Otodus

Otodus is an extinct, cosmopolitan genus of mackerel shark which lived from the Paleocene to the Pliocene epochs.

Otodus

Joanbanjo · 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
OtodontidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 86 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 3.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 93.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 5 of 651 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 33 of 651 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 169 of 651 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 45 of 651 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 336 of 651 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 61 of 651 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 651 occurrences96–93 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences93–89 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences89–86 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences86–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–80 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences73–70 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences67–64 Mya — about 4 occurrences64–61 Mya — about 6 occurrences61–57 Mya — about 14 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 17 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 14 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 14 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 25 occurrences45–42 Mya — about 25 occurrences42–38 Mya — about 34 occurrences38–35 Mya — about 36 occurrences35–32 Mya — about 20 occurrences32–29 Mya — about 12 occurrences29–26 Mya — about 14 occurrences26–22 Mya — about 19 occurrences22–19 Mya — about 37 occurrences19–16 Mya — about 45 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 80 occurrences13–9.6 Mya — about 71 occurrences9.6–6.4 Mya — about 69 occurrences6.4–3.2 Mya — about 81 occurrences3.2–0 Mya — about 9 occurrences89.8 Mya3.6 Mya96 Mya0 Mya

651 occurrences of Otodus 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

651 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

247 formations

Pisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WPisco — 14.52°S, 75.71°WPisco — 14.35°S, 75.67°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 38.18°N, 76.97°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 1.21°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.63°S, 47.54°WTemblor — 35.47°N, 118.91°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WTemblor — 35.27°N, 119.31°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.28°N, 79.89°WChucunaque — 9.14°N, 79.75°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.76°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.78°WLondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.45°N, 0.13°WLondon Clay — 51.60°N, 0.19°WLondon Clay — 51.54°N, 0.16°WLondon Clay — 51.37°N, 1.13°ELondon Clay — 51.65°N, 0.07°ELondon Clay — 51.53°N, 0.70°ELondon Clay — 51.85°N, 1.28°ELondon Clay — 50.80°N, 1.67°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.27°WUrumaco — 11.22°N, 70.23°WAquia — 38.60°N, 77.14°WAquia — 38.45°N, 77.25°WAquia — 40.35°N, 74.25°WAquia — 38.50°N, 77.59°WBone Valley — 27.66°N, 82.08°WBone Valley — 27.90°N, 81.80°WBone Valley — 27.80°N, 81.98°WLandana — 5.22°S, 12.14°EFürstenau — 52.59°N, 7.22°ELa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.67°WLisbon — 31.36°N, 86.52°WLisbon — 31.83°N, 88.31°WLisbon — 31.87°N, 88.32°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WCulebra — 9.08°N, 79.68°WCulebra — 9.02°N, 79.62°WCulebra — 9.57°N, 79.65°WCulebra — 9.54°N, 79.66°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.79°N, 88.32°WTallahatta — 31.39°N, 88.69°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WMarnes de Donzacq — 43.75°N, 0.84°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WMonterey — 33.79°N, 118.36°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.80°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.60°N, 30.67°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.66°N, 30.74°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.30°N, 29.99°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.02°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.56°ERed Crag — 51.80°N, 0.64°ERed Crag — 51.97°N, 1.35°ERed Crag — 52.09°N, 1.31°EStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WStatenville — 30.23°N, 82.63°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Otodus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 223 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 145 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Otodus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Otodus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,977 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 562 sites for Otodus, 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

291 references

Each of the 651 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. 279 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 content3

Picture of Otodus

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

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Otodus megalodon · NHMD:MP:157890

3D model

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

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 itOtodontidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Agassiz 1838