Squalicorax

Squalicorax, commonly known as the crow shark, is a genus of extinct lamniform shark known to have lived during the Cretaceous period. The genus had a global distribution in the Late Cretaceous epoch. Multiple species within this genus are considered to be wastebasket taxa due to morphological similarities in the teeth.

Squalicorax

Parent Géry · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
crow sharkPBDB
Sits inside
AnacoracidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 89 million years on record.

The record covers at least 161.5 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 165.3 Mya to 61.66 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 1 of 740 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 740 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 37 of 740 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 700 of 740 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 2 of 740 occurrences167–164 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences164–160 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences146–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences142–139 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences139–135 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences135–131 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences131–128 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences128–124 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences124–121 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences121–117 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences117–113 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences113–110 Mya — about 3 occurrences110–106 Mya — about 11 occurrences106–103 Mya — about 13 occurrences103–99 Mya — about 42 occurrences99–96 Mya — about 87 occurrences96–92 Mya — about 88 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 65 occurrences88–85 Mya — about 52 occurrences85–81 Mya — about 78 occurrences81–78 Mya — about 62 occurrences78–74 Mya — about 62 occurrences74–70 Mya — about 72 occurrences70–67 Mya — about 82 occurrences67–63 Mya — about 19 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences161.5 Mya72.2 Mya167 Mya60 Mya

740 occurrences of Squalicorax 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

740 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

147 formations

Greenhorn Limestone — 37.22°N, 103.60°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.00°N, 98.92°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.58°N, 98.45°WGreenhorn Limestone — 44.65°N, 103.58°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.69°N, 103.94°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.81°N, 97.34°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.74°N, 97.65°WGreenhorn Limestone — 42.64°N, 96.53°WGreenhorn Limestone — 40.01°N, 97.17°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.46°N, 103.05°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.87°N, 98.51°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.87°N, 98.56°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.94°N, 98.80°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.04°N, 98.99°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.78°N, 98.96°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.74°N, 99.04°WGreenhorn Limestone — 34.98°N, 103.41°WGreenhorn Limestone — 38.92°N, 98.90°WGreenhorn Limestone — 37.65°N, 103.93°WGreenhorn Limestone — 39.81°N, 97.38°WCarlile Shale — 39.89°N, 98.03°WCarlile Shale — 39.08°N, 99.24°WCarlile Shale — 38.84°N, 104.88°WCarlile Shale — 43.40°N, 103.36°WCarlile Shale — 39.78°N, 98.15°WCarlile Shale — 42.74°N, 97.03°WCarlile Shale — 38.72°N, 99.32°WCarlile Shale — 39.04°N, 99.07°WCarlile Shale — 47.01°N, 107.87°WCarlile Shale — 43.25°N, 103.92°WCarlile Shale — 44.09°N, 104.68°WNavesink — 39.76°N, 75.13°WNavesink — 39.95°N, 74.79°WNavesink — 40.31°N, 74.22°WNavesink — 40.33°N, 74.26°WNavesink — 40.10°N, 74.56°WNavesink — 40.40°N, 74.13°WNavesink — 40.38°N, 74.21°WGreenhorn — 43.29°N, 103.80°WGreenhorn — 44.72°N, 103.67°WGreenhorn — 44.76°N, 103.75°WGreenhorn — 43.29°N, 103.42°WGreenhorn — 33.89°N, 106.75°WNiobrara — 38.72°N, 100.18°WNiobrara — 38.72°N, 100.70°WNiobrara — 38.92°N, 101.18°WNiobrara — 43.41°N, 103.31°WNiobrara — 39.12°N, 99.30°WNiobrara — 39.08°N, 99.22°WNiobrara — 38.90°N, 99.41°WNiobrara — 40.71°N, 105.17°WNiobrara — 38.79°N, 100.76°WNiobrara — 38.80°N, 100.19°WMancos Shale — 38.90°N, 107.93°WMancos Shale — 40.76°N, 108.89°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 — 36.51°N, 110.10°WMancos Shale — 35.73°N, 110.82°WMancos Shale — 36.18°N, 109.88°WMancos Shale — 36.33°N, 109.82°WMancos Shale — 36.00°N, 111.00°WMancos Shale — 35.33°N, 105.90°WMancos Shale — 35.48°N, 106.20°WMishash — 30.87°N, 34.94°EMishash — 30.83°N, 35.08°EMishash — 30.83°N, 34.92°EMount Laurel — 40.12°N, 74.55°WMount Laurel — 40.26°N, 74.27°WMount Laurel — 40.38°N, 74.21°WMount Laurel — 39.56°N, 75.63°WMelovatka — 50.88°N, 44.74°EMelovatka — 51.55°N, 45.99°EMelovatka — 53.19°N, 43.96°EMelovatka — 50.25°N, 45.50°EAmman — 32.24°N, 36.25°EAmman — 29.92°N, 36.17°EAmman — 31.46°N, 35.78°EAmman — 32.54°N, 35.67°EAmman — 32.03°N, 35.97°EKoldenen-Temir — 49.17°N, 57.86°EKoldenen-Temir — 49.12°N, 57.77°EKoldenen-Temir — 49.53°N, 58.45°EKoldenen-Temir — 50.04°N, 56.71°EMarshalltown — 40.30°N, 74.30°WMarshalltown — 39.55°N, 75.65°WMarshalltown — 40.00°N, 74.82°WHaycock Marl — 27.60°S, 114.23°EDuwi — 30.05°N, 31.25°EDuwi — 26.14°N, 34.04°EDuwi — 25.38°N, 30.09°EEutaw — 32.38°N, 84.93°WEutaw — 32.35°N, 86.35°WEutaw — 33.52°N, 88.40°WEutaw — 32.77°N, 87.87°WMesaverde — 44.06°N, 107.72°WMesaverde — 44.10°N, 107.75°WPeedee — 34.81°N, 77.98°WPeedee — 34.40°N, 78.27°WPeedee — 34.48°N, 78.41°WPeedee — 34.38°N, 77.83°WGearle Siltstone — 23.11°S, 114.18°EGearle Siltstone — 27.60°S, 114.23°ELa Luna — 10.37°N, 72.46°WLa Luna — 9.62°N, 70.40°WBahariya — 28.43°N, 28.89°EBahariya — 28.42°N, 29.04°ECarlile — 44.75°N, 103.85°WCarlile — 36.12°N, 104.74°WCarlile — 43.87°N, 104.27°WCarlile — 43.96°N, 104.44°WCarlile — 44.14°N, 104.71°WCarlile — 43.40°N, 103.36°WMooreville Chalk — 31.39°N, 87.79°WMooreville Chalk — 32.84°N, 87.89°WMooreville Chalk — 32.91°N, 88.08°WMooreville Chalk — 32.96°N, 88.13°WMooreville Chalk — 32.76°N, 88.02°WMooreville Chalk — 32.35°N, 86.34°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°WMenuha — 30.95°N, 35.00°EMenuha — 30.56°N, 34.65°EMenuha — 30.58°N, 34.90°E

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The named rock units Squalicorax has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 123 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 229 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Squalicorax and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

1,641 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 546 sites for Squalicorax, 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

252 references

Each of the 740 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. 240 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 Squalicorax

Credit
Parent Géry
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
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 itAnacoracidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Whitley 1939