izak_ Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 Hi all, I'm not sure what to make of this, so help would be appreciated. It comes from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Mackunda Formation in central Queensland, Australia. Fossils from this site include a variety of sharks, fish, marine reptiles, invertebrates, etc. Thank you for any assistance! a - top b - bottom c- side d - front e - back 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frightmares Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 My first thought is some type of crusher shark tooth, however, I'm not familiar with fossils from this area at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared C Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 @Mikrogeophagus “Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike from North Queensland Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 Looks shark to me best bet would be to contact Mikael Siversson from the WA museum - he is a member of TFF but unsure how often he visits this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 21 minutes ago, Mike from North Queensland said: Looks shark to me best bet would be to contact Mikael Siversson from the WA museum - he is a member of TFF but unsure how often he visits this site. Thanks Mike, will try to email him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikrogeophagus Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 It's pretty worn which makes a confident ID very difficult. My initial impression was Orectolobiformes AKA the carpet sharks. It reminds me most of a Cretorectolobus anterior which is debatably related to the modern wobbegong shark which funnily enough lives in Australia. Would be interested in hearing what Siversson has to say! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 48 minutes ago, Mikrogeophagus said: It's pretty worn which makes a confident ID very difficult. My initial impression was Orectolobiformes AKA the carpet sharks. It reminds me most of a Cretorectolobus anterior which is debatably related to the modern wobbegong shark which funnily enough lives in Australia. Would be interested in hearing what Siversson has to say! Thank you very much! Will keep searching for a better one. I’ll let you know what Siversson thinks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomotodon Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 (edited) Very interesting tooth! While I can see similarities to an orectolobiform, the root actually reminds me more of a synechodontiform, such as Paraorthacodus or Synechodus (probably the former, but hard to tell without the crown). Synechodontiforms had "pseudopolyaulacorhizous" or "polyhemiaulacorhizous" roots (try saying that quickly), which refers to a type of root vascularization that includes multiple furrows (that you can also somewhat see on your tooth). Here is a figure from Thiels et al., 2014 showing different types of vascularization. C) is Synechodus, Synechodus labial enamel typically extended over the root, which is not the case in your tooth. Paraorthacodus (and some other synechodontiforms, such as Sphenodus which persisted into Late Cretaceous) had their labial enamel end at the crown-root border which seems more fitting for your specimen - although it is hard to be sure without a complete crown. Edited July 10 by Anomotodon 2 The Tooth Fairy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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