Can anyone identify this mosasaur tooth? it comes from Oulad Abdoun Basin, Morocco and measure 7.7cm which is huge!

[pkedinofossils]

thanks in advance 

[Brevicollis]

I think @pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon and@Praefectus could help here further 

[North]

Wow, that is an really nice one.

In a first glance shape looks like it could be Mosasaurus, but I think its better that Praefectus and Pachy takes a look for more specific id.

 

I can't spot from the pictures, but are you able to see facets in a tooth? (Flat surfaces around the tooth).

[pkedinofossils]

6 hours ago, North said:

Wow, that is an really nice one.

In a first glance shape looks like it could be Mosasaurus, but I think its better that Praefectus and Pachy takes a look for more specific id.

 

I can't spot from the pictures, but are you able to see facets in a tooth? (Flat surfaces around the tooth).

thank you! i cannot see any visible facets, i’m quite stumped as i’ve never seen a mosasaur tooth quite like this one. 

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

Looks like equal labial and lingual sides with a sub-oval cross-section? No twist in the carinae? I'm thinking prognathodontine. Maybe something along the lines of P. saturator? Impressive tooth in any case! 

 

Some photographs, diagonally taken, of the occlusional view, maybe a video, could further help confirm this ID.

[pkedinofossils]

15 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Looks like equal labial and lingual sides with a sub-oval cross-section? No twist in the carinae? I'm thinking prognathodontine. Maybe something along the lines of P. saturator? Impressive tooth in any case! 

 

Some photographs, diagonally taken, of the occlusional view, maybe a video, could further help confirm this ID.

did P. Saturator come from here? i thought it was only from Netherlands. i can definitely take some more photos but, Praefectus pinned it down to a Thalassotitan Atrox

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

2 hours ago, pkedinofossils said:

did P. Saturator come from here? i thought it was only from Netherlands. i can definitely take some more photos but, Praefectus pinned it down to a Thalassotitan Atrox

 

Yeah, I'd say so too, since P. saturator is currently, indeed, only known from the Netherlands. Which doesn't mean there aren't some very large prognathodontine teeth that occasionally pop up from Morocco. However, these teeth are so undiagnostic that you can't build a case for a new species potentially having been there. So, reasonably, T. atrox is what it is

[North]

24 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Yeah, I'd say so too, since P. saturator is currently, indeed, only known from the Netherlands. Which doesn't mean there aren't some very large prognathodontine teeth that occasionally pop up from Morocco. However, these teeth are so undiagnostic that you can't build a case for a new species potentially having been there. So, reasonably, T. atrox is what it is

Im a bit confused.

Lack of facets and carinae twist does exclude Mosasaurus.

 

But is that quite lot of curvature for T. atrox? All I have ever seen are relatively straight, more leaning towards the mouth instead curving.

I have only seen pictures of P. saturator holotype, what would be the case with that one?

[pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon]

On 7/18/2024 at 8:28 PM, North said:

But is that quite lot of curvature for T. atrox? All I have ever seen are relatively straight, more leaning towards the mouth instead curving.

I have only seen pictures of P. saturator holotype, what would be the case with that one?

 

Nah, some definitely have curvature, especially the anterior ones - which are more conical - and posterior ones - which curve backwards and look like someone squeezed down on them from the occlusional surface while the tooth was soft as clay (i.e., in the lateral plane, it bulges to one side whereas has a concavity on the other).

 

I also don't really think there's too many diagnostic features to distinguish teeth between Thalassotitan atrox and Prognathodon saturator. I've seen the holotype in real life, and the teeth look almost similar to those of T. atrox. Photographs taken at the Natural History Museum of Maastricht.

 

[North]

32 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Nah, some definitely have curvature, especially the anterior ones - which are more conical - and posterior ones - which curve backwards and look like someone squeezed down on them from the occlusional surface while the tooth was soft as clay (i.e., in the lateral plane, it bulges to one side whereas has a concavity on the other).

 

I also don't really think there's too many diagnostic features to distinguish teeth between Thalassotitan atrox and Prognathodon saturator. I've seen the holotype in real life, and the teeth look almost similar to those of T. atrox. Photographs taken at the Natural History Museum of Maastricht.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Perhaps I have not encountered posterior T. atrox teeth. Anterior ones I have but those have not happened to have towards the mouth curvature.

 

But front tooth on second picture you posted does show some sideway curvature.