Fossilized tooth

[ScienceRocks]

My son found this tooth on Bolivar Peninsula in Texas. We find lots of shark teeth there, but this looks like a mammal tooth. Any ideas? 

[Brandy Cole]

Additional photos in bright lighting of all six sides of the item laying on a flat surface may be needed to help members guess as to ID.

[Meganeura]

It’s a partial herbivore mammal tooth for sure. Looks similarly sized and shaped to deer teeth. Odocoileus virginianus. I’m not sure what else would be possible for Texas - both fossilized or modern.

[Brandy Cole]

It appears to be a small fragment from a larger piece, so it's hard for me to say, but  I agree that deer molar fragment should be high on the possibility list.   Texas also has bison, bovine, horse, and both large and small-ish camelids.

 

@MeganeuraTexas Gulf material I think generally runs toward Pleistocene and has many, if not most, of the same mammals that Florida has, though some in much smaller abundance.

 

Dugong is a notable difference, as it is exceptionally rare/extremely unlikely here.

Edited June 26 by Brandy Cole
Left out important description

[Meganeura]

1 minute ago, Brandy Cole said:

It appears to be a small fragment from a larger piece, so it's hard for me to say, but deer would be high on the possibility list.   Texas also has bison, bovine, horse, and both large and small-ish camelids.

 

@MeganeuraTexas Gulf material I think generally runs toward Pleistocene and has many, if not most, of the same mammals that Florida has, though some in much smaller abundance.

 

Dugong is a notable difference, as it is exceptionally rare/extremely unlikely here.

Right, that makes sense. And yeah, absolutely a partial tooth. Having found ~70+ fossilized deer teeth in Florida, and knowing they do exist in the Pleistocene fossil record in Texas, I’d be confident (not 100%, but probably around 90-95%), in saying it’s a deer tooth. 

[ScienceRocks]

Thank you everyone. I appreciate the help. My son is now intrigued by prehistoric mammals native to Texas. I think he relates all fossils to dinosaurs and this has sparked an interest the fossil record of Texas. He is only 8 and enjoys collecting sharks teeth along the coast. 

[Brandy Cole]

@ScienceRocks That's great to hear!

 

In Texas regions where Pleistocene fossils are found, we can also sometimes find mammoth, mastodon, gomphothere (similar to mammoths and mastodons but with a much different facial structure), teleoceras and aphelops (basically prehistoric rhinos), giant sloth, giant armadillo, and giant tortoise.

 

There are many more, but those may be some of the most exciting to an eight year old. 

 

[Meganeura]

18 minutes ago, Brandy Cole said:

@ScienceRocks That's great to hear!

 

In Texas regions where Pleistocene fossils are found, we can also sometimes find mammoth, mastodon, gomphothere (similar to mammoths and mastodons but with a much different facial structure), teleoceras and aphelops (basically prehistoric rhinos), giant sloth, giant armadillo, and giant tortoise.

 

There are many more, but those may be some of the most exciting to an eight year old. 

 

Has there been any dire wolf fossils found in Texas?

[Brandy Cole]

4 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

Has there been any dire wolf fossils found in Texas?

I'm not sure.  I know we had big cats though, like the American Lion.

[CDiggs]

37 minutes ago, Meganeura said:

Has there been any dire wolf fossils found in Texas?

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/mcfaddin/images/Fossil03A.htm

Here's a list of taxa identified at three sites in Texas and Avery Island in Louisiana. I doubt it's exhaustive but it gives a rough idea of what was present in Texas during the Pleistocene and you'll note that Canis cf. dirus is listed as present at Damon Mound and Texas City dike.

 

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/mcfaddin/

This is the webpage that the chart comes from created by the Texas Archaeological Research Lab at UT Austin, and I should also note that McFaddin beach has been closed to public access for beach and dune restoration since 2022.

[Meganeura]

20 minutes ago, CDiggs said:

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/mcfaddin/images/Fossil03A.htm

Here's a list of taxa identified at three sites in Texas and Avery Island in Louisiana. I doubt it's exhaustive but it gives a rough idea of what was present in Texas during the Pleistocene and you'll note that Canis cf. dirus is listed as present at Damon Mound and Texas City dike.

 

https://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/mcfaddin/

This is the webpage that the chart comes from created by the Texas Archaeological Research Lab at UT Austin, and I should also note that McFaddin beach has been closed to public access for beach and dune restoration since 2022.

Well there you go!

@ScienceRocks I bet your son would love to know about American Lions and Dire Wolves as well!

[Brandy Cole]

@CDiggs Thanks for sharing! Very informative.

[garyc]

8 hours ago, Meganeura said:

Has there been any dire wolf fossils found in Texas?

I’ve found 1 dire wolf bone in abou 18 years of hunting in Texas