Pathologic Whale tooth ID

[ynot]

Hey-hi Y'All,

I found this Whale tooth when last I visited the Ernst quarries. (Sharktooth hill)

Can Anyone give a species name for it?

It is 2.25 inches long and has a cutting edge on both sides of the crown.

(There is also an interesting pathology where the root was broken and healed with a slight displacement.)

Thanks for Your opinions!

Tony

Edited April 29, 2016 by ynot

[Darktooth]

That's a really nice specimen! Love the fact it is sitting on matrix.

[Boesse]

Hi Tony,

This tooth is actually not pathologic, quite a lot of these teeth are collected from STH and have that really inflated root. The identity of these teeth are not yet known - but they are distinctive and large, and are perhaps one of the exceptions to my caveat on identifying isolated odontocete teeth. My suspicion is that these belong to a giant kentriodontid dolphin similar to Hadrodelphis calvertensis from Maryland that as of yet is only known from unpublished earbones.

These teeth are commonly misidentified as "Prosqualodon" - though 1) they actually bear no resemblance to actual specimens of Prosqualodon, and 2) Prosqualodon is only known from the southern hemisphere (Australia, Argentina, New Zealand).

[FossilDudeCO]

Great color and fantastic find! Congrats!

Sorry I can't help with an ID

[ynot]

That's a really nice specimen! Love the fact it is sitting on matrix.

Thanks, the root was completely hidden when I found it.

Hi Tony,

This tooth is actually not pathologic, quite a lot of these teeth are collected from STH and have that really inflated root. The identity of these teeth are not yet known - but they are distinctive and large, and are perhaps one of the exceptions to my caveat on identifying isolated odontocete teeth. My suspicion is that these belong to a giant kentriodontid dolphin similar to Hadrodelphis calvertensis from Maryland that as of yet is only known from unpublished earbones.

These teeth are commonly misidentified as "Prosqualodon" - though 1) they actually bear no resemblance to actual specimens of Prosqualodon, and 2) Prosqualodon is only known from the southern hemisphere (Australia, Argentina, New Zealand).

Thanks Bobby!! I was hopping You would see this. I have a couple of these bulbous root type of teeth that do not have the ridging that this one shows. That is what I thought of as a pathology.

Great color and fantastic find! Congrats!

Sorry I can't help with an ID

Thanks.

Tony

[fossilized6s]

Wow! Unknown large mammal tooth....ummmm....VFOTM material right there!

[ynot]

Wow! Unknown large mammal tooth....ummmm....VFOTM material right there!

Thank You, I already entered it-- be sure to vote for it, please!!

Tony

[doushantuo]

Greetings,Boesse,from a man who owns a neat litle stack of books by Pilleri .

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789591/pdf/nihms517834.pdf

nice piece from Pal cubed

http://www.uminnpaleo.com/uploads/5/3/1/3/53131357/clementz_et_al.,2014.pdf

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123909

the Miocene of Peru,familiar to those working on mammals from the Tertiary of South America:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269725465_Bianucci_G_Urbina_M_Lambert_O_-_A_new_record_of_Notocetus_vanbenedeni_Squalodelphinidae_Odontoceti_Cetacea_from_the_early_Miocene_of_Peru_Comptes_Rendus_Palevol_14

nice litlle piece on whale ecology:

http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/pdf/2006JMorph.pdf

Edited April 30, 2016 by doushantuo

[Al Dente]

The areas where your arrows point look like places where the cementum surrounding the tooth has chipped off.

[Harry Pristis]

AFAIK, teeth don't break and heal like bones.

This root form may be more common than it seems. The swollen root may give a broader anchor to a piercing tooth. Here's one from Florida:

[ynot]

The areas where your arrows point look like places where the cementum surrounding the tooth has chipped off.

AFAIK, teeth don't break and heal like bones.

This root form may be more common than it seems. The swollen root may give a broader anchor to a piercing tooth. Here's one from Florida:

whale_eurhinodelphinid.JPG

Thanks for the help on this!

Tony

[fifbrindacier]

That's a really nice specimen! Love the fact it is sitting on matrix.

So do i.

[ynot]

So do i.

Thanks!

Me too! That is why I kept some matrix on it.

Tony

[Boesse]

Not sure! Very little has been done on dental pathologies and abnormalities in marine mammals. An apically swollen root occurs in quite a few primitive members of Delphinida, including eurhinodelphinids as Harry pointed out, pontoporiids, lipotids, and some kentriodontids; also occurs in some Platanistidae.

[ynot]

The areas where your arrows point look like places where the cementum surrounding the tooth has chipped off.

Those areas are what has Me confused. The lower one is rounded on the edge and shows no separation (cross section would look like a lazy s.). While the upper area shows an overlapping structure. (Cross section would look like a 2.) There is an 1/8 inch depth on both of them and it is in opposite directions, like a fault slippage. The area (if caused by damage) has healed before fossilization.

Not sure! Very little has been done on dental pathologies and abnormalities in marine mammals. An apically swollen root occurs in quite a few primitive members of Delphinida, including eurhinodelphinids as Harry pointed out, pontoporiids, lipotids, and some kentriodontids; also occurs in some Platanistidae.

Thank You Sir!!

Tony