My Best Tooth Yet; On My Final North TX Hunt No Less! Kamp Ranch

[Mikrogeophagus]

Even after having a night to sleep on the fact, I'm still in shock. I was tempted to not even go on this trip since part of me wanted my plesiosaur tooth from last week's Woodbine adventure to be my final impression on North TX. The other part of me wanted one last crack at the Kamp Ranch and a new potential site. It's fine to return to already known locations, but I was thirsting for one more journey into unknown territory where the risk of failure is greater, but the taste of victory is sweeter.

 

After swimming/wading a ways, I found the first small outcrop of Kamp Ranch. I've had some previous experience with this layer in the past, and the knowledge I picked up from then proved useful. While most of the outcrop was relatively devoid of vertebrate material, there was a thin pasty layer cemented to the underside of the thickest limestone that proved to be rich in teeth. I pried out the odd Ptychodus tooth here and there, but pretty soon I was out of real estate. The thick limestone slab looked precarious and the rest of the pasty matrix I was after was nestled deep in the crumbly wall. Noticing the slick shale beneath my feet, I decided jumping away from an avalanche was out of the question and it was time to move on. 

 

Ptychodus from the outcrop. All P. anonymous except the top right which may be a P. marginalis(?) lateral.

 

On the walk over to the next outcrop, I made sure to scan the loose pieces of Kamp Ranch matrix scattered about. Most of them were only comprised of oyster bits and Collignoniceras woollgari impressions, but once in awhile there would be some shark. I went for a rock with a shiny black Ptychodus anonymous that had caught my eye. As I dug it out to have a closer look, I saw there was a tiny tan mosasaur situated next to it! Unfortunately it's cracked and in super hard material. If I try to bust it out, it will probably explode!

 

Ptychodus anonymous and mosasaur tooth (Russelosaurine?)

 

Just a few feet further I found an absolute heartbreaker. I could see black striations coming from the edge of a slab and my hopes shot up. As I turned the rock, I realized it was a shattered piece of a pliosaur tooth . Don't even think it's worth keeping...

 

Pliosaur tooth, likely Brachauchenius lucasi

 

I picked up my pack and headed to the last outcrop of Kamp Ranch. I was relieved to see the thick limestone was much more secure. As I examined underneath, I had my mind set on small Ptychodus teeth when I almost fell on my back from surprise. Cemented to the slab was a truly astonishing sight:

 

Pliosaur Tooth!

 

If that wasn't crazy enough, just centimeters below was a limb bone jutting out. I got out my excavating gear and carefully went to work. I don't carry b72 in the field, so each tooth fragment was extracted separately. Afterwards, the bone slid out pretty cleanly. I didn't find other similar material, so I'm not sure if the two are associated or it's just coincidence. Maybe someone familiar with reptile anatomy can say if the bone came from a pliosaur.

 

The tooth came in 6 pieces

 

Once I was home, I got straight to cleaning and gluing. The fragments had held up alright along the journey thankfully and the prep went smoothly. By the end, I was holding up the newest and greatest tooth in my collection! It is most likely Brachauchenius lucasi although Megacephalosaurus eulerti is also a rarer possibility (I don't have access to the paper distinguishing their dentition). Both of these pliosaurs represent the youngest pliosaurids in the fossil record which adds some extra coolness factor. That Woodbine plesiosaur tooth (possible basal Polycotylid) I found last week is interestingly tied evolutionarily with the demise of pliosaurs such as B. lucasi. Polycotylids had traditionally been placed in Pliosauridae until more recent findings moved them to Plesiosauroidea instead. This confusion is likely due to convergent evolution. As pliosaurs disappeared in the aftermath of the Cenomanian-Turonian Anoxic Event, it seems some Polycotylids evolved to fill a similar niche, moving away from gracile dentition (like my Woodbine specimen) and into a more robust form similar to B. lucasi. At least that is how I understand it. 

 

Brachauchenius lucasi most likely

 

The second half of the neat discoveries is this reptile bone I found several centimeters below the tooth. I'm not sure it's associated. The high energy nature of the Kamp Ranch makes me wonder if it was just coincidence. Anyways, it seems to be a limb bone. If you look closely, you can see toothy scrapes that are probably from scavenging sharks. I tried to look for signs of serrated teeth, but I didn't see anything obvious. Some of the attached matrix is vertebrate rich with tons of little fish verts and other goodies. Anyone know if this is pliosaur in origin? @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon

 

Reptile Limb Bone

 

So glad I decided to have one last exploration before my move. I guess it's not like I will never hunt in North TX again, it's just that it will be much, much more rare. I've added so many new, fun, and interesting sites to my list this past half year, I'm a bit sad to leave them all behind. At the same time, I'm itching with excitement to make new discovers in the southern half of our big state. It won't be easy though! Look forward to more trip reports in the not-so-distant future .

 

Thanks for reading

[PFOOLEY]

38 minutes ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

 

 ...

[FossilDAWG]

 

Don

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Boy! I sure can imagine how glad you must've been you decided to go out on this final trip! I can't imagine having a better week than finding two plesiosaur teeth like that - not with how rare finding even a single one is over here in Europe!

 

Great trip report! And that pliosaur tooth is just mind-boggling! To, moreover, have it matrix free like that and with partial root - crazy!!

 

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what species the tooth comes from, though, as Megacephalosaurus, like Brachauchenius, is also a brachauchenine pliosaur, and the teeth of species within this clade are notoriously impossible to separate. So the best identification for the tooth is "brachaucheninae indet.".

 

As to the limb bone: that's a strange piece... While it does appear osteosclerotic and therefore marine reptile seems a good candidate for it, it's much to small to be a plesiosaur limb bone, the wrong shape to be a phalanx. My guess is it could be a plesiosaur ilium. See my post below for more information. Pretty cool it has these shark predation marks too!

 

 

[LSCHNELLE]

My opinion on the Ptychodus is:

 

Left side - possibly P. marginalis - the crown appears fairly low and the ridges are concentric and extend beyond where P. anonymous ridges normally extend.

Left middle - classic P. anonymous

Upper right - lateral to posterior file - possibly P. decurrens or less likely P. marginalis. I think there are too many ridges for P. anonymous.

Lower right - crown appears moderate height like P. anonymous, but concentric ridges extend nearly to margin. I think this is more likely P. marginalis than P. anonymous. Side view pictures might help.

[Mikrogeophagus]

55 minutes ago, LSCHNELLE said:

Left side - possibly P. marginalis - the crown appears fairly low and the ridges are concentric and extend beyond where P. anonymous ridges normally extend.

I see what you mean with the ridges, although I think the camera angle makes the crown look deceptively low. At some point I'll try uploading another angle of that tooth.

[old bones]

You had a great day! Wonderful teeth!

[Brandy Cole]

Great finds! I'm so happy you had such a good experience!

[ThePhysicist]

7 hours ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

Ptychodus from the outcrop. All P. anonymous except the top right which may be a P. marginalis(?) lateral.

This handful alone would've been a good day in my book 

7 hours ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

I saw there was a tiny tan mosasaur situated next to it! Unfortunately it's cracked and in super hard material. If I try to bust it out, it will probably explode!

Nice looking block, you could use some glue to stabilize the mosasaur and then use some weak acid to prep it out - there's probably a few more micros in there as well.

[patelinho7]

What a great report and prep job on the tooth! Looks like you pulled it right from the jaw!

[Ludwigia]

You sure have been coming up with some great finds lately!

[Jared C]

On 7/18/2023 at 1:00 PM, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

I'm itching with excitement to make new discovers in the southern half of our big state. It won't be easy though! Look forward to more trip reports in the not-so-distant future 

awesome, awesome finds. Where are you moving to?

[Mikrogeophagus]

9 minutes ago, Jared C said:

awesome, awesome finds. Where are you moving to?

I'll be in San Antonio for at least the next 4 years starting this weekend.

[Jared C]

12 minutes ago, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

I'll be in San Antonio for at least the next 4 years starting this weekend.

holy smokes! You've really hit all the big cities we have save houston recently.  Fortunately Dan made an awesome guide to the area under the Texas space. Find the source of that exquisite Ptychodus from Uvalde while you're there  

Edited July 20, 2023 by Jared C

[PaleoNoel]

So impressed by that Pliosaur tooth! Certainly a bucket list find for me. There seem to be very few exposures in the US of the right age and depositional environment and even within them they are so scarce.  If memory serves it would appear that the Jurassic Sundance fm. with Megalneusaurus (which may also be known from similar age marine rocks in Alaska) and the mid Cretaceous deposits of Texas & Kansas with the pair of Brachauchenine genera are the only formations where they are reasonably well known.