Megachasma

Megachasma is a genus of mackerel sharks. It is usually considered to be the sole genus in the family Megachasmidae, though suggestion has been made that it may belong in the family Cetorhinidae, of which the Megamouth shark is the sole extant member. Megachasma is known from a single living species, Megachasma pelagios.

Megachasma

CSIRO National Fish Collection · CC BY 3.0 · 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
Sits inside
MegachasmidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feeder, carnivorePBDB, for Megachasmidae
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Megachasmidae
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Megachasmidae

Time the record covers

At least 28 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 1.8 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 14 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 9 of 14 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 14 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 14 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 1 occurrence22–21 Mya — about 2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–8.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.6–7.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.3–6.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.1–4.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence4.8–3.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.3–1.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33.9 Mya5.333 Mya38.4 Mya1.1 Mya

14 occurrences of Megachasma on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. 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

14 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

11 formations

Jewett — 35.49°N, 118.85°WJewett — 36.01°N, 118.34°WPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WKattendijk, Lillo — 51.25°N, 4.28°EYaquina — 44.50°N, 124.07°WNye — 44.65°N, 124.06°WSkooner Gulch — 38.87°N, 123.65°WChilcatay — 14.62°S, 75.63°WBerchem — 51.21°N, 4.42°ESøvind Marl — 56.08°N, 10.25°EBahía Inglesa — 27.16°S, 70.89°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Megachasma has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megachasma and its relatives

Miocene

Where Megachasma and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

733 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Megachasma, 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

9 references

Each of the 14 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. 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 content2

Picture of Megachasma

Credit
CSIRO National Fish Collection
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itMegachasmidae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Taylor et al. 1983