Calamus, SWAINSON, 1839

Cicimurri, David J., Knight, James L. & Ebersole, Jun A., 2022, Early Oligocene (Rupelian) fishes (Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes) from the Ashley Formation (Cooper Group) of South Carolina, USA, PaleoBios 39 (1), pp. 1-38 : 26

CALAMUS SWAINSON, 1839

? CALAMUS SP.

FIG. 11H–J

Type species — Calamus megacephalus Swainson 1839 ; Recent.

Referred specimens (n=11) —SC2007.36.117 (nine teeth), SC2007.36.198 ( Fig. 11H–J ), SC2007.36.199.

Description —This tooth morphotype consists of a low crown (wider than tall) that has an oval, round, squared or sub-rectangular occlusal outline. The occlusal surface is generally evenly convex, but the apex is often flat on worn teeth. Unworn teeth may have a small, but conspicuous, apical protuberance. The crown enameloid is smooth and does not extend to the base of the tooth. The tooth edges are convex in profile view, but often to varying degrees, and the tooth base is often constricted.A basal pulp cavity is extremely large and is often the same shape as the occlusal outline. The pulp cavity is relatively shallow and surrounded by a thick wall of dentine.

Remarks —The specimens in our sample are comparable to teeth occurring on the premaxillae and dentaries of an extant Calamus leucosteus Jordan, 1885 (MSC 43464) specimen that we examined. The pulp cavity is shallower and much larger than that on the Albula sp. ,? Pogonias sp. and Argosargus sp. molariform teeth in our sample, and the crown width to height ratio is much lower than the teeth of these other taxa. Although these teeth may be referable to Calamus , our sample of sparid teeth does not include an incisiform morphology comparable to what we observed in the Recent C. leucosteus dentition.

Figures

Figure 11. Teleost teeth from the Givhans Ferry Member, Ashley Formation (Rupelian), Dorchester County, South Carolina. A, B.?Sciaenops sp. tooth, SC2007.36.200.1 in profile (A) and basal (B) views. C, D.?Sciaenops sp. tooth, SC2007.36.200.2 in profile (C) and basal (D) views. E–G.?Pogonias sp. tooth, SC2007.36.196 in occlusal (E), profile (F), and basal (G) views. H–J.?Calamus sp. tooth, SC2007.36.198 in occlusal (H), profile (I), and basal (J) views. K–M. Archosargus sp. molariform tooth, SC2007.36.197 in occlusal (K), profile (L), and basal (M) views. N–Q. Archosargus sp. incisiform tooth, SC2007.36.200 in profile (N), lingual (O), labial (P), and basal (Q) views. R–U. Archosargus sp. incisiform tooth, SC2015.29.219 in profile (R), lingual (S), labial (T), and basal (U) views. V, W. Archosargus sp. pharyngeal tooth, SC2007.36.192 in profile (V) and anterior (W) views. X, Y. Archosargus sp. pharyngeal tooth, SC2007.36.193 in profile (X) and anterior (Y) views. Z, AA. Diplodus sp. tooth, SC2015.29.222 in lingual (Z) and posterior (AA) views. BB‒CC. Diplodus sp. tooth, SC2015.29.224 in lingual (BB) and posterior (CC) views. Scale bar=0.5 mm in V,W; 1 mm in A–U, X–CC.