Megalodon

Megalodon is an extinct genus of bivalve molluscs that reportedly lived from the Devonian to the Early Jurassic period. It is not clear, however, that all the fossils assigned to Megalodon from that span of time really belong in the same genus. Jurassic relatives of Megalodon such as Pachyrisma grande were closely related to the rudists.

Megalodon

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 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
MegalodontidaePBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Motility
stationaryPBDB, for Megalodontidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Megalodontidae

Time the record covers

At least 206 million years on record.

The record covers at least 399.5 Mya to 192.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 174.7 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 58 occurrencesDevonian — about 11 of 58 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 58 occurrencesPermian — about 3 of 58 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 58 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 4 of 58 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 37 of 58 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 3 of 58 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 58 occurrences425–416 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences416–408 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences408–399 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences399–391 Mya — about 1 occurrence391–382 Mya — about 3 occurrences382–374 Mya — about 4 occurrences374–365 Mya — about 1 occurrence289–280 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences280–272 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences272–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–255 Mya — about 2 occurrences255–246 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–238 Mya — about 4 occurrences238–229 Mya — about 14 occurrences229–221 Mya — about 8 occurrences221–212 Mya — about 8 occurrences212–204 Mya — about 8 occurrences204–195 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences195–187 Mya — about 2 occurrences187–178 Mya — about 1 occurrence178–170 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences399.5 Mya192.9 Mya425 Mya170 Mya

58 occurrences of Megalodon on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. 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

58 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

25 formations

Cassian — 46.68°N, 12.15°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.57°N, 11.94°EDachstein — 46.49°N, 12.11°EDachstein — 46.45°N, 12.25°EDachstein — 46.52°N, 12.22°EDachstein — 46.61°N, 12.00°EMassenkalk — 51.12°N, 7.90°EMassenkalk — 51.00°N, 7.17°EFődolomit — 47.17°N, 17.94°EFődolomit — 47.11°N, 17.91°ELeduc — 53.55°N, 113.50°WSumra — 25.80°N, 56.10°EFogi — 3.29°S, 126.11°EKapp Toscana — 74.42°N, 19.16°EIhmert — 51.26°N, 7.65°EKellerwand — 46.61°N, 13.00°ELambertenghi — 46.50°N, 13.00°ECalcari Grigi — 45.58°N, 10.98°EBabino — 42.68°N, 23.32°EH. S. Lee — 4.28°N, 101.10°EBrilon Massenkalk — 51.45°N, 8.62°EPayandé — 4.28°N, 75.10°WLiutiagou — 47.25°N, 122.45°EYunghsien — 25.33°N, 110.12°EHauptdolomit — 46.62°N, 12.31°ELunz — 47.32°N, 11.29°EDachstein — 47.55°N, 13.23°EKanike — 3.10°S, 129.47°ERaibl — 46.51°N, 11.58°EGabbs — 38.50°N, 118.08°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Megalodon has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. One further formation holds fewer occurrences and is not listed. 11 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megalodon and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Megalodon and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

874 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 43 sites for Megalodon, 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

31 references

Each of the 58 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. 19 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 content4

Picture of Megalodon

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Carcharocles megalodon

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Otodus megalodon · NHMD:MP:157890

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itMegalodontidae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Sowerby 1827