What ate my tusk?

[garyc]

I’m not sure if this is the correct place to post this as I am positive this is a piece of Proboscidean tusk. There are very faint Schreger lines that may not show up in the pic. Also, it’s got that sticky feeling when damp that lets you know you’ve got the goods. 
Anyway, I have found plenty of tusk fragments, but none that have the boring marks Like this one. What could have caused these? I found it in SE Texas  river gravel.

[fossilus]

Termites? These look similar to borings I had in a fence in Louisiana - those were from termites.

[Rockwood]

1 minute ago, fossilus said:

Termites? These look similar to borings I had in a fence in Louisiana - those were from termites.

Termites feed on cellulose. I think pholad bivalves are the prime suspects. 

[garyc]

49 minutes ago, fossilus said:

Termites? These look similar to borings I had in a fence in Louisiana - those were from termites.

I agree. It does look like termite damage. But around the river there’s plenty of dead wood for them to feast on. Not sure if termites would bother with ivory. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has evidence of termite damage on a fossil.

[garyc]

49 minutes ago, Rockwood said:

Termites feed on cellulose. I think pholad bivalves are the prime suspects. 

I had considered some type of bivalve. There are definitely freshwater muscles where I hunt

 

[JohnJ]

1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

Termites feed on cellulose. I think pholad bivalves are the prime suspects. 

I agree with Dale.  They could be almost as old as the tusk fragment.

[DPS Ammonite]

Here is a paper about borers of ivory tusks. Anyone have access to it?

 

Antonelli, F., Ricci, S., Davidde Petriaggi, B. et al. Study of the bioerosion of Phoenician elephant tusks from the shipwreck of Bajo de la Campana: lots of hypotheses, few certainties. Facies 65, 10 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-019-0553-8

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330714934_Study_of_the_bioerosion_of_Phoenician_elephant_tusks_from_the_shipwreck_of_Bajo_de_la_Campana_lots_of_hypotheses_few_certainties

 

Edited 26 minutes ago by DPS Ammonite

[Jared C]

11 minutes ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Here is a paper about borers of ivory tusks. Anyone have access to it?

 

I do, pm me for a copy. Not sure it's legal for me to put the pdf out in the open for the public.

Not my area of knowledge but  the borings look a bit different, IMHO