Alopias vulpinus

The common thresher, also known as Atlantic thresher, is the largest species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae, reaching 6 m (20 ft) in length. About half of its length consists of the elongated upper lobe of its caudal fin. With a streamlined body, short pointed snout, and modestly sized eyes, the common thresher resembles the pelagic thresher. It can be distinguished from the latter species by the white of its belly extending in a band over the bases of its pectoral fins. The common thresher is distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate waters, though it prefers cooler temperatures. It can be found both close to shore and in the open ocean, from the surface to a depth of 550 m (1,800 ft). It is seasonally migratory and spends summers at lower latitudes.

Alopias vulpinus

NOAA/PIER · Public Domain · 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
common thresherPBDB
Sits inside
AlopiasPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 24 occurrencesEocene — about 1 of 24 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 24 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 12 of 24 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 6 of 24 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3 of 24 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 2 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

24 occurrences of Alopias vulpinus 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

24 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

14 formations

Cantaure — 11.94°N, 70.02°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WChucunaque — 9.13°N, 78.75°WSubathu — 30.98°N, 76.98°EJewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WChandler Bridge — 33.03°N, 80.27°WArenas de Huelva — 37.22°N, 7.10°WWaccamaw — 33.10°N, 80.31°WVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EChilcatay — 14.62°S, 75.63°WLagos-Portimão — 37.08°N, 8.67°WTunga — 14.27°S, 76.05°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Alopias vulpinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 6 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Alopias vulpinus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Alopias vulpinus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,315 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Alopias vulpinus, and this reads all 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

19 references

Each of the 24 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. 7 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 content1

Picture of Alopias vulpinus

Credit
NOAA/PIER
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Alopias vulpinus was found in Sketchfab.

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 itAlopias through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bonnaterre 1788)