Orectolobiformes

Carpet sharks are sharks classified in the order Orectolobiformes. Sometimes the common name "carpet shark" is used interchangeably with "wobbegong", which is the common name of sharks in the family Orectolobidae. Carpet sharks have five gill slits, two spineless dorsal fins, and a small mouth that does not extend past the eyes. Many species have barbels.

Orectolobiformes

Richard Ling · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
Also called
carpet sharkPBDB
Sits inside
GaleomorphiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB

Time the record covers

At least 227 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 1144 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 1144 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 50 of 1144 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 45 of 1144 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 7 of 1144 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 68 of 1144 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 525 of 1144 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 96 of 1144 occurrencesEocene — about 283 of 1144 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 15 of 1144 occurrencesMiocene — about 45 of 1144 occurrencesPliocene — about 2 of 1144 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 1144 occurrences242–234 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences234–226 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences201–193 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences193–185 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences185–177 Mya — about 32 occurrences177–169 Mya — about 33 occurrences169–161 Mya — about 30 occurrences161–153 Mya — about 3 occurrences153–145 Mya — about 4 occurrences145–137 Mya — about 2 occurrences137–129 Mya — about 11 occurrences129–121 Mya — about 7 occurrences121–113 Mya — about 10 occurrences113–105 Mya — about 16 occurrences105–97 Mya — about 59 occurrences97–89 Mya — about 51 occurrences89–81 Mya — about 103 occurrences81–73 Mya — about 126 occurrences73–64 Mya — about 221 occurrences64–56 Mya — about 79 occurrences56–48 Mya — about 95 occurrences48–40 Mya — about 117 occurrences40–32 Mya — about 76 occurrences32–24 Mya — about 11 occurrences24–16 Mya — about 24 occurrences16–8.1 Mya — about 21 occurrences8.1–0 Mya — about 11 occurrences227.3 Mya129 ka242 Mya0 Mya

1,144 occurrences of Orectolobiformes on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

1,144 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

211 formations

Mesaverde — 42.85°N, 107.28°WMesaverde — 44.08°N, 107.74°WMesaverde — 44.10°N, 107.75°WMesaverde — 44.17°N, 107.81°WMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WHell Creek — 46.41°N, 103.94°WHell Creek — 46.33°N, 103.90°WHell Creek — 47.57°N, 107.10°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 106.42°WHell Creek — 47.52°N, 107.18°WHell Creek — 47.07°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 45.66°N, 105.08°WHell Creek — 47.27°N, 107.13°WHell Creek — 47.60°N, 106.92°WHell Creek — 45.05°N, 101.97°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WHunstanton — 54.15°N, 0.17°WHunstanton — 53.68°N, 0.50°WCouche II — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche II — 32.81°N, 6.83°WCouche II — 32.72°N, 6.78°WCouche II — 32.65°N, 6.68°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.45°N, 1.36°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.88°N, 0.81°WNewhaven Chalk — 51.53°N, 0.70°WNewhaven Chalk — 50.67°N, 1.10°WJudith River — 46.10°N, 109.10°WJudith River — 48.03°N, 109.01°WJudith River — 47.79°N, 108.94°WJudith River — 48.01°N, 108.91°WJudith River — 48.25°N, 109.30°WJudith River — 47.74°N, 108.96°WJudith River — 48.07°N, 108.93°WJudith River — 46.42°N, 109.27°WMarnes de Miretrain — 43.69°N, 1.13°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WPirabas — 0.66°S, 47.22°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WSpeeton Clay — 54.16°N, 0.24°WSpeeton Clay — 54.16°N, 0.26°WFox Hills — 46.05°N, 103.88°WFox Hills — 46.47°N, 99.58°WDinosaur Park — 50.81°N, 111.32°WDinosaur Park — 49.12°N, 110.47°WDinosaur Park — 50.68°N, 108.09°WDinosaur Park — 50.78°N, 111.36°WTallahatta — 31.20°N, 85.48°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.03°ECarlile Shale — 39.89°N, 98.03°WCarlile Shale — 43.40°N, 103.36°WCarlile Shale — 42.74°N, 97.03°WCarlile Shale — 44.09°N, 104.68°WCouche III — 32.85°N, 6.63°WCouche III — 32.67°N, 6.67°WRødvig — 55.32°N, 12.44°EPoint Lookout — 35.20°N, 107.05°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.65°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.67°WKuma — 45.10°N, 34.63°E

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The named rock units Orectolobiformes has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 187 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 401 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orectolobiformes and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Orectolobiformes and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

3,558 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 589 sites for Orectolobiformes, and this reads 240 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

276 references

Each of the 1,144 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. 264 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 Orectolobiformes

Credit
Richard Ling
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Orectolobiformes 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 itGaleomorphi through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Applegate 1972