Trigonotodus alteri - Giant Thresher with Side Cusps

As far as teeth go, this isn't the prettiest tooth in my collection. Nor is it the biggest tooth in my collection. Its not even the most colorful tooth in my collection. It is however, the rarest shark tooth I've ever found, barnone. This is a nearly complete specimen of Trigonotodus alteri, the Giant Thresher with cusps. I found it in the Edisto river, and I didn't even know I found it until I cleaned and examined every tooth I found.

As far as I know, there are three types of giant threshers. They are Giant Thresher, Serrated Giant Thresher, and Giant Thresher with cusps. All can be found in SC, though by far the most common is the Giant Thresher, though it is by no means common. The serrated variety is also very rare in SC, but is well known from the Calvert Cliffs up in Maryland. The best examples I've seen were from the collections of the fine gents at Phatfossils.com.

Just to give a little background, I didn't even know Trigonotodus alteri existed as a species up until about a year ago. A guy found one in Summerville and my buddy toothhoover bought it. I was at his house about 3 months ago and I finally saw it. It had one of the root lobes broken off unfortunately, but it was obviously a giant thresher with a cusp. I did a little research and I saw a pic of a very fine example from Steve Alter's (megalodonteeth.com) collection up on Elasmo.com. I believe the species is named for Steve. Bravo if its true - it couldn't have happened to a nicer, more knowledgeable guy.

Obviously there is a little damage to the tip of this tooth, but it really doesn't matter. As far as a specimen goes, its fantastic! Both root lobes are complete, as are the cusps. The complete shape of the tooth is present. I am thrilled to have found this tooth.