Cretoxyrhina

Cretoxyrhina is an extinct genus of large mackerel shark that lived about 107 to 73 million years ago during the late Albian to late Campanian of the Late Cretaceous. The type species, C. mantelli, is more commonly referred to as the Ginsu shark, first popularized in reference to the Ginsu knife, as its theoretical feeding mechanism is often compared with the "slicing and dicing" when one uses the knife. Cretoxyrhina is traditionally classified as the likely sole member of the family Cretoxyrhinidae but other taxonomic placements have been proposed, such as within the Alopiidae and Lamnidae.

Cretoxyrhina

User:A,Ocram · 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
CretoxyrhinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 110.1 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 121.4 Mya to 66 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 9 of 194 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 185 of 194 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 194 occurrences123–121 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences121–119 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences115–113 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences113–111 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences111–109 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences109–107 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences107–105 Mya — about 1 occurrence105–103 Mya — about 3 occurrences103–101 Mya — about 3 occurrences101–99 Mya — about 13 occurrences99–98 Mya — about 21 occurrences98–96 Mya — about 21 occurrences96–94 Mya — about 22 occurrences94–92 Mya — about 24 occurrences92–90 Mya — about 24 occurrences90–88 Mya — about 10 occurrences88–86 Mya — about 10 occurrences86–84 Mya — about 18 occurrences84–82 Mya — about 7 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 3 occurrences80–78 Mya — about 3 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 3 occurrences76–74 Mya — about 3 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 3 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 1 occurrence71–69 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences69–67 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences110.1 Mya72.2 Mya123 Mya65 Mya

194 occurrences of Cretoxyrhina on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

194 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

47 formations

Greenhorn Limestone — 37.22°N, 103.60°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.00°N, 98.92°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.58°N, 98.45°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.69°N, 103.94°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.81°N, 97.34°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.74°N, 97.65°WGreenhorn Limestone — 42.64°N, 96.53°WGreenhorn Limestone — 40.01°N, 97.17°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.46°N, 103.05°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.92°N, 98.71°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.87°N, 98.51°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.87°N, 98.56°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.94°N, 98.80°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.04°N, 98.99°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.78°N, 98.96°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.74°N, 99.04°WGreenhorn Limestone — 34.98°N, 103.41°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.92°N, 98.90°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.65°N, 103.93°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.81°N, 97.38°WGreenhorn — 43.29°N, 103.80°WGreenhorn — 44.72°N, 103.67°WGreenhorn — 44.76°N, 103.75°WGreenhorn — 43.29°N, 103.42°WNiobrara — 38.68°N, 100.28°WNiobrara — 38.72°N, 100.70°WNiobrara — 39.00°N, 100.50°WNiobrara — 39.12°N, 99.30°WNiobrara — 39.09°N, 99.24°WNiobrara — 40.71°N, 105.17°WNiobrara — 38.75°N, 100.25°WNiobrara — 38.80°N, 100.19°WNiobrara — 38.76°N, 100.82°WNiobrara — 39.09°N, 99.85°WNiobrara — 38.67°N, 100.37°WMancos Shale — 36.39°N, 109.85°WMancos Shale — 36.14°N, 109.82°WMancos Shale — 36.51°N, 110.10°WMancos Shale — 35.73°N, 110.82°WMancos Shale — 35.87°N, 110.75°WMancos Shale — 36.18°N, 109.88°WMancos Shale — 36.33°N, 109.82°WScaglia Rossa — 45.65°N, 10.94°EScaglia Rossa — 45.55°N, 10.87°EScaglia Rossa — 46.28°N, 12.30°EScaglia Rossa — 45.94°N, 11.72°EScaglia Rossa — 45.60°N, 11.20°EScaglia Rossa — 45.62°N, 11.28°EScaglia Rossa — 45.60°N, 10.82°ECarlile Shale — 39.08°N, 99.24°WCarlile Shale — 39.78°N, 98.15°WCarlile Shale — 42.72°N, 96.95°WCarlile Shale — 38.72°N, 99.32°WCarlile Shale — 47.01°N, 107.87°WCarlile Shale — 43.25°N, 103.92°WMelovatka — 50.88°N, 44.74°EMelovatka — 51.55°N, 45.99°EMelovatka — 51.50°N, 44.60°EMelovatka — 51.63°N, 43.29°EMenuha — 30.50°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.56°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.58°N, 34.90°EEagle Ford — 31.53°N, 97.21°WEagle Ford — 32.76°N, 96.90°WEagle Ford — 30.26°N, 97.76°WBurim — 49.72°N, 31.51°EHesseltal — 52.08°N, 8.34°EAshville — 53.48°N, 102.24°WKaskapau — 55.71°N, 117.60°WGraneros Shale — 40.01°N, 97.17°WGraneros Shale — 38.93°N, 98.91°WScaglia Variegata Alpina — 45.28°N, 11.65°EScaglia Variegata Alpina — 45.65°N, 11.31°EDakota — 40.06°N, 97.34°WDakota — 38.92°N, 98.50°WEutaw — 32.77°N, 87.87°WEutaw — 33.49°N, 88.39°WAshizawa — 37.20°N, 140.95°EWadi Umm Ghudran — 31.18°N, 35.70°EBelle Fourche — 53.21°N, 103.52°WNiobrara — 53.17°N, 103.50°WMooreville Chalk — 31.39°N, 87.79°WCotinguiba — 10.85°S, 37.17°WBurgsteinfurt — 52.19°N, 7.17°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cretoxyrhina has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 46 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cretoxyrhina and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

672 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 191 sites for Cretoxyrhina, 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

95 references

Each of the 194 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. 83 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 Cretoxyrhina

Credit
User:A,Ocram
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCretoxyrhinidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Glikman 1958