1997 No. 52 Part 1 - Bedfordshire Natural History Society

Bedfordshire Naturalist for 1997, No. 52 (Part 1) (1998)
by subsequently immersing the matrix in dilute ethanoic acid. The tooth was readily
determined by its size and the numerous post-mortem cracks in the enameloid as an
upper jaw tooth ofthe teleost Protosphyraena ferox Leidy, the first such specimen found
by the Recorder in the Bedfordshire Lower Chalk.
Species of Protosphyraena, FamilyPachycormidae, are very rare in OK Cretaceous
sediments. A partial tooth identifiable only to generic level was discovered by the
writer in the Lower Gault Hoplites dentatus Zone, upper Hoplites spathi Subzone of
Munday's Hill quarry, Leighton Buzzard, in 1992.This was illustrated and discussed
(Smart 1992) with a more complete tooth ofPferox from the Hertfordshire Lower
Chalk for comparison, both specimens exhibiting typical post-mortem cracks in the
enameloid surfaces. The Arlesey specimen, a maxilla tooth crown ofPferox, is in a
better state ofpreservation. It measures 35.1mm in height to the estimated apex and is
shown in Figure 5, a slightly larger symmetrical tooth being figured and described as a
lower front tooth ofthis species byWoodward (1908).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My grateful thanks are due to Dr Colin Patterson, FRS, Dr Hugh Owen, Dr Peter
Forey, Miss Alison Longbottom and Miss SallyYoung ofthe Department of
Smm
Figure 5. Upperjaw (maxilla) tooth crown ofthe large Cretaceous teleost fish Protosphyraenaferox Leidy.
Upper Cretaceous Lower Chalk (Chalk Marl), Mantelliceras mantelli Zone,Arlesey BrickWorks quarry
(TL188348), 11 November 1997.
PJS CoIl. 15592 M
22