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Toothplate of a stingray collected from the Dammam Formation
Uplifting of the Qatar Peninsula (Miocene)
Object Name: Stingray Tooth Plate
Period: Uplifting of the Qatar Peninsula (Miocene)
Date: 23–5 Million Years Ago
Provenance: Donation by Jacques LeBlanc in 2011
Dimensions: 18.1 mm (H) x 69.8 mm (W) x 48.5 mm (D) 70 g (Wt)
Medium: fossil
Registration Number: QNM.2011.660.25
Place Of Discovery/Findspot:  Dammam Formation
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This object is a fossilized stingray tooth plate, possibly belonging to a species of Myliobatid stingrays. The tooth plate exhibits two shallow ridges on one side, with a smooth surface that shows a linear parallel pattern. The ridges are thinner and show small hexagonal patterns. On the other side, the surface is rough and has small parallel lines between horizontal incisions. Stingrays, like sharks, have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone, making it rare to find any part of a stingray preserved in the fossil record. This fossil provides a unique opportunity to study the morphology and structure of these elusive creatures.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT QATAR
At the beginning of this period, Qatar was covered by shallow tropical waters. Sea turtles, marine crocodiles and dugongs all lived here.
Later, the Qatar peninsula gradually rose above sea level. The climate was much more humid than today, and Qatar was covered by grasslands and rivers. Ancient species of freshwater crocodiles, ostriches, elephants and giraffes walked the land.
LOCATE ON QATAR MAP
Dammam Formation