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Mississippi Cretaceous Ids


TNCollector

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I made a trip yesterday to two of my favorite Cretaceous spots in the Mississippi Embayment. Found lots of great stuff, I plan on making a trip report soon, but two I am definitely curious about.

The first is photo 1, I believe it to be an extremely beat up Hadrosaur tooth fragment based off of the center ridge with smooth edges. Take a look and let me know what you think!

Prentiss County, Mississippi

Late Cretaceous Coffee Sands ~72mya

Measures about 3/8"

The second two items are similar, with one having better preservation. They were found in a spot where I normally go to find crab parts (which I did), but they certainly don't look like any crab parts I have seen. My guess is croc scutes of some sort? Any ideas? Third photo shows the back side of the "scute" on the right.

McNairy County, Tennessee

Late Cretaceous Coon Creek member of the Ripley Formation

Measures about an inch each.

EDIT: Forgot to add third photo...

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Edited by TNCollector
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Interesting finds. Can you take a straight in shot of the "hadro tooth" enamel and back. The oblique angles don't give a good view of those surfaces. Not sure what to say about the other finds, hopefully someone will have an answer.

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Sure, ignore the fact that I took these pictures on toilet paper...

The enamel is definitely still there.

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There are several species found in the Ripley.

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen

No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go.

" I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes

"can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks

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There are several species found in the Ripley.

Are you referring to the "croc scutes"?

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Great background for contrast. I can see the enamel and agree sure looks like hadro. Good find despite being a fragment.

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"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"_ Carl Sagen

No trees were killed in this posting......however, many innocent electrons were diverted from where they originally intended to go.

" I think, therefore I collect fossils." _ Me

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."__S. Holmes

"can't we all just get along?" Jack Nicholson from Mars Attacks

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Great background for contrast. I can see the enamel and agree sure looks like hadro. Good find despite being a fragment.

Yes I found the contrast to be perfect. Thanks for the ID! This is my first Eastern USA dino tooth, so i am really excited about it.

Thanks Herb, I am going to read through this and see what I can find. I was only at this site for about 30 minutes, so this might be an interesting find if it turns out to be croc, because as far as I know, Coon Creek is not very vertebrate heavy.

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Nice little hardosaur tooth. The others are ceretainly not croc scutes. I see the negative impressions of small Cretaceous crabs. I can't think of the genus now, maybe Necrocarcinus. MB?

edit: Nope, not Necrocarcinus, but Dromiopsis.

Edited by jpc
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Internal molds of crabs carapace -for the second two

" We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way. "

Thomas Mann

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@jpc, abyssunder That makes sense, this would be a first for internal crab carapace mold for me. I will have to do some research on Dromiopsis. Is that a known species from Coon Creek?

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I'm thinking Tetracarcinus, not Dromiopsis. I don't think Dromiopsis has ever been found in the Coon Creek Formation.

Don

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The first appears to be most definitely a partial Hadrosaur tooth. The second image is of disarticulate crab abdomens - most likely Dakoticancridae. Your view is showing the inside portion of the cast. We've collected lots of these from the Coon Creek deposits. The last image is an external cast of a crab carapace - again most likely Dakoticancridae. It would be tough for me to go further into species identification without having it in hand.

- ROD

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Thanks for all the help guys. I will label them as Dakoticancridae for now, as after reading up on it, it seems like the most likely candidate for this fossil.

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  • 5 months later...

TNCollector, that tooth sure looks duckbillish to me too. Congratulations on a most superb find!

--- Joshua

tennesseespride@gmail.com

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