Otodus or Auriculatus Sighting at PCS???This past Sunday was my last scheduled work day in the mine.
My girlfriend and I headed off after the safety briefing and made our way to an area we had not visited this season.
We found a good Yorktown hill and began the slow process of late season collecting. The hill would not dissapoint us. We found narrow and broad form Hastalis teeth, a composite scute from a thorny skate (only 2 of the 6), 2 unidentified whale teeth, a dozen or so cuviers, and more meg parts than we could count. All of the megs appeared to be well worn/reworked and jet black.
As the day was drawing to a close I felt confident that the hill, which had turned to good Pungo material should yield one more complete meg or chub. I was not disappointed as it gave up both! The meg appears to have both Yorktown (thickness of root) and Pungo (slight side cusplets) traits. Most likely a transitional tooth between Chubutensis and Meg.
We decided to call it a day around 2:10pm and walk back to the bus and I noticed an odd shaped blade laying in the open. I reached down and picked it up and my first thought was, "A ric!". I carefully put it away and walked out. Popluar opinion of the more senior guides that afternoon is that it is an otodus, but final identification will wait until the Fossil Festival.
Location
| Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
ID | 594 |
Member | blackwaterdiver |
Date Added | 5/7/2006 |
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Transitional pathologic Meg ("blister" under the enamel on the lingual side). |
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Unearthed! |
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The last haul out of the mine, look under the chub for the enigma tooth... |
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