Natural History, including Gorgosaurus
Natural History, including Gorgosaurus
Triceratops Complete Rooted Tooth
No reserve
Auction Closed
July 28, 03:27 PM GMT
Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Triceratops Complete Rooted Tooth
Triceratops prorsus
Late Cretaceous (approx. 66 million years ago)
Hell Creek Formation, Perkins County, South Dakota
1⅞ inches (4.8 cm) long. 2½ inches (6.3 cm) on matrix.
Complete Triceratops tooth showing a virtually unworn crown preserving the characteristic double roots. There is no restoration, and the tooth is prepared partially exposed, displayed in its original rock matrix pedestal base.
Specimen has been signed by well-known vertebrate paleontologist Pete Larsen: "Pete Larson / 2016"
The herbivorous Triceratops (aka "three-horned face") is undoubtedly one of the world's best-known and most popular dinosaurs, due in great part to their distinctive bony frills, keratinous beaks, and three-horned skulls. These massive herbivores were required to consume large amounts of Cretaceous foodstuffs, possibly including ferns, palms, and cycads.
In order to process such volumes of fibrous plant material, Triceratops jaws were filled with hundreds of teeth arranged in a series of stacked and interlocking vertical columns. Because teeth were continuously replaced throughout their lives, Triceratops tooth sheds are often found, but whole, rooted teeth are rare. This fine example was discovered, cleaned, and signed by the well-known vertebrate paleontologist Pete Larsen (2016). This the only known fossil signed by Pete Larsen.