Megachasma applegatei

Megachasma applegatei is an extinct species of megamouth shark from the Oligocene to early Miocene of the Western United States. The type fossil was discovered in the San Joaquin Valley in 1973, but only described in 2014, when the species was named after its discoverer, Shelton Applegate.

No picture of Megachasma applegatei was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none. Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is. GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megachasma applegatei, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegachasmaPBDB
Diet
suspension feeder, carnivorePBDB, for Megachasmidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Megachasmidae
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Megachasmidae

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 23.04 Mya to 20.45 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 27.3 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Oligocene — about 1 of 6 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 6 occurrencesMiocene27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–26 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–24 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23.04 Mya20.45 Mya27.8 Mya15.5 Mya

6 occurrences of Megachasma applegatei on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

6 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

5 formations

Jewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WJewett — 36.01°N, 118.34°WYaquina — 44.50°N, 124.07°WNye — 44.65°N, 124.06°WSkooner Gulch — 38.87°N, 123.65°WChilcatay — 14.62°S, 75.63°W

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

Megachasma applegatei and its relatives

Miocene

Where Megachasma applegatei and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

117 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Megachasma applegatei, 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 6 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No picture of Megachasma applegatei was found. Wikipedia, Wikidata and iDigBio were searched and had none.

Smithsonian Open Access did not answer, so this is what the others held rather than everything there is.

GBIF was asked, and what came back is not recorded: nothing, or a picture this site could not tie to Megachasma applegatei, or no answer at all. This entry cannot say which.

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 itMegachasma through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Shimada et al. 2014