Megachasma applegatei
Temporal range:
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Subdivision: Selachimorpha
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Megachasmidae
Genus: Megachasma
Species:
†M. applegatei
Binomial name
†Megachasma applegatei
Shimada, Welton and Long, 2014

Megachasma applegatei is an extinct species of megamouth shark from the Oligocene to early Miocene (28-23 Mya) of the Western United States.[1][2] The type fossil was discovered in the San Joaquin Valley in 1973, but only described in 2014, when the species was named after its discoverer, Shelton Applegate.[3]

Description

Megachasma applegatei is only known from isolated teeth. Based on comparison with the teeth of the recent species (Megachasma pelagios), it was approximately 6 m long and, like modern megamouth sharks, probably fed on fish and small planktonic invertebrates both in deep and shallow water habitats. Its teeth had shorter crowns and a pair of side cusplets.[4] The teeth were also more variable in shape than the modern megamouth's, and may have been arranged in the distinctive heterodont "lamnoid tooth pattern" seen in predatory lamniform sharks.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "†family Megachasmidae (mackerel shark)". PBDB.
  2. ↑ "Megachasma applegatei SHIMADA, WELTON & LONG, 2014". Shark reference.com.
  3. ↑ "A Forgotten Fossil Megamouth Gets a Name". National Geographic. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019.
  4. ↑ Shimada, K.; Welton, B. J.; Long, D. J. (2014). "A new fossil megamouth shark (Lamniformes, Megachasmidae) from the Oligocene-Miocene of the western United States". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (2): 281–290. Bibcode:2014JVPal..34..281S. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.803975. S2CID 83949683.
  5. ↑ Krak, Alexandra M.; Shimada, Kenshu (2023). "The dentition of the extinct megamouth shark, Megachasma applegatei (Lamniformes: Megachasmidae), from southern California, USA, based on geometric morphometrics". PaleoBios. 40 (1). doi:10.5070/P940160139. ISSN 0031-0298.
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