Alopias grandis

Alopias grandis is a species of giant thresher shark from the Miocene. Estimates calculated from teeth comparisons suggest the living animal was comparable in size to the extant great white shark.[3] Remains generally consist of teeth, which have been found in the United States in the Calvert Formation of Virginia and Maryland,[4] and in Beaufort County, South Carolina.[3] They have also been found in the Miocene of Malta.[5] It is unlikely it possessed the elongated tail lobe of modern thresher sharks.[3] Some specimens in the Burdigalian show the beginnings of serrations, which are presumably transitional individuals between A. grandis and A. palatasi.[5]

Alopias grandis
Temporal range: Miocene [1]
Fossilized tooth
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Alopiidae
Genus: Alopias
Species:
A. grandis
Binomial name
Alopias grandis
Leriche, 1942
Synonyms[2]

Alopecias grandis

Reconstruction of A. grandis (top), with megalodon (bottom) for comparison

References
  1. "†Alopecias grandis Leriche 1942 (mackerel shark)". The Paleobiology Database.
  2. "Alopecias grandis Leriche 1942 (mackerel shark)". PBDB.
  3. Ward, D. J.; Kent, B. W. (2015). "A new giant species of thresher shark from the Miocene of the United States". Natural History Museum. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.1723.0969. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Nomini Cliffs, Zone 14-16 (Miocene of the United States)". PBDB.
  5. Godfrey, S. J. (Ed.). (2018). The Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, USA. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.


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