John K Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 There's a long story behind this little tooth, but I'll cut it short and offer only the details I'm on the northern edge of Wisconsin's driftless area, which means that most everything around here from the late Cambrian on was ground off by the last glacial period. We do find some remnant deposits of Devonian shales and limestones on top of hills here and there, but it's mostly all gone. We certainly don't have any Cretaceous deposits (well, not many, anyway... ) So, about 30 some years ago, a friend and I were exploring a gravel pit not far from where I live. We were excited because we were finding bryozoans, corals and brachiopods embedded in limestone "lenses", all weathering out of one of the Devonian shale deposits I mentioned earlier. What we didn't know was that the shale was mixed in with a bunch Cretaceous sandstones, all of this being of course mixed in with glacial "stuff" and dumped at our gravel pit. One of the chunks of sandstone contained a half dozen of these guys, of only this one remains (its a long story, but I'm lucky I've got even this one...) Anyone care to guess what this is from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irradiatus Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I'm new to shark tooth identification, so I'll take a shot just to see if I'm correct (probably not). Galeocerda cuvier - Tiger Shark? "The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. " - Douglas Adams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 well.. its a shark tooth but I dind't think you would find one in those deposits.. you said it was found in limerock so i am thinking this limerock came from somewhere else. It reminds me of a hammerhead tooth more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jax Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Looks like Squalicorax Falcatus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmorefossil Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Looks like Squalicorax Falcatus. jax beat me to it, since its Cretaceous, i would say Squalicorax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I dunno 'bout crow shark; can't see any serrations and the blade has no hint of a "hump". "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irradiatus Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 okay - so I was wrong big surprise "The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. " - Douglas Adams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj aurora Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I don't know Cretaceous teeth, but it doesn't look like any Squalicorax I have seen - maybe some more views of the tooth with more detail might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jax Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Heres a few squalis to compare to. Im still thinking crow until I see a different view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bj aurora Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks Jax - those are totally different than the squalis I have, they look more like galocerdos - I need to do more Cretaceous hunting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 I happily yield to jax on this one; he's right. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jax Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks Jax - those are totally different than the squalis I have, they look more like galocerdos - I need to do more Cretaceous hunting! Come on down, i'll take ya to a place or 2. Id love to hit NC! I have to talk the wife into taking a trip to Aurora! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Heres a few squalis to compare to. Im still thinking crow until I see a different view It looks like a Pseudocorax tooth, an uncommon genus in the Cretaceous of North America (rare in the Niobrara but common in some European localities). Neither Galeocerdo nor Sphyrna (hammerhead) were present in the Cretaceous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-EJ Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 It doesn't look like squalicorax to me. My first thought was Bull Shark. I'll post some photos of my Squalicorax from NJ. Check this out... http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=ge...genera-alt.html I just love the net... and it's getting better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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