Palaeocarcharias

Palaeocarcharias is an extinct genus of shark, known from the Jurassic of Europe. It has only a single named species, Palaeocarcharias stromeri, which is known from exceptionally preserved specimens from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) of Germany and France. Isolated teeth of indeterminate species from England extend the range of the genus back to the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian). Morphologically, it closely resembles carpet sharks (Orectolobiformes), and is around 1 metre (3.3 ft) in total body length. However, it shares greater similarities in tooth development with mackerel sharks (Lamniformes), including the absence of orthodentine, and has been suggested to the earliest known member of the Lamniformes or a member of a sister group to the Lamniformes. A 2018 study suggested that should be classified as the sole member of the order Palaeocarchariiformes, but a subsequent 2023 study questioned this and favoured placement in Lamniformes. A 2024 study of a specimen from Canjuers suggested that as that it was in fact a true carpet shark, perhaps a member of Orectolobidae.

Palaeocarcharias

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
LamniformesPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Lamniformes
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Lamniformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Lamniformes

Time the record covers

At least 16 million years on record.

The record covers at least 165.3 Mya to 149.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 168.2 Mya to 145.06 Mya.

Middle Jurassic — about 1 of 2 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 1 of 2 occurrencesLate Jurassic169–168 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences168–167 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences167–166 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences166–165 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences165–165 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences149–149 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences149–148 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences148–147 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences147–146 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences145–145 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences165.3 Mya149.2 Mya168.7 Mya144.6 Mya

2 occurrences of Palaeocarcharias on record, most of them in the Middle Jurassic. 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

2 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

1 formation

White Limestone — 51.75°N, 1.17°W

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The named rock units Palaeocarcharias has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Palaeocarcharias and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Palaeocarcharias and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

95 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 2 sites for Palaeocarcharias, 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

2 references

Each of the 2 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. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Palaeocarcharias

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

No 3D scan of Palaeocarcharias was found in Smithsonian Open Access and Sketchfab.

MorphoSource was 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 Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Beaumont 1960