Dalatias

Dalatias is a genus of kitefin sharks that have lived since the Middle Eocene. The genus contains one extant and two extinct species: D. licha, D. turkmenicus and D. orientalis. Because D. turkmenicus was described on the basis of a single tooth crown, D. licha was considered as the only valid species within the genus until Malyshkina et al. (2023) described a third species, D. orientalis, from the Middle Miocene Duho Formation in Pohang, South Korea. D. turkmenicus was found in Turkmenistan from Late Paleocene.

Dalatias

CSIRO National Fish Collection · CC BY 3.0 · 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
DalatiidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Squaliformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Squaliformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Squaliformes

Time the record covers

At least 53 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 2.4 Mya.

Paleocene — about 1 of 41 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 3 of 41 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 41 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 25 of 41 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 41 occurrencesPleistocene — about 1 of 41 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–59 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–20 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 4 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 10 occurrences11–9.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.4–7.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence7.4–5.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.3–3.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.3–1.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences56 Mya3 Mya63 Mya1 Mya

41 occurrences of Dalatias on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

41 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

16 formations

Senhata — 35.16°N, 139.86°EDuho — 36.11°N, 129.40°EWaipara Greensand — 43.05°S, 172.62°EWajimazaki — 37.40°N, 136.90°ESekinobana — 37.21°N, 136.69°EChagres Sandstone — 9.28°N, 80.04°WUitpa — 12.03°N, 71.43°WOtekaike Limestone — 45.03°S, 170.99°EChagres — 9.27°N, 80.06°WMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°EKanzawa — 35.54°N, 139.32°EIseyama — 36.42°N, 138.30°EZushi — 35.29°N, 139.59°ECubagua — 10.57°N, 64.24°W

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The named rock units Dalatias has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Dalatias and its relatives

Miocene

Where Dalatias and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

266 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 39 sites for Dalatias, 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

20 references

Each of the 41 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. 8 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 content3

Picture of Dalatias

Credit
CSIRO National Fish Collection
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Dalatias licha · UF:Fish:42106

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itDalatiidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1810