Lamnidae

The Lamnidae are the family of mackerel sharks known as white sharks. They are large, fast-swimming predatory fish found in oceans worldwide, though they prefer environments with colder water. The name of the family is formed from the Greek word lamna, which means "fish of prey", and was derived from the Greek legendary creature, the Lamia.

Lamnidae

Pterantula (Terry Goss) at en.wikipedia · CC BY 2.5 · 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
mackerel sharkPBDB
Sits inside
LamniformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 125 million years on record.

The record covers at least 125.77 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 1313 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 15 of 1313 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 40 of 1313 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 25 of 1313 occurrencesEocene — about 256 of 1313 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 107 of 1313 occurrencesMiocene — about 621 of 1313 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 168 of 1313 occurrencesPleistocene — about 73 of 1313 occurrences146–141 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences141–136 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences136–131 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences131–127 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 3 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 3 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 2 occurrences107–102 Mya — about 4 occurrences102–97 Mya — about 5 occurrences97–92 Mya — about 4 occurrences92–88 Mya — about 2 occurrences88–83 Mya — about 6 occurrences83–78 Mya — about 6 occurrences78–73 Mya — about 6 occurrences73–68 Mya — about 10 occurrences68–63 Mya — about 7 occurrences63–58 Mya — about 8 occurrences58–54 Mya — about 28 occurrences54–49 Mya — about 27 occurrences49–44 Mya — about 56 occurrences44–39 Mya — about 68 occurrences39–34 Mya — about 88 occurrences34–29 Mya — about 45 occurrences29–24 Mya — about 50 occurrences24–19 Mya — about 99 occurrences19–15 Mya — about 174 occurrences15–9.7 Mya — about 201 occurrences9.7–4.9 Mya — about 191 occurrences4.9–0 Mya — about 220 occurrences125.77 Mya11.7 ka146 Mya0 Mya

1,313 occurrences of Lamnidae 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

1,313 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

347 formations

Pisco — 15.58°S, 74.72°WPisco — 15.44°S, 74.87°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.80°WPisco — 15.55°S, 74.80°WPisco — 14.56°S, 75.67°WPisco — 14.33°S, 75.90°WPisco — 15.06°S, 74.08°WPisco — 15.50°S, 74.88°WCalvert — 37.93°N, 77.51°WCalvert — 38.60°N, 76.51°WCalvert — 38.54°N, 76.70°WCalvert — 38.74°N, 76.56°WCalvert — 38.67°N, 76.53°WCalvert — 38.53°N, 76.52°WCalvert — 37.77°N, 77.28°WCalvert — 38.40°N, 76.50°WCalvert — 38.17°N, 76.81°WCalvert — 37.54°N, 77.44°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WJan Juc — 38.33°S, 144.30°EJan Juc — 38.20°S, 144.27°EBerchem — 51.20°N, 4.44°EBerchem — 51.14°N, 4.63°EPort Campbell Limestone — 37.72°S, 141.93°EGehannam — 29.31°N, 30.18°EGehannam — 29.36°N, 30.16°EGehannam — 29.33°N, 30.08°EGehannam — 29.30°N, 30.05°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.99°S, 145.04°EBlack Rock Sandstone — 37.98°S, 145.05°EBahía Inglesa — 27.08°S, 70.84°WBahía Inglesa — 27.14°S, 70.88°WBahía Inglesa — 27.04°S, 70.79°WBahía Inglesa — 27.72°S, 70.99°WBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°WNavidad — 33.93°S, 71.85°WNavidad — 33.97°S, 71.82°WNavidad — 33.95°S, 71.87°WNavidad — 33.99°S, 71.89°WPalos Verdes Sand — 34.00°N, 118.20°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.75°N, 118.29°WBreda — 51.97°N, 6.73°EBreda — 52.15°N, 6.61°EBreda — 51.47°N, 5.80°EBreda — 51.92°N, 6.67°ESenhata — 35.16°N, 139.86°ESenhata — 35.15°N, 139.82°ELondon Clay — 51.40°N, 0.83°ELondon Clay — 51.51°N, 0.24°ELondon Clay — 51.37°N, 1.08°ELondon Clay — 51.83°N, 1.25°ELondon Clay — 51.64°N, 0.78°EArgille Azzurre — 44.49°N, 11.03°EArgille Azzurre — 43.31°N, 11.49°EArgille Azzurre — 44.30°N, 11.57°EArgille Azzurre — 44.26°N, 11.66°EChilcatay — 14.77°S, 75.39°WChilcatay — 14.59°S, 75.66°WChilcatay — 14.62°S, 75.64°WBatesford Limestone — 38.09°S, 144.28°EGlobigerina Limestone — 36.08°N, 14.24°EGlobigerina Limestone — 35.90°N, 14.33°ESan Mateo — 33.20°N, 117.37°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.60°WLa Meseta — 64.24°S, 56.68°WSelsey — 50.80°N, 1.21°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WTemblor — 35.47°N, 118.91°WTemblor — 36.10°N, 120.40°WSanta Margarita — 37.05°N, 122.04°WSanta Margarita — 37.01°N, 122.01°WSanta Margarita — 35.45°N, 120.28°WPurisima — 36.95°N, 122.04°WPurisima — 37.29°N, 122.41°WBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.06°EBirket Qarun — 29.27°N, 30.01°EBirket Qarun — 29.50°N, 30.56°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lamnidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 323 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 330 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lamnidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Lamnidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

4,019 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 759 sites for Lamnidae, 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

443 references

Each of the 1,313 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. 431 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 Lamnidae

Credit
Pterantula (Terry Goss) at en.wikipedia
Licence
CC BY 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Lamnidae 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 itLamniformes through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Müller and Henle 1838