Squalicorax
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| Squalicorax Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squalicorax pristodontis tooth from the Cretaceous of Morocco. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||
|
See text |
Squalicorax ("crow shark") is a genus of extinct lamniform shark known to have lived during the Cretaceous period. A fully articulated (fully-formed) 1.9 m long fossil skeleton of Squalicorax (S. falcatus) has been found in Kansas, evidence of its presence in the Western Interior Seaway. Large numbers of fossil teeth have been found in Europe, North Africa, and other parts of North America. From the size of its largest known teeth, it can be estimated that Squalicorax pristodontus grew up to 5 m (16.5 ft) in length.
Squalicorax was a predator, but also scavenged as evidenced by a Squalicorax tooth found embedded in the metatarsal (foot) bone of a terrestrial hadrosaurid dinosaur that most likely died and ended up in the water. Other food sources included turtles, mosasaurs, ichthyodectes and other bony fishes and sea creatures.
Species include:
- Squalicorax bassanii Gemmelaro 1920
- Squalicorax curvatus Williston 1900
- Squalicorax falcatus Agassiz 1843
- Squalicorax kaupi Agassiz 1843
- Squalicorax pristodontus Agassiz 1843
Squalicorax is considered to belong to the family Anacoracidae, classified by Cappetta (1987) in the Lamniformes.
Reference
- H. Cappetta, Handbook of Paleoichthyology (Gustav Fischer, 1987)
External link
- Elasmo.com page on Squalicorax (http://www.elasmo.com/frameMe.html?file=genera/cretaceous/squalicorax.html&menu=bin/menu_genera-alt.html)
