Charleston Center for Paleontology

Belemnites are extinct squid-like marine animals that inhabited coastlines and shallow seas in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

In North America, belemnite fossils are common in the Pacific Northwest, mid-Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and what was the Western Interior Seaway.

Belemnite fossils are often limited to the rear portion of their internal calcite “skeleton”, called the rostrum.

Although more common farther north on the East Coast, belemnites from South Carolina have scientific significance.

Belemnitella americana rostra from the P*e Dee Formation were once used as the global standard for measuring stable isotope ratios of carbon and oxygen. Called the PDB Standard, this baseline ensured that measurements made in different labs around the world were comparable and reliable.

Pictured this are some Belemnitella americana rostra collected from the P*e Dee Formation.

Happy ! Crushing mollusk shell is an extreme form of durophagy (the consumption of hard-shelled prey) that requires unique morphological features.

The black drum (Pogonias cromis) has specialized pharyngeal jaws with extremely high bite forces, molariform teeth with an enamel-dentin composition that resists cracking and absorbs high amounts of energy, and tooth plates designed to detach prior to tooth breakage.

Mosasaurs were long, sleek marine reptiles – the apex predator of the seas during the Late Cretaceous. Named for the river in Holland where they were first described, they were widespread and diverse, with fossils found globally, including in the Late Cretaceous deposits in eastern South Carolina.

One formation, the P*e Dee, has yielded well preserved teeth and vertebrae, and contains remains of several species of mosasaurs from multiple genera.

Pictured this is a personal find believed to be Prognathodontini indeterminate, one of the more commonly found teeth in the P*e Dee Formation.

Happy ! We were asked for an identification post for Otodus megalodon teeth, so here’s one comparing them to Carcharodon carcharias (Great White).

Thanks to Harry Pristis for letting us use his megalodon tooth photo in our comparison!

Cucullaea (also called a “false ark” shell or clam) is a genus of marine bivalve mollusk that inhabited the East Coast of the U.S. in the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene periods.

Today, steinkerns of Cucullaea can be found in Cretaceous deposits in eastern South Carolina (such as the P*e Dee Formation in the Myrtle Beach area). Steinkerns are a hardened cast of the inside of the clam shell – left behind when the shell fills with sediment that hardens and the shell dissolves.

It’s sea turtle season! So, this , we’re looking at another specimen of Carolinachelys wilsoni, one of three species of pancheloniid sea turtles that inhabited the Charleston Embayment during the Oligocene.

Although significant evolutionary changes occurred in cetaceans during the Oligocene, no obvious differences are seen between sea turtle specimens from the early Oligocene Ashley Formation and the late Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation.

C. wilsoni is the most common (and least advanced) species found in the Charleston Embayment. The pictured specimen is on display at the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History.

Happy ! Posterior teeth – the teeth in the back of the jaw in many lamniform sharks – are significantly smaller than anterior teeth, often asymmetrical and angled towards the back of the jaw.

Posterior teeth in the Otodus genus, like the Otodus angustidens pictured, often lack the prominent bourlette but retain the robust root.

Ready for more microfossils? Myotis is a genus of bat in the Vespertilionidae family. With 140+ extant and 40+ extinct species, it is a widespread and diverse genus.

The oldest known Myotis fossil dates back to the early Oligocene, but the record in North America only extends back to the late Miocene.

Mandibles and isolated teeth are the most common fossil specimens due to the delicate nature of their bones.

Pictured this is a partial dentary and third molar (M3), photographed by our friend, Ken Marks.

Continuing our theme from Friday, this we have a bison tooth, which is the most common bison fossil found in South Carolina. The tooth pictured was found and photographed by our friend, Julianna.

Although most people don’t think of bison when they think of coastal South Carolina, bison fossils are a fairly common find in Pleistocene deposits here.

In fact, one fossil from the Lowcountry is believed to be the oldest dated bison fossil in the contiguous U.S., which is significant since the Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age begins with the first appearance of bison south of 55º latitude. Based on this fossil, the Rancholabrean would start at 0.24 mya.

Pictured this is a Bison antiquus on display at La Brea – the location that the Rancholabrean is named after.