References
Reference
Dean, David (1999) plesiosaur teeth - email; Email,
plesiosaur teeth - email
Principal Author
David Dean
Header
Email
Journal
Email
Abstract
I collect fossils (and meteorites) and have a particular soft spot for plesiosaurs and pliosaurs. So far I have been able to acquire one plesiosaur tooth (museum quality - 2 1/4 inches).I am not interested in hoarding (1 is fine) -i like to keep my collection small (but with choice quality specimens - I also have a limited budget).
I am sort of proud of this specimen because the other only 2 teeth I have ever seen were both broken in two places. This is consistent with the shape of the teeth. They are recurved in 2 ways. First, they are "hooked inward" sharply at about the middle of the tooth toward the inside of the mouth and second they are curved backward toward the back of the jaw. Because of the weight of rock strata, it is possible that the teeth would be susceptible to breaking in these 2 areas. Apparently, the teeth interlocked when the mouths were closed, even possibly outside of the mouth.
If you would like me to send some pictures of it for your site, I would be glad to help out - the enamel and tip really are amazing. I have failed numerously to find a pliosaur tooth -understandably as they are rare.
It seems to me that there is a relatively small amount of information on dinosaur etc teeth. References tend to say something like (it had sharp curved teeth ....). I think the information would be much more interesting if pictures of the teeth were a common reference tool, along with size ranges. I'm not just saying that because I collect them, I think teeth are fascinating to the reader and allows them to relate to the animal in a unique way (gives a sense of diet, predatory capabilities, sense of scale and personality).
I am sort of proud of this specimen because the other only 2 teeth I have ever seen were both broken in two places. This is consistent with the shape of the teeth. They are recurved in 2 ways. First, they are "hooked inward" sharply at about the middle of the tooth toward the inside of the mouth and second they are curved backward toward the back of the jaw. Because of the weight of rock strata, it is possible that the teeth would be susceptible to breaking in these 2 areas. Apparently, the teeth interlocked when the mouths were closed, even possibly outside of the mouth.
If you would like me to send some pictures of it for your site, I would be glad to help out - the enamel and tip really are amazing. I have failed numerously to find a pliosaur tooth -understandably as they are rare.
It seems to me that there is a relatively small amount of information on dinosaur etc teeth. References tend to say something like (it had sharp curved teeth ....). I think the information would be much more interesting if pictures of the teeth were a common reference tool, along with size ranges. I'm not just saying that because I collect them, I think teeth are fascinating to the reader and allows them to relate to the animal in a unique way (gives a sense of diet, predatory capabilities, sense of scale and personality).
Language
English