DENTAL MORPHOLOGY OF MIDDLE CRETACEOUS PYCNODONTS FROM THE LOWER FERRON SANDSTONE MEMBER OF THE MANCOS SHALE (MIDDLE TURONIAN) CARBON COUNTY, UTAH

Teeth from pycnodonts occur in harvester ant nests directly below a prominent conglomerate facies that defines the Lower Ferron Sandstone Member (middle Turonian) of the Mancos Shale in Carbon County, Utah. Comparison of these teeth to whole and partial skulls of pycnodonts indicates that these teeth derive from several different parts of the jaws including the premaxillary, maxillary, dentary and vomer. While some of these pycnodont teeth resemble those belonging to previously reported Cretaceous species in North America such as Micropycnodon kansasensis (Hibbard and Graffham, 1941), Phacodus punctatus Dixon, 1850, Hadrodus priscus Leidy, 1858, and Anomoeodus barberi Hussakof, 1947, additional species may be present. These findings add to the known geographic distribution and taphonomic settings from which these ancient reef fish can be recovered and have the potential for evaluating pycnodont fossils collected from Cretaceous locations elsewhere in the world.