Agaleus
Agaleus is an extinct genus of stem-galeomorph shark from the Early Jurassic Epoch. The genus Agaleus is monotypic, consisting solely of the species Agaleus dorsetensis. This species is currently only known from isolated teeth. It is the oldest known unambiguous crown group shark.

Rees, J. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Sits inside
- AgaleidaePBDB
- Diet
- carnivorePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
- Life habit
- nektonicPBDB, for Chondrichthyes
- Motility
- actively mobilePBDB, for Chondrichthyes
Time the record covers
At least 10 million years on record.
The record covers at least 192.9 Mya to 182.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 199.5 Mya to 174.7 Mya.
13 occurrences of Agaleus on record, most of them in the Early Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
13 occurrences- Early Jurassic100%
These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Found in
3 formations
- Hasle Formation1
- Rya Formation1
- Blue Lias Formation · Lias Group1
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The named rock units Agaleus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.
Agaleus and its relatives
Early JurassicWhere Agaleus and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.
Found in the same rock
54 taxa- Palidiplospinax occultidens7 sites
- Hybodus reticulatus4 sites
- Palidiplospinax enniskilleni4 sites
- Paraorthacodus4 sites
- Actinopterygii2 sites
- Elasmobranchii2 sites
- Hexanchidae2 sites
- Holocephali2 sites
- Hybodus delabechei2 sites
- Hybodus hauffianus2 sites
- Lissodus2 sites
- Notidanoides2 sites
- Palaeospinacidae2 sites
- Synechodus2 sites
- Antiquaobatis grimmenensis1 site
- Asteracanthus1 site
- Balanocrinus quiaiosensis1 site
- Chiloscyllium1 site
- Cidaroida1 site
- Cincta numismalis1 site
- Crucilobiceras cheltiense1 site
- Crucilobiceras densinodulum1 site
- Crustacea1 site
- Cylindroteuthis1 site
The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Agaleus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
9 references- L'ichthyofaune du Pliensbachian (Jurassique Inférieur) de Lorraine et des Ardennes (France): premiers résultats4
- A new Pliensbachian elasmobranch (Vertebrata, Chondrichthyes) assemblage from Europe, and its contribution to the understanding of late Early Jurassic elasmobranch diversity and distributional patterns2
- Une nouvelle faune des poissons et requins Toarciens du sud du Luxembourg (Dudelange) et de L'Allemange (Schömberg)1
- A new Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) neoselachian shark fauna from southern Sweden1
- Early Jurassic selachians from the Hasle Formation on Bornholm, Denmark1
- Quelques élasmobranches du Domérien (Jurassique Inférieur) de la région du Mans (Sarthe, France)1
- Chondrichthyens du Sinémurien de Belgique1
- A temporary exposure of Lower Lias (Late Sinemurian) at Dimmer Camp, Castle Cary, Somerset, south-west England1
- Teeth of a new neoselachian shark from the British Lower Jurassic1
Each of the 13 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.
Media and terms
Media content1
Picture of Agaleus
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Rees, J.
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
No 3D scan of Agaleus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.
Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Source
- Wikipedia, “Agaleus”
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itAgaleidae through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Duffin and Ward 1983