Megalolamna

Megalolamna Temporal range: Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene ~24–15 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil teeth from the Dos Bocas Formation, Ecuador
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Lamniformes
Family:	†Otodontidae
Genus:	†Megalolamna Shimada et al., 2016
Species:	†M. serotinus
Binomial name
†Megalolamna serotinus (Probst, 1879)
Synonyms[1]
List Otodus serotinus Probst, 1879 Lamna bassanii Alessandri, 1897 Odontaspis taurus obliqua Caretto, 1972 Megalolamna paradoxodon Shimada et al., 2016

Megalolamna is an extinct genus of large mackerel shark that lived from the Late Oligocene to the Middle Miocene. Fossils belonging to this genus are known from the Americas, Europe and Japan, and have been documented in scientific literature since the late 19th century. However, it was in 2016 that the fossils were described as belonging to the same distinct taxon called Megalolamna paradoxodon. However, a 2024 study reveals that the taxon was already described indirectly in 1879 under the name Otodus serotinus, the only known species of this genus then being renamed as Megalolamna serotinus. It is part of the Otodontidae, a family known to include the megalodon, of which this latter was also a contemporary. Although having a maximum length estimated at 5.1 m (17 ft), a measurement similar to that of the current great white shark, Megalolamna would have only fed on medium-sized prey. The front teeth of Megalolamna would have had the function of seizing the prey, before cutting it using the lateral teeth located at the corner of the mouth. Fossils proves that the genus had a cosmopolitan distribution and show that it inhabited mainly in shallow environments from tropical to mid-latitude areas.