Otodus auriculatus

Otodus auriculatus
Temporal range: Late Eocene-Early Oligocene
~35–25 Ma
Teeth from Craven County, North Carolina
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Subdivision: Selachimorpha
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Otodontidae
Genus: Otodus
Species:
O. auriculatus
Binomial name
Otodus auriculatus
Blainville, 1818
Subspecies
  • O. a. disauris (Agassiz, 1835)
  • O. a. auriculatus? (Blainville, 1818)
Synonyms
  • Otodus subserratus
  • Carcharocles ariculatus
  • Carcharocles auriculata

Otodus auriculatus[1] is an extinct species of large sharks in the genus Otodus of the family Otodontidae, closely related to the sharks of the genus Otodus, and also closely related to the later species megalodon. The largest individuals were about 9.5 metres (31 ft) long. Its teeth were large, having coarse serrations on the cutting edge, and also with two large cusplets. The teeth can reach up to 130 millimetres (5.1 in), and belonged to a large "megatoothed" shark.

  1. ^ Shimada, K.; Chandler, R. E.; Lam, O. L. T.; Tanaka, T.; Ward, D. J. (2016). "A new elusive otodontid shark (Lamniformes: Otodontidae) from the lower Miocene, and comments on the taxonomy of otodontid genera, including the 'megatoothed' clade". Historical Biology. 29 (5): 1–11. doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1236795. S2CID 89080495.