Cosmopolitodus

Cosmopolitodus is an extinct genus of mackerel shark that lived between thirty and one million years ago during the late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene epochs. Its type species is Cosmopolitodus hastalis. In 2021, Isurus planus was reassigned to the genus, and thus became the second species C. planus. However, some researchers still consider both species of Cosmopolitodus as species of Carcharodon. A possible third species, C. xiphodon was proposed, though it is now placed as junior synonym of Carcharodon plicatilis.

Cosmopolitodus

Smithsonian · CC0 · 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
LamnidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 17 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 2.58 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 42 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 35 of 42 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 42 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 0 of 42 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.9–8.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences8.1–7.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.2–6.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences6.4–5.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–2.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.9–2.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23.04 Mya5.333 Mya27.8 Mya2.1 Mya

42 occurrences of Cosmopolitodus on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

42 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

31 formations

Pisco — 14.57°S, 75.73°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.89°WSanta Margarita — 37.05°N, 122.04°WKurahara — 36.58°N, 136.83°EKurahara — 36.68°N, 136.83°EChagres Sandstone — 9.16°N, 80.29°WChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.04°WDuho — 36.10°N, 129.40°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EBatesford Limestone — 38.09°S, 144.28°EMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WEmpire — 43.31°N, 124.32°WOosterhout — 51.70°N, 5.73°E"Topanga" — 33.66°N, 117.63°WSan Diego — 32.49°N, 117.12°WTemblor — 35.47°N, 118.91°WWajimazaki — 37.40°N, 136.90°EAndaibara — 37.32°N, 136.78°ESekinobana — 37.21°N, 136.69°EMaenami — 37.21°N, 137.07°EHannoura — 37.11°N, 137.95°ESuso — 37.12°N, 137.95°EHorimatsu — 37.45°N, 136.81°EParana — 32.08°S, 60.49°WPuente — 33.84°N, 117.82°W

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The named rock units Cosmopolitodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cosmopolitodus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Cosmopolitodus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

513 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 41 sites for Cosmopolitodus, 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

26 references

Each of the 42 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. 14 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 content1

Picture of Cosmopolitodus

Credit
Smithsonian
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cosmopolitodus 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

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 itLamnidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Glikman 1964