New Members UncoilingGLaDOS Posted December 30, 2018 New Members Share Posted December 30, 2018 Found these little fragments when looking around in Post Oak Creek near Sherman, Texas. To me they resemble rodent teeth, and I've certainly found non-fossilized ones out there, but these are definitely fossilized. Any idea what they could be? Largest fragment is 16mm long and 4mm wide. Close up shot is the wider end of the fragment, which shows a really cool cross section of the piece. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Amateur Paleontologist Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) I'm positive that they're all mammal remains.. as to family and genus, I won't be able to help unfortunately -Christian Edited December 30, 2018 by The Amateur Paleontologist Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy! Q. Where do dinosaurs study? A. At Khaan Academy!... My ResearchGate profile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I find a lot of the small rat / rodent teeth there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facehugger Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I was more than a little tempted last weekend to clean up the piles of trash littering the area. Irritating. Didn't stay, was crowded and too much garbage. Another reason to keep locations secret when you find them, I guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JarrodB Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 28 minutes ago, facehugger said: I was more than a little tempted last weekend to clean up the piles of trash littering the area. Irritating. Didn't stay, was crowded and too much garbage. Another reason to keep locations secret when you find them, I guess... Most of the trash from Post Oak Creek I find is old broken bottles some which are corked and very old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facehugger Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 1 minute ago, JarrodB said: Most of the trash from Post Oak Creek I find is old broken bottles some which are corked and very old. The entrance was covered, like a couple of bags worth of very random trash, food and paper goods, beer and soda cans. Granted, some may have been moved in by recent flooding, but don't think the water got that high. Recent garbage, not interesting stuff like you describe. I'm totally cool with antique bottles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 8 hours ago, UncoilingGLaDOS said: Largest fragment is 16mm long and 4mm wide. Close up shot is the wider end of the fragment, which shows a really cool cross section of the piece. Probably harder to identify the curved incisors as I don't know how much diagnostic information is available in those. Molars with distinctive occlusal (chewing) surfaces provide more clues to be able to hazard a guess at an identification. I'm not getting a rodent molar feel from the larger piece that you showed in cross section. I've found several cotton rat and vole incisors and molars when picking through Florida micro-matrix. Molars are not usually that long and are not hollow. I am by no means an expert on rodent dentary (ro-dentary? ) but it looks like the larger oddly shaped piece shown in cross section might possibly be a broken piece of a long bone (maybe even avian if hollow and straw-like). @Auspex Here is a nice gallery of rodent bits from Merritt Island expertly photographed by Juliana @old bones Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 This bone seems to follow the arc od a penny, and I cannot think of an avian bone (or piece of bone) like it. I wonder whether it might not be an incisor...is it hollow all the way through? "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...
digit Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 The only one that really seems to look like a rodent incisor is the lower blackish one. The one you pointed out above does not seem to have the shiny enameled surface that I'd expect from an incisor. My real curiosity for a possible avian bone is the largest of the three which is oddly shaped in cross section. It would be nice to have a view of the other end to verify that it is not closed off with some sort of potentially occlusal surface. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 34 minutes ago, digit said: The one you pointed out above does not seem to have the shiny enameled surface that I'd expect from an incisor Root, maybe? I've looked at turtle and frog skeletons; neither have good candidates. "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...
old bones Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 I think that the finds are; vole molar, (the corrugated one), a rat incisor, (the heavily enameled one), and the incisor in question looks like rabbit. The Lagomorph incisors only have enamel on the front of the tooth which appears to be present in the first photo. I don't have a handy photo to illustrate that right at the moment. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members UncoilingGLaDOS Posted January 1, 2019 Author New Members Share Posted January 1, 2019 Wow! lot's of great info already, thanks guys! Sorry I didn't answer any of your questions sooner, I was actually out hunting in that creek again today. On 12/30/2018 at 11:31 AM, Auspex said: This bone seems to follow the arc od a penny, and I cannot think of an avian bone (or piece of bone) like it. I wonder whether it might not be an incisor...is it hollow all the way through? It actually does not appear hollow all the way through! I will post a pic of that end in a few moments, just gotta get the microscope back out. It oddly does not show in the images, but it is almost certainly a tooth in my opinion because of heavy enameling on the outer radius. I will also attempt to capture an image of that if i can. On 12/30/2018 at 2:09 PM, old bones said: I think that the finds are; vole molar, (the corrugated one), a rat incisor, (the heavily enameled one), and the incisor in question looks like rabbit. The Lagomorph incisors only have enamel on the front of the tooth which appears to be present in the first photo. I don't have a handy photo to illustrate that right at the moment. You are correct about the enamel on the outside. That's an interesting fact btw! On 12/30/2018 at 8:51 AM, facehugger said: The entrance was covered, like a couple of bags worth of very random trash, food and paper goods, beer and soda cans. Granted, some may have been moved in by recent flooding, but don't think the water got that high. Recent garbage, not interesting stuff like you describe. I'm totally cool with antique bottles... Sadly yes, the little entrance there always has a pile of trash there, but its always strewn like it was tossed from the highway. I usually bag up what I can when I'm down there, and I have a bag for fossils and a bag for broken glass when I go! I've never met anyone that was fossil hunting down there that was less than friendly and respectful. (The Sherman shop owners however are less than welcoming in my experience...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramon Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Could be rodent teeth from the Pleistocene!! "Without fossils, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the earth" - Georges Cuvier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members UncoilingGLaDOS Posted January 1, 2019 Author New Members Share Posted January 1, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearLake Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) I collect recent bones and the picture above looks very much like a rodent incisor. I agree with @digit that the larger bone looks a little odd with how long it is, but other than that, it is a spitting image for a vole/mouse molar. In my opinion, nothing is avian.o Edited January 1, 2019 by ClearLake Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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