel free to comment, just watch and enjoy or tell me off for my obviously stupid attempts at ID.

 

I'll start this off with a really beautiful tooth that I think might be Delpitoscyllium africanum. 

On second thoughts, perhaps Ginglymostoma cf. subafricanum is a better fit? Because of the multiple side cusps.

 

Edited April 25 by Tidgy's Dad

[Denis Arcand]

Thanks for posting, I love microfossils, they are often overlooked 

[ClearLake]

Thanks Adam, this is great!  This is one of the sites that I still need to get to, especially to collect some matrix for searching, so I look forward to seeing what you two have found.  You are starting off with a very nice one!

[Bobby Rico]

You get a lot of fun from a big bag of micro matrix.  Very generous gift. Cheers Bobby 

[JamieLynn]

@ClearLake  ooohhh...if you get some micro matrix...can you pick up some for me?  @Tidgy's Dad great stuff! I"ve never seen this micro matrix before! I can't wait to see what you find! 

[jpc]

Adam... your 'stupid attempts' at IDing these are much smarter than many of ours' 

Beautiful little tooth.  

[Elmo]

Hello everyone! I’m ecstatic to have a friend like Adam. He’s an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guy. Unfortunately for him, I’m not a very knowledgeable guy myself. I’m just a hobbyist that started collecting 3 years ago and haven’t had a lot of time to learn the proper resources for identifying my finds, but I do try when I can. In a nutshell, this means that them Latin names are way out of my league, so expect identities like a fish named Bob. 
Now it’s time for me to share one, everyone, meet Bob. My best guess is that Bob was a fish! I’d like to take a moment to say thank you to Adam for treating me equally even though our knowledge in fossils is light years apart! 
Everyone have some fun and let’s see how many pics we can get here. 
 

Brett

[ClearLake]

4 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

ooohhh...if you get some micro matrix...can you pick up some for me

No specific trip planned, but I'll keep you in mind when I do go.  

[FossilNerd]

Unfortunately I can’t help with the IDs.
Like you Adam, these are well out of my comfort zone.

Still, I think I’ll hang around and enjoy the show.  

[Tidgy's Dad]

9 hours ago, Denis Arcand said:

Thanks for posting, I love microfossils, they are often overlooked 

Ha de ha! Yeah, funny that.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

9 hours ago, ClearLake said:

Thanks Adam, this is great!  This is one of the sites that I still need to get to, especially to collect some matrix for searching, so I look forward to seeing what you two have found.  You are starting off with a very nice one!

Thanks, Mike. If you do get around to getting some of this marvelous matrix, it would be nice if you posted some of your finds here.

Yeah, I started off with a particularly nice one that was perhaps a bit easier to identify.

A lot of them are just like this one:

Nice enough but not too thrilling

Maybe one of several genera.

@Anomotodon, hello,old chap, could this be Anomotodon novus, a goblin shark?

8 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

You get a lot of fun from a big bag of micro matrix.  Very generous gift. Cheers Bobby 

Thanks, mate, nice that you found the thread.

And, yes, enormously generous and a lot of fun!.

7 hours ago, JamieLynn said:

@Tidgy's Dad great stuff! I"ve never seen this micro matrix before! I can't wait to see what you find! 

Thanks, Jamie, lots more weird and wonderful stuff to come, it's very productive matrix, you'd love it.

And I'm sure your super photography skills would do the specimens far more justice than my shoddy snaps.

5 hours ago, jpc said:

Adam... your 'stupid attempts' at IDing these are much smarter than many of ours' 

Beautiful little tooth.  

Very kind of you to say so.

But I'm mostly relying on elasmo.com for the ids and it's making my head spin. I have no idea what I am doing, really.

As usual.

2 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Like you Adam, these are well out of my comfort zone.

Still, I think I’ll hang around and enjoy the show.  

Thanks, Waynesville Formation, I expect somebody will be along who knows the material sooner or later. in the meantime I shall have to read a bit more

[Tidgy's Dad]

20 hours ago, Elmo said:

Hello everyone! I’m ecstatic to have a friend like Adam. He’s an extremely knowledgeable and friendly guy. Unfortunately for him, I’m not a very knowledgeable guy myself. I’m just a hobbyist that started collecting 3 years ago and haven’t had a lot of time to learn the proper resources for identifying my finds, but I do try when I can. In a nutshell, this means that them Latin names are way out of my league, so expect identities like a fish named Bob. 
Now it’s time for me to share one, everyone, meet Bob. My best guess is that Bob was a fish!

I’d like to take a moment to say thank you to Adam for treating me equally even though our knowledge in fossils is light years apart!

You flatter me, my friend.

I know little if anything about this material, so I hope we can go on this journey of discovery together.

I think you might have been right that Bob is a tooth from somewhere in the mouth of Delpitoscyllium africanum.

It really is an interesting tooth.

 

During today's little matrix seach I found my first fish vertebra!

Doubt it is possible to say which fishy though.

Edited April 26 by Tidgy's Dad

[Elmo]

I cleaned my only micro vertebra last night with the ultrasonic cleaner and here is the only surviving piece. I’m guessing the little guy was just to fragile to handle the experience. Live and learn, I won’t be destroying any more of them. 
 

 

[Denis Arcand]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

During today's little matrix seach I found my first fish vertebra!

So this is what fossilized fish vertebrae look like, I'm not sure I'll be able to find one in my hunting hole, but you never know 

 

Nice pictures! 

Edited April 26 by Denis Arcand

[Anomotodon]

On 4/25/2024 at 9:58 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

Nice enough but not too thrilling

Maybe one of several genera.

@Anomotodon, hello,old chap, could this be Anomotodon novus, a goblin shark?

Thanks, mate, nice that you found the thread.

 

Cool shark teeth!! Unfortunately I don't think it's possible to tell which shark this tooth came from without seeing the root - it could be a mitsukurinid (goblin) like me, but could also be one of the many odontaspidid species (sand tigers).

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 4/26/2024 at 8:20 PM, Elmo said:

I cleaned my only micro vertebra last night with the ultrasonic cleaner and here is the only surviving piece.

We live and learn.

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Anomotodon said:

Unfortunately I don't think it's possible to tell which shark this tooth came from without seeing the root - it could be a mitsukurinid (goblin) like me, but could also be one of the many odontaspidid species (sand tigers).

Yes, I thought as much.

Thank you very much for responding though.

What would you say is the most common species of odontaspid in the micromatrix from here?

And any idea about this one?

[Elmo]

Here’s a cute little one named Marcus. I’m not seeing any matches on elasmo.com. I’m not seeing any damage to the root, everything seem to be there. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

2 hours ago, Elmo said:

Here’s a cute little one.

It sort of has enamel shoulders rather than side cusps, so maybe an Anomotodon novus lateral?

Nice tooth.

[Elmo]

Here’s a lovely little fish tooth named Lucy. 

[bthemoose]

17 hours ago, Elmo said:

Here’s a cute little one named Marcus. I’m not seeing any matches on elasmo.com. I’m not seeing any damage to the root, everything seem to be there. 

The root on this one is definitely worn down. I wouldn’t personally hazard a guess at what it is.

[bthemoose]

On 4/25/2024 at 10:58 PM, Tidgy's Dad said:

A lot of them are just like this one:

Nice enough but not too thrilling

Maybe one of several genera.

 

Based on the lateral compression/narrowness of this one, I would guess at it being a parasymphyseal tooth from a sand tiger. Playing the odds, Striatolamia striata is by far the most common sand tiger (or shark of any type for that matter) from the Aquia formation, but I doubt there's enough here to definitively ID it as such.

 

18 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Yes, I thought as much.

Thank you very much for responding though.

What would you say is the most common species of odontaspid in the micromatrix from here?

And any idea about this one?

 

For this one, I get intermediate tooth position vibes.

 

I posted an artificial/constructed tooth set that I put together from Striatolamia striata teeth that I collected from the Aquia Formation. The intermediate teeth are the small ones fourth from the center in the top row while the parasymphseals are at the bottom center.

 

[Elmo]

13 minutes ago, bthemoose said:

 

Based on the lateral compression/narrowness of this one, I would guess at it being a parasymphyseal tooth from a sand tiger. Playing the odds, Striatolamia striata is by far the most common sand tiger (or shark of any type for that matter) from the Aquia formation, but I doubt there's enough here to definitively ID it as such.

 

 

For this one, I get intermediate tooth position vibes.

 

I posted an artificial/constructed tooth set that I put together from Striatolamia striata teeth that I collected from the Aquia Formation. The intermediate teeth are the small ones fourth from the center in the top row while the parasymphseals are at the bottom center.

 

 Very impressive! It’ll be useful in some of the identification that is to be done. If you ever see any teeth in any of my posts that’ll help you finish a set like that just let me know and I’d be more than happy to give it to you. 

[Anomotodon]

18 hours ago, Elmo said:

Here’s a cute little one named Marcus. 

 

I agree with what @bthemoose said, just wanted to add that the root on this tooth is not necessarily worn - it may be one of the replacement teeth deeper in the tooth file, since the root typically develops after the crown.

 

 

1 hour ago, bthemoose said:

For this one, I get intermediate tooth position vibes.

 

Striatolamia intermediate tooth is an interesting option. I am not very familiar with S. striata, but I think in most odontaspidids intermediate teeth have asymmetrical and strongly labio-lingually compressed roots. Here is Carcharias taurus and S. macrota comparison from Cunningham, 2000. 

 

 

And here are three S. macrota intermediates I found in the Eocene of Kyiv

 

 

For the tooth in question, I would guess a lower posterior from a different odontaspidid, perhaps a species of Carcharias or Sylvestrilamia. Systematics of Paleogene sand tigers is a mess and I haven't really kept up with the literature, so Odontaspididae indet. would probably be most accurate.

 

[old bones]

This site of Marcos Sr. and sons may be of help. 

http://phatfossils.com/Aquia Formation Paleocene of Maryland and Virginia.php

[Tidgy's Dad]

10 hours ago, bthemoose said:

 

Based on the lateral compression/narrowness of this one, I would guess at it being a parasymphyseal tooth from a sand tiger. Playing the odds, Striatolamia striata is by far the most common sand tiger (or shark of any type for that matter) from the Aquia formation, but I doubt there's enough here to definitively ID it as such.

I posted an artificial/constructed tooth set that I put together from Striatolamia striata teeth that I collected from the Aquia Formation. The intermediate teeth are the small ones fourth from the center in the top row while the parasymphseals are at the bottom center.

 

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.

So the striations on Striatolamia  wear off fairly easily?

I liked your thread with the artificial tooth set.