Glyphis gangeticus

The Ganges shark is a critically endangered species of requiem shark found in the Ganges River and the Brahmaputra River of India and Bangladesh. Additionally, genetic evidence has shown that both the Borneo river shark and Irrawaddy river shark should be regarded as synonyms of the Ganges shark, expanding the range of the species to Pakistan, Myanmar, Borneo, and Java. The species remains poorly known and is very rare throughout its range.

Glyphis gangeticus

(Müller and Henle) · 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
Ganges sharkPBDB
Sits inside
GlyphisPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At most 18 million years on record.

Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 23.04 Mya and 5.333 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.

Oligocene — about 0 of 2 occurrencesMiocene — about 2 of 2 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 2 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.8–9.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.2–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–8.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.0–7.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.3–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.1–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23.5 Mya4.8 Mya

2 occurrences of Glyphis gangeticus 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

2 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

2 formations

Jaffna — 8.28°N, 79.82°EJaffna Limestone — 8.26°N, 79.84°E

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The named rock units Glyphis gangeticus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Glyphis gangeticus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Glyphis gangeticus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

30 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Glyphis gangeticus, 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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. 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 Glyphis gangeticus

Credit
(Müller and Henle)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Glyphis gangeticus was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itGlyphis through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Mueller and Henle 1841)