Otodontidae

Otodontidae
Temporal range: Albian-Pleistocene
~115–1.1 Ma
Teeth and jaws of Cretalamna hattini
Three otodontid species, from left to right there is Cretalamna, Otodus obliquus and Otodus megalodon
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Lamniformes
Superfamily: Lamnoidea
Family: †Otodontidae
Gluckman 1964
Genera

Cretalamna
Kenolamna
Megalolamna
Megaselachus
Otodus
Palaeocarcharodon
Parotodus?

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]

There are certain dubious species of Otodontidae inclued species where teeth are not properly described, such as Otodus debrayi, Otodus stromeri, Otodus rondelettiformis, and Otodus hastalis. These dubious species are considered to be synonymus or are pending reassesment of their validity.[6][7]

  1. ^ "Mega-toothed Shark". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  2. ^ Cartier, Kimberly M.S. (2018-12-11). "Extinct Megatoothed Shark May Have Been Warm-Blooded". Eos. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Large prehistoric shark
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "Volume 1923 - Japan Chronicle Weekly Edition > Date 11 October 1923". Japan Chronicle Online. doi:10.1163/2214-9627_jc-japanchronicle-1923-19231011. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
  7. ^ Mauriac Dyer, Nathalie; Leriche, Françoise; Wise, Pyra; Fau, Guillaume (2015), "f. 11, 11v, 12", Marcel Proust, L’Agenda 1906, Éditions de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, doi:10.4000/books.editionsbnf.1469, ISBN 978-2-7177-2694-7, retrieved 2024-11-07