Megalodon

Searched as Megalodus boeckhi aequivalvis. The Paleobiology Database treats Megalodon as the accepted name.

Megalodon

Szabó Dávid · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikidata/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
MegalodonPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Megalodontidae

Time the record covers

At most 22 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 227.3 Mya and 205.7 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Late Triassic — about 1 of 1 occurrenceLate Triassic228–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227–226 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences226–226 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences226–225 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences225–224 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences224–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–223 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences223–222 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences222–221 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences221–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–220 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences220–219 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences219–218 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences218–217 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences217–217 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences217–216 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences216–215 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences215–214 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences214–213 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences213–213 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences213–212 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences212–211 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences211–210 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences210–210 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences210–209 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences209–208 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences208–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–207 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences207–206 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences206–205 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences227.8 Mya205.2 Mya

1 occurrence of Megalodon on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

1 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

1 formation

Dachstein — 46.52°N, 12.22°E

Loading coastlines…

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

Megalodon and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Megalodon and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

874 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Megalodon, 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

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence 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 the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Megalodon

Credit
Szabó Dávid
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegalodon through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Goldfuss 1836