Tongue Stones

An Evolution Story Told

by Patrick Staley

Presentation Outline

• Legend to Science

• Why Use Tongue Stones to Study Evolution

• Parts and Features

• Environment

• Specific Evolutionary Lines

Magical Properties

• Counter-Act Toxins

• Snake Bite

• Dip in Wine

Folklore

• Eerily well-polished when dug up• Petrified tongues of serpents, a

creature associated with the devil.• Medieval practice to dip a

tonguestone in a glass of wine.

Japanese Legend

• Thumbnails of Tengu Man, a mythical mountain goblin with a Pinnochio-like long nose.

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More Legends

• Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), a great Roman naturalist, believed that they fell from the sky during lunar eclipses.

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Saint Paul on Malta

• Many tongue stones on Malta• Saint Paul shipwrecked on Malta in AD60.• Saint Paul was bitten by a snake.• Turned the tongues of serpents into stone.

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Nicholas Steno

• In 1666 fishermen caught a giant shark.• The local duke ordered that this

curiosity be sent to Ncholas Steno.• Steno is an anatomist.• Steno dissected the shark.• The shark teeth resembled tongue

stones.• Paleontology is Born.

Steno’s Shark Head Drawing

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In 1666 Who Thought

• Living matter could be turned to stone

• Encased in solid rock• Rocks well above sea level• Marine organisms on dry land

Abundance of Sharks’ Teeth Fossils?

• Soft Tissue vs. Bone

• Getting Buried

• Time (400 million years)

• Opportunity (35,000 teeth per shark)

Teeth per Shark

• Sharks continually shed their teeth, and some can shed as many as 35,000 teeth in a lifetime.

Shark Dentition

• Embedded in Flesh

• Constant Replacement

• Files and Rows of Teeth

Parts of a Shark’s Tooth

• Root

• Crown

• Dental Band

• Cusplets

• Serrations

• Striations

Other Features

• Nutrient Grove

• Nutrient Foramen

• Longitudinal Ridges

• Crown Tip

• Crown Notch

• Crown Shoulder

Sides of a Shark’s Tooth

• Lingual

• Labial

• Mesial

• Distal

Dentition by Location

• Upper or Lower

• Anterior

• Lateral

• Posterior

• Intermediate

• Symphseal

Cenozoic Evolution of the Large Sharks

• Climatic Context

• Geographic Context

Cenozoic Global Temperature

Polar Ice Earth

Global Geography

• Cretaceous

• Eocene

• Recurring Ice Ages

Great White Line

• Carcharodon carcharias

• Isurus hastalis

• Isurus planus

• Isurus desori

Carcharocles megalodon

• Cretolamna appendiculata

• Odotus obliquus

• Carcharocles auriculatus

• Carcharocles angustidens

• Carcharocles megalodon

megalodon intermediates

• Odotus aksuaticus

• Odotus chubutensis

megalodon side branches

• Paleocarcharodon orientalis

• Carcharocles sokolovi

• Parodotus benedeni