Scapanorhynchus

Scapanorhynchus is an extinct genus of shark belonging to the family Mitsukurinidae, that lived during the Cretaceous period, from the Aptian to the end of the Maastrichtian.

Scapanorhynchus

User:Apokryltaros · CC BY 2.5 · 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
MitsukurinidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 107 million years on record.

The record covers at least 121.4 Mya to 13.82 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 11.63 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 337 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 15 of 337 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 316 of 337 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 337 occurrencesEocene — about 4 of 337 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 337 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 337 occurrencesMiocene146–141 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences141–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–132 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–127 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences127–123 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences123–118 Mya — about 2 occurrences118–114 Mya — about 1 occurrence114–109 Mya — about 2 occurrences109–105 Mya — about 5 occurrences105–100 Mya — about 6 occurrences100–96 Mya — about 34 occurrences96–91 Mya — about 44 occurrences91–86 Mya — about 32 occurrences86–82 Mya — about 73 occurrences82–77 Mya — about 46 occurrences77–73 Mya — about 46 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 27 occurrences68–64 Mya — about 12 occurrences64–59 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences59–55 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences55–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–45 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences45–41 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences41–36 Mya — about 1 occurrence36–32 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences32–27 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences18–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–9.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences121.4 Mya13.82 Mya146 Mya9 Mya

337 occurrences of Scapanorhynchus on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. 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

337 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

97 formations

Menuha — 30.95°N, 35.00°EMenuha — 30.50°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.56°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.58°N, 34.90°EMesaverde — 44.06°N, 107.72°WMesaverde — 44.10°N, 107.75°WMesaverde — 44.17°N, 107.81°WMancos Shale — 39.00°N, 110.35°WMancos Shale — 35.21°N, 107.13°WMancos Shale — 36.39°N, 109.85°WMancos Shale — 36.14°N, 109.82°WMancos Shale — 35.73°N, 110.82°WMancos Shale — 36.55°N, 110.48°WMancos Shale — 36.18°N, 109.88°WMancos Shale — 36.00°N, 111.00°WAguja — 29.32°N, 103.52°WAguja — 29.17°N, 103.62°WAguja — 29.10°N, 103.17°WAguja — 29.30°N, 103.57°WAguja — 29.46°N, 103.56°WNavesink — 40.31°N, 74.22°WNavesink — 40.33°N, 74.26°WNavesink — 40.40°N, 74.13°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WBlack Creek — 34.68°N, 78.23°WBlack Creek — 34.58°N, 78.27°WBlack Creek — 35.23°N, 77.79°WBlack Creek — 35.22°N, 77.68°WBlack Creek — 35.46°N, 77.68°WBlack Creek — 35.67°N, 77.47°WCarlile Shale — 39.89°N, 98.03°WCarlile Shale — 39.78°N, 98.15°WCarlile Shale — 42.74°N, 97.03°WCarlile Shale — 39.04°N, 99.07°WCarlile Shale — 43.25°N, 103.92°WCarlile Shale — 44.09°N, 104.68°WEutaw — 32.38°N, 84.93°WEutaw — 32.35°N, 86.35°WEutaw — 33.52°N, 88.40°WEutaw — 32.77°N, 87.87°WMooreville Chalk — 31.39°N, 87.79°WMooreville Chalk — 32.84°N, 87.89°WMooreville Chalk — 32.95°N, 88.08°WMooreville Chalk — 32.76°N, 88.02°WMooreville Chalk — 32.35°N, 86.34°WCarlile — 36.12°N, 104.74°WCarlile — 43.64°N, 104.12°WCarlile — 43.91°N, 104.35°WCarlile — 43.96°N, 104.44°WCarlile — 44.14°N, 104.71°WCarlile — 43.40°N, 103.36°WMarshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WMarshalltown — 40.00°N, 74.82°WPoint Lookout — 35.20°N, 107.05°WTar Heel — 34.57°N, 78.50°WTar Heel — 34.61°N, 78.60°WMerchantville — 39.95°N, 74.99°WMerchantville — 39.54°N, 75.73°WMerchantville — 40.18°N, 74.67°WMerchantville — 39.92°N, 75.06°WCrevasse Canyon — 35.20°N, 107.05°WPeedee — 34.81°N, 77.98°WPeedee — 34.48°N, 78.41°WPeedee — 34.95°N, 78.11°WLabguva — 55.09°N, 22.90°ELabguva — 54.88°N, 23.92°EKoldenen-Temir — 49.17°N, 57.86°EKoldenen-Temir — 49.12°N, 57.77°EMutsuo — 34.35°N, 135.31°EMutsuo — 34.35°N, 135.34°EMutsuo — 34.37°N, 135.41°EDuwi — 30.05°N, 31.25°EDuwi — 25.38°N, 30.09°EHolywell Nodular Chalk — 51.25°N, 0.15°WCoffee Sand — 34.45°N, 88.58°WCoffee Sand — 34.65°N, 88.57°WMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WMount Laurel — 40.38°N, 74.21°WTres Hermanos — 34.31°N, 106.74°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Scapanorhynchus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 73 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 112 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Scapanorhynchus and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

1,758 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 310 sites for Scapanorhynchus, 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

150 references

Each of the 337 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. 138 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 content2

Picture of Scapanorhynchus

Credit
User:Apokryltaros
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itMitsukurinidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Woodward 1889