Lethenia

Lethenia is an extinct genus of mackerel shark from the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. The type species, L. vanderbroecki, is from the early Oligocene of Belgium. It is considered closely related to Isurolamna and sometimes included within it. It differs in the morphology of its teeth, which are much more gracile than Isurolamna and has larger spacing between its crown and lateral cusps. A recently described species, L. carranzaensis, was found in the Eocene and Oligocene deposites of Chile, originally described as Isurolamna sp. fossil. Some paleontologist thinks that Lethenia can belongs in reality Lamna species, and not a separate genus, what would make Lethenia a junior synonym.

Lethenia

Rodrigo A. Otero · CC BY 4.0 · 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
LamnidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 7.1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 33.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 8 occurrencesEocene — about 2 of 8 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 6 of 8 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 8 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41.03 Mya33.9 Mya56.7 Mya22.4 Mya

8 occurrences of Lethenia on record. 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

8 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

4 formations

Boom Clay — 51.13°N, 4.26°EBoom Clay — 51.19°N, 4.32°ESables de Kerniel — 50.88°N, 5.59°EBoom — 51.09°N, 4.36°EKressenberg — 47.93°N, 12.97°E

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The named rock units Lethenia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

90 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Lethenia, 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

6 references

Each of the 8 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 Lethenia

Credit
Rodrigo A. Otero
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lethenia 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 timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Baut and Génault 1999