Miocene Fossil Teeth

People often find fossilized teeth in the Miocene deposits of Maryland. Fossil shark teeth are commonly found at Calvert Cliffs. However, ancient sharks were not the only animals leaving behind teeth 5 million years ago. Dentition from fish, reptiles, and mammals all occur in the Maryland Miocene.

We present here a guide to help you identify fossil teeth that you might find from Calvert Cliffs, and other areas where the Miocene is exposed. These web pages have been adapted from the Maryland Geological Survey publication Miocene Text and Plates, first published in 1904. This material, long out-of-print (available on microfiche only) was written by paleontologists and for paleontologists, and it is highly technical. However, the illustrations are excellent references for fossil identification. The text is, for the most part, unedited from the original volumes.

This guide is arranged into sections according to the types of animals from which the teeth are derived. All of the teeth describe in this guide are from vertebrates. They are limited to fish, reptiles and mammals. Only fossil teeth are included in the guide. Click on a section of the images on the left side of the guide to see an larger picture of selected teeth. A copy of the original Miocene distribution map from Miocene Text is available in PDF format.

INDEX
FISH			REPTILES			MAMMALS
	Skate and Rays			Crocodiles			Whales
	Sharks						Dolphins
Class PISCES    Subclass ELASMOBRANCHII       Order SELACHII          Suborder TECTOSPONDYLI Family Squatinidae Genus Squatina    Squatina occidentalis Family Myliobatidae Genus Myliobatis     Myliobatis gigas     Myliobatis pachyodon     Myliobatis frangens Genus Aëtobatis      Aëtobatis arcuatis Suborder ASTEROSPONDYLI Family NOTIDANIDAE Genus Notidanus     Notidanus primigenius Family LAMNIDAE Genus Odontaspis     Odontaspis cuspidata     Odontaspis elegans Genus Oxyrhina    Oxyrhina desorii    Oxyrhina hastalis    Oxyrhina sillimani    Oxyrhina minuta Genus Otodus    Otodus obliquus Genus Carcharodon     Carcharodon megalodon			Class REPTILIA Order CROCODILIA.    Suborder EUSUCHIA. Family CROCODILIDAE. Genus Thecachampsa    Thecachampsa (?) sericodon    Thecachampsa (?) sicaria    Thecachampsa (?) contusor    Thecachampsa (?) antiqua			Class MAMMALIA Order CETACEA    Suborder ODONTOCETI Family SQUALODONTIDAE Genus Squalodon    Squalodon atlanticus    Squalodon protervus Family PLATANISTIDAE Genus Priscodelphinus    Priscodelphinus gabbi    Priscodelphinus ruschenbergeri Genus Rhabdosteus    Rhabdosteus latiradix Genus Delphinodon    Delphinodon mento    Delphinodon leidyi Family PHYSETERIDAE Genus Obycterocetus    Obycterocetus crocodelinus
			Class PISCES (continued) Suborder ASTEROSPONDYLI Family CARCHARIIDAE Genus Carcharias    Carcharias egertoni    Carcharias laevissimus    Carcharias collata    Carcharias magna    Carcharias incidens Genus Galeocerdo     Galeocerdo contortus    Galeocerdo latidens    Galeocerdo aduncus    Galeocerdo triqueter Genus Hemipristis    Hemipristis serra Genus Sphyrna    Sphyrna prisca UNDETERMINED SELACHIAN REMAINS    Subclass TELEOSTOMI.       Order ACTINOPTERYGII
The original "Distribution of Miocene Deposits in Maryland" (Plate 1) from Miocene Text is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (2,248 kb). Click here to download this large file.
Squalodon atlanticus, a whale jaw.

Reference:

updated 3/2/05

(these web pages were prepared by R. D. Conkwright)