Fossil Pterosaur Teeth

Care needs to be taken when looking at fossil teeth.  Many fossil dealers will sell crocodile teeth or plesiosaur teeth as pterosaur, because they can make more money with a tooth that is rare.  Pterosaur teeth are very rare indeed.

Fossil Pterosaurs

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Preservation

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Teeth

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Most pterosaur teeth are oval in cross section and curved, getting thinner to the top.  some very early pterosaur teeth have 3 crowns and most other pterosaur teeth are single crowned.

 

In most Rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs, the top of the crown is enamelled with a smooth layer which runs down the back and front of the tooth.  The base is always hollow.  The teeth also wear out when they rub against each other in the jaw.

The earliest types of pterosaurs which have been found in Northern Italy have a very distinct tooth with 3 or 5 crowns which is found in the mid jaw region.  This type of tooth is only found on the very earliest pterosaurs.

Many of the later Pterodactyloid pterosaurs have lots of short and pointed teeth  in the jaw.  Other species have very few or no teeth as this reduces the weight of the skull and would have improved the way that they flew.

There are some species that have very strange teeth.  One example is the species Pterodaustro, where the teeth are like a sieve for feeding on small shrimps in shallow lakes.