Otodontidae

Otodontidae Temporal range: Albian-Pleistocene ~115–1.1  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Teeth and jaws of Cretalamna hattini
Three otodontid species, from left to right there is Cretalamna, Otodus obliquus and Otodus megalodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Division:	Selachii
Order:	Lamniformes
Superfamily:	Lamnoidea
Family:	† Otodontidae Gluckman 1964
Genera
Cretalamna Kenolamna Megalolamna Otodus Palaeocarcharodon ? Parotodus ?

Otodontidae is an extinct family of sharks belonging to the order Lamniformes. Its members have been described as megatoothed sharks. ^{[1] [2]} They lived from the Early Cretaceous to the Pliocene, and included genera such as Otodus, including the giant megalodon. ^[3] Recent studies of the newly described genus Megalolamna indicate that the members of the genus Carcharocles should be reclassified as members of the genus Otodus. ^[4] The genus Cretalamna which lived from the mid-Cretaceous-Paleogene is believed to be directly ancestral to Otodus, and thus to megalodon. ^[5]

There are certain dubious species of Otodontidae included species where teeth are not properly described, such as Otodus debrayi , Otodus stromeri , Otodus rondelettiformis , and Otodus hastalis . These dubious species are considered to be synonymous or are pending reassesment of their validity. ^{[6] [7]}

Phylogeny

Lamniformes	Mitsukurinidae Alopiidae Odontaspididae Pseudocarchariidae Megachasmidae Carchariidae Cetorhinidae †Cretoxyrhinidae? Lamnoidea †Otodontidae Lamnidae

References

1. "Mega-toothed Shark". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
2. Cartier, Kimberly M.S. (2018-12-11). "Extinct Megatoothed Shark May Have Been Warm-Blooded". Eos. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
3. Joseph S. Nelson (2006). "Order Lamniformes". Fishes of the World (4th ed.). John Wiley and Sons. pp. 57–60. ISBN   978-0-471-25031-9.
4. Large prehistoric shark
5. Jun A. Ebersole; Dana J. Ehret (2018). "A new species of Cretalamna sensu stricto (Lamniformes, Otodontidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) of Alabama, USA". PeerJ. 6 e4229. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4229 . PMC   5764036 . PMID   29333348.
6. "Volume 1923 - Japan Chronicle Weekly Edition > Date 11 October 1923". Japan Chronicle Online. doi:10.1163/2214-9627_jc-japanchronicle-1923-19231011.
7. Mauriac Dyer, Nathalie; Leriche, Françoise; Wise, Pyra; Fau, Guillaume (2015), "f. 11, 11v, 12", Marcel Proust, L'Agenda 1906, Éditions de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, doi:10.4000/books.editionsbnf.1469, ISBN   978-2-7177-2694-7