Name: Deltadromeus agilis (dinosaur tooth)
Age: Upper Cretaceous
Size: (25.4mm=1 inch): 23 mm along outer curve or 18 mm across inner diagonal
Location: Tegana Formation, near Taouz Morocco
Code: DT04
Price: $35.00 - Sold
This
is the tooth of Deltadromeus agilis (a basal coelurosaur), a dinosaur with unusually
long, slender limbs and an oviraptorid-like foot suggesting speed and agility.
For these reasons the commercial market often erroneously describe it as Bahariasaurus
and as a raptor. However, coming from Morocco's Kem Kem formation, it is not Bahariasaurus,
and neither Bahariasaurus nor Deltadromeus are raptors, a slang term meaning "bird
of prey". Deltadromeus
is believed to have grown to a large size (28 feet long and up to 4 tonnes), the
result of tens of million of years of adaptation where the slow and the small
themselves became lunch and failed to procreate, and where the protein in meat
could fuel the 
metabolism
for rapid growth. Speed and size would have indeed combined to define Deltadromeus
as a formidable predator. This tooth would have come from a smaller animal; dinosaurs
were hatched from eggs much smaller than Volkswagens, and thus had to eat much
and grow for years to attain large size.
Note the prominent serrations
present on both edges, attesting to its carnivorous propensities; being thin,
it was more for stripping meat than for crushing bone. As with most dinosaur teeth,
this one was shed by its owner with a new sharper and larger tooth taking its
place. Also note the very pretty, dark brown patina.
