Chlamydoselachus

Chlamydoselachus is a genus of sharks and the sole extant member of the family Chlamydoselachidae, in the order Hexanchiformes. It contains two extant and four extinct species. The most widely known species still surviving is the frilled shark. It is known as a living fossil, along with Chlamydoselachus africana, also known as the southern African frilled shark, which is only found along coastal areas of South Africa. The only two extant species of this genus are deep-sea creatures which are typically weakened in areas closer to the surface. While the two extant species are similar in external appearance, they differ internally.

Chlamydoselachus

Uncredited · Public Domain · 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
ChlamydoselachidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Hexanchiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Hexanchiformes

Time the record covers

At least 83 million years on record.

The record covers at least 85.7 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 93.9 Mya to 774 ka.

Late Cretaceous — about 13 of 29 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 29 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 5 of 29 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 2 of 29 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 29 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 29 occurrences96–93 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences93–89 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences89–86 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences86–83 Mya — about 5 occurrences83–80 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 2 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 2 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 2 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence57–54 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences45–41 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences29–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences13–9.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.4–3.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.2–0 Mya — about 5 occurrences85.7 Mya1.8 Mya96 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Chlamydoselachus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

29 occurrences

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

14 formations

Hinoshima — 32.39°N, 130.40°EAzenotani — 34.37°N, 135.42°EAzenotani — 34.36°N, 135.32°EArgille Azzurre — 44.72°N, 10.08°EArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°ENorthumberland — 49.55°N, 124.70°WNorthumberland — 49.54°N, 124.71°WMiretrain Marl — 43.57°N, 1.11°WAchen — 47.88°N, 12.27°EGerhartsreit — 47.94°N, 13.01°ENierental — 47.66°N, 14.86°EPeresheek Mountain — 58.58°N, 163.60°ERødvig — 55.32°N, 12.44°EMenilitic — 49.64°N, 18.73°EMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WLillebælt Clay — 55.60°N, 9.80°ECrescent — 47.59°N, 123.20°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Chlamydoselachus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Chlamydoselachus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Chlamydoselachus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

280 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 27 sites for Chlamydoselachus, 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

18 references

Each of the 29 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. 6 further references are not listed. 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 content2

Picture of Chlamydoselachus

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Chlamydoselachus anguineus · MCZ:Ich:34247

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

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 itChlamydoselachidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Garman 1884