Shark, Plesiosaur

In this lot a set of teeth is auctioned: fairly large teeth from the species Otodus Obliquus (7.3-5.2 cm), Zarafasaura Oceanis (5.4 cm) and Talassotitán Atrox (5.6 cm). Very good overall preservation, a tooth of O. Obliquus with the two lateral cusps typical of the species, a repaired plesiosaur tooth. All teeth have a natural enamel shine, very pleasant. They come from phosphate mines (the main quarries Oued Zem, Sidi Daoui and Sidi Chennane) in the Abdoun Ouled basin, Khouribga Province (Morocco). Oulad Abdoun is the largest fossil basin, and the northernmost of Morocco’s major phosphate basins. Phosphate deposits have preserved a large number of vertebrate fossils from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene. The fossils include a diversity of marine and terrestrial animals, such as mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, crocodiles, elasmobranchs, and dinosaurs. Although they come from the same quarries, these species correspond to different geological times; Otodus Obliquus belongs to strata from the Paleogene period, mainly Paleocene–Eocene epochs, while Mosasaur and Plesiosaur are located in Upper Cretaceous strata. Each mosasaur species has a tooth type that is easily recognizable; in this particular species they tend to be quite robust and massive (drillers-crushers), usually with rounded and smooth shapes and a pronounced, flat-faced keel, very distinctive. Talassotitán Atrox, discovered in Morocco, is one of the largest mosasaurs known, measuring over 12 meters in length, and it must have been a formidable predator. Zarafasaura Oceanis, according to Arabs: "sea giraffe" reptile, is one of the last plesiosaur species that lived during the Cretaceous, and it is also an iconic species of Morocco’s phosphates. As for Otodus, it is thought to have been a large shark, capable of reaching more than 10 meters in length and up to 15 tons in weight. The lot is accompanied by L-shaped acrylic display stands as a free gift.

Estimate:$1.12

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