Otodontidae
Otodontidae | |
---|---|
Teeth and jaws of Cretalamna hattini | |
Three otodontid species, from left to right there is Cretalamna, Otodus obliquus and Otodus megalodon | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Order: | Lamniformes |
Superfamily: | Lamnoidea |
Family: | †Otodontidae Gluckman 1964 |
Genera | |
Cretalamna |
Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks belonging to the order Lamniformes. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks.[1][2] They lived from the Early Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and included genera such as Otodus, including the giant megalodon.[3] Recent studies of the newly described genus Megalolamna indicate that the members of the genus Carcharocles should be reclassified as members of the genus Otodus.[4] The genus Cretalamna which lived from the mid-Cretaceous-Paleogene is believed to be directly ancestral to Otodus, and thus to megalodon.[5]
The Otodontidae inclued species where teeth are not rightly described, such as Otodus debrayi, Otodus stromeri, Otodus rondelettiformis, and Otodus hastalis (doubtful O. hastalis).
References
[edit]- ^ "Mega-toothed Shark". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
- ^ Cartier, Kimberly M.S. (2018-12-11). "Extinct Megatoothed Shark May Have Been Warm-Blooded". Eos. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
- ^ Joseph S. Nelson (2006). "Order Lamniformes". Fishes of the World (4th ed.). John Wiley and Sons. pp. 57–60. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
- ^ Large prehistoric shark
- ^ Jun A. Ebersole; Dana J. Ehret (2018). "A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA". PeerJ. 6 (e4229): e4229. doi:10.7717/peerj.4229. PMC 5764036. PMID 29333348.