SAUROPOD TOOTH WEAR

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

John Schneiderman wrote...

> In my experience with finding sauropod teeth, I've discovered that 
> most of the time the teeth do not show a lot of wear.  

Hmm, thanks for this John. I am by no means experienced when it comes 
to sauropod fossils, but the specimens I *have* seen: several 
supposed _Cetiosaurus_ teeth, indeterminate stuff from north Africa, 
and diplodocid skulls, do exhibit conspicuously worn tooth tips. 
Also, a number of papers that discuss sauropod tooth morphology 
emphasise tooth tip wear as an important sauropod feature: I have 
Wilson and Sereno (1998) to hand and, on p. 57, they emphasise the 
presence of distinctive wear facets in different kinds of sauropod.

What do those of you out there who have examined many sauropod teeth 
have to say about this? 

"I don't know.. fly casual"

DARREN NAISH
darren.naish@port.ac.uk