Hey,
now, that´s an interesting topic and I want to give my comment on it.
At first, you shouldn´t call all symphysaire teeth that look slightly deformed "pathological". There´s a large variance and diversity how they can look, and there is not really one adequate crown design, but especially with the larger hexanchus symphysaires it seems that each crown of a tooth has its unique style. I don´t say there are no real pathologies ( you find quite some "pathos" on the web ), but far less than one would think.
Now, concerning those large "symphysaire-like" teeth we are talking about here.
Concerning me and 2 friends of my who collect hexanchidae most of those teeth can only be pathological lower lateral teeth.
Several factors speak for that:
1) The size. You have to know that a symphysaire tooth is the smallest tooth in a hexanchid jaw ( except for the commisurals, of course ). A symphy of 4-5cm size would mean gigantic lower laterals of 8cm or something like that. Never heard of something like that.
2) the space where the symphysaire tooth is placed in the jaw is too small to hold those gigantic teeth. They simply wouldn´t fit in there.
3) The root design ( as far as there is root remaining ) is atypical for symphysaire teeth and speaks a lot for lower laterals.
There are more reasons, but I think it would be much easier to show it in real or at least talk about it in real, so that´s it for the moment.
As I said, these are only some considerations and observations, I don´t say that´s the way it is. I am always open for contra ( or pro? ) arguments!
But now, the tooth by are arendsoog and the matrix-free tooth by rene also have components of symphysaire teeth, I have to admit that. It remains a veeeery interesting topic, especially for one like me who mainly collects those Hexanchidae, and I am curious for your responses and a nice discussion.
Attached 2 pictures from elasmo.com
the pic with 6 bright teeth shows H. andersoni from Sharktooth Hill, the pic with the single darker tooth is a Notorynchus from Lee Creek.
For me, both teeth are lower laterals ( for the Notorynchus it´s rather obvious ). if you think the tooth from Bakersfield to be complete it´d be as large as the lower lateral next to it. And just try to imagine the shape of the tooth if it was complete. for me, it looks much more like a lower lateral.
Best regards
Stephan
PS: I hope noone here is too angry that I always some kind of "spoil" the forum with english posts, but though I understand most of the things you write here, I am yet unable to write Dutch on my own.
I really like this forum and I want to be part of it and take part in it, and I am working hard to improve my Dutch so I can make posts in the common language of this forum soon;)
[Bewerkt door Steph op 12-11-2008 om 11:44 NL]