Paleocene Goodies

[-AnThOnY-]

Got out today for a little bit to check out a field that contains quite a bit of paleocene shark teeth. Granted 95% of them are rootless but the site has produced some nice stuff before and today was one of those days

First Otodus with absolutely complete root and tooth.

Unknown fish? tooth, 3/16" long, any ID would be awesome! Its conical with a slight curve.

and the best for last my first cow shark tooth! 1/4". Root is worn a little but I think the tooth is pretty much complete!

came home with these, 15 or so rootless Otodus and 25-30 sand tigers (~5 complete)

Edited February 24, 2012 by -AnThOnY-

[Auspex]

That Otodus (positive ID?) is absolutely gorgeous! What does it measure?

[-AnThOnY-]

Its right at 1/2" width of root. Not 100% on ID but haven't seen anything to tell me otherwise, another option for it could be Lamna cuspidata? Can't find pictures of it, but from the list I found of Paleocene items from this formation it is of the most abundance. The list is here http://www.geology.s...rd/Copeetal.pdf

and here are some of the rootless teeth I found at the same site (disregard squalicorax teeth)

Edited February 24, 2012 by -AnThOnY-

[paleozoicfish]

Got out today for a little bit to check out a field that contains quite a bit of paleocene shark teeth. Granted 95% of them are rootless but the site has produced some nice stuff before and today was one of those days

First Otodus with absolutely complete root and tooth.

Unknown fish? tooth, 3/16" long, any ID would be awesome! Its conical with a slight curve.

and the best for last my first cow shark tooth! 1/4". Root is worn a little but I think the tooth is pretty much complete!

came home with these, 15 or so rootless Otodus and 25-30 sand tigers (~5 complete)

Are the teeth translucent?

-PzF

[Al Dente]

Your Otodus tooth might be Cretalamna. I'm not positive about that. Your cow shark tooth is very interesting. I think it might be Heptranchias but from my understanding, the earliest Heptranchias is Eocene.

[-AnThOnY-]

They may be slightly translucent but not much if they are.

I see Notidanodon loozi is a paleocene cow shark but the ones I found are from Morocco so.

[Vordigern]

that is the most beautiful Otodus Ive ever seen :bow:

[Hieronymus]

Your Otodus tooth might be Cretalamna. I'm not positive about that. Your cow shark tooth is very interesting. I think it might be Heptranchias but from my understanding, the earliest Heptranchias is Eocene.

I agree with the fact that this would be a Cretalamna. Otodus has that bourlette, which is not visible here. Furthermore, Otodus has a thicker root and in this early lateral position, their crowns are never as narrow or flat. The sidecusps kinda 'screem' Cretalamna as well, in my opinion. Cretalamna is definately known from Paleocene deposits, even Eocene.

[RickNC]

Very nice!

[Indiana]

The color of those is gorgeous.

[-AnThOnY-]

Thanks everyone.

Good to know thats what it is then, can correlate to the one in my avatar. The rest of the broken ones in my second post are otodus though right?

[siteseer]

Yes, I think it is a Cretalamna as well. I understand your interest in the cow shark - the uneven gradation of the cusps. I don't think the technical article is done but Heptranchias has been unofficially reported from the Late Cretaceous Northumberland Formation of Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada.

I think those broken cusps are too incomplete to say they belong to Otodus.

Your Otodus tooth might be Cretalamna. I'm not positive about that. Your cow shark tooth is very interesting. I think it might be Heptranchias but from my understanding, the earliest Heptranchias is Eocene.

[-AnThOnY-]

Its my understanding that cow shark teeth are pretty rare from the Paleocene, is this correct? Will the late cretaceous cow shark correspond to early paleocene in species or just genus?

[sixgill pete]

I agree with Cretalamna as well, and it is beautiful. Congratulations!!