Rhizoprionodon

Rhizoprionodon is a genus of requiem sharks, and part of the family Carcharhinidae, commonly known as sharpnose sharks because of their long, pointed snouts.

Rhizoprionodon

Karunakar Rayker from India · CC BY 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
sharpnose sharkPBDB
Sits inside
CarcharhinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 59.24 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 1 of 204 occurrencesEocene — about 96 of 204 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 8 of 204 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 72 of 204 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 204 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 204 occurrences60–58 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 5 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 6 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 6 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 6 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 6 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 6 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 6 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 7 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 9 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 17 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 20 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 4 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–26 Mya — about 2 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 2 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 2 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 3 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 6 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 6 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 8 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 18 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 13 occurrences10–8.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences8.1–6.0 Mya — about 6 occurrences6.0–4.0 Mya — about 10 occurrences4.0–2.0 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.0–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka60 Mya0 Mya

204 occurrences of Rhizoprionodon on record, most of them in the Eocene. 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

204 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

84 formations

Gehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°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°EBirket Qarun — 29.45°N, 30.36°EMatam — 15.32°N, 13.03°WMatam — 15.31°N, 13.09°WPirabas — 1.18°S, 47.22°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WAngostura — 0.88°N, 78.83°WAngostura — 0.60°N, 80.43°WQasr el-Sagha — 29.60°N, 30.67°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.32°N, 30.05°EQasr el-Sagha — 29.29°N, 29.99°EGosport Sand — 31.54°N, 87.52°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 87.80°WGosport Sand — 31.50°N, 88.50°WMidawara — 29.08°N, 30.12°EMidawara — 28.64°N, 30.88°EChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WDry Branch — 33.62°N, 81.68°WDry Branch — 33.50°N, 84.74°WDry Branch — 33.12°N, 81.70°WTallahatta — 31.31°N, 88.73°WTallahatta — 31.57°N, 88.34°WTallahatta — 31.37°N, 86.52°WUrumaco — 11.21°N, 70.25°WWulagen — 39.69°N, 75.27°EWulagen — 39.60°N, 75.12°EBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WWadi Esh-Shallala — 31.57°N, 37.12°EWadi Esh-Shallala — 30.85°N, 35.85°EYazoo — 31.71°N, 87.96°WYazoo — 31.93°N, 91.94°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WOnzole — 0.63°S, 80.47°WOnzole — 0.97°N, 79.61°WChitarwata — 29.02°N, 68.99°EChitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.13°EStatenville — 30.40°N, 83.00°WStatenville — 30.23°N, 82.63°WAlachua — 29.65°N, 82.60°WAlachua — 29.55°N, 82.52°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WLondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 50.78°N, 0.65°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Rhizoprionodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 60 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 50 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Rhizoprionodon and its relatives

Eocene

Where Rhizoprionodon and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,732 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 166 sites for Rhizoprionodon, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. 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

95 references

Each of the 204 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. 83 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 Rhizoprionodon

Credit
Karunakar Rayker from India
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Rhizoprionodon 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 itCarcharhinidae through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Whitley 1929