Macrorhizodus

Macrorhizodus is an extinct genus of mackerel shark which lived from the early Eocene to early Oligocene epoch of the Paleogene period. It is often considered ancestral to Isurus and sometimes considered part of it. Macrorhizodus is also likely ancestral to Cosmopolitodus. It seems to be related to Isurolamna. It is known from isolated teeth and vertebral centra as well as at least two associated dentitions. It is an incredibly widespread shark, known from every continent except Australia. This includes a report from Antarctica.

Macrorhizodus

Mason Hintermeister · CC BY-SA 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 14 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 33.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 23.04 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 75 occurrencesEocene — about 74 of 75 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 75 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 0 of 75 occurrences57–56 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences54–53 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences53–52 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences52–51 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences49–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 3 occurrences46–45 Mya — about 3 occurrences45–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–43 Mya — about 3 occurrences43–42 Mya — about 3 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 4 occurrences41–40 Mya — about 7 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 7 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 8 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 10 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 10 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 9 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences48.07 Mya33.9 Mya56.7 Mya22.4 Mya

75 occurrences of Macrorhizodus on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

75 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

35 formations

Gehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.01°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.56°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WGosport Sand — 31.53°N, 87.57°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WGosport Sand — 31.59°N, 88.02°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WLisbon — 31.75°N, 88.10°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WRío Baguales — 50.73°S, 72.47°WOsinovaya — 48.40°N, 41.76°EOsinovaya — 48.38°N, 41.72°EAdaev — 44.44°N, 51.20°EAdaev — 44.49°N, 51.63°EQasr ElSagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr ElSagha — 29.30°N, 30.06°ETurkestan — 41.65°N, 64.66°EAlay — 41.65°N, 64.66°EJacksonian — 32.74°N, 83.50°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 88.46°WTaiba — 15.04°N, 16.82°WDaba'a — 29.16°N, 27.43°EMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EIlundain Marls — 42.77°N, 1.80°WAridal — 25.09°N, 13.89°WLas Flores — 50.74°S, 72.47°WRed Bluff Clay — 31.37°N, 87.48°WSahlab — 33.90°N, 52.41°E

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The named rock units Macrorhizodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 11 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Macrorhizodus and its relatives

Eocene

Where Macrorhizodus and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

511 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Macrorhizodus, 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

27 references

Each of the 75 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. 15 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 Macrorhizodus

Credit
Mason Hintermeister
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Macrorhizodus 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 itLamnidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Glikman 1964