Lowcountry riverbank fossils from July 4

 One month ago I spent the day on my first paid river fossil tour with Ashby Gale and Charleston Fossil Adventures. Ashby recently got his captain's license, and can now take clients out along lowcountry waterways to collect fossils from hard-to-reach spots that cannot be walked to - and locations known only to the two of us and a couple others. Ashby had three tours back to back booked for July 4, and he was kind enough to not make me join him for the early morning tour at 9am! It was still a long day, though, with a heat index of 105. We took out a couple of different families and found some great stuff; this post will be more of a slideshow with commentary than anything else.

 

Ashby Gale and I, the first secondary tour guide hired for Charleston Fossil Adventures! I gotta say, this really beats the hell out of teaching introductory geology labs. The office is considerably nicer.

 An osteoderm of the extinct "beautiful" armadillo Dasypus bellus, which was slightly larger than the modern nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus noveminctus) often seen lying by the side of the road in South Carolina. Dasypus bellus is known only from the Pleistocene in North America. 

A tooth of the devil ray Plinthicus stenodon, my favorite batoid. When collecting with Ashby, Sarah, and I, it's basically illegal to not call out "Ooh a Plinthicus!" Plinthicus is only known from Oligocene through middle Miocene rocks, and was named by E.D. Cope. 

 

A single lower tooth of Galeocerdo aduncas/Physogaleus contortus, an Oligocene-Miocene tiger shark with long, twisted cusps- at least on its lower teeth. Whether or not these species are synonymous is a controversial topic in shark paleontology, and I've been yelled at by shark experts on facebook for daring to consider synonymy as likely.

 A rather large blade of a mako (Isurus) tooth found by a client - Isurus desori? flandricus? Clearly not I. hastalis or I. oxyrhinchus.

 Another Physogaleus contortus tooth amidst a field of phosphate, limestone, and oysters.

 A partial tooth of the extinct megatoothed shark Carcharocles angustidens with an incomplete root.

A large upper lateral tooth of the snaggletooth shark Hemipristis serra.

Another mako tooth (Isurus desori? flandricus? retroflexus?), although one with a complete root. This looks like it weathered directly out of the Ashley Formation rather than being derived from reworking.

 Another megatooth, this time a juvenile tooth of Carcharocles megalodon.  

An adorable lateral tooth of the megatoothed shark Carcharocles angustidens - I love finding tiny teeth of extinct giants.

The highlight find of the day – a beautiful tooth of Squalodon! And yes, an actual, factual tooth of Squalodon from South Carolina. Unlike Ankylorhiza, teeth of true Squalodon have highly rugose enamel rather than the more gently fluted enamel of its Oligocene relative. Found and donated for study by the Hammond family!