Sphyrna

Sphyrna

Uncredited · 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
Also called
hammerhead sharkPBDB
Sits inside
SphyrnidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Carcharhiniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Carcharhiniformes

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 100.5 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Cretaceous — about 0 of 228 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 1 of 228 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 228 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 17 of 228 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 12 of 228 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 163 of 228 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 21 of 228 occurrencesPleistocene — about 10 of 228 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences92–89 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences89–85 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–68 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences62–58 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences58–55 Mya — about 2 occurrences55–51 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–44 Mya — about 3 occurrences44–41 Mya — about 3 occurrences41–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–34 Mya — about 5 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 2 occurrences31–27 Mya — about 2 occurrences27–24 Mya — about 7 occurrences24–21 Mya — about 15 occurrences21–17 Mya — about 25 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 34 occurrences14–10 Mya — about 44 occurrences10–6.8 Mya — about 31 occurrences6.8–3.4 Mya — about 36 occurrences3.4–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka103 Mya0 Mya

228 occurrences of Sphyrna on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

228 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

80 formations

Pirabas — 1.21°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.48°S, 48.17°WPirabas — 1.05°S, 47.16°WPirabas — 0.60°S, 47.31°WPirabas — 0.73°S, 47.49°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WCalvert — 38.38°N, 76.99°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WChucunaque — 9.15°N, 78.79°WCantaure — 11.97°N, 70.02°WCantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.17°N, 8.17°WEsbarrondadoiro — 38.11°N, 8.36°WEsbarrondadoiro — 39.30°N, 8.12°WTirabuzón — 27.37°N, 112.29°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.80°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WCaujarao — 11.47°N, 69.52°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WMalembo — 5.34°S, 12.18°EMalembo — 5.36°S, 12.18°ESeria — 4.81°N, 114.67°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WPisco — 14.34°S, 75.91°WUrumaco — 11.25°N, 70.27°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°ELagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.28°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WBatesford Limestone — 38.09°S, 144.28°EJewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WAquia — 38.45°N, 77.25°WSamlat — 23.36°N, 16.03°WChandler Bridge — 33.03°N, 80.27°WMiramar — 5.19°S, 80.63°WSenhata — 35.16°N, 139.86°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Sphyrna has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 56 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 59 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sphyrna and its relatives

Miocene

Where Sphyrna and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

2,853 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 159 sites for Sphyrna, 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

117 references

Each of the 228 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. 105 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 Sphyrna

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Photogrammetry

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Sphyrna mokarran · UF:EAComp:8092

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.

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

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSphyrnidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Rafinesque 1810