Shark, Plesiosaur

In this lot, a set of relatively large teeth from the species Otodus Obliquus (7.2–4.6 cm), Zarafasaura Oceanis (4.3 cm), and Talassotitán Atrox (5.8 cm) is up for auction together. Very good overall preservation, plesiosaur tooth repaired. All teeth display a natural enamel shine, very pleasing. They come from phosphate mines (main quarries Oued Zem Sidi Daoui and Sidi Chennane) in the Abdoun Ouled basin, Khouribga province (Morocco). Oulad Abdoun is the largest fossil phosphate basin, and the northernmost of Morocco’s main phosphate basins. The 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 of the Paleogene period, mainly Paleocene–Eocene epochs, while Mosasaurus and Plesiosaur are located in strata of the Late Cretaceous. Each species of Mosasaur has a characteristic type of teeth that are easily recognizable; in this particular species they tend to be quite robust and massive (drill- and crusher-type teeth), usually with rounded and smooth shapes and a markedly flat facet on the keel, very distinctive. Talassotitán Atrox, discovered in Morocco, is one of the largest mosasaurs known, measuring over 12 meters in length; it must have been a formidable predator. Zarafasaura Oceanis, according to the Arabs: the “ocean giraffe” reptile, is one of the last plesiosaur species that lived during the Cretaceous and is also an iconic species of Morocco’s phosphates. Regarding Otodus Obliquus, 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 supports as a gift.

Estimation:€1

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