Hi, Philip, I don't think that because the tooth you have sent isn't "hollow", it precludes it being from the Challenger material. The lack of the bony base on Carcharodon and other shark teeth can occur in certain conditions and is particularly common in deep-sea oozes where the basal material is dissolved (by chemical/pressure conditions?). Eastman wrote a couple of papers about this and I'd have to dig out the refs. The crown part is left because it is dentine and virtually indestructible (good for fossil CSIs, i.e. us vert palaeos).
Nevertheless, Neil is right in comparing to Malta but other good sights for complete megalodon and other C. spp. teeth in various states of phosphatisation (and therefore erosion and colour range) include Florida, NC, Alabama and southern Australia - Victoria.
Probably see if you can match that handwriting on the label to other Challenger or other collections/collectors.
all the best Dr Susan Turner FGS, FLS ~ Geoscience consultant
Geoscience Editor & Writer
Publisher Ichthyolith Issues ~ now on Facebook
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From: Philip Hadland <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, 19 February 2015, 20:47
Subject: Mystery Megalodon tooth
<!--#yiv4377881766 _filtered #yiv4377881766 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}#yiv4377881766 #yiv4377881766 p.yiv4377881766MsoNormal, #yiv4377881766 li.yiv4377881766MsoNormal, #yiv4377881766 div.yiv4377881766MsoNormal {margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";}#yiv4377881766 a:link, #yiv4377881766 span.yiv4377881766MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv4377881766 a:visited, #yiv4377881766 span.yiv4377881766MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv4377881766 span.yiv4377881766EmailStyle17 {font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:windowtext;}#yiv4377881766 span.yiv4377881766EmailStyle18 {font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:#1F497D;}#yiv4377881766 .yiv4377881766MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} _filtered #yiv4377881766 {margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}#yiv4377881766 div.yiv4377881766WordSection1 {}-->Hello All I have recently been working on a collection of material from the HMS Challenger (1872-1876) expedition. With the collection was thisC.megalodon tooth. Sadly there was no label with the specimen. Several teeth of these sharks were found in dredgings on two occasions during the expedition. On one occasion 2 teeth were found but on another many more meg teeth were found. There is one figured here on page 805 http://19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/HMSC-Reports/1885-Narrative/htm/doc805.html But these teeth are hollow. I have doubts that this tooth was collected during the challenger expedition so would be interested if anyone recognises the preservation to potentially link to a locality. Or if anyone else has any similar teeth in their Challenger collections that are similar. It may be that this tooth was acquired separately and used an example for display purposes. I have also attached an orphan label I found separately in a drawer of some Eocene fossils. Best wishes Phil Philip Hadland Earth Collection Assistant Oxford University Museum of Natural History Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PW www.oum.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865 272951 Fax: 01865 272970 Mobile: 07948159127 The Museum of Natural History is now open daily 10am-5pm, following the completion of the roof restoration work. Check our website at www.oum.ox.ac.uk for a guide to what’s on, read our blog at morethanadodo.com, and follow us on Twitter @morethanadodo.
