Ginglymostomatidae

The Ginglymostomatidae are a cosmopolitan family of carpet sharks known as nurse sharks, containing four species in three genera. Common in shallow, tropical, and subtropical waters, these sharks are sluggish and docile bottom dwellers. They are the most abundant species of shark found in shallow coastal waters. Nurse sharks typically attack humans only if directly threatened.

Ginglymostomatidae

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
Also called
nurse sharkPBDB
Sits inside
OrectolobiformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Orectolobiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Orectolobiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Orectolobiformes

Time the record covers

At least 144 million years on record.

The record covers at least 145.06 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 152.21 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Late Jurassic — about 1 of 404 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 3 of 404 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 168 of 404 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 63 of 404 occurrencesEocene — about 119 of 404 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 9 of 404 occurrencesMiocene — about 35 of 404 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 404 occurrencesPleistocene — about 5 of 404 occurrences155–150 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences150–145 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences129–124 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences124–119 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences109–104 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences104–98 Mya — about 6 occurrences98–93 Mya — about 11 occurrences93–88 Mya — about 8 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 11 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 15 occurrences78–72 Mya — about 15 occurrences72–67 Mya — about 82 occurrences67–62 Mya — about 42 occurrences62–57 Mya — about 36 occurrences57–52 Mya — about 32 occurrences52–47 Mya — about 31 occurrences47–41 Mya — about 26 occurrences41–36 Mya — about 22 occurrences36–31 Mya — about 14 occurrences31–26 Mya — about 3 occurrences26–21 Mya — about 8 occurrences21–16 Mya — about 15 occurrences16–10 Mya — about 12 occurrences10–5.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.2–0 Mya — about 6 occurrences145.06 Mya129 ka155 Mya0 Mya

404 occurrences of Ginglymostomatidae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

404 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

126 formations

Landana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WCouche II — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WCouche II — 32.72°N, 6.78°WCouche II — 32.65°N, 6.68°WPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WPirabas — 0.66°S, 47.22°WCouche III — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche III — 32.67°N, 6.67°WTallahatta — 31.20°N, 85.48°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.40°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.92°WKemp Clay — 33.21°N, 95.92°WFox Hills — 46.05°N, 103.88°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WMarshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WCarlile Shale — 39.89°N, 98.03°WCarlile Shale — 43.40°N, 103.36°WCarlile Shale — 42.74°N, 97.03°WCarlile Shale — 44.09°N, 104.68°WNanjemoy — 38.28°N, 77.37°WSevern — 38.91°N, 76.85°WSevern — 38.96°N, 76.71°WNavesink — 40.35°N, 74.17°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WYazoo — 31.66°N, 92.90°WYazoo — 31.82°N, 92.33°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WMalembo — 5.34°S, 12.18°EMalembo — 5.36°S, 12.18°EJbel Tagount — 31.42°N, 6.31°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WUmm Himar — 21.17°N, 41.42°EMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°EMidawara — 29.00°N, 30.00°EMidawara — 28.64°N, 30.88°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.03°EDry Branch — 33.62°N, 81.68°WDry Branch — 33.50°N, 84.74°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°W

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The named rock units Ginglymostomatidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 102 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 142 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ginglymostomatidae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

3,064 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 286 sites for Ginglymostomatidae, and this reads 240 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

155 references

Each of the 404 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. 143 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 Ginglymostomatidae

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

No 3D scan of Ginglymostomatidae 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 itOrectolobiformes through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gill 1862)