Antilocaprid Tooth?

[worthy 55]

I was showing Cris some of my fossils and he seams to think this maybe an antilocaprid tooth what SP. unknown? I thought it was a deer tooth. I found it in the Santa Fe river in North Fla.

[PrehistoricFlorida]

Compare to goat.

[Harry Pristis]

Nate makes a good point - these antelope teeth are disconcertingly-similar to goat teeth.

If you're finding no other Blancan age fossils with the tooth, you'll have to consider goat as an ID. On the other hand, if you're finding say Holmesina floridana along with this tooth, you may consider Capromeryx.

Though I have found (one time) goat teeth in the Santa Fe, the probability is higher, I think, that this is an antelope tooth. You may have to compare it, as Nate suggests, to teeth in a comparative collection.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Harry Pristis

[Cris]

Here is an antelope tooth from the same river.

Capromeryx, what I believe Red's tooth to be.

The tooth didn't appear to be modern to me while I held it. Also, if you think about it, antilocaprids were existing in North America for millions and millions of years, all the way from the Miocene to early Pleistocene. Goats, latest Holocene maybe 4 or 500 years tops. That means antelopes were alive somewhere along the lines of 5000x longer than goats have been here. Statistically speaking, way, way more antelope material should be in the bottoms of the rivers here.

LINK 1 LINK 2 - Age Variation

These links show antelope teeth and variation in them because of age. This animal isn't the same animal that lived in North America, so there is going to be some minor differences in the teeth.

EDIT: Harry beat me to it.. I need to compose my replies faster

[worthy 55]

Thanks guys for the information. B)

[siteseer]

Harry,

Aren't antelope teeth rather rare at any of their known sites? From what I've seen out of the Bone Valley phosphate mines, they are not common finds. I have an antelope(now called Capromeryx) tooth from the Maricopa tar pits (Rancholabrean age - Late Pleistocene). I should confirm that it isn't a goat - didn't think of that but it was found among other extinct mammals with no modern contaminants).

Nate makes a good point - these antelope teeth are disconcertingly-similar to goat teeth.

If you're finding no other Blancan age fossils with the tooth, you'll have to consider goat as an ID. On the other hand, if you're finding say Holmesina floridana along with this tooth, you may consider Capromeryx.

Though I have found (one time) goat teeth in the Santa Fe, the probability is higher, I think, that this is an antelope tooth. You may have to compare it, as Nate suggests, to teeth in a comparative collection.

[tracer]

well, there are a couple of teeth in this link with dimensions shown at the bottom of the page for them. anecdotal size comparisons of just a couple of specimens may not be diagnostic, but then again, it's another "clue" to work with... link