Archaeolamna Explained

Archaeolamna (from Greek arche and Lamna, extanct shark genus) is an extinct genus of mackerel sharks that lived during the Cretaceous. It contains three valid species (one with two subspecies) which have been found in Europe, North America, and Australia.^{[1] [2]} While it is mostly known from isolated teeth, an associated set of teeth, jaws, cranial fragments, and vertebrae of A. kopingensis is known from the Pierre Shale of Kansas.^[1] Teeth of A. k. judithensis were found with a plesiosaur skeleton with bite marks from the Judith River Formation of Montana. It was a medium-sized shark with an estimated total body length of 3m-4mm (10feet-13feetm).^[3]

Archaeolamnidae

When the family Archaeolamnidae was first named, it contained Archaeolamna, Cretodus, Dallasiella, and Telodontaspis. However, Cretodus was reassigned to Pseudoscapanorhynchidae,^[4] Dallasiella was reassigned to Lamniformes incertae sedis,^[5] and Telodontaspis was synonymized with Cretoxyrhina.^[6] This leaves Archaeolamna as the sole member of the family.

Notes and References

1. Cook . T.D. . Newbrey . M.G. . Murray . A.M. . Wilson . M.V.H. . Shimada . K. . Takeuchi . G.T. . Stewart . J.D. . 2011 . A partial skeleton of the Late Cretaceous lamniform shark, Archaeolamna kopingensis, from the Pierre Shale of western Kansas, U.S.A. . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 31 . 1 . 8–21 . 10.1080/02724634.2011.539968 . 2011JVPal..31....8C . 140595473.
2. Sokolskyi . T. . Guinot . G. . 2021 . Elasmobranch (Chondrichthyes) assemblages from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Ukraine . Cretaceous Research . 117 . 104603 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104603. 2021CrRes.11704603S . 224853459 . free .
3. Nagrodski, M.. Shimada, K.. Schumacher, B.A.. 2012. Marine vertebrates from the Hartland Shale (Upper Cretaceous: Upper Cenomanian) in southeastern Colorado, USA. Cretaceous Research. 37. 76–88. 10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.007. 2012CrRes..37...76N . 18006033 .
4. Shimada . K. . Everhart . M.J. . 2019 . A new large Late Cretaceous lamniform shark from North America, with comments on the taxonomy, paleoecology, and evolution of the genus Cretodus . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 . 4 . e1673399 . 10.1080/02724634.2019.1673399 . 2019JVPal..39E3399S . 209439997 .
5. Siversson . M. . Cederström . P. . Ryan . H.E. . 2022 . A new dallasiellid shark from the lower Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Sweden . GFF . 144 . 2 . 118–125 . 10.1080/11035897.2022.2097737 . 2022GFF...144..118S . 252685325 .
6. Newbrey . M.G. . Siversson . M. . Cook . T.D. . Fotheringham . A.M. . Sanchez . R.L. . 2015 . Vertebral morphology, dentition, age, growth, and ecology of the large lamniform shark Cardabiodon ricki . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 60 . 4 . 877–897 . 10.4202/app.2012.0047 . free .