They went through the window screen (STH)

[ynot]

5 hours ago, Al Dente said:

I think this tooth is from a skate, probably Raja. Your jelly bean looks like a typical phosphate pellet and the tooth posted right after your jelly bean is a breeding male Rhinobatos tooth.

Thanks Eric!

 

2 hours ago, MarcoSr said:

The above tooth looks like Raja and the one unknown ray tooth looks like a male Rhinobatos. 

Thanks Marco!

 

I appreciate all Your help!

[Mediospirifer]

Here's a trick I've found for photographing the really small micros. You will need a toothpick (or several), a needle, a spring-types clothespin (or several, one for each toothpick), and Elmers (or other water-based) glue.

 

Dilute a small amount of glue with water (1:1 works for me). Then look at the specimen(s) and decide which axis you want to rotate the view around. Pick a side that's in line with that axis, and use a drop of glue mix to attach the specimen to the toothpick. Using the needle,  while the glue is wet, adjust the position of the specimen until the desired axis of rotation is aligned with the toothpick. Let the glue dry, then use the clothespin to hold the toothpick for photographing. This can be done by simply laying the clothespin on its side under (or in front of) the camera. Rotate by increments of 90^o by turning the toothpick to a different side. To remove the fossil from the toothpick, immerse the fossil in water until it falls off. I've mostly done this with conodonts and scolecodonts, and found that laying the toothpick on its side with the specimen end in a drop of water is sufficient.

 

I typically will mount 6 specimens on toothpicks at a time, as the glue-drying process takes a few minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have any images posted to the Forum yet to link, and I'm using a different computer so I don't have access to the pix I've already taken! I'll have to revisit that project sometime soon.

 

 

[ynot]

5 hours ago, Mediospirifer said:

Here's a trick I've found for photographing the really small micros.

Thanks for the tip.

[Mediospirifer]

3 hours ago, ynot said:

Thanks for the tip.

 

You're welcome!

 

Here are a set of photos (somewhat blurry, I need to redo these with image stacking) of a conodont on a toothpick. The flat brown object in the photos is the tip of the toothpick. The conodont fragment is about 2mm long.

 

 

[ynot]

Ray and skate teeth... 

There was a fair number of Dasyatis spp - Stingray in the matrix...

[ynot]

 

 

The male breeding tooth of Dasyatis spp - Stingray are also present...

[ynot]

Some Gymnura sp - Butterfly Rays teeth...

[ynot]

Raja sp - Skate teeth...

[ynot]

"Rhinobatos" sp - Guitarfish teeth.

 

And some Mustelus sp - Smooth-hound shark.

[ynot]

 

 

And some I am unsure of identity (like most of the previous IDs).

 

I think these are Mobula sp.

[ynot]

[ynot]

[Bobby Rico]

Thank you for sharing this is a really interesting thread and very nice photos .

[ynot]

29 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

Thank you for sharing this is a really interesting thread and very nice photos .

Thanks, I appreciate the kudo's.

[ynot]

A few fish fin spines...

 

 

Got more stuff but need to take some pictures before I can continue.

Thanks for looking,

Tony

[siteseer]

On March 27, 2018 at 6:08 PM, ynot said:

Oh well, fish it is.

 

 

Hi Tony,

 

Yeah, that's not a sawshark.  The weird thing is you get a bunch of sawshark rostrals (usually just the spine) in the Jewett Sand, Pyramid Hill Sand Member which is in the same area but about 6-7 million years older.

 

When all that stuff stated coming out of Chile in the 90's, you could get a few of the smaller specimens like what Marco Sr. was illustrating.

 

Jess

 

Edit:  The other difference between the Pyramid Hill Sand and the STH bone bed is that the PHS represents deeper water so you would expect more sawshark.  I don't think sawsharks enter bays with any frequency.  Oxynotus, a deepwater squaliform, has been documented from there (Welton, 1981) and Isistius has been informally reported from there.

 

Welton, B.J.  1981
A new species of Oxynotus Rafinesque 1810 (Chondrichthyes: Squalidae) from the Early Miocene (Saucesian) Jewett Sand, Kern County, California, U.S.A.  Tertiary Research, 3 (3): 141–152, 1 pl. 5 fig. 1 tbl.

 

[siteseer]

On April 4, 2018 at 2:53 PM, MarcoSr said:

 

Tony

 

Great specimens and great pictures.  The teeth shown above are from the symphysis area of the jaw.

 

Marco Sr.

 

Hi Marco Sr.

 

Yeah, that's a rare position to find.  I think I have just one or two of those.

 

I still have a pile of matrix to go through - my own and some from a friend.  Years ago, I helped him collect and then wash matrix down to a concentrate.  He then sifted it down to different particle sizes and gave me samples to thank me for helping him.  He used to take that stuff with him when he did talks at schools.  The kids had fun looking at it all under the microscope.  Bob Ernst gave him an open invitation to collect because he was doing that.

 

Jess

 

Edit:  After looking through my collection, I found a parasymphyseal which is similar but is higher than it is wide.

 

[siteseer]

On April 5, 2018 at 2:21 AM, Al Dente said:

I think this tooth is from a skate, probably Raja. Your jelly bean looks like a typical phosphate pellet and the tooth posted right after your jelly bean is a breeding male Rhinobatos tooth.

 

 

Al Dente,

 

I agree.  In my experience Raja is uncommon even when you screen for the appropriate size, and when you do find what appears to be one, the root is usually gone or damaged.

 

Jess

[ynot]

1 hour ago, siteseer said:

Yeah, that not a sawshark. 

 

Yeah, that's a rare position to find.  I think I have just one or two of those.

 

I agree.  In my experience Raja is uncommon even when you screen for the appropriate size,

Thanks for the conformations and other comments.

 

 

@siteseer, @MarcoSr, @Al Dente

Just got pictures of this new find. What do You think of it?

 

 

More shots next post....

[ynot]

 

My guess is - Mobula loupianensis CAPPETTA, 1970 -- extinct devil ray, but I would like Y'alls opinion on this.

 

Thanks,

Tony

[MarcoSr]

3 hours ago, ynot said:

 

My guess is - Mobula loupianensis CAPPETTA, 1970 -- extinct devil ray, but I would like Y'alls opinion on this.

 

Thanks,

Tony

 

Tony

 

I think Mobula also.  If you had only posted the first picture of the six I might have thought maybe Gymnura as a possibility.  But the other pictures look like Mobula.  Pictures from certain angles can sometimes be very deceiving.

 

Marco Sr.

 

 

[ynot]

3 minutes ago, MarcoSr said:

 

Tony

 

I think Mobula also.  If you had only posted the first picture of the six I might have thought maybe Gymnura as a possibility.  But the other pictures look like Mobula.  Pictures from certain angles can sometimes be very deceiving.

 

Marco Sr.

 

 

Thanks again kind sir! 

Yea, sometimes it takes several views to be sure what You see, photography can be very deceptive.

 

[ynot]

Here are a couple more shark teeth...

Labial and lingual views.

Galeorhinus sp - Tope shark.

 

And a Triakis sp - Houndshark. 

[ynot]

A couple of fish(?) teeth.

Notice the distinct cutting edge, it is present on both sides of both teeth.

[ynot]

And a few more osteoderms...

top and side view....

And the 76th one found.